AR-15 barrel options

[dsa]

Sorry for the slight thread drift but this this thread sent me over to CLE and I found this barrel. I have an itch to build a 14.5" AR; something along the lines of a socom style build. Is this barrel a good place to start? Reliability and accuracy have a higher priority over weight. Thanks in advance.

https://compasslake.com/product/read...-barrel-1-7-7/

[Suvorov]

Unimpressive.

Yeah, unfortunately that seems to be the online consensuses. I have one of their 18 inch SS barrels that I bought back in 2010 when SPRs were what all the cool kids were shooting. Wandering interests and access to only a 100 yard range put that build on the back burner. Now that I live in an area more conducive to medium and longer distance shooting I've been wanting to re-pursue my SPR build. I suppose I will give it a shot and see how the barrel does (it seems that the BCM barrels perform well for some people) before I abandon all hope.

[JohnO]

What are the thoughts on BCMs precision barrels?

I have zero 1st hand experience with it but I've heard the Kyle Defoor BCM Upper is very accurate. (Not a quantitative measurement.)

The D4 Barrel is marked 1 in 7.7" twist rate and supposedly "optimized" for Black Hills 77gn. OTM.

https://www.black-hills.com/product-...-1-c-mil-pack/

Not exactly a round I see as readily obtainable.

The latest and greatest I hear "the fan boys" clamoring to get is the Proof Research carbon fiber wrapped barrels.

[CZ Man]

Is there an 'easy button' for those of us who don't build rifles? I've got a spare lower and am interested in getting a complete upper with ideally an 18" barrel. MOA or better with quality ammo is my hope. Which upper manufacturers use Criterian barrels? Any other brands to consider?

[DDTSGM]

Is there an 'easy button' for those of us who don't build rifles? I've got a spare lower and am interested in getting a complete upper with ideally an 18" barrel. MOA or better with quality ammo is my hope. Which upper manufacturers use Criterian barrels? Any other brands to consider?

IMO the easiest button is this one in 16" - https://www.larue.com/products/larue...e-ar-15-upper/

One of the shops who specializes in making service rifles for CMP/NRA competition would another source: White Oak Armament (built mine); Compass Lake Engineering, Seekins Precision come to mind.

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/18-...t-223-556.html

The varmint and 3-gun uppers are less expensive than the service rifle uppers for several reasons, perhaps the biggest reason is that the service rifle uppers have a free float tube under the handguards, whereas the free float tube on the varmint rifles is what we commonly see on non M-4 rifles.

https://seekinsprecision.com/parts-a...-18-upper.html

https://compasslake.com/product-cate...omplete-upper/

[Shoresy]

One of the shops who specializes in making service rifles for CMP/NRA competition would be one source: White Oak Armament (built mine); Compass Lake Engineering, Seekins Precision come to mind.

This. No experience with Seekins (have used some parts, but not service rifle uppers), but WOA and CLE are the go-tos for off-the-shelf uppers.

[titsonritz]

Right now, it's Criterion's Core for me. weight is good, accuracy is better than me. They are hard to find, though

You can find the Cores if you shop around. TACSWAP and ARFCOM’s EE will typically have a few every so often. I can’t remember where else but I’ve seen them on a third party vendor’s site occasionally I believe too. That’s what I’d do.


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I've had great luck using Criterion's email notification and backorder option. When I was after a 12.5" Core I email them and asked if they had an ETA and they replied 4-6 weeks and my best bet was to place it on backorder, which I did and had it installed a month later. I just got a email notification they had 13.9" Cores in stock so pulled the trigger on that one 30 mins ago. They are currently in stock right now if anyone is interested. I swear it is my last build, this time, again.

[theJanitor]

yup. My brother's 14.5 shipped from Criterion this week. He had it on backorder, too. Ripcord Industries gets the most barrels in, I think. Also ADM. It wouldn't hurt to give them a call. They've been helpful on the phone with a buddy of mine when he was looking for barrels

[SoCalDep]

IMO the easiest button is this one in 16" - https://www.larue.com/products/larue...e-ar-15-upper/

I can’t speak to much else but I bought one of these. I put it on an Aero lower with a CMC trigger and Magpul PRS Lite stock and Vortex Viper PST 2-10x. My first three rounds were on steel at about 150 yards to walk things in close enough for paper. First 3rd group on paper was less than an inch. The group was about six inches low and three inches right. I went 1.8 mils up and .9 left and fired a second group… it was dead-on and less than half an inch… 0.402” as best I could measure.

Scariest part about it was that this was with Department-issue Speer Gold Dot 55gr…

I am a fan.

[ST911]

any thoughts?

Several builds or rebarrel jobs in my peer group with Wilson Combat barrels, very pleased.

Larue barrels are also GTG, excellent luck with those as well.