Carbon Barrel

[M.D.K.]

hey guys,
Last year i sent off a rifle and had christensen arms put a match barrel with a carbon wrap chambered in 223 wssm with a 1 in 8 twist. I built this as my 500 plus yard high desert coyote rifle. over the past six months i have tried every load formula you could dream up, I found a load that shoots great out of the gun but if the barrel is warm AT ALL the group size doubles. Has anyone ever heard of this with the carbon barrels?? the barrel has to be cold cold to shoot. didn't know if this was just me or if this was a trend.

 

[ASU1911]

Re: Carbon Barrel

Yeah, you bought the shitty wrap.

Mike at ABS has better technology. But he also has three of my barrels so I'm not about to recommend him.

 

[Mike]

Re: Carbon Barrel

Many that I know that have carbon barrels do not see that problem, not to say it doesn't or cannot happen.
In my personal opinion, I don't believe that the 223 WSSM is that accurate of a cartridge.

 

[Whisper308]

Re: Carbon Barrel

I have two factory remington carbon barreled rifles one in 308 and one in 223, I have never had the problems your seeing, but mine both took a lot of extra work to develop a load.
One of my buddies has a chris barreled rifle in 300 win mag. and it was opening up like your rifle but not nearly as bad as what you stated. He sent his back to chris they worked it over a bit and sent it back 6 weeks later. The rifle is back to shooting moa, but they never told him what the issue was. In short my advise call Chris and send it back for a check up.

 

[blksno]

Re: Carbon Barrel

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mike</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
In my personal opinion, I don't believe that the 223 WSSM is that accurate of a cartridge. </div></div>

cant disagree cause i dont have one (mine is a .243WSSM)...but is there something you base this opinion on? the boys over at WSSMzone are shooting awful tight.

 

[tjonh2001]

Re: Carbon Barrel

i have a couple ABS wrapped barrels and both are tack divers. both were easy to load develope.

 

[Mike]

Re: Carbon Barrel

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: c_bass16</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mike</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
In my personal opinion, I don't believe that the 223 WSSM is that accurate of a cartridge. </div></div>

cant disagree cause i dont have one (mine is a .243WSSM)...but is there something you base this opinion on? the boys over at WSSMzone are shooting awful tight.</div></div>

I'm not saying it can't shoot, but from what I've seen it seems like it's a very small window accuracy node. I've seen some experiment with just about every powder and bullet imaginable. It's almost like it's a hit or miss with it. I just don't see the "reward" for trying to get it to be super accurate. Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[CanPopper]

Re: Carbon Barrel

You can read on ABS's website where they criticize "other" carbon wraps as shrinking when the barrel gets hot. This leads to stress and wandering POI. ABS claims their formulation solves this problem so it ends up dissipating heat 100% to 200% faster without the barrel wandering. This better heat dissipation also leads to barrel life that is 50% longer.

I have two ABS carbon barrels with another on the way. The two I have shoot very well. The bolt action shoot 0.25MOA and the AR one is under 0.75MOA.

 

[Skyking]

Re: Carbon Barrel

i live 30 min from christensen arms and have been too there shop to see how things are done. Some of my friends family members work there. For some reason a lot of people here shot them. I am trying to builds loads for two of them now. They are totally overrated. Shot 6 different ones, and none of them shoot. Get rid of it and get a new barrel.

 

[rwest309]

Re: Carbon Barrel

I was in Wyoming recently and went to a smith's shop up there with my dad. He had a bunch of christensens barrels in a pile with other take offs. He said he loves them. Replaces them all the time with broughton tubes.

I asked about abs and he said if you want light get a #3G and have broughton give it 8 flutes. It will be lighter than any of the carbon wrapped stuff and shoot lights out.

He also said it looked to him like christensen was wrapping remington factory barrels. not too bueno if you ask me. I would do an ABS wrapped broughton or rock in a heartbeat just for the cool factor if I could afford one.

 

[M.D.K.]

Re: Carbon Barrel

thanks guys, what you all said is pretty much what i figured since i have never heard anyone on here talk about christensen.

 

[RemingtonSPS]

Re: Carbon Barrel

I have a Varmint contoured 22" barrel. I put 12 flutes in it. Threaded and chambered it will finish to 3.25 lbs. The ABS finish at 2.5 lbs. Other than heat dissipation i no longer see the need to carbon wrap a barrel. 3/4 of a pound is not enough weight savings to justify $600 IMO.

 

[ranger1183]

Re: Carbon Barrel


The best barrels I've ever shot were <span style="font-weight: bold">ABS carbon fiber wrapped</span> Krieger or Saturn barrels (Saturn makes really good 6.5mm barrels!). Because I shoot straight blanks (1.250 straight cylinders) or heavy varmint / M24 contour barrels, the weight I save is several pounds per each barrel. I strongly endorse ABS barrels (once you actually get your hands on one!).

 

[Mjolnir23]

Having a hard time finding ABS's website, do they have one or is it a Facebook kind of thing?

 

[Ledzep]

This thread is 7 years old... Are they still operational?

FWIW, the OP's issue sounds like the steel is the problem, not the CF; stress relief.