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Posted: 11/30/2009 11:21:33 PM EDT
Hi, Im building a SPR and im looking for a good chrome match barrel, any ideas? Good ones and ones i should stay clear of? 
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You would be hard pressed to do better than a Pac-Nor (Noveske) but if you don't want to drop $350-$450 on the barrel, there are cheaper alternatives. While they may not be as accurate, unless you are shooting prairie dogs at 500 yards or shooting competition, you'll never know the difference. Shilen, Douglas, A&B, ... are very good makers and are sold by White Oak Armament, AR15barrels.com, and numerous others.
Then there are the Saturn barrels, CMMG, BCM, YHM, DD, and the list is too long to type that sell barrels under their own name, some actually make them, most buy blanks from the above and finish them, putting their own name on them and it can vary from one lot to the next as to who actually made the blanks. One point to consider, the best made blank in the world can be ruined if the finisher does not have a clue what they are doing. The above mentioned people I trust to finish a barrel properly but they are by far not the only ones. One barrel used a lot in the cheaper barrel line is ER Shaw. I have mixed feelings about them. I have heard a lot of good, but I have also heard a lot of bad about rough barrels that foul badly. They have not been on my "consider" list for a couple of decades but I think I ended up with a couple of their barrels being sold by other barrel "makers" who were buying their blanks then finishing them. The barrels I have, if they are Shaw are good enough for me and are not of bad quality at all. Still, when I am doing a build where accuracy is paramount, it is a Pac-Nor, Lothar Walther, Lija, Krieger, or one of the other top shelf barrel makers that I turn to and then I only trust gunsmiths I know will not ruin them to turn the barrels and set them up, like Marty of Teppo Jutsu. |
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