I started a quarantine build when I was bored digging through parts and found a rifle length Geissele Super 42 buffer spring I forgot I had. I based an entire build around a spring....lol.

Anyway, I was originally planning on picking up a Daniel Defense Mk12 barrel which is an unspecified stainless 18" rifle gas 1:7 twist with DLC finish. I've been more than happy with the chrome lined & nitride DD barrels I have currently (14.5" middy 556 & 18" 6.8SPC S2W). I like the fact that DD makes their own barrels in house as well. Price is $380

The other barrel is a BCM Mk12 made of SS410 stainless 18" rifle gas 1:8 twist and whatever Ionbond treatment/coating is. I've never used a BCM barrel but do have a few small parts from them like charging handles and stripped uppers. Does BCM manufacture their own barrels or are they sourced from another company? $385

The last one I was looking at is the Douglas Mk12. It's the correct Mk12 barrel but then again, I'm not doing a true clone. I like the fact that there are more options with this barrel but that means it's made to order and will take substantially longer to receive and that might not he a good thing with all the crap going on right now with COVID-19 and the election this year. With a 223 Wylde chamber and Duracoat, price is $410.

Which one would theoretically have the best barrel life? I assume the BCM with the harder stainless and treatment but I really dont know. I'd guess accuracy is close on all three but I know Douglas is among the more highly touted makers in that department. It's really a coin toss at this point so I'm just hoping you guys can sway me in one direction or the other.

If it matters, here is the build minus the barrel;

- LMT Defender lower & Aero upper
- Colt A2 stock kit with Geissele Super 42 buffer spring
- Ergo Suregrip
- Geissele SSA-E, Posi-Snap ambi safety, gas block
- Arms Unlimited Norgon style ambi mag catch
- Geissele Mk13 13" handguard
- JP Enterprises Enhanced bolt in a Toolcraft nitride carrier
- Surefire 3 prong flash eliminator
- BCM Mod 4x4
- Magpul picitiny bipod
- Magpul Pro LR BUIS
- ADM Delta QD scope mount
- Trijicon Credo 2-10x36


I'll be sending this one to John at Retro Arms Works to have the Super Gasblock pinned on.

http://imgur.com/a/K5j6qqp

JP 18"

Accept no substitute.

Check out centurion arms mk12 barrels theyll pin there much smaller gas block for you , just send them the G barrel nut

I currently own and shoot 16" DD, 18" Criterion, 20" LaRue Stealth, and a 18" SPR Douglas from CLE.
The Douglas groups the best and with a wider variety of ammo. LaRue and Criterion pretty close too each other and the DD not far behind.

JP is a local company to me but their stuff has always seemed a little on the high end price wise when there are so many other good options out there. I'll take another look at his stuff.

WOA
Edit. I had a CLE douglas barreled upped. It was the most accurate gas gun Ive ever owned.

John Holliger sells great barrels. $275.00 will buy a world class SPR barrel in 1/7 or 1/8 twist. Have ADCO or John Thomas pin the gas block and refinish the stainless steel barrel. ADCO installs Ops Inc/Allen Engineering silencer mounts and brakes if you want the Mk12 look.

I've got a $500 CLE Krieger which did include the bolt, and a $320 Douglas, both SPR profile, OPS cuts, bought way back.
It is a rare day the Krieger outshoots the Douglas, but sometimes it does, especially with OPS 12th, and a better shooter.

I had CLE spin up a Douglass barrel with their CLE chamber.  It's a good shooter, though I haven't tried to work up any loads for it.  I shoot only factory loads in .223.  I'm pleased with its performance with the PPU 75 grn HPBT.

Call CLE.  Give them your goals, budget, and your credit card number.  Wait for happiness to arrive.

I've pretty much decided the CLE Douglas is the way to go. I just need to decide if I want 1:7 or 1:8 and a matte finish or black Duracoat. Most of the time I'll be shooting 75 & 77gr out of this one but maybe some 62gr too since I have so much Mk318 Mod 1 to shoot up.

I have really enjoyed my 18" Larue Stealth barrel. Thought my 16" predatAR barrel hasn't really impressed me even with more glass on it.

CLE is as good, possibly better than JP.

He's been around so long, did not know he was still at it.

I vote DD because that’s what I choose.

I shot 3 rounds into a thumbnail size group work hornady 75gr BTHP Steel match.

DD makes great barrels.

I’ve yet to see BCM make a barrel that shoots anything better than just ok.

You could do a lot worse. I have no time on a CLE douglas, but a PRI Douglas that is fantastic. You probably won't wear it out after a season, so might as well get the finish and twist rate you want.



Not really a fair comparison, as hang with heavier SS barrels for groups is not what the PredatAR profile barrel was made to do.

I'm going to be ordering the Douglas next week after I sell some gold.

18"
1:8 twist
CLE chamber
Rifle gas
Duracoat
Matched bolt included
$470

All that's left is a 15" Geissele Mk8 handguard and their Super Gas Block (sending to John at Retro Arms for pinning), a bipod, Magpul Pro LR BUIS, Trijicon Credo 2-10x36 and a mount I'm undecided on yet. Sure wish that $1200 stimulus would hit my account

Thanks for all the input fellas

I run a WOA spr 1-7 with a mk8 rail all black in one spr build. And a BCM spr barrel in my mod 1 build. If it was me id buy a WOA for almost half what you are gonna do. But that's my $0.02

I think I would look for a Bushnell LRTS instead of the Trijicon Credo. 8 mil turrets suck.

Good choice on the Douglas barrel.

What type of mount are you looking for, fixed or QD?

My buddy works for Federal here in MN and gets Bushnell scopes very cheap, as well as Savage rifles (same parent company owns all three or something). He has quite a few of the high end Bushnell scopes, none of which I've been too impressed by. I pretty much stay brand loyal to Leupold and Trijicon for glass anyway. It'll be the Credo 2-10x36 MOA Precision Tree reticle.

I wanted to try a Geissele mount but considering how they seem to be out of stock more often than not, I'll probably just get a non QD Midwest Midwest Industries mount. I've used the MI brand mounts a couple times and liked them, especially for the price. I do like their QD levers but I don't really need QD and will save money getting a standard mount.

One more question before I order tomorrow. Is there really a noticeable difference between the 1:7 and 1:8 twist? I was leaning towards the 1:8 just so I could theoretically have more accuracy over a wider range of bullet weights but I'll likely never shoot anything other than 77gr SMK/TMK, 75gr Hornady BTHP and 62gr Mk318 Mod 1.

Again, call CLE.  They will let you speak with a smith.  Ask your questions.  Those guys know what they are talking about and are speaking from real deal experience.

To be clear, that is what I did when I was building my SPR.  I called and spent 30 mins on the phone discussing my end goals, asking questions, and then making a decision based on the information shared with me.   THEN, a few weeks later I got a call out of the blue.  The guy spinning my Bartlein (I forget his name) didn't like the way the extension was quite fitting.  So, he stopped, called me during the work, discussed the issue, gave me options, and then let me decide.  

As you can likely tell, I'm really happy with my experience.   And the barrel is a freakin' laser.

Best barrels I've owned thus far for the money have been Rainier Arms and Trarc Systems. Or course MOA/some sub MOQ Regularly at 250 yards in 15 MPH winds is good enough for me.  But I also just use LaRue triggers and no lead sled or scopes over 9x. They are also super reliable.

I've been running away from the brands you offered lol. I had a 308 AR I built with near top components, including a Rainier barrel and ended up selling it to a buddy soon after completion. He still cant run a full mag through it without chambering issues, I think the chamber is just so tight but he's supposedly shot around 200 rounds through it on top of what I have. I wont even comment on LaRue ????

Craddock, CLE, WOA and Rainier are where I’d look.

It’s hard to beat rainier for the money. My latest Match barrel goes sub 3/4moa with IMI 77’s and their ultramatches have always shot very well (4 of them).

CLE and WOA offer very good barrels as well. I’ve had good results with the WOA house barrels (Wilson Arms), but either of their Bartlein/Krieger barrels should be a step above.

Craddock does great work and has a reputation for very precise barrels (Bartlein/Rock Creek/Criterion).

If you can shoot sub half moa, the Bartlein/Krieger options would be worthwhile. If consistent 3/4-1moa with factory ammo is acceptable, a Rainier match would be where I’d look. Use the extra 300$ saved on ammo.

So I actually ended up ordering a Rainier Arms Match 223 Wylde 1:8 twist, 18" with  rifle gas & SPR profile barrel. It was nearly $200 less than the CLE Douglas and ready to ship (patience is NOT a virtue of mine). I was pretty disappointed with Rainiers own 308 match chamber but considering this is the Wylde, I think it'll run just fine so I gave it a shot.

ETA I also ended up using a Toolcraft nitride bolt carrier with a JP Enhanced bolt. Still waiting on both as well as a Magpul bipod and Magpul Pro BUIS. Last parts to order are the ADM mount and Credo 2-10x36  FFP scope.

Frank White retired from what I heard, and his kids are now running the place.

Frank White retired from what I heard, and his kids are now running the place.

Did you have any tolerance issues or overly tight chambers on your Rainier barrels?

I kind of mentioned it the other day but the first Rainier barrel I had, 16" match intermediate gas 308, refuses to get through 3 shots without chamber issues because it's so tight and it should be past break in by now with ~250 rounds fired. That's why I was skeptical about getting one for this build but figured with a Wylde chamber it would be fine considering the 308 I had was a proprietary Rainier Arms match chamber.

I got the bbl in the mail the other day, barrel nut on and went to slide the gas block on and thats where it stopped. Now I've had barrels that had tight gas block journals but never one that I had to tap the block on with a 2# hammer and punches, until this new 18" Match SPR barrel from Rainier. I forced the gas block on about halfway until I decided I'd wait and think about what I'm going to do before I wreck something. The gas block is a brand new stainless Geissele Super Gas Block which I've used on numerous other builds without issue. I even used a light coat of oil to help the block slide on but it didnt help much. Not sure what to do here.

ETA now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I had a similar issue trying to get the gas block on the 308 Rainier too but it wasn't this bad.

Picture of it so far..


http://imgur.com/a/C5zZpgq

Nope, I’ve never had an issue with their barrels. The feed ramps have always been smooth and polished and the chambers were properly cut. I tried a new RA Rock Creek barrel earlier today with 5 different types of ammo and had no issues, with some producing good initial groups.

Have you measured the gas block ID? If it’s a bit undersized, you may could heat it up with a hair dryer or heat gun to get it to expand slightly and then quickly slide it on. I’ve used Seekins (set screw) JP, Superlative Arms, and SLR clamp on gas blocks without issue. The Seekins blocks were tight, but they went on without any fuss.

I have not, my caliper needs a new battery. I have a chest freezer, I might throw the barrel in it and heat the block up with the toaster oven and see if that helps.

Duplicate

Freezer and hair dryer got the block on with a couple taps from a rubber hammer.

Everything is finished and waiting on the scope but I got sidetracked with a 458 SOCOM build now so it'll be another week or two. The one thing I'm not too sure about is the ADM Delta mount, I'm thinking I probably should have bought an offset Recon but we'll find out soon enough. I'll be buying a LMT ambi charging handle for this one too (which is my favorite latch anyway) and taking the BCM Mod 4x4 out for my 458 upper.

Anyway, here's a pic for anyone still following this.

SPR inspired quarantine build



Thanks fellas

Cory