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Faxon match, Faxon gunner, Odin, BA


ffgats

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Haven’t seen this bbls in person, Which of these would you recommend and why

the Gunner is light, but can i use an adjustable gas block ( Superlative.625)which has 1.1” lenght, the gunner gas journal is 1.9” and 625”. Any issue on accuracy after multiple rounds?

Faxon match Flame Fluted - any feedback on its overall performance?

Ballistic Advantage also has the 18” rifle length  fluted - no experience either 

Odin 16” intermediate gas lenght, any good?

right now i have the Ranier Ultra match Fluted 18” Rifle lenght, accurate but front heavy, paired with Odin adjustable GB and Faxon LW BCG. Thanks 

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Not really a recommendation, as I have no experience with the other barrels, but a testimony.  I've built several AR's using the Ballistic Advantage 18" stainless steel fluted (rifle length gas system) barrel.  At 100 yards with cheap 55 gr FMJ ammo (Federal American Eagle), using a secured rifle sled I'm consistently at moa at 100 yards and often times sub moa.  With Hornady Black 62 gr FMJ they are consistently sub moa at 100 yards, again from a secured rifle sled.  It's a very impressive barrel. 

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I have 3 Odin barrels on match rifles.  Barrel one is a 18" 3 gun rifle gas barrel is 0.5 moa (receiver is trued and thermofit and barrel extension is bedded), barrel two is a 16" midlength barrel, the 0.750 profile and its about 0.8 moa, barrel 3 is the ultralite 16" midlength and that thing is sub moa too, even at 200 yards with a 6x optic.  Its the most picky of the 3 about which ammo it likes, the others not so picky.  I shoot only handloaded HPBT's, no 55 FMJ's.

 

I hear tons of great things about the Criterion barrels too.  I am trying one of those next, a nitrided model.  People I shoot with and trust have gotten sub moa results on BA barrels too.

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Have a 16" gunner with the superlative block. Tried different ammo, bolts, deep cleaned, different scope, broke apart and reassembled, brake no brake etc but could never get consistent moa groups out of it. Seems like it shifts when it warms. Contacted faxon, not much response. I love the weight and use it for bays now but do not trust it for much else. Built an upper using an 18" criterion hybrid barrel and have been impressed with it's accuracy. It is sub moa with pretty basic ammo. I enjoy shooting the faxon and know some people who have had good luck with them but when it is time to replace it will go with another brand.

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I have the Gunner 14.5" with SLR .625, and have had the 18" gunner with SLR .625.

 

The 14.5" is superb on a lightweight SBR with 1-4 Steiner. Its perfect for that. I bought it after using the 18" Gunner for quite awhile.

The 18" Gunner felt amazing. The way it swings feels great. It was accurate enough for me for 3gun. I did feel like it started to wander a little after getting hot.

But honestly I have never tested for it. It is now on a buddys gun and he likes it.

 

Recently wanted to try a little more weight and got a deal on the Odin Works 18" 3gun. It has the Odin block. I haven't yet really wrung it out but my initial impressions are that it shoots. It shot 55grn great when I zeroed it. I remember walking up to 200yrds to look at my group and being impressed with myself, lol. And, I am frankly not the greatest rifleman and it was a new 1-6 scope. This barrel feels very accurate to me. Really looking forward to trying some heavier stuff. Right now I am satisfied as I paid under 200$ for it.

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Ive had several BA barrels. However the last couple Hanson profile 17.7’s were a bit disappointing accuracywise. Both were over MOA with about everything. However the last 12.5” BA was well under MOA with everything I tried.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Barrels in this price range are usually a gamble. The Faxon and BA barrels seem to be split 50/50 between great and truly horrible reviews. Odin is the only one of your choices that has a overwhelmingly positive reputation. 

Oh and I have a Faxon Gunner, and experience with a couple BA barrels. Solidly OK barrels, not great, not bad.

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On 12/3/2018 at 3:56 PM, ffgats said:

Haven’t seen this bbls in person, Which of these would you recommend and why

the Gunner is light, but can i use an adjustable gas block ( Superlative.625)which has 1.1” lenght, the gunner gas journal is 1.9” and 625”. Any issue on accuracy after multiple rounds?

Faxon match Flame Fluted - any feedback on its overall performance?

Ballistic Advantage also has the 18” rifle length  fluted - no experience either 

Odin 16” intermediate gas lenght, any good?

right now i have the Ranier Ultra match Fluted 18” Rifle lenght, accurate but front heavy, paired with Odin adjustable GB and Faxon LW BCG. Thanks 

 

Consider the Stretch16?  I have a lightly used one in an upper for sale here in Canuckland.

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thanks for all your feed backs, nice to hear your actual experiences, yeah sometimes the price is little tempting, although I'm very happy with my Rainier UltraMatch Fluted 18" rifle gas,  I wish its around 28-30 ounces, its on the 36oz right now and I'm not a big guy. for Prone or Bench, the gun barely moves, its on off hand shooting that my arms can feel the forward weight.

 

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I'm putting together a build now with one of the Faxon 14.5" Gunners with the pinned 3 port brake.  My other rifle is great, but a bit heavy, and our longer range bay is shut down for the foreseeable future where I 3gun.  Being reduced to a completely "bay style" match, I thought I might be able to shave some time by going with a lightweight build...unfortunately I can't give any feedback on it yet, still waiting on my BCG.

I have a Stretch16 on my other build, and while it's a great barrel, I ended up adding weight to the back to balance the heavy front end between that barrel with a 5.5oz SJC Titan at the end of it, and the  Razor GenII 1-6(25.2oz!) on top...all in all, it's a great shooting rifle, but came out on the heavy end.

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On 12/4/2018 at 6:30 PM, Avezorak said:

Ive had several BA barrels. However the last couple Hanson profile 17.7’s were a bit disappointing accuracywise. Both were over MOA with about everything. However the last 12.5” BA was well under MOA with everything I tried.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That's interesting. I have a BA 12.5" that is one of the most accurate barrels I have owned. Got it on sale for like 94$ !!

 

Actually, I got it for cheap project I was doing. Paired it with a 35$ Andersen slick side upper. Imagine my complete annoyance when it shot better than my 325$ 16" barrel in a nice upper!!

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  • 4 months later...

So I found this thread and thought I'd bring it back since I am trying to run the same setup that NoKimberDave was running.

 

I have a Faxon 18" Gunner barrel, with a rifle length gas system and a rifle stock and buffer.  I installed an SLR Sentry 6 adjustable gas block (0.625), and I could not get the bolt to lock back.  I tried several different rounds of ammo with no luck.  I was able to get it to cycle with the gas block all the way open, but it would not lock the bolt back on an empty mag.  I tried PMC factory ammo, I tried some reloads with 27 grains of CFE 223 behind a 55 grain bullet and I tried amping up a load with Ramshot Tac at 27 grains behind a 55 grain bullet.  The CFE loads would run the gun fine with my old standard gas block, but even with the SLR all the way open, it wouldn't lock back. 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

I may go back to the old block and just tweak my load a little so it shoots softer, but I'd rather have the option with the adjustable block.

 

I don't have, and won't be using a supressor so I don't think the AGB is really necessary.  It's more just something I wanted to try.  If it's a fools errand then so be it.

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Check the gas port diameter, if the gas block is sitting properly (coaxial circles surrounding gas port) and the gas tube is totally clear and seals well against gas key.

Not sure of current recommendations on rifle length gas port diameters, but not hard to find on M4carbine.net.

 

Mark

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Gas port is .090 which seems to be where it should be.

 

Gas block was over a little from center (pic).  I'll try it again this evening.  If it's a no go, I'm putting the old GB back on.

 

The gas port in the SLR is slightly larger than the hole in the barrel.  I say slight because I can't actually get in there to measure it, but I can fit and allen key into that won't fit into the hole in the rifle.  The hole in the standard gas block is a hallway in comparison to both the rifle and the SLR AGB.  There's much more room for error with the install of the standard block.

 

IMG_3366.thumb.JPG.6955fcdee97b7bf42bf63d98762fd17c.JPG

 

 There's a slight ring in the upper left.  It appeared to extend all the way around, but the camera didn't really pick it up.  Like I said, I'll move it a skosh and see what happens.

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Sounds like there is no dimple on the bottom of barrel to help center the GB over the gas port, so you need to find a way to center it. 

Hole in gas block should always be larger than gas port in barrel. Pencil lines parallel to bore bisecting the gas port and gas block opening is how I line up the gas block to get concentric matching of holes. Cannot tell from photo but it's possible gas block is covering a small portion of gas port.

No stiction or deflection of end of gas tube entering gas key on bolt carrier, and inside of gas tube clear?

Mark

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Got it centered and still no love.  Tried it with XM193, XM855, and reloads that hit 3,200 FPS on the chrono, GB all the way open.  I also tried it with a carbine buffer and spring (with spacer).  I put the standard GB back on and I'm going to try that out later today.  I don't suspect there will be any problems since it ran fine prior to trying the SLR.  Just for the record, this isn't a knock on SLR.  It could be the GB or it could be me/my set up.  I did contact them with basically the same information I've posted here and they have been responsive.  I'm just waiting to hear back on this latest test.

 

IMG_3369.thumb.JPG.958f11df2b6c0c12c8aa373f017b1894.JPGIMG_3368.thumb.JPG.511d055877f9679e343b9078e7ef9ba3.JPG

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Is it possible the slr wants to be 'shimmed' a small distance from the rear surface to center the port front to back? 

As in could you install it up against a delta ring style handguard front support plate and yours doesn't have that? 

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12 hours ago, DavidSeavey said:

Is it possible the slr wants to be 'shimmed' a small distance from the rear surface to center the port front to back? 

As in could you install it up against a delta ring style handguard front support plate and yours doesn't have that? 

 

I actually did that the last time.  I went back to the original gas block and tried that yesterday...still wouldn't lock back.  Then I realized that I also put an Elf Match Trigger in the gun as well, and hadn't shot it.   So I did a couple of things at the same time.  And now I'm wondering if, because of the way the Elf trigger is installed, it's creating just a bit too much force on the bolt and slowing it's rearward travel just enough to prevent lock back.

 

Just for kicks, and I know this isn't right, I installed a carbine buffer and spring with no spacer and the gun ran fine.

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