I'm looking at building either a 16" or 18" dissipator style upper.  I want MOA to sub-MOA accuracy, but a .25" group will mean nothing over a .5" group, since I'm not good enough to wring out that much accuracy...  A .25" grouping barrel will still be at least a .5" job in my incapable hands.  Range could be anywhere from 25 to 500 yards...  But mostly between 200 - 360 yards.

With that in mind, would one of the Wilson "air gauged" barrels in 1:8 be inherently accurate enough if free floated using good ammo?  Basically, I'm trying to decide if I can/can't justify the additional expense of a WOA 18" barrel over the RRA stainless version.

Thanks

What accuracy can be expected from the RRA Wilson barrels?  I also plan on going with RRA, but in a 24" barrel from ADCO.  Is .5 MOA too much to ask from these barrels?

No 1/2 MOA will definately be within the realm of possibility for either of you asking. With rounds they like the Wilson (no-relation) barrels sold by RRA are more than capable of meeting both your requirements.

Mike

To answer your question, I have a 22" barreled RRA Wilson Stainless Steel Barrel (I cut it from 24") with a 1/8 twist. With Nosler 77's in front of a healthy dose of Varget powder, it will do 1/2" all day long.

I get .5" groups out of mine as well.

I have a Wilson 1x8 20" "super bull" that would do sub-1/2 MOA with Federal GMM and sub-MOA with Q3131A (!). I recently had it turned down to an "SPR" contour and re-crowned by Steve @ ADCO, but have yet to shoot it in its new configuration. I expect at least equal performance, if not better.

For not a lot of money, the Wilson barrels sure make ME look good... and that's saying something!  Some accuracy snobs like to trash-talk the Wilson barrels, but if RRA, WOA and countless individual shooters are using them to good result, that speaks volumes to me.  Would a CLE-tuned Douglas or Krieger shoot better?  Maybe, but 1) I doubt with my skills I could ever realize the accuracy potential, and 2) there's no benefit in .25" vs .50" groups for my applications.  I'm not doing hostage-rescue work, or shooting much beyond 100 yards (and never more than 300).

YMMV.