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I know bcm has the best but it is 16 inches w/o a flash hider. And believe it or not, that's a big deal to me. That's why I was looking at rainier arms site and they have white oak and rainier barrels at 14.5 then I'll add a brakeout. Is there really a measurable difference in quality between those two barrels and the bcm?
Not sure that BCM is the "best", how do you "know" that?
If you want a 14.5" SS barrel and don't mind spending some dough, get a Noveske.
+1 - I'll stack my Afghan up against any BCM SS barrel...
That's a really bold statement, although I can understand that owning Noveske equipment can give you that level of confidence in what you have. The fact of the matter is that searching for the "best" is a futile effort. If you do some reading up on the guys that do a lot of shooting long distance matches, most of the them are shooting White Oak barrels. Does that mean that White Oak is the best? I don't think so. I think it means that White Oak are good barrels and they are cheap, relatively speaking. There's a lot of good barrels out there. White Oak, BCM, Noveske, Ranier, etc. You'll likely be satisfied with any one of them and there's no reason why you shouldn't be.
Out where I shoot, the "standard" load is a 77gr SMK over 24gr of Re15 or Varget. There is a variety of equipment out there and non really stand head and shoulders above the others. What has mattered is the shooter and I think that will have more to do with good shooting that what barrel you chose.
I chose the BCM barrel for a few reasons. It was cheaper than the competition and it is made of 410 stainless. It should theoretically last longer and be more corrosion resistant. It's also accurate and stays consistent when it heats up.
The only reason I'd go with a stainless barrel is if precison accuracy is of importance. If all you need is a rifle that will shoot around MOA, I'd just get some flavor of hammer forged chrome lined barrel from either Daniel Defense or BCM.
Of course, with all of the yammering I did, I realized that you are looking for a 14.5" barrel. As far as I know, BCM doesn't have a 14.5" stainless barrel. How much money are you looking to spend? You could just get the Pac Nor (Noveske) and KNOW that you got good (arguably the best) equipment. If you want to save a little, I certainly wouldn't consider a Ranier to be a compromise.