I was thinking of upgrading my AR with a noveske barrel and a few other goodies, but I’ve wanted a 6.8 for a while now. I found out about Bison Amory, a company that assembles 6.8 uppers. They use barrels by ER shaw which seems to be a reputable manufacturer but I see they use 416 stainless instead of 410. Im not an expert by any means and I haven’t shot with both to know the difference but I have heard the 416 has its down sides compared to 410. Dont quote me but I heard somewhere it had to do with heating up and hurting the throat of the barrel prematurely? I dont know honestly, but whats the down low on the pros and cons of both? I’d be shooting short strings from a bench, no FA.
Seems like a lot of the barrels use 416. I had the same thoughts, and went ahead and got a Bison 18" with no complaints. I have a Saber Defense 18" SPR in 5.56 which is 410 and love it. I wish Saber Defense would start producing 6.8 barrels. The only downside would be the jump in cost between the two, my 5.56 barrel is almost twice as much as my 6.8. LW-50 is another alternative.
I have a 416 S.S. barrel by shaw on a “beater” no-frills AR. I have not seen the performance drop after aprox. 7300 rounds. It works for my purposes and budget.
Honestly I don’t think I would shoot enough to really bring out either of the steels faults. I don’t competition shoot so it’s not like it will have an insane round count. I just didn’t really know the difference between the two. I’m still interested in the reason why some believe that 410 is better than 416.
I came across this thread the other day, among others using google. It’s in the sulphur content from what I gather…
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/archive/index.php/t-128881.html
Interesting. its more machinable than 410 because of the phosphorus. But that also makes it a softer steel, which means less throat life? I think I understand now.
I thought that where LW-50 came into play?
What kind of accuracy are you getting with the bison?