Shillen Semi Barrels

[Quicksilver]

Does anyone know if Shillen makes a match chamber for a AR-10 style barrel?

My idiot light came on for me when I found specs for a NATO style chamber and realized my problem... I have a great barrel with a not so great chamber. My brass comes out pretty large...

I use a FL die and measure the before and after of the body among other things and I am really working out my brass. Plus my bullet lands are pretty damn far out there.

Any help would be appreciated on recommendations- but please keep it under 700 for the barrel.

 

[user]

Not sure about shillen. Krieger makes barrels for large pattern ar's. Fulton armory stocks them. The K, 6.5 Creedmore barrels shoot bugholes.

 

[ORD]

Shilen, themselves, do not offer a drop-in AR-10/LR-308 pattern barrel to my knowledge, BUT...

The Rainier Arms' line of UltraMatch AR-10/LR-308 barrels are Shilen SS Match blanks (1:10 twist, 6-groove...not ratchet, traditional rifled) that are made to Rainier's specs by Shilen and finished by WOA. They feature a modified chamber that they refer to as a ".308 Rainier Match" chamber, which is sort of a "Wylde" chamber for 7.62x51/.308. They are offered in 16", 18", 20" and 24" lengths and are a HUGE bargain at ~$400.

The Lilja barrels for the LR-308 pattern rifles are also a HUGE bargain at ~$450 (depending on the particular contour/length you choose).

 

[tackleberry2000]

Thanks ORD. I'm looking at taking my AP4 and going to take it to precision long range. I'll look into Rainer.

 

[Quicksilver]

They feature a modified chamber that they refer to as a ".308 Rainier Match" chamber, which is sort of a "Wylde" chamber for 7.62x51/.308

What is the "Wylde" chamber?

Also, I would be leaving my 20" barrel and moving out to a 24" setup. Ill be honest, I never carry that damn gun more than a mile and always shoot from a bench or the ground. I don't care what it weighs. I just need a match style chamber instead of the MIL spec chamber. I never rapid fire, so if it is possible for me to have a match chamber so I can have better hand loads to make (my current efforts are sort of wasted with this current barrel) and still be able to fire up to 10 shots a minute (providing of course that the barrel doesn't heat up too much and spread out the group).

 

[Quicksilver]

Well, just looked on the website about the "Rainier Match" chamber. They state: "The Rainier Match Chamber is a modified .308 WIN-7.62 NATO chamber to produce ultimate reliability and accuracy shooting both the 7.62 NATO & .308 WIN rounds."

Great. So I guess everyone uses the "NATO" chamber? If that's the case, I'll put this AR-10 back to the way I bought it from the factory and hit the pawn shop. Honestly, I need to make the jump to a bolt gun anyway and Im trying to make this rifle do things it just wasn't meant to do. Damn this sport... I remember back when I thought a 1 MOA rifle was kickass. Now if its not 1/2 or under I don't care.

 

[ORD]

The .308 Rainier Match is a "hybrid" chamber that is made to Rainier's specs to allow the safe and accurate operation of BOTH 7.62 NATO ammo, as well as .308 match loads. I used the term "Wylde chamber for the 7.62x51/.308 as a point of comparison with the hybrid 5.56x45/.223 chamber developed by Bill Wylde for the safe and accurate operation of BOTH of those chamberings from a quality barrel. I can't for the life of me find the specs I had on the chamber at one time, but they are sub-MOA capable barrels with match ammunition and a competent shooter squeezing the trigger in my experience with them...FAR BETTER than your average, run-of-the-mill NATO chamber with respect to accuracy. Now, if you are saying that you want a barrel capable of the utmost levels of accuracy in a semi-auto platform...STOP LOOKING AT OFF-THE-SHELF BARRELS!!

You just can't get to the level of precision with an off-the-shelf barrel that you can get with a high-end, custom built, custom chambered/headspaced using YOUR bolt barrel that you can from the likes of Krieger and other shops. There are MANY different quality barrel mfgs/gunsmiths that can assist you in that regard with a barrel to the specs of your choosing (from length to gas port diameter to specific chamber of your liking to contour to finish to flutes/none and so on).

Paul Craddock at Craddock Precision can offer you a Shilen SS match barrel blank (as well as MANY other highly regarded blanks) setup to your specs as another option.

Again...getting what you specifically want/need out of a barrel is key. But...as with all things in this business...good things only come to those who wait...and wait...and sometimes...wait some more!! That level of "custom" doesn't happen overnight and if you want a barrel built to suit you ideally, then get in line somewhere be it with Krieger or otherwise, and start the waiting. The sooner you get in line, the sooner you'll have your new barrel in hand.