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AR Barrels

MikeMiller

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Minuteman
Apr 4, 2017
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SW Florida
Ok I have worn out a bunch of barrels over my career of shooting but that does not make me an expert on barrels
So I keep it simple when recommending barrels to students. Bartlien, Krieger or a few others for precision. Then ARs open a can of worms
Bartlien, Krieger and Noveske for top of the line

I have some LaRues that shoot great but of the 15 or so I have tested they all run slow compared to the ones listed above. Usually you give up 100’ per second for same length top tier barrel listed above. Heck my 16” 308 Krieger runs faster than my 18” OBR “Rearden Steel” barrrl

This got me thinking about barrel materials and such. For my hard beater ARs I like chrome lined for barrel life because I had an FN 14” that ran over 40k rds. Of course it was a 2 moa gun to start and 4 moa at the end but it held up

Since I don’t shoot that hard anymore I go stainless for the better accuracy and higher velocity I get with the Bartlien, kriegers and Noveski’s performing best for me

So for real knowledgeable guys, what the f is Rearden Steel? Is it just BS?
 
Ive never heard of it. I come from a welding, engineering, metallurgy background, not a gun barrel expert at all. A quick google search yielded this:

What is rearden metal?

Rearden metal is a fictitious metal alloy invented by Hank Rearden. It is lighter than traditional steel but stronger, and is to steel what steel was to iron. It is described as greenish-blue. Among its ingredients are iron and copper.
 
Look up Corinthian Leather.
There is a real city in Greece Corinth they make no leather there.
 
what the f is Rearden Steel? Is it just BS?

Of course it's BS. It's Larue they make meme shit like this:

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No one knows. It's whatever LaRue specs out for themselves. Typically LaRue makes sub-MOA barrels. If a barrel of theirs isn't sub MOA (by their standards, 3 shot groups) they will take a look for you.

They have even repaired a barrel for me on their dime that I borked (removed barrel extension on a P/W of theirs to change barrel nuts).

But LaRue has mixed reviews from members here. I've never had an issue with a product of theirs personally out of what I have owned and helped others assemble. YMMV.