AR-15 Barrel Questions

[MarkV]

I'm not trying to thread hijack here but I have some questions along the same lines.

What is recommended for a 3 gun AR barrel?

 

[grwd]

a good med to lt weight 18-20" rifle length gas system barrel, non chrome lined.
If it gets you moa or less, youre good to go.

sabre, walther, olympic ultramatch, jp barrels are popular ones.

1/8" is ideal, but I wouldnt kick a 1/7 to the curb necessarily.

 

[MarkV]

Just the person I wanted to hear from. Thanks Mike.

 

[bcox]

a good med to lt weight 18-20" rifle length gas system barrel, non chrome lined.
If it gets you moa or less, youre good to go.

sabre, walther, olympic ultramatch, jp barrels are popular ones.

1/8" is ideal, but I wouldnt kick a 1/7 to the curb necessarily.

Why non chrome lined?, I thought chrome lined last longer?

 

[grwd]

Why non chrome lined?, I thought chrome lined last longer?

I was answering markV's question. non chrome lined barrels are usually more accurate.
For your uses and needs, youll be fine with whatever barrel you get.

 

[bcox]

I was answering markV's question. non chrome lined barrels are usually more accurate.
For your uses and needs, youll be fine with whatever barrel you get.

Ok, non chrome usually = more accurate
chrome lined = longer life

Guess there is trade offs in everything.

So what about Stainless Steel?

What barrel twist rates?

 

[Josh-L]

While non chrome lined barrels will technically be more accurate than chrome you have to be an above avg shooter and use match ammo to see that difference.

Stainless should be the most accurate but the trade off is stainless is heavier.

Twist rate will depend on what grain bullet you will be shooting the most. I go 1/7, 1/8 and then 1/9 in order of what I prefer.

 

[KurtM]

Why are a lot of folks wanting chrome lined barrels? Most regular barrels and Stainless Steel barrels will last 10-15,000 rounds with good accuracy. This is WAY more shooting than the average shooter will put through one in a life time. As for Stainless barrels being heavier, that depends much more on the barrel profile than it does weight of Stainleess...which is actually LIGHTER than Chrome Moly by a small fraction on the molecular level. I have seen several "quality barrels"go 20,000 and still be 1 M.O.A. rifles, I haven't seen that many Chrome lined barrels shoot in the 1 M.O.A. range, although most aren't that bad either.

As for twist, the faster your twist rate the sooner you "wear out" a barrel so a Chrome lined 1X7 will last about as long as a 1X9 Non-Chromed barrel. For average use without shooting heavy bullets (75/77/80) a 1X9 will do it all. they even throw 69 gr. bullets real well. So now you should be real confused. KurtM

 

[Josh-L]

I prefer chrome because I can push three patches down the barrel and it's clean. Every non chrome barrel I've had was always harder to clean.

 

[grwd]

I think chromed chambers are better for shooting junk steel cased ammo too, right?