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Posted: 6/9/2008 8:09:49 AM EDT
| I am currently building a SAM-R, and was ordering a barrel from Compass Lake. I was planning to buy a Kreiger, but after talking to the people at Compass lake they told me about the Douglas, and said the only difference (besides price) in the Douglas vs the Kreiger was the life of the barrel. My question is what is the typical life of the average barrel? Is it worth the extra $100 to go with the Krieger, considering I shoot about 1000 rounds a year. |
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Well, here is my take on this. Both barrel blanks will be good enough to win a benchrest competition. Krieger is cut rifled and I think Douglas is button rifled. Cut rifled barrels are, in ultra accurate(< .5MOA) applications to be less affected in post-rifling machining. If you are making a super AR, with a high end scope for shooting .5 MOA or better, this might be a better choice. Still button rifled blanks are machined everyday and even win benchrest competitions regularly after machining. This choice is a hard one, but even though I bought the Krieger last time from them, I would buy the Douglas next time. The AR action is just not accurate enough to justify the additional $100. |
416 lasts the shortest life, sometimes shooting out in as little as 2000 rounds. I've seen it happen during a competition. 416's accuracy will drop abruptly due to how the throat wears: a chip will come out, and that's it. 4140 slowly looses its accuracy, due to how this steel wears. Expect about 3000 before accuracy starts degrading. With either barrel steel, both will still probably shoot 2 MOA for the remainder of your life time, unless corrosion or poor cleaning practices are involved. |
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