I’m starting down the road of a mk12 build on a centurion receiver set and trying to decide on barrel. 6mo ago I’d have done cle but they’re off the table now so trying to find a replacement option. Out of what’s semi readily available what has the best track record for accuracy? Looking at centurion, pri, hcs, craddock rtr. Originally I had thought woa but doing a bunch of reading it sounds like they’re semi hit or miss ir decent at best. What do yall recommend for best mk12 barrel?
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Most accurate mk12 barrel?
- Thread starter Remington92
- Start date
PRI sells the correct Douglas MK12 barrels for mod 0, 1 and H. They are all hammers. Craddock and White Oak are also hammers. Is high caliber sales still in business?
What sort of reading (who, what, where) have you been doing that's indicating barrels from those named above are "semi hit and miss, decent at best". Sounds more like a description applicable to Faxon, Bear Creek or other like-kind outfits...
How accurate they are is up to you...
Agreed there are folks that search for any bad and you get trolls that will never prove the problems or post the same issue on multiple forums under different usernames. Did not know that PRI sold the Correct Douglas, That becomes the easy button!
Searching through here, arfcom, and other forums sounds like 1.5” is fairly common with woa . I’m looking for better than that. With the cost of the rest of the build I don’t want to cheap out on barrel with a just as good.
I’ll look into pri some more though.
I’ll look into pri some more though.
I've owned 2 woa and my brother in law has one. 2 of the 3 were 1moa and the current one I have is 1.5moa with 98% of the factory and hand loads I can come up with. It's by far the hardest barrel I've ever had to work something up and even then the best I get is 1-1.25moa.
The Douglas I had was a damn hammer.
The Douglas I had was a damn hammer.
I'd love for him to put a couple links to these discussions, if nothing else, for the laughs.
I bought my Mk12 Mod 1's Douglas SPR bbl through another Hide member about 7 years ago and my Mod H's barrel via PRI...A friend also bought his Mod 0's Douglas through PRI (technically, he bought their entire assembled upper some years back)...All are consistent sub-MOA with Mk262 M1, BH77 and my hand loads (a clone of Mk262M1).
Do not discount the PRI barrels. I have a PRI built Mod H upper. It's easily sub moa. My wife who has never shot a long gun, shot a 3 shot group that could have been covered with a dime. I know 3 shot group.
Well late night googling got the better of me. With Brownells 15% off plus active junky 2% off it was cheaper to buy a pre built pri upper than to buy the barrel and upper parts to do it myself.
Given that during the CLE debacle it was stated they were cutting off retail orders to focus on contracts with PRI being mentioned it would probably be safe to assume that those barrels are indeed CLE’s. I can’t imagine that they’d contract out some of their barrels and not all.
Roscoe has one but I don't know anything about their performance. I believe their other barrels have been well received.
After building lots of uppers that would be my choice. It's still ~1500$ but if you bought all the parts you would be close to that anyways.
That’s what I figured by the time I sourced everything and bought the barrel but wrenches it was as cheap to let them handle it. Guess I’ll save the centurion receiver for a mod 1 or recce build depending on how I like this. Also impulse back ordered an ocm5.
If they're doing the PRI barrels, I might have to pick one up, their prices are better that CLE's if I remember their pricing. Call me superstitious, but I'm inclined to believe that who chambers a barrel and their methods used makes a difference in performance, assuming a good blank. I'm less inclined to trust accuracy from a lot of the mass produced, CNC chamber job, sub $400 barrels out there that fill the AR barrel market.
I just built a mk12 mod 1 and now I am trying to talk myself out of a mk12 mod 0. I'm not sure if I really need both lol. Currently have 4 5.55mm ar15 rifles and not sure I need more of the same caliber.
So dumb question is it standard for pri to send nitride bcg in their uppers? For the price I guess I assumed it would be phos/chrome milspec
No, all Mk12 barrels are Nato chambered.
@rothgyr Ever since Conrad shut the doors on CLE he has been making all the Douglas barrels for PRI.
The "Most Accurate" MK12 barrel is a Bartlein or Kreiger Turned by Paul Ross or Craddock turned to whatever MK12 Mod Contour you like.
FWIW...
For some reason, I have been on a SPR barrel kick. These are the pin gauge measured GP sizes.
Centurion, Mk12, 18", 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n7, .750" GJ...... .101" GP
Criterion Fluted , 18" , .223W, RLGS, SS, 1n8, .750" GJ,.... .093 " GP
PRI/ Douglas, 18", 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n7, .750" GJ.............. .101" GP
$90 Stag/ Aero 18" 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n8, .750" GJ ............095" GP
2ea Criterion Core, 18", .223W, RLGS, CL, 1n8, .625" GJ.... .093" GP
I have the WOA 18" SPR GP sizes "somewhere" , Lol
For some reason, I have been on a SPR barrel kick. These are the pin gauge measured GP sizes.
Centurion, Mk12, 18", 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n7, .750" GJ...... .101" GP
Criterion Fluted , 18" , .223W, RLGS, SS, 1n8, .750" GJ,.... .093 " GP
PRI/ Douglas, 18", 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n7, .750" GJ.............. .101" GP
$90 Stag/ Aero 18" 5.56, RLGS, SS, 1n8, .750" GJ ............095" GP
2ea Criterion Core, 18", .223W, RLGS, CL, 1n8, .625" GJ.... .093" GP
I have the WOA 18" SPR GP sizes "somewhere" , Lol
Damn PRI has a huge gas port. I thought my mk12 was really soft with the aem can but now I'm thinking maybe I can get it to practically nothing with a BRT tube.
I will say on my pri upper with an ocm5 it was extremely overgassed. Put in a brt eztune gas tube and that helped some. Rifle is still dead nuts accurate.
It's close but the finish isn't clone correct. For a proper barrel the only source I am aware of is High Caliber Sales. They go the extra mile to get the finish to match the original MK12s.
You might also try a Bootleg Adjustable Gas carrier as well, which is drop-in easy. Adjustments are made with a small flathead through the ejection port, so no need to even mess with special tools or anything up front.
Here are 2 groups I shot with my WOA 18" SPR barrel while doing some load development. I didn't use anything special really. 1x fired PMC brass, Unis primer, 69gr RMR bullets, and 24.5 gr of Varget. Both groups are right at .75" at 100 yards.
Other than being issued a mk12 he had nothing to do with the development. Him copying the mk12 barrel and labeling a rifle a mk12 that is nothing like the real mk12 never gets talked about.
Monte Leclaire, “Over at WARCOM, I was involved with a lot of the weapons programs that were coming around like the MK12, SCAR, the PSR. That helped introduce me to a lot of people in the industry. I learned a lot about technology and also got a lot of good inside information about military specs and why they were the way they were. There, I was also able to visit weapons factories and really see what works and what doesn’t work.”
Leclaire was assigned to Crane. Why are you so quick to dismiss his involvement?
He had nothing to do with the mk12. His first experience with it was when he was issued the mk12 mod 1 as an augmentation to the special operations sniper programs.
So try again.. Just as when we are assigned to T&e sections, doesn't mean we have anything to do with the specs or have influence on the outcome of a system. Knowing specs and tolerances is not the same as developing the program.
Oh and WARCOM does not equate to Crane division.
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