I just purchased, and received a 16in White Oak Armament barrel and matching bolt in 6.8 SPC. I have heard a lot of good things about WOA but when I opened and inspected the bolt, I noticed that it was not marked MP. I checked their website and could not find any specs on their barrel steel or their MP testing of their bolts. Any technical input on WOA would be greatly appreciated!
Oh by the way the CS at Rainier Arms is first rate!
I have a 16" WOA that is 1-11" twist 6 groove and I think it is 416 steel.
I used a STAG 6.8 bolt and I think that is what WOA uses. I have made many
different handloads for it that are less than MOA accurate.
T
WOA is known for high quality barrel work and they are geared towards match shooters. I believe that he uses Wilson barrel blanks (unless you bought a Krieger or other premium barrel, which he sells, but are much more $$$).
They have a large share of the highpower (service rifle and match rifle) market. My service rifle upper is a WOA and it is a tack driver. It is a WOA Wilson barrel. Their reputation among the service rifle crowd is impeccable.
Match rifle shooters generally don’t care about HPT/MP on their bolts. They care about shooting really tight groups. Only the military or those who want military spec weapons insist on it. I do not know who he gets his BCGs and bolts from. There can’t be that many sources of 6.8 spc bolts out there.
Stag bolts are made by CMT (same company). Thought I read that their bolts are MP tested (or batch tested), but not HP tested. There probably aren’t that many manufacturers out there that make 6.8 spc bolts in the first place, so finding one who MP/HP tests their 6.8 bolts when there is no “requirement” (since I don’t think anyone is selling 6.8 bolts to the army) might be hard. LMT makes a 6.8 bolt and I would imagine that they MP their bolts. Both LMT and CMT are mil contractors.
The short of it is that if you have a WOA Wilson barrel with a CMT bolt you probably shouldn’t be worried too much about the quality of your rig. His barrels are very accurate, and CMT bolts are good quality bolts.
Dom
Thanks for the replies, I should have the rifle built by the end of the week and then I will post pics. I think I am going to use a BCM bolt carrier. That and the Middy gas tube are all I need to complete the rifle but BCM is out of stock on the tubes. Spike’s Tactical has Barrett 30 rounders in stock as well as gas tubes but no carriers so I guess I will have to order from 2 places and pay 2 S&H charges.
Well let us know how it turns out.
T
I read that the 4 groove blanks are Shilen.
Sounds like you’ve got a good thing going!
MPI is only done after HP. You fire a proof round (HP), and then inspect it.
Any company that does not do every one, does not do it. Period. Batch testing does not count. That being said, it does not matter to me as I have asked a company that used to do it why they stopped doing it. Their answer was that they never had one fail the test.
There are also many companies which do HPT but not MPI and do a headspace and visual inspection. That is probably the way to go.