What 11.5 barrel would you get for a general purpose 5.56?
- Thread starter KCode
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What is your usual or expected rate of fire? Chrome for mag dumps and nitride for the regular cadence shit.This decision is anything but easy!
Wouldn't chrome lined in theory be easier to maintain as well? I would lie if I said the gun would never see a mag dump. But probably once or twice a blue moon.
Sionics makes some good stuff.
I have several parts from them and no issues.
Look at SOLGW while we’re throwing every manufacture out there lol.
I have several parts from them and no issues.
Look at SOLGW while we’re throwing every manufacture out there lol.
Nitride vs chrome is an ongoing theoretical debate. I doubt you would wear out a 4150 CMV Nitrided barrel, especially to the precision degradation degree expected form an 11.5" barrel.
An 11.5" gun is anything but an "all purpose" gun, neither fish nor fowl.
Step it up to a 14.5 & it might be considered all purpose, better yet a 16"
So as to the barrel, as long as if functions, it really doesn't matter, IMO.
MM
General purpose in a big city wouldn't be the same as general purpose in Montana. But opinions are what makes us unique.
My general purpose is an 11.5” for New England suburbia.
Good ammo has acceptable terminal ballistics out to 300 yards and it can make accurate hits out past that.I keep a 14.5” with fluted match barrel and 2-12x in an evacuation bag. But otherwise the 11.5” can handle anything I would need a defensive/contingency rifle to do in my area.
People have different CONOPs. If I lived on a ranch and my house wasn’t an older house with tight hallways, my general purpose gun might be different.
Maybe. By the time these threads are a couple days old I've long since forgotten what the OP was asking.
I used to ask if a dude is melting handguards, but I date myself doing that!
If that is the case, no point spending more for the same product then. I've had great results with BA barrels. One of my SPRs is a sweet ass fluted BA laser. More relevant to your goals, here is a 12.5 initial group fire. Nothing special about the build, press fit with the cerakote receiver to extension. 3rnd vertical group for zero and 12rnds to the right. 77SMK IMI
I had a suppressor-only Triarc 11.5" that I was happy with, until I committed to HUXWRX suppressors and rebarreled the upper.
What barrel did you go with once you went Huxwrx? Did you see much POI shift with the Huxwrx?
Black River Tactical's hammer forged chrome lined 11.5". (and then had D. Wilson drill the Triarc's gas port out a bit for next time).
I also built a 10.5 with a Criterion Core, though that one got a Superlative Arms piston.
I like both and both shoot nicely... which I realize isn't an objective description. Both are red dot equipped. The 11.5 is set up for low/ no light while the 10.5 has just a light and usually has an OSS K can (not the Flow) on it to tap down the bang.
By POI shift with the HUXWRX, are you asking about the BRT with and without or compared to something else?
I also built a 10.5 with a Criterion Core, though that one got a Superlative Arms piston.
I like both and both shoot nicely... which I realize isn't an objective description. Both are red dot equipped. The 11.5 is set up for low/ no light while the 10.5 has just a light and usually has an OSS K can (not the Flow) on it to tap down the bang.
By POI shift with the HUXWRX, are you asking about the BRT with and without or compared to something else?
Just curious but I don't remember anyone suggesting BRT barrels
blackrivertactical.com
Any reason this didn't pop up?
Black River Tactical Store - Shop BRT
Shop BRT Black River Tactical Store Covert Comp OPTIMUM EZTUNE Gas Tube MicroTUNE Gas Block CustomTUNE Gas Port MicroPin Gas Block Mk12 Gas Tube BRT EXT BRT EXC BRT PDW Pistol Carbine Mid Midlength Rifle Upper Receiver Group Bolt Carrier Group Barrels Muzzle Devices Adjustable Gas Drive AR15 LMT
blackrivertactical.com
Any reason this didn't pop up?
Just curious but I don't remember anyone suggesting BRT barrels
Black River Tactical Store - Shop BRT
Shop BRT Black River Tactical Store Covert Comp OPTIMUM EZTUNE Gas Tube MicroTUNE Gas Block CustomTUNE Gas Port MicroPin Gas Block Mk12 Gas Tube BRT EXT BRT EXC BRT PDW Pistol Carbine Mid Midlength Rifle Upper Receiver Group Bolt Carrier Group Barrels Muzzle Devices Adjustable Gas Drive AR15 LMT
Any reason this didn't pop up?
Black River Tactical 16” Cold Hammer Forged Optimum Barrel Accuracy Evaluation
Black River Tactical 16” Cold Hammer Forged Optimum Barrel Accuracy Evaluation Black River Tactical has sold at least three differently constructed versions of their 16” Optimum barrel. This article showcases the cold hammer forged version that’s constructed of 4150 CrMoV steel. This...
www.snipershide.com
Black River Tactical 16” Cold Hammer Forged Optimum Barrel Accuracy Evaluation
Black River Tactical 16” Cold Hammer Forged Optimum Barrel Accuracy Evaluation Black River Tactical has sold at least three differently constructed versions of their 16” Optimum barrel. This article showcases the cold hammer forged version that’s constructed of 4150 CrMoV steel. This...
Very well. Moving on...
Hard to beat a DD cold hammer forged chrome lined barrel for general purpose do all barrel. Oh and mine is stupid accurate with 55gr and 77gr. My first one is 15-20yr old and still stupid accurate.
This is their 10.3" 5.56 1-7 GOVT
This is their 10.3" 5.56 1-7 GOVT
My last 223 barrel was one of Craddock's 11" Bartlein CP1 barrels. You are not wrong about how they shoot. I bought mine on sale I believe (or used a code). I notice some don't put accuracy at the top of their list of requirements for a SBR, but I personally put accuracy at the top of my requirements for every rifle I will build. Just my way I guess.
That review is kind of strange. I appears Black River got a bad review because they wouldn't explain their chrome lining jargon or give out their gas port diameter, not due to any performance metric. By all accounts, BRT makes a really good barrel and Molon never said otherwise.
I haven’t used one of the CHF chrome lined barrels, but I’ve had one of their nitrided, tapered, medium profile 14.0” barrels for a long time. It came out before all the 13.7/13.9s came on the market.
I don’t have many negative things to say about it. It is nicely gassed and is about 1.25 MOA with good ammo.
It’s not bad, it’s just that Criterion does the same role, but better. The core is lighter, better balanced, and more precise. Not any more money either.
That may all be true but that review appears to be passive aggressively negative while not actually saying anything derogatory about the barrel. There is no difference in weight between the Criterion and the BRT 11.5" barrels either.
Fair point about the current BRT line-up weights. I was going off the BRT I have.
Core. But as was just mentioned, the current BRT weights are similar. I was talking an older BRT offering.
That is the "not hammer forged" version of the barrel I used, and while I haven't done any accuracy testing, it "feels" good shooting. I realize how little that might help, but...Just curious but I don't remember anyone suggesting BRT barrels
Black River Tactical Store - Shop BRT
Shop BRT Black River Tactical Store Covert Comp OPTIMUM EZTUNE Gas Tube MicroTUNE Gas Block CustomTUNE Gas Port MicroPin Gas Block Mk12 Gas Tube BRT EXT BRT EXC BRT PDW Pistol Carbine Mid Midlength Rifle Upper Receiver Group Bolt Carrier Group Barrels Muzzle Devices Adjustable Gas Drive AR15 LMT
Any reason this didn't pop up?
Mostly I was looking for a good barrel and a place that will sell a bolt and check headspace (Im lazy and this all in one just seems easier). Not that there aren't others that do that.
To the extent that I processed Molon's review, my take-away was that it was a good barrel and also he was frustrated that he couldn't get as much information from BRT as he would have liked. Both of those can be valid points.
It also showed mediocre precision, about the same 1 1/4 MOA I got too with my older BRT. That would have been wonderful 10-15 years ago. But there are too many nitrided or chrome lined carbine barrels these days that can shoot MOA or better.
Why not seek it out in today’s industry? We no longer have to decide whether we go with sub-MOA and short barrel life stainless vs longer barrel life, but less precise, chrome lined barrels.
We have plenty of options now for both durable and precise carbine barrels.
I don't think there are reliably sub MOA CHF CL barrels on the market. You would need to prove there is even one source before you can demand any other vendor held to that standard.
I didn’t say CHF CL. I said durable. That could be chrome lined (not necessarily CHF) or nitrided.
And to clarify, “MOA or better” is my metric for a precise carbine barrel. Sometimes people say “sub-MOA” and they have connotations of 3/4 MOA all day. I’m talking about match ammo getting groups mostly ~1 MOA with occasional 3/4 MOA groups. My BRT just wouldn’t break 1 MOA at all for 10 shot groups and was usually ~1.25 with some match ammo being 1.5+. Even with my 69gr SMK handloads, couldn’t break 1 MOA. For both my Criterion barrels (hybrid and core), they behave in the ~ 1 MOA range and trend lower with ammo they like.
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