KAC LPR rebarrel?

[gro]

Hey everyone,

I am looking at getting a KAC LPR. Has anyone shot out their barrel and had Knight's rebarrel it?

I was wondering how many rounds you got through it, how long it took to get the work done, and how much.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Forrest84]

I think I posted this same question about 2-3 years ago....... I’ll see if I can find it.

Is your LPR a gen 1 or 2?
I don’t remember what the consensus turned out to be but if you can find somebody that can re barrel it to work with the E3 bolt I’d skip KAC for sake of simplicity and cost

 

[gro]

I haven't bought it yet, so it would be a gen 2. I am trying to feel out the logistics as it is a good chunk of change.

Can you have it rebarreled by someone else and retain the E3 bolt and extension?

I respect KAC (I have an SR15), but given their priority given to military orders/repairs (as it should be), I wonder if your rebarrel would get back-burnered.

However, I did have an initial problem with my SR15 and they had the rifle shipped to them across the country, repaired, and back to me on their dime within 2 weeks. I just wonder if a rebarrel might not have the same urgency as correcting a manufacturing/assembly defect.

 

[VegasHKShooter]

In the unlikely event that you manage to shoot out the Kreiger barrel that comes on the LPR, I’m absolutely positive that KAC will take care of you.
In the overall firearms world, KAC is still very small. They are a family owned company that values customer service.
I have it on very good word that Trey Knight is at the shop every day. They still care about their customers, be it .mil or civilian.
5.56 is not a barrel burner, so shooting it conservatively, and not doing mag dumps on the stainless steel, non chrome lined barrel, it should last you a good while. At 8000-10,000 rounds, if you have to re-barrel, you will have MORE than earned it. ?

 

[Forrest84]

In the unlikely event that you manage to shoot out the Kreiger barrel that comes on the LPR, I’m absolutely positive that KAC will take care of you.
In the overall firearms world, KAC is still very small. They are a family owned company that values customer service.
I have it on very good word that Trey Knight is at the shop every day. They still care about their customers, be it .mil or civilian.
5.56 is not a barrel burner, so shooting it conservatively, and not doing mag dumps on
the stainless steel, non chrome lined barrel, it should last you a good while. At 8000-10,000 rounds, if you have to re-barrel, you will have MORE than earned it. ?

Hey I may be way off base on my remark to leave KAC out of the loop on a re barrel. I just figured they probably were on the slower more expensive side of service being a gov contract holder.
I heard they stopped using the Kriegers (don’t know what they went to after) moving to the gen 2 and the accuracy kind of fell off. Is this accurate at all or just enternets talk BS?

 

[VegasHKShooter]

That is 1000% not true. Per Jack, very recently, Kreiger barrels are all that have gone on LPR’s. That is direct from him at KAC.
As far as accuracy, mine is as accurate as any AR can ever be expected to be.
I shot it at the match in Georgia that Jack and Ash sponsored. I was very satisfied with the performance. Even lobed a few out to 1180yds and connected. So, accuracy hasn’t fallen off that I can tell.

 

[RTH1800]

I have owned and shot quite a few SR-15's and 4-6 LPR's. None were shot out but several were re barreled.

On the 5.56 rifles I have "shot out" round count was 5200-5400 rounds. The way I determined it was time to re barrel is that velocity changed. Slowed down and became less consistent. ES's increased and vertical dispersion at 600 M where I test grew from .5 MOA to over 1.5 MOA. All ammo fired was 77 grain SMK in MK 262 ammo or my load of 24.3 grains of TAC. No rapid fire or long strings. Fired basically like a bolt gun. Often on shot at a time.


I spoke with Alan Brown from Crane and he said my experience was very similar to what Navy testing had determined.

 

[RTH1800]

Addition:

Barrels shot out were Douglas Navy contract barrels. They also looked only slightly rounded at the lands for the first few inches. The gas port area was eroded on one side of the hole. I think it was the backside but cannot recall. These observations were viewed with bore scope.

I sold a few of them cheap and the guys who got them liked them and said they were fine. I am not sure what type of shooting they did with them. They were sold with full disclosure of round count.

 

[mgrs]

Addition:

Barrels shot out were Douglas Navy contract barrels. They also looked only slightly rounded at the lands for the first few inches. The gas port area was eroded on one side of the hole. I think it was the backside but cannot recall. These observations were viewed with bore scope.

I sold a few of them cheap and the guys who got them liked them and said they were fine. I am not sure what type of shooting they did with them. They were sold with full disclosure of round count.

The gas port will erode on the side toward the muzzle. My 18" douglas (PRI) SPR barrel shows a significant amount of gas port erosion for the gas system length, firing schedule, and round count (1200).

Heat absolutely has an effect on barrel erosion, and the most obvious signs are cracking near the throat (far more visible in CMV and Chrome lined barrels, stainless just kind of gradually wears away). However, the erosion in the douglas barrel above would lead me to think that high pressure can do it too, as it was shot exclusively with 77gr reloads running at MK262 velocities with Ramshot TAC, IMR 8208, and Alliant 2000mr.

 

[RTH1800]

Accuracy of LPR:

My testing of the LPR's showed that they were as accurate as my small NF 2.5-10x24 would allow my eyes to shoot. The boat tail bullets were sub .75 MOA at 100 meters. For some reason, optical or otherwise I could hold 3.5"-5" vertical at 600M with the LPR barrels.

The reason I changed barrels out is that they were a good bit slower than what I replaced them with. ( 75-140 FPS) I could sell the KAC barrel and bolt and replace with a faster barrel and good bolt for less than I sold them for. My use and my data is all geared toward a higher velocity than I could get out of a LPR barrel. They also did not seem to kill as well.

 

[RTH1800]

I suspect high heat and high pressure go hand in hand. .

 

[lennyo3034]

Accuracy of LPR:

My testing of the LPR's showed that they were as accurate as my small NF 2.5-10x24 would allow my eyes to shoot. The boat tail bullets were sub .75 MOA at 100 meters. For some reason, optical or otherwise I could hold 3.5"-5" vertical at 600M with the LPR barrels.

The reason I changed barrels out is that they were a good bit slower than what I replaced them with. ( 75-140 FPS) I could sell the KAC barrel and bolt and replace with a faster barrel and good bolt for less than I sold them for. My use and my data is all geared toward a higher velocity than I could get out of a LPR barrel. They also did not seem to kill as well.

Did you replace them with a barrel with a CLE chamber? I’ve found that chamber to be approximately 80fps faster than the wylde chamber.

I may have bought an LPR barrel off you, don’t remember exactly.

I shot out a Krieger Barrel in around 3500 rounds. Lost 70fps of velocity and accuracy degradation unless barrel was cleaned every 100 rounds.

Almost entirely 77TMKs loaded to 2750 with 8208. Shot in local gas gun competitions which were not friendly to the throat. 30 rounds in 60-120 seconds happened frequently. I don’t know if KAC does anything different to their barrels that would affect barrel life, but that is my one data point.

 

[RTH1800]

I replaced them with the Douglas contract barrels. Not sure what chamber. The LPR barrels I sold were only fired 25-100 shots.
I think your data would align exactly with mine had I shot strings like that. My shooting was mostly at crows, one shot, coyotes, mostly one shot and culling deer which I sometimes fired 5-10 shots when they were in groups. My only strings were during initial testing and periodic checking of zero. Mostly 5 shot groups.

 

[gro]

I have owned and shot quite a few SR-15's and 4-6 LPR's. None were shot out but several were re barreled.

On the 5.56 rifles I have "shot out" round count was 5200-5400 rounds. The way I determined it was time to re barrel is that velocity changed. Slowed down and became less consistent. ES's increased and vertical dispersion at 600 M where I test grew from .5 MOA to over 1.5 MOA. All ammo fired was 77 grain SMK in MK 262 ammo or my load of 24.3 grains of TAC. No rapid fire or long strings. Fired basically like a bolt gun. Often on shot at a time.


I spoke with Alan Brown from Crane and he said my experience was very similar to what Navy testing had determined.

I think this is why I hesitate somewhat to buy one. The biggest appeal is the E3 bolt/extension for longevity. But if you wear out the barrel before a standard bolt would fail, it doesn't seem like you have gained much...

Granted you get an intermediate gas system, and KAC makes high quality products.

I don't know, I have been debating between the LPR or a Centurion Arms mk 12 upper, kind of old school vs new.