This Colt 20” A2 barrel started its life on a factory-built Colt 6551. This was a pre-ban rifle, but this barrel did not have one of those evil, havoc-wreaking bayonet lugs; it’s otherwise the same barrel found on the Colt M16A2 and M16A4 as well as “civilian” variants of those rifles. The barrel has a government profile, a chrome-lined NATO chamber and bore and a 1:7” twist.
I fired a couple hundred rounds through the barrel while zeroing, chronographing various loads and doing some informal shooting. I did not conduct a formal accuracy evaluation of the barrel at that point in time. After that, I replaced this barrel with a Colt M16A2 barrel with the attending evil bayonet lug to create my M16A2 clone.
This barrel sat on my parts shelf collecting dust for a while, until I decided to sell it. I ended up selling it on the equipment exchange of another website. Three months after the buyer received this barrel, he sent me a message demanding a full refund for the barrel claiming that the barrel was junk and that it was never going to shoot accurately. While I was under no obligation whatsoever to give the buyer a refund after having it in his possession for three months, I did so anyway, minus a “restocking fee.”
After the barrel was returned to me I decided to conduct a formal accuracy evaluation of the barrel. I installed the barrel on a Colt flat-top upper receiver and free-floated the barrel with a 12” KAC free-float hand-guard. I conducted the accuracy evaluation from a distance of 100 yards from my bench-rest set-up using my hand-loads topped with 55 grain Sierra BlitzKings.
This barrel turned in a 3-shot group at 100 yards with an extreme spread of 0.180”.
This barrel produced a 5-shot group at 100 yards with an extreme spread of 0.516”.
A 10-shot group fired from this barrel at a distance of 100 yards had an extreme spread of 1.085”.
Six 10-shot groups fired in a row from this barrel at a distance of 100 yards had an average 10-shot group extreme spread of 1.35”. Not too shabby for a “junk” barrel and actually, as good as anyone could expect from a chrome-lined, NATO chambered government profile barrel.
Molon could quite possibly be THE last person on the planet I would return a barrel to, claiming poor accuracy. Because you KNOW this type of post would soon follow. Especially after demanding a refund after three months… I’m glad your back molon, I always enjoy your posts!
My guess is that it may not have been the assembly, simply the person behind it. We have had a few barrels come back to us for the same reason. We assembled and test fired the barrels into properly built uppers and achieved accuracy close to what Molon produced above. In at least one case I remember the assembly process was botched with Gun Show special components.
Indeed. The accuracy/precision of government profile barrels can be rather variable. This was definitely one of the most accurate government profile barrels that I’ve tested.
I am absolutely amazed at some of the shit sold not just at gun shows but some local “tactical” shops. I have seen complete uppers, with BCG and CH for $300 otd…
The guy that bought the barrel was probably shooting cheap, no name, crappy ammo and wondering why the groups are 3-4 MOA. Then blames it on the barrel.
The two things that burn me up, People spend big bucks on a custom bolt gun then #1 shoot the cheapest ammo they can find and #2 put the cheapest scope on top held on with crappy china made mounts. Then the person wonders why the gun won’t shoot and blames the gun instead of their dumbass.
