quote:

Originally posted by barndg00:
I originally tried to build a precision AR with a 20” Criterion barrel, could never get it to shoot 1 MOA at 200yds, tried extensively. Eventually replaced the barrel with a Compass Lake Kreiger with the CLE chamber. Much happier. Definitely not as good as my bolt gun, but follow up shots are faster!

Which Criterion did you use? I built an 18" SPR/DMR-ish upper with one of their hybrid profile rifle gas stainless nitride barrels. Haven't been able to shoot it yet. Didn't want the weight of a heavy profile, but wanted something better than 1 MOA.

I'm also using their chrome lined stuff more more general purpose builds.

What do you think about this barrel?

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...554149263?pid=149263

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
What do you think about this barrel?

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...554149263?pid=149263

Tony.

I think it would be a great barrel but it has no threading for a brake, etc.
If you don't need or want that it should be pretty nice.

Well, I ordered that barrel and it will be here Friday.

Also took the time to order an upper receiver lapping tool, a new gas tube, a Geissele action rod, and a F-marked sight base from CMMG.

I'm going to use the set screw method instead of taper pins for the front sight base.

For those who where wondering which barrel this is, it's the Shilen 20" SS match barrel with a headspaced bolt, 1:8 twist, ratchet rifling, no muzzle threads, Wylde chamber.

Tony.

quote:

For those who where wondering which barrel this is, it's the Shilen 20" SS match barrel with a headspaced bolt, 1:8 twist, ratchet rifling, no muzzle threads, Wylde chamber.

I have plenty of Shilen barrels in varying lengths, I can't remember all the details but some were ratchet and some 5R, also in 223 and 308.
ALL were great shooters.
You should do just fine.

I got my barrel in today. I ordered a receiver lapping tool and squared up my receiver face...



Also got a Geissele reaction rod too...


Barrel nut installed...


Got in a new F marked front sight base and drilled and tapped the holes for 6/32 set screws...


Tapped the holes...


Rail and front sight base installed for a test fit...


I've got to get some actual 6/32 set screws tomorrow and install them instead of the screws, but you get the picture...

Here she is all put together...


All I have to do is get some set screws and machine some flats on the barrel where the screws will go so I can set the front sight windage with my rear sight set at mechanical zero.

The crown...


Tony.

Looking good, Tony! That is a heavy barrel!

Love that crown.

That's pretty badass!

Thanks! I got the flats machined, but I need make them a little bigger to allow for rotation.





I got the Wilson Combat gas tube installed and it's ready for the range.

I'm thinking about getting this Vortex Diamondback for it to go with my American Defense 30mm mount.
https://www.cabelas.com/shop/e...ical-ffp-rifle-scope

Tony.

I thought I'd save a few bucks and picked up one of those in 6-24
It was bent out of the box at the magnification ring.
Vortex warranty is great.

I had it on my .308 and found it hard to see a 10" round plate at 100 yds with the lighting it was in and I was having a hard time getting behind it.

I sold it off and went with an Arken 4-16x50 that was the same price.
Came with the mount, flip up caps, throw lever, bubble and other stuff.


I haven't made it to the range with it but I do a bit of dry fire and it's quite a bit better than the Diamondback.

Well, I ended up picking up that scope tonight and mounted it in my AM Defense cantilever mount. This should be good enough to test my rifle's "precision" since that was the crux of my original post. So here it is, a 6-24X FFP Scope for $400. We'll see how it all turns out.







Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Well, I ended up picking up that scope tonight and mounted it in my AM Defense cantilever mount. This should be good enough to test my rifle's "precision" since that was the crux of my original post. So here it is, a 6-24X FFP Scope for $400. We'll see how it all turns out.

I don't get this. You spend all this time and effort to build an AR15 for long distance precision, then you put a bottom end scope on it. Your barrel cost more than the scope. There are places to pinch pennies, and there are places where one shouldn't.

I'm fine with Vortex, but I wouldn't put that line on a quality rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Well, I ended up picking up that scope tonight and mounted it in my AM Defense cantilever mount. This should be good enough to test my rifle's "precision" since that was the crux of my original post. So here it is, a 6-24X FFP Scope for $400. We'll see how it all turns out.

I don't get this. You spend all this time and effort to build an AR15 for long distance precision, then you put a bottom end scope on it. Your barrel cost more than the scope. There are places to pinch pennies, and there are places where one shouldn't.

I'm fine with Vortex, but I wouldn't put that line on a quality rifle.

I agree with you Fritz. But alas, here's my line of thinking which has been partially omitted from this thread because I didn't think it was relevant.

This particular scope is simply a stop-gap solution. A better high power optic solution will come later this year or next. We're moving across country in a couple of months and I can't justify a $1,000+ optic right now. I figured since I had $110 in Cabela's gift cards, I could at least play with it for a little while before we move. I'm actually going to start disassembling my rifles next month for the move. Once we sell our house, I'll shave a little off the top for a better quality optic. I only bought the barrel this month because my company issued out a nice bonus. I used 1/4 of it to pay for the Shilen barrel, the Geissele reaction rod and the receiver lapping tool, but the rest went to the credit card which I used to buy my Leupold MK5 last year for my long range M14 EBR. A $1500 scope simply isn't in the budget right now.

I wanted something to test it out and get an idea for the rifle's accuracy, but this particular scope will be primarily for my 11 year old son to use when he's out banging steel at the range with us. He's still small in stature and maybe weighs 85 pounds.

He has a hard time (mentally) with the 308 but he smiles the most with an AR. [begin truthful humor] I used my son's enjoyment of an AR to justify me building a kick-ass service rifle AR.[end humor]

If you go back and see some of my build decisions, you'll see that I also built it so that I can shoot service rifle competitions with it. I chose the 20" heavy barrel for a reason, as I did the Geissele MK7 rail (service rifle legal). I'd like to try shooting with irons (hence the F-marked sight base), just to see how I do but once I get serious with service rifle, I'll use a service rifle legal optic. I think most, if not all, service rifle AR shooters are using optics now on the firing line.

For that, I have a Trijicon TA-31 RCO (at least $1200) which meets the regs for a low power optic. A friend of mine told me that there's a possibility that they may start allowing 6x optics in service rifle since some portion of the military is now using 6x optics. If that's the case, I'm going to throw on my Vortex Razor HD Gen II ($1400) on it. I've also got a heavy Les Tam sling that will go on it as well.

I'll most likely start a thread in 8 months asking for a recommended high powered scope for this AR. As it stands, I already spent $1,100 in the last couple of months between the quad-rail, the barrel and the tooling. I'll get there, but I can't do it all at once.

Tony.