Helix 6 Precision CF Prefit Barrels any good...?

[Wyzrd]

Hi all, so I’m looking at a few different companies for a carbon fiber Prefit barrel for a Savage small shank short action, for a hunting rifle. I’m looking at Proof, Carbon Six, and Helix 6 Precision. Helix looks to be the cheapest route (not by much though) and comes with the muzzle threaded, and a barrel nut.

I know Proof puts out quality barrels, but am curious if anyone has experience with Helix 6, or Carbon 6. If so, I’d like to hear the food and/or the bad.... thanks!

 

[Potss]

I know Christensen is generally not considered to be on par with Proof, but I do not know about these others (don't forget Hardy's). Would be curious to know myself.

 

[Wyzrd]

I know Christensen is generally not considered to be on par with Proof, but I do not know about these others (don't forget Hardy's). Would be curious to know myself.

Yes sir, I’ve heard lots of varying reports on CA’s carbon fiber barrels. Lots of great reviews with awesome accuracy, and then quite a few reports of mediocre accuracy.... I do know of Hardy’s barrels too, but I didn’t know if they made Prefit barrels for Savage or not- I will definitely look into it though.

Just browsing the websites of Helix 6 & Carbon 6, and they look like good options (Carbon 6 uses McGowen barrel blanks. Not sure on Helix 6.), but just wanted to see if folks here have any first hand experience with them before I dish out the cash for one.

 

[Wyzrd]

Anybody...? Would love to hear the good and bad about these barrels/companies...

 

[Trent A]

It isn't first hand knowledge, but from what I have been told via email from Vudoo directly is that they found the Helix 6 barrels to be slightly superior in terms of accuracy in comparison to that of the Proof barrels. That was enough to sway my opinion and get a Vudoo with a Helix 6 over the Proof, which until that point I had it pretty well set in my mind that I wanted to go with the Proof given their proven track record in the field. Might be a entirely different ballgame moving up to centerfire rounds though.

As far as Carbon 6, I hadn't heard of them until today, while likely doing the same research you were. Just googled "who makes the best carbon fiber barrels" and started off on trying to sift through all the opinions in various threads to get an idea, to which still isn't clear for me as to which is the best to go with after all that reading. I will likely stick with Proof for centerfire given they are known to be good at what they do and I just don't know enough about the other two brands to be throwing that much money at something in hopes it might perform better, or hopefully at least on par.

 

[CMP70306]

I don’t have any experience with Helix 6 but I would definitely skip Carbon 6, we have several barrels from them and have had various issues with the majority of them. If you get one that works correctly they are pretty good but tight and scored chambers were the norm.

For example we bought a 30-06 barrel that came with a badly scored chamber that needed to be punched out to 300 Win Mag to fix it. That Win Mag shoots ok but pressures out several grains below every other Win Mag we own making ammo compatibility a PITA. They ended up selling us the Win Mag barrel cheap and offering a discount on a 30-06 barrel and since my brother wanted a 30-06 he took the offer. They ended up accidentally sending 2 barrels, one of which had a scored chamber and was returned. The one that didn’t I now use and it shoots great but that’s a 75% issue rate for barrels sent to us.

Add in the two 6.5 PRCs, one with a tight chamber and the other with a scored chamber that was fixed and now shoots great and you are looking at a substantially high chance of buying a barrel and either having to get the chamber fixed or a complete replacement made.

Another alternative would be X-Caliber, we have a few of their barrels and so far they shoot well.