Seeing a lot of these on the interwebz for cheap lately. I suspect Bold Ideas Texas has liquidated their inventory, and were seeing it trickle down to Gunbroker etc.
I thinking of picking up a bare barrel to finish up a parts bin build.
The profile is sensible, the price is right.
The ones im seeing are rollmarked “5.56 NATO 1/7 C P” or “5.56 NATO 1/7 C”
So what Im wondering is
Did Colt make the barrels in house for Expanse/Colt Competition? Or were the barrels sourced by Bold Ideas?
What does the “P” rollmark mean?
Can I expect a correct 5.56 chamber on an Expanse barrel?
Can I expect a .063 port on an Expanse barrel?
I am aware the Expanse was not chrome lined. But what grade steel was used?
What makes one build a “parts bin” gun? If you have to buy more parts, it surely can no longer be a parts bin build…
Do you not have a carbine already, or two? Surely they are of higher quality than whatever you’d be building. If not, why not build a high quality rifle?
If you don’t see where I’m going with this, why not use the parts bin for parts rather than build something sub-par for very little reason other than having the parts handy.
I would normally agree, but I picked up some for $100 a piece, and they shoot well. Generic 55 grain was roughly 3" groups at 100 yards, but 77 SMK pulled 3/4" five round groups.
If I could get Colt barrels for anywhere near $100, I would be all over it.
ETA- I should point out that I think there are a few different barrels being claimed as CE barrels. I would guess that some are, and some are not.