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New here - what barrel to use?

1104 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  carnaby, 
S
It's my first post and I'm planning my first AR. I'm interested in the 6.8 because I can probably only build one AR and I want it to cover as many bases as possible : varminting, paper punching, deer & boar hunting. Home defense is actually secondary, I have a shotgun for that.

Now I've read through all the great test reports and it seems like a DMR or SPCII chamber would be best. I would also like a 18-20" barrel or longer, 1:11 or 1:12 twist. The test includes an 18" and 20" DMR barrel and also one from Superior. But now it looks like no one is even making such barrels!

I checked over at ar15performance and they aren't making custom barrels any more. The Xtreme is the only model and it's 16" (I know it's supposed be all that, but what if I just want a longer barrel?) Superior also doesn't make the longer barrels any more.

Where to get a 18-20" 1:11 or 1:12 DMR or SPCII barrel? Is XTreme the ONLY choice these days?
It's what I may end up with, but right now I have cold feet and don't want to end up with a rifle that's in too much of a niche.

Thanks!
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ArtFWTx
Welcome to the group.

sd_shooter said:
It's my first post and I'm planning my first AR. I'm interested in the 6.8 because I can probably only build one AR and I want it to cover as many bases as possible : varminting, paper punching, deer & boar hunting. Home defense is actually secondary, I have a shotgun for that. 6.8 performance clearly handles these categories easily.

Now I've read through all the great test reports and it seems like a DMR or SPCII chamber would be best. I would also like a 18-20" barrel or longer, 1:11 or 1:12 twist. The test includes an 18" and 20" DMR barrel and also one from Superior. But now it looks like no one is even making such barrels!Overwhelming majority of 6.8 purchases are in 16 inch versions. The 6.8 is very efficient in shorter barrels, so the benefit of going to longer barrels diminishes with the 6.8 compared to other calibers. SSA's 85 grain TSX load is over 3000 fps out of a 16 inch barrel. What will a 5.56 do out of a 16 inch barrel? Why exactly do you want a longer barrel? :)

I checked over at ar15performance and they aren't making custom barrels any more. The Xtreme is the only model and it's 16" (I know it's supposed be all that, but what if I just want a longer barrel?) Superior also doesn't make the longer barrels any more.

Where to get a 18-20" 1:11 or 1:12 DMR or SPCII barrel? Is XTreme the ONLY choice these days?
It's what I may end up with, but right now I have cold feet and don't want to end up with a rifle that's in too much of a niche. White Oak Armament offers an 18 inch SS barrel, and Stag offers the Model 7 20 inch 6.8 Hunter. So there are a couple choices. http://www.whiteoakarmament.com/

The 6.8 isn't a niche, it's definitely growing in the industry. Every major AR manufacturer outside of Colt has a 6.8 offering. So don't worry about the 6.8 being limited in offerings.

Thanks!
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ArtFWTx
Bison are new, untested. White Oak Armament barrels are very good and several custom shops like Denny's GTS (above), Rainier Arms, JTAC Supply, ADDAX Tactical (above) and others use WOA 6.8 and 5.56 barrels. White Oak Precision the custom side of White Oak Armament is well known in the competitive world, such as CMP. Do a Google on John Holliger to see who he is.

WOA barrels performed well in the 6.8 barrel tests stickied above. Several members here have WOA barrels.

If you really want the 18 to 20 inch barrel with 20 inch being a rare bird outside of Stag, I'd go with White Oak Armament until Noveske's 1:12 18 inch barrel becomes available then there will be two good choices.
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