Best budget ar pistol barrel

Talk about the AR15 style rifles chambered in 450 Bushmaster.

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Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Longranger44 » Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:08 am

Hi guys! So I put together a 10.5" bca 450 upper on an aero xl receiver with a free float tube and shimmed barrel extension, and it's not shooting well at all. 250gr ftx shoots around 3.5 moa and federal powershok 300gr shoots roughly 6 moa. I have smoothbore shotguns that shoot better. I'm thinking of getting rid of the bca barrel and replacing it but not sure what brand to go with. Seems like most every option is $200+. I did find Windham's 9" barrel is $110, is there any concensus on how well these shoot? Are there any other good budget alternatives? Thanks in advance!
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby coyote wacker » Sat Nov 12, 2022 11:39 am

I hate to say it.....but.....most of the time you get what you pay for....to get a "low price" on a barrel the manufacture needs to cut corners some where some how....there is a chance you can get a exceptional shooting barrel "cheep" but they are very rare.....

One thing to remember "short barrels" 8"-10" are not going to shoot as good as a 16" + barrel....especially in larger bore diameter calibers....

I have a Custom built 308 Win. pistol with a 10" barrel it cost $2000 + if you had it built today....it will only shoot close to .75" at 100 yards and 1.25" at 200.....same make rifle with a 20" barrel will shoot .30" at 100 yards and .50" at 200 yards.....barrel length and weight help control the gun....
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Longranger44 » Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:41 pm

coyote wacker wrote:I hate to say it.....but.....most of the time you get what you pay for....to get a "low price" on a barrel the manufacture needs to cut corners some where some how....there is a chance you can get a exceptional shooting barrel "cheep" but they are very rare.....

One thing to remember "short barrels" 8"-10" are not going to shoot as good as a 16" + barrel....especially in larger bore diameter calibers....

I have a Custom built 308 Win. pistol with a 10" barrel it cost $2000 + if you had it built today....it will only shoot close to .75" at 100 yards and 1.25" at 200.....same make rifle with a 20" barrel will shoot .30" at 100 yards and .50" at 200 yards.....barrel length and weight help control the gun....

I agree the bca is cheap junk that's why I'm getting rid of it. I've bought faxon and ba short barrels in different calibers all for around the$150 mark and they all shoot lights out despite their short legth. I hope you're not telling me that 3.5-6 moa is normal just because this barrel is short, I refuse to believe that
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Sun Nov 13, 2022 2:55 am

You guys have to remember, a shorter barrel means that you’re not getting complete ignition before the bullet leaves the muzzle. So performance is going to be affected. Your gas system is much shorter than originally engineered by the inventor, Timothy LeGendre. So, it’s also a timing & dwell issue. There is not complete ignition of all the powder, so energy suffers. This can be observed by the muzzle flash of these types of uppers. Slower velocities are to be expected. With those slow velocities, your trajectories are going to be affected. As a pistol, the grip you have on the firearm is affected. the gun is lighter, therefore, recoil is going to have an effect.
With all of these observations in mind, I can’t say whether BCA is the issue or not. But I have heard my share of stories about the companies quality control issues. If you choose to make a thumper in a AR pistol platform, just remember, you’re going to have to address many of the issues described above to minimize bad performance and malfunctions. In my opinion, the short gas system, and the timing and dwell are going to be your biggest hurdles with the felt recoil coming in at close second.
Stay safe.
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Longranger44 » Sun Nov 13, 2022 1:32 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:You guys have to remember, a shorter barrel means that you’re not getting complete ignition before the bullet leaves the muzzle. So performance is going to be affected. Your gas system is much shorter than originally engineered by the inventor, Timothy LeGendre. So, it’s also a timing & dwell issue. There is not complete ignition of all the powder, so energy suffers. This can be observed by the muzzle flash of these types of uppers. Slower velocities are to be expected. With those slow velocities, your trajectories are going to be affected. As a pistol, the grip you have on the firearm is affected. the gun is lighter, therefore, recoil is going to have an effect.
With all of these observations in mind, I can’t say whether BCA is the issue or not. But I have heard my share of stories about the companies quality control issues. If you choose to make a thumper in a AR pistol platform, just remember, you’re going to have to address many of the issues described above to minimize bad performance and malfunctions. In my opinion, the short gas system, and the timing and dwell are going to be your biggest hurdles with the felt recoil coming in at close second.
Stay safe.

True, but I've had 0 malfunctions and none of that should affect the mechanical accuracy of the gun, and I test all my guns with a lead sled to remove the human factor. I shot sub moa with a 6 lb 30-06 the same day from the same rest so I know it was the gun, it's just not very accurate.
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:31 am

Not arguing with you. I tend to agree with you that it’s very likely the BCA barrel. I just want to point out to the group that there’s a lot of factors to consider when they build their own creations and it’s critical to focus on the quality of each component. Unfortunately, it appears that in this case, the barrel quality may be your issue. If someone could get Carter to check in and weigh in, that would be great. He built this little dragon. https://youtu.be/Ys6gPZchMxk
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Longranger44 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:23 am

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Not arguing with you. I tend to agree with you that it’s very likely the BCA barrel. I just want to point out to the group that there’s a lot of factors to consider when they build their own creations and it’s critical to focus on the quality of each component. Unfortunately, it appears that in this case, the barrel quality may be your issue. If someone could get Carter to check in and weigh in, that would be great. He built this little dragon. https://youtu.be/Ys6gPZchMxk

That thing's awesome haha, never considered shooting mine that fast, I'm usually more concerned with not getting too close to the scope and splitting my wig lol
I like the idea of the short barreled 450 because being a straight walled cartridge it doesn't lose as much velocity as the bottlenecks do and it's legal for hunting in my state, and even qualifies as a "handgun". And it's just plain fun like in the video :D
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:54 am

You better be careful in the way you grip it, you blow your hand off and Grill it at the same time.
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Re: Best budget ar pistol barrel

Postby Longranger44 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:05 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:You better be careful in the way you grip it, you blow your hand off and Grill it at the same time.

No different than my mk18, pm90, or any other short barreled gun
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