Hi, all.

The first (and only) AR rifle I purchased several years ago is a BCM 16", mid-length gas, with a cold hammer forged LW profile barrel and 13" KMR hand guard. I have upgraded the trigger to a Geissele SSA, added a light, and mounted a Trijicon Accupower 1-4x optic. I also installed an H2 buffer and Springco CS buffer spring to smooth out the recoil impulse a bit and for optimal ejection of spent cases. This rifle has served me extremely well, never experiencing a malfunction, typically shooting from 0-200 yards on paper and steel. It is also *very* light.

I am looking to purchase a 2nd AR-15 rifle. The easy button would be to purchase another BCM lower and slap on a new BCM upper, likely with one of their ELW profile barrels. The only problem is... BCM complete factory lowers appear to be unobtanium lately. So I am considering other options. Centurion Arms has been my 2nd choice. They seem like a high quality rifle made by good people with excellent customer service. I considered Daniel Defense as well, but I did not find a barrel profile I liked and their prices are quite high.

So I investigated Wilson Combat. Their 16" Protector Carbine immediately caught my attention. It seems to have everything I'd want in a 2nd 16" AR rifle out of the box with no real need to upgrade anything. I envision this 2nd rifle will still be rather "all-around" but with a focus more tilted toward longer range... 0-500 yards, with 300-500 yards being on steel only. I know Wilson Combat is very well-regarded in the industry, especially the quality and accuracy of their barrels. That's my main question.

I've never owned a stainless steel, button-rifled barrel and I'm wondering what the care and maintenance differences are between them and cold hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels. With my BCM, there was no break-in period. Accuracy with bulk range .223 ammo is about 2-2.5" at 100 yards, and accuracy with Speer Gold Dot 64gr is about 1.5" at 100 yards. The nice thing is that even with the BCM LW barrel being hot, it still prints very nice groups with the Gold Dot. I am impressed. The bulk range ammo, however, does tend to string a bit when the barrel gets hot and the groups open up.

I also noticed the Protector Carbine comes with an intermediate-length gas system. This is between mid-length and rifle-length. On a 16" barrel, this gas system length seems very similar in operation and dwell time to the 14.5" mid-length gas setup, which over the years has proven to work very well when properly setup. Are there any special considerations when using an intermediate-length gas system?

I've like to consider a heavier, mid-weight profile barrel to limit the stringing of groups after shooting a bit, and know that a good barrel and ammo will show *my* shooting ability. The Wilson Combat Protector Carbine comes with their Recon weight barrel, apparently unfluted. But I do see fluted options on their website. What kind of performance can expect from their barrels, and again, what is the recommended care and maintenance for optimal performance?

I plan to outfit my 2nd AR very similarly to my first: same light in the same location, same hand stop in the same location, etc. Optic-wise, I have 2 choices: 1.) Move the Trijicon Accupower 1-8x from my M14 to this rifle and get a new 2-10x optic for the M14, or 2.) Move the Trijicon Accupower 1-4x from my LW BCM to this rifle, and replace the BCM's optic with a red dot of some sort, e.g., Aimpoint PRO or Sig Romeo 8T. I see plusses and minuses in either choice. I realize adding the Trijicon Accupower 1-8x to a Wilson rifle with Recon barrel could make it rather portly but that's ok I think. It's not like I'm hiking around with it all day.

If anyone has one of these Protector Carbine rifles and can speak to your experience with them I'd very much appreciate it. Would you recommend the fluted over the unfluted to save weight? Any difference in performance between the two? Also, if you have other recommendations for a "turn-key" AR in the same price range, feel free to mention it. Thanks for your time!

Chris

I'm pleased with the 18"upper I have, I went with the fluted barrel for a bit less weight.
Being a SS barrel it will wear out faster so I don't use it as a blaster and not much FMJ through it either.

If going for a precision setup, I’d grab a Ssekins over anything else right now. We’ve had a few come through the shop and in the precision category I think Seekins is tops right now. They are very accurate and have a no BS lifetime warranty that includes the barrel and bolt. Shoot it out? No problem, they will replace the barrel for you at no cost.

I have the Protector S in 5.56mm and I’m very impressed with its apparent quality.

Because of the DMR role* I envisioned it for when I got it, most of my recorded groups have been at 50 yards. The scope is an SAI 1-6× LPVO, and therefore not really suited for long distances. Although I’ve used a few other loads as well, most shooting has been with IMI 77 grain OTM, LR, Mod 1. That’s not a true match load, but overall has performed well for me from the rifle. I have recorded many groups measuring less than 1 MOA or just over (e.g., 1.2 inch at 100 yards). One of my drills is a face target at 50 yards from the prone or other supported position, and the resulting two-shot “groups” are almost always less than 1 MOA.

I did, however, replace the factory stock with a Magpul PRS Lite, and I’m also very happy with it.

I don’t make recommendations, but I would not hesitate to purchase the gun again.

On the other hand the 300 Blackout upper I purchased from WC has developed a cycling problem and short cycles with several different types of ammo. I do not know what the issue is and I am waiting a response from Wilson Combat.

I have a JP Enterprises AR as well, and I believe it’s probably capable of greater precision than the Wilson Combat, but it has a 3-15× scope, a longer barrel, and is typically used with higher quality ammunition than the Protector.

I had a Seekins in 308 and did not have good luck with it. The trigger was not adjusted properly when I received it and I had to do it myself. Plus the gas block wasn’t regulated for reliability with most loads I tried initially. I couldn’t get it adjusted myself to work properly and had to send it back to the factory for the problem. I’m sure they produce many good individual specimens, but I got rid of mine after the initial bad experiences.

* Added: Or perhaps what is being referred to as the special purpose rifle (SPR) role these days.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

I have a number of Wilson Combat rifles/uppers/components and I am satisfied with every item I own. My ARs predate the "Protector" name, but I have a lot of mileage with their Recon barrels. All of my Wilson barrels produce outstanding accuracy:
- 5.56 -- 16" 9 twist (retired), 18" 7 twist (retired), 14.5" 8 twist, and two 16" 8 twists
- 300 blk -- 11" 7 twist
- 9mm - 8" 10 twist
I have a couple of 16" 8 twist barrels when the current ones are shot out. I have a 20" 8 twist Wylde super sniper ready to replace a Doublestar barrel that's approaching end of life.

Wilson's barrels are not quite as accurate as a Bartlein or Krieger, but there are many production barrels that just outclassed by Wilson's performance. Every WC barrel I've owned produces sub-MOA accuracy out to hundreds of yards, using factory ammo. And not just once in a blue moon, but pretty much every day that I shoot them.

In theory, button rifling and fluting produces stress on a barrel's steel. There are ways to reduce this stress, and WC knows how to do it. My WC barrels show no accuracy or POI issues when hot, cold, fouled, or clean.

You can choose to break in a barrel or not. In reality the process is smoothing out the machining marks in the chamber and throat. Such imperfections occur with all barrels, although they vary from barrel to barrel. I do the process of shoot one, then clean for the first 5-10 rounds of every new barrel. I do this while sighting in the optics and getting a preliminary muzzle velocity. When there's no copper on patches and the carbon fouling drops off noticeably, IMO the barrel is broken in. Understand that muzzle velocity will slowly climb for anywhere from 50 to 150 rounds before it stabilizes.

Stainless steel barrels exhibit shorter lives than chrome lined barrels. Generally. A good SS barrel will short circles around a chrome lined barrel. When precision shooters retire a SS barrel because it's shot out, it still likely has better accuracy than any chrome lined barrel. It's just that the precision shooter can no longer obtain sub-MOA accuracy from the older SS barrel, and thus it's best use to him is a tomato stake. If you're shooting more than a thousand rounds per year -- every year -- through a given barrel, then barrel life could be a consideration. If you place a high value on accuracy, barrel life becomes secondary. If you want to shoot lots of FMJ ammo, stick will chrome line barrels and less expensive ARs.

Thank you for the informative replies so far. Appreciate it. A few of you stated to "not shoot much FMJ" through a SS barrel. By that I assume you mean bulk range ammo for blasting high volume of rounds in a short amount of time. I don't just blast away with no real purpose. Ammo is too expensive for that. My typical range session when shooting 0-100 yards is about 50-60 rounds over the course of an hour. When shooting at 200+ yards it's less, perhaps 20-30. Over a year's time, I'll shoot around 1K-1.5K rounds. With a 2nd AR, this volume would be distributed across both rifles. If by that comment you really meant to imply that factory FMJ ammo should be shot in a very limited amount through a SS barrel, what type of factory ammo do you recommend? More like OTM loads meant for precision and just stick with that? If that's the case, then perhaps I would be best served by a chrome-lined barrel in a mid-weight configuration.

The way I see it, if you are going to be shooting a SS barrel meant more for precision then I like to put miles on it with decent ammo.
Pretty much the same reason I don't shoot Federal 77gn GMMM in my chrome lined barrels.

I'm not a barrel burner and expect to get years of use from mine.
Even if I shot FMJ only through the SS barrel I doubt I would end up wearing it out.

FMJ ammo just isn't accurate on a consistent basis. The design & manufacturing process does not produce a bullet that flies all that well. A FMJ load will be more accurate in a quality SS barrel than in a chrome lined barrel, but the accuracy will pale in comparison to good ammo in a SS barrel

If you want to shoot accurately -- especially at many hundreds of yards -- the rifle "system" needs all links in the chain to be solid. Barrel, ammo, sights, shooter. A Ferrari won't perform well on a track with bad tires, bad gas, and a student driver. Don't expect a world-class athlete to perform well on a long-term diet of Twinkies. Lipstick on a pig...is still a pig.

As long as the FMJ ammo isn't "bimetal", it won't wear out a SS barrel any faster than other ammo. So if you want to shoot ball ammo in a WC, JP, KAC, LarRue, etc -- go for it. The rifles will function flawlessly, and the rounds will impact sorta-kinda-ish where aimed.

FMJ is cheap to buy. One must invest in quality ammo to obtain accuracy. Quality factory ammo that works well in decent rifles includes:
- Federal GMM 69 and 77. A barrel with at least 1:9 twist that doesn't shoot FGMM 69 well is almost certainly a bad barrel. Or a bad chamber job. FGMM 77 should shoot well in a 1:8 twist barrel -- if not, the barrel is likely bad.
- Hornady Vmax 55, HPBT 75 Black, and 73 ELDM. Regardless of twist, Vmax 55 should shoot. 75 Black needs a 1:8 twist. 73 ELDM needs a good chamber.
There are boatloads of ammo manufacturers producing SMK 69 loads. Some of them get pretty close to FGMM 69 performance, often at a lower price.

If you want a very high quality AR15 for whatever you do, then by all means a WC should be on your short list. If you want to shoot accurately at 300 to 500 yards -- get a quality gun with a quality barrel, use match-grade ammo, get a good scope, and then the rest is on you.

An example of the precision with the Protector S.
100 yards, IMI 77 grain OTM, LR, Mod 1, 11 shots.





And now the excuses.

The group was fired from a folding table rest while I was kneeling on the ground. The LPVO was set at 6×, the maximum magnification. Bipod for front support with a small wedge bag at the rear. The shooting position was therefore not the most stable, and as I’ve mentioned before, the IMI round is generally much better than typical M193 or M855 loads, but it’s hardly a top tier match load. It does nevertheless serve my training purposes with the rifle.

Oh, yes: Wilson Combat has sent me a mailing label to send them the 300 Blackout upper for evaluation.