Green Mountain AR barrels

[TwoShot]

Does anyone have experience with Green Mountain AR barrels? They have 18" fluted barrels weighing 34 oz. 1:8 twist with NATO chamber for $180. I have a rifle that was built with a GM gunsmith blank that shoots 1.5 moa at 200 yards. Considering buying the completed barrel from them for my next build. What I really wonder is are all the other barrels that cost much more worth it?

[TonytheTiger]

1.5 moa or 1.5 inches at 200?

[TwoShot]

It groups 3 inches at 200 yards. I think that is 1.5 moa.

[TonytheTiger]

Your right indeed. I asked because assuming your using good ammo, have a solid rest and consider yourself able to shoot groups to the rifles potential... 1.5 moa is a little underwhelming. If you really think that's all the barrel can do I would consider looking elsewhere. There's plenty of great barrels out there for under $300, and if anythings worth spending a little extra on I'd say the most important part of a rifle qualifies.

[reptoid]

Does anyone have experience with Green Mountain AR barrels? They have 18" fluted barrels weighing 34 oz. 1:8 twist with NATO chamber for $180. I have a rifle that was built with a GM gunsmith blank that shoots 1.5 moa at 200 yards. Considering buying the completed barrel from them for my next build. What I really wonder is are all the other barrels that cost much more worth it?

I just finished a build with that exact barrel. Great company to deal with. The barrel arrived very well packaged and the fit and finish were great. Headspace was perfect with my new Young SLC BCG and bolt. Shot it 5 rounds at the indoor range to adjust gas then cleaned it. Took it out yesterday and shot some groups. The first group was about 1" at 100 yds from a cold clean barrel. The next 3 groups (5 shot) were all under 3/4" and the fourth group was 1/2". Shot some steel hangars at 200, 300, 400, and 500 with 100% hits,The ammo was my own reloads that were worked up in my other AR's; nothin' fancy, Hornady 55 FMJ over N133. with no crimp. That load shoots very good in all my AR's.

In my experience new barrels usually get better during the first 50-100 rounds, not to mention, tweeking the load slightly to tune it for this rifle. So..... needless to say, I am very pleased with the barrel and would definitely buy from Green Mountain again.

[TonytheTiger]

I do actually own a rifle with a GM barrel that shoots well for what it is, but it's so irrelevant to this thread I can't compare it to yours.

[dauntedfuture]

Some barrels shoot better then others. The reason that you spend more on a quality barrel (or blank) is that its more likely to shoot better then a lesser quality barrel. Other considerations include the composition of the steel and the type or rifling for the intended purpose. In general; button rifle barrels don't last as long as cut rifle barrels and barrels with shallow groves will sometimes shoot better but provide less barrel life. Chrome lining adds some life to the barrel at the cost of accuracy. CHF barrels are supposed to last longer than some of the other barrels out there. For some perspective: A Wilson blank, used on many factory guns, costs about 80 bucks, a Douglas is 200 or so and a Krieger (and others) are up at about 350.00. In .223/5.56 a Krieger cut rifle barrel is good for about 3.5-4K rounds for NRA high-power, a Douglas button rifle is about half of that or 2K. Schelin barrels are popular with BR guys buy not HP as the lands and grooves are shallow.

Id like to hear about this 180.00 barrel in 1000 rds with some testing and see the results we might all be wasting money on these high price barrels....but I still suspect that you get what you pay for. The price, profile and weight does sound good.