I'm midway through my first build.   Fairly simple 16 inch barrel, forged 80% lower etc.    I'm looking at the Rainier Select 16" barrel with the 1:8 twist but they aren't in stock.   I'm willing to wait, but was wondering what everyone thought of this barrel for a paper puncher, first rifle, and were their any other barrels they would recommend?   I like the 1:8 twist for the lighter bullets.

Thanks for the input

They are Blackhole Weaponry barrels.  They recently seem very popular here, there are lots of threads about them.  Back before they were marketed by Rainer you could buy Blackhole barrels directly from the manufacturer cheap, I owned 5 of them, they were just over $100.  Had bad luck with them, including barrels cut incorrectly that could have resulted in having an illegal SBR, some would not stablize m193 rounds, the bullets would tumble, the full length ones I had from them were severely overgassed.  I've noticed others have accuracy problems, others have posted with tumbling bullets, but on the flip side many have posted they were very accurate.  The manufacturer does not seem to understand the concepts behind gas port sizing, at one point I was told on the phone by the owner that every gas system, every length had the same port size.  Years after that they still introduced 300 blackout builds with a midlength gas system that could not cycle.   The manufacturer took care of my issues, and Rainier is a great company if your barrel does not perform I'm sure they will make it right.  My lightweight .625 Daniel Defense barrels would outshoot my heavy SS Blackhole ones, so I sold the replacments Blackhole sent me.

I have the Select and love it.  Tumbling bullets?  Whatever... Rainier puts an MOA guarantee on these, mine shoots about .75 with my handloads, buddy gets about .8 out of his identical barrel.  Rainier isn't going to put their name on junk, and I'm sure they have specifications and QC hoops Blackhole has to jump through to buy barrels from them.  I think they are the best deal going, and short of building a BR rifle there is no need to spend more.

BTW, you have it a bit backwards on your understanding of twist rates... the faster twists (1:7, 1:8) stabilize the heavier, longer bullets.  The slower rates are fine for lighter bullets, but cannot properly stabilize the heavier ones.  The faster twists stabilize everything.  Go with the 1:8 or 1:7 and you can shoot anything that will fit in an AR platform.

Thanks for the input.

I guess I should have clarified my statement about the barrel twist.    I like the 1:8 because it seems better able to stabilize a lighter bullet over the 1:7 that the vast majority of barrels seem to have.

Was kind of thinking to be the most versatile I wanted to be 1:8 or 1:9.

thanks again

The most versatile for the average shooter will be a 1:8 twist...