Opinions on Odin works vs ER SHAW Upper

[YotaEer]

18" 223 WYLDE Stainless Straight Flute Barrel - 15" Rail - Competition Muzzle Brake - AR 15 Upper

18" 223 WYLDE Upper Receiver - 15" Rail & Competition Muzzle Brake - 18" 223 WYLDE 416R Stainless Straight Flute Barrel w/1x8 Twist & 1/2x28 Threads

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Looking at grabbing one of these complete uppers to use as a dedicated night hunting thermal setup.

Of course the Odin works is more expensive, you get what you pay for in this game. Etc. but the AR15 parts upper utilizes an er Shaw barrel, which is local to me.

Anyone have opinions on either? Odin works worth the upcharge for a night only Gun?

 

[r.tenorio671]

...SHAW does have a long standing reputation for being accurate tubes, and being "local" to you, IF issues are encountered with the tube may be easier to resolve.... there is that.

 

[Jigstick]

Shaw is having mad QC issues. Company is in trouble. Current owner has no machining background whatsoever. They are located about 10min from me

 

[AFGWS]

I've shot plenty of Odin barrels, and they've all shot good for me. I've got a 6.5 Creed and their 223 18in barrel on my current 3 gun rifle. I'd not hesitate to pick one of theirs up. They're out of Boise and have been easy to deal with.

 

[Birddog6424]

Odin is local to me here in Boise, and I confess to being friends with the owner and management.

I've smoked through three of their stainless barrels in 3 Gun. Have lots of forends, stocks, and accessories, as well as a 6.5 Grendel and 9mm PCC upper.

All their stuff has been accurate and dependable. My little Grendel is a killer running 123gr ELDMs at 2570fps. I have impacts past 1200 yards with it just having a funnsy gas gun day a local PRS matches.

Never regretted a dime that I've spent with them.

 

[Constructor]

Shaw is having mad QC issues. Company is in trouble. Current owner has no machining background whatsoever. They are located about 10min from me

Odd They make barrels for Wilson Combat, Franklin Armory, Bison, ARP and several others. At one time a few years ago Ruger asked them if they could make 500 barrels a day for them. ERS is a corporation with a Pres, VP and several managers running different parts of the plant. The owners don't make the barrels Rich does and he knows what he is doing. I don't live close but I have talked to Rich a few times a months for 10 years and I know exactly what quality of barrels they make.

 

[Constructor]

Shaw has been using 11 degree crowns for several years now, if Odin still uses a flat crown with a chamfer go with Shaw for that reason alone.

 

[Jigstick]

Odd They make barrels for Wilson Combat, Franklin Armory, Bison, ARP and several others. At one time a few years ago Ruger asked them if they could make 500 barrels a day for them. ERS is a corporation with a Pres, VP and several managers running different parts of the plant. The owners don't make the barrels Rich does and he knows what he is doing. I don't live close but I have talked to Rich a few times a months for 10 years and I know exactly what quality of barrels they make.

So now we’re comparing mass produced production run button pulled barrels to the top tier manufacturers? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m pretty versed in the benchrest game and I don’t know a single person who uses Shaw pipes

 

[TonyTheTiger]

So now we’re comparing mass produced production run button pulled barrels to the top tier manufacturers? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m pretty versed in the benchrest game and I don’t know a single person who uses Shaw pipes

Well now you're moving the goalposts. No one in the semi auto subforum is talking about or cares about the benchrest game or what barrels they're using.

 

[Birddog6424]

To keep it all above table so we know what apples we are comparing, I'm pretty sure Odin is using McGowan barrels/blanks. I know every barrel I've bought from them was made there. I havent bought anything from Odin in a couple years, but thats who they were last using.

I also own a couple barrels sourced specifically from McGowan, they've been brilliant. My 223AI trainer for PRS was bought from them as a pre-chambered Remage. It has been a half inch gun throughout its life of 6k rounds and counting. I bought an identical replacement for it a year ago, but can't kill this one

 

[Constructor]

So now we’re comparing mass produced production run button pulled barrels to the top tier manufacturers? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m pretty versed in the benchrest game and I don’t know a single person who uses Shaw pipes

Where did you read anything about benchrest? anything? You said Shaw was having QC issues because the owner knows nothing about machining and you know because you live 10 minutes away. I live right next door to my neighbor and can't tell you their name.
We were shooting benchrest back in the late 70s and I've never run into anyone using Mcgowen or Shaw but we're talking about AR barrels right?

Do you know the difference in all of the OEM barrels made by Shaw? The companies provide the specs. Do you think Model 1 sales barrels will have the same specs as Wilson? Do you think they all have the same sloppy 5.56 military chamber, the same 6 groove 50:50 ratio rifling?

From 2000-2006 I used a lot of barrel blanks to make custom highpower barrels. Some of those barrels were drilled very straight some even with big names not so straight. All I'm going to say is I have never seen a crooked Krieger. Other things noted in that time is there are several big name barrels that are drilled on old refurbished Pratt and Whitney machines from WWII, other companies that drill hundreds of barrels a day can afford to buy new computerized equipt that drill near perfect holes. Even if you get a perfect blank from some big name all it take is one guy cutting the crown to screw up the accuracy. If they use a common crowning tool and move it along the Z axis they are much more likely to fold metal into the bore (burrs), if the company knows to start center of bore and move a single point carbide insert out in the X axis there isn't near the chance of getting burrs.

 

[fdkay]

So now we’re comparing mass produced production run button pulled barrels to the top tier manufacturers? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m pretty versed in the benchrest game and I don’t know a single person who uses Shaw pipes

Not everyone shoots bench rest.
Shaw barrels are more than accurate enough to compete in PRS and other tactical type matches.

 

[BCP]

That odin works upper is a lot of ugly for 850 bucks. You could get a larue upper with handguard, a white oak barrel and probably have another 100-150 left over for your BCG and charging handle.

 

[Neurotic]

I thought Wilson Combat made their own barrels...

Perhaps it's a somewhat recent development.

 

[AFGWS]

That odin works upper is a lot of ugly for 850 bucks. You could get a larue upper with handguard, a white oak barrel and probably have another 100-150 left over for your BCG and charging handle.

The ugly comment is pretty laughable. It's an AR, they all look the same. And LaRue doesn't list an 18in upper, but both of the ones above are 18in uppers.

 

[YotaEer]

The odin upper was marked down to $650 with the memorial day sale.

Regardless, I ended up going with the shaw barreled upper. figure I'd give them a try and for the money that was saved (approx $515 shipped for entire upper including bcg and CH), I can swap the barrel if it totally sucks. With that said, its an upper purely dedicated to night hunting with a thermal. If its minute of skunk, then that's all I need with the giant thermal cross hair. The coons, opossums, foxes, cats and coyotes will all be bigger than that.

Looking forward to taking the thermal off my Wilson combat barreled 6.5 grendel upper to shoot that more. It is a legit half inch gun with my 123 ELD reloads and was being wasted at night.

Glad we got a lot of good info in this thread.