could you give your 2 cents...I'm buying a flat top ar to use for varmint hunting and punching paper at the range.  I demand accuracy from all my rifles so i guess thats most important to me.  I'm looking at a olympic arms 16 inch bull barrel and a bushmaster 24 inch varminter.  my current rock river A2nm (8 twist) shoots the heavy bullets very well and I would like to use 69-80 gr bullets in my varmint rifle.  oh well i could go on and on...lets see what u think

I'm also trying to build a flat top and I decided on a 20" SS match barrel for my current project but I'm only going to build the upper for now, the lower will be built later on.

A 24" would be nice too but it depends if you can tolerate the extra weight.

Check out ADCO, they sell RRA varmint and other great performing barrels.


ADCO Firearms website link

The Bushmaster is a very good rifle, and would more than likely meet your needs. I do think that the 24" barrel means that the rifle is limited.

If it were me I would go with a shorter barrel(18"-20") in stainless for a dedicated target/varmint rifle. I prefer a shorter barrel only because I don't see a huge advantage in the velocity gain of the 24", but I do think there is an advantage in the mobility and accuracy of a 18" or 20" SS barrel.

thanks for the tip about ADCO they have some nice stuff.  Anyone use the 1:9 twist for the heavy bullets?  I have a 1:8 twist now and works fine.  I really want to use the 75 gr. A-max I hear its awsome.  What about chambers?  My rock river has a wylde chamber and feeds anything.  Any pro or con to olympic or bushy?  Sorry about taking so long to reply.  I have been reloading a had a stuck case.  I used the remover and then got another stuck case 3 later   Got online and ordered some redding dies ive had it with rcbs!

I had no problems shooting 77gr blackhills ammo out of a Bushy 1:9 twist barrel, but it doesn't work for everyone. If you plan on the heavy bullets, I would stick with the 1:7 or 1:8 twist barrels. I prefer 1:7 because they can handle 55-80gr bullets with no problem. I would also go with the Wilde chamber for its versatility.

Adco's Designated Marksman M4 upper is 16" mid-length 1:8 SS barrel upper.  That would do the trick...

TS