X-caliber or Mcgowen AR15 barrels?
- Thread starter Sniper338
- Start date
I personally don't know about the x-caliber but the bunch on Preditormasters talk good about them. Also ackleyman11 here says they are good.
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
Use the X caliber
The ones on predetormasters were ar barrels.
I have an X-Caliber barrel and it shoots fantastic. I also have a borescope and will tell you that the bore is flawless in this barrel...not a mark or scratch no where. You would have to buy a Shilen select or a Pac-Nor super match to see a bore this pretty. Buy the X-Caliber with confidence.
Worst barrels available I've seen are X-Caliber, out of better than a dozen I've had customers send in I've chambered one the rest went back because of how horrible the bore was, slugging the barrels was entertaining to say the least, they open up with contour. A couple 375 barrels I've had in were so sloppy on the largest reamer bushings made that it was unbelievable, worst part is you could drop the bushing and each barrel had a spots in it that it would tighten up then loosen up, one flared out like a blunder bust. I've seen one that you could see skips in the lapping, none of these barrels should have made it out of lapping cause if I can feel how horrible the bore is than someone who laps many a day should be one it. You have to check your twist rate on every one carefully also, they miss that too.
Mark W
Gold $$ Contributor
Same here. Not sure that I've heard a bad review on Excalibur barrels until now. I've never shot one of their barrels but I have one being installed now so I will have first hand experience soon enough.
It is hard for me to believe, based on my normal bad luck, that I got the one X-Caliber barrel out of twelve that was acceptable. Zero chance. In fact, it is so bad that the other day I bought a bandsaw. This is not a craftsman or Lowe's little homeowners hobby saw...it is the Cadillac of the bandsaws. For what it costs it should be. It had a warped table...ya get that!!!...one made in the history of this earth and I buy it...every single time!!!!! But I got the one out of twelve good barrel????? Yeah, Okay.
My luck is so bad, if it was raining kitty cats...I'd catch an extremely large black rooster. {Fill in with slang}
My luck is so bad, if it was raining kitty cats...I'd catch an extremely large black rooster. {Fill in with slang}
I have no direct experience with McGowen, but I do with X-Caliber and Criterion products. I recommend either to my customers without reservation, based on what I've experienced with several barrels on my personal rifles. As for AR-specific applications, there's little to suggest that the results there would be different - they start life as blanks, just like the rest of them and fitting an extension and drilling a gas port ain't rocket science.
How many of you actually slug your X-Caliber barrels to see how the bore is? If your a gunsmith do you order the barrels with them knowing who's ordering them or do customers order their parts and send them to you? Have you seen how they button a barrel? Have you seen how they lap barrels?
They are over priced as far as I'm concerned, when you can put a slug in and literally mark the contour changes on the barrel by the bore it's messed up!! When you can drop a bushing through a barrel and have it stop then go down two bushings to get through a tight spot then have it flair out .003 at least at the muzzle something is messed up, ESPECIALLY when someone lapped that barrel, how can a barrel like that get past lapping, obviously there is no QC in place!!
I'm a Montanan, I'd love nothing more than to be getting Kreiger, Bux, Bartlien, Rock Creek, Hart quality barrels from a manufacture in MT for that price but their no where near that level, sure they'll have some percentage that shoot but the ONLY barrels I've rejected or have seen a company buy back a barrel or swap it out has been X-Caliber. I know of more than one other MT gunsmith that has had the same experience but just don't want to deal with the "mine shoot's great" club.
A lot of barrels will shoot that we may think won't, every gunsmith out there has bet against a barrel and it did well but I'm all about stacking the odds in my and my customers favor so if I chamber a X-Caliber it's very clear I'm not backing it up. I've had customers who have had three barrels bought back in a row!
I've borescoped a Remington Sendero that had the chamber so crooked the throat cut no rifling on one side and there was a section of lands messed up mid way down, it shoot very well, barrel is still a POS!
They are over priced as far as I'm concerned, when you can put a slug in and literally mark the contour changes on the barrel by the bore it's messed up!! When you can drop a bushing through a barrel and have it stop then go down two bushings to get through a tight spot then have it flair out .003 at least at the muzzle something is messed up, ESPECIALLY when someone lapped that barrel, how can a barrel like that get past lapping, obviously there is no QC in place!!
I'm a Montanan, I'd love nothing more than to be getting Kreiger, Bux, Bartlien, Rock Creek, Hart quality barrels from a manufacture in MT for that price but their no where near that level, sure they'll have some percentage that shoot but the ONLY barrels I've rejected or have seen a company buy back a barrel or swap it out has been X-Caliber. I know of more than one other MT gunsmith that has had the same experience but just don't want to deal with the "mine shoot's great" club.
A lot of barrels will shoot that we may think won't, every gunsmith out there has bet against a barrel and it did well but I'm all about stacking the odds in my and my customers favor so if I chamber a X-Caliber it's very clear I'm not backing it up. I've had customers who have had three barrels bought back in a row!
I've borescoped a Remington Sendero that had the chamber so crooked the throat cut no rifling on one side and there was a section of lands messed up mid way down, it shoot very well, barrel is still a POS!
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LOL - I see what you did there.
I've only encountered one X-caliber barrel. A friend ordered one but I was concerned due to the somewhat lower cost of the blank but it shoots right up there with the best of them.
To answer your question: I have a McGowen 9tw 18" 6x45 lightweight on one of my AR's and am very pleased with it. Zero experience with XCaliber.
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