Do you like your AR but feel it's far too "babied" looking? Then look no further than Ballistic Advantage! We'll ding up the muzzle end for you, to give your rifle the battle-scarred look you've been dreaming of!

I cheaped out on an AR barrel. I bought a Ballistic Advantage 24" bull barrel, and while ballistically it might be okay (haven't gotten all the parts for the upper so I don't know yet) it chaps my hide that I got sent a barrel with a big ol' ding on the muzzle end. The packaging was as pristine as a bag wrapped in bubble wrap inside a cardboard box can be, so it didn't happen in shipping. I've already raised the issue via BA's web help-desk-portal thing (with pictures) and I plan on calling and making a squeaky wheel of myself to see what my options are; I'm not 100% sure at this time how willing I am to send a barrel back for what is ultimately a cosmetic issue.

I'm generally not much for babying my gear (especially guns) and don't care about a few scratches or dings or dents, but I very much care when I'm not the one who put them there. From the looks of things this barrel got dropped on something; fortunately it's nowhere near the crown, and if I felt so inclined I could pretty easily smooth the raised metal down with a high grit whetstone.

Glad to see that you will be contacting the company and giving them a chance to make things good with you. Errors and issues happen in all parts of the world to which I am glad since I am a QA person. Please let us know how this turns out so we can see really what type of company this is.

Since you can already buy pre-faded with multiple rips in your jeans, why not do that for the tacticool crowd too?

I bought a BA barrel for my build a few years back. It was mechanically and cosmetically flawless. (Well, as cosmetically flawless as one might reasonably expect such a thing to be. It's not fine furniture )

I didn't buy a BA barrel to save a buck or two. I bought a BA Hanson profile barrel for their performance.

BA was great to work with. I wanted as short a non-NFA barrel as I could have. So I bought my flash hider and hand guard, had the flash hider and barrel nut shipped to BA, they pinned and welded the flash hider for me, after placing the barrel nut on, first, and sent me the completed assembly. All in a timely manner for a reasonable charge.

I understand how you feel, and it should come in an acceptable condition.
For me~ it wouldn't make much of difference as I have methods of fixing ... Cerakote or blasting and a barrel largely is covered by a handguard.
That is for cosmetic issues, if it affects performance, it is a no go for me.

I've initiated the process of finding out how they want to proceed with this. I spoke with someone there who insisted that while there very definitely is an issue the only way they can proceed is via their ticketing system so I guess now I have to wait.

I'm just trying to give them a shot at correcting the issue before I try to take matters into my own hands and file it smooth.

I bout the BA because while I want that Shilen I didn't want to drop $500+ on just the barrel when there's so much else I need to buy for this project.

Well, it looks like the Ballistic Advantage barrel is now mine, for what that's worth. I assembled the upper on my lunch break, and I found that in order to install the gas block I had to file down the dent so that it wouldn't get in the way. I've got some Flitz and other means to get it looking as uniform with the rest of the barrel as I can.

I've also waited an entire week without so much as my ticket in their "help desk" system being assigned to a CS rep. I'm not pissed yet, but I'm starting to get annoyed.

Update: BA finally got back to me, and after I confirmed this is not a blem barrel they've offered a partial discount. I haven't agreed to nor denied anything yet, but I'm probably going to take it, and see if I can get them to toss in a little bit extra because the gas port was drilled to the wrong diameter as well, as I documented in my build post over in the Rifle Room.

I have had good luck with BA barrels in the past, but all have been Hanson profile barrels that exceeded my expectations. I hope your situation is resolved to your liking and the barrel shoots well.

Apparently they drilled it small on purpose. They say they drill those to 0.086".