I had mcgowen spin me up a 20" 6 arc early on and was able to score a good chunk of all 3 ammo offerings. Got it together and went testing,. The first 50 rds wasnt super tight, but after that man did it tighten up, id say just over half moa on the 105s and 108s, 103s go to about .75 moa.. its a laser almost. Also got a 223 wylde barrel at the same time, its even better believe it or not. 55 vmax, frontier 75gr bthp both are touching for 10 rd groups.
I had an 18" Gunner Profile Barrel in 308 Win. I loved the weight savings but at best it only shot 1.4" - 1.6" groups at 100. And that was only with Federal Gold Medal Match 168 and 175gr bullets. Every other round I fired through it shot roughly 2" or 2.5". It was a really picky barrel, and while the weight savings on an LR308 rifle were great for me, the accuracy and pickiness of the barrel caused me to sell it. I was tempted to get a Faxon Match barrel in 6.5 Grendel for a build I'm doing, but after watching your video, I think I'm going to pass. Thanks for the information
Hey man great channel, I am local to ya. Saw your stickers at a local firearm shop. I just built a Noveske 6mm arc and have fallen in love with the caliber! Keep the content up! Hope your next barrel choice will give a better outcome for you
Same here. I had some bolt/barrel headspace issues on a barrel I got from AR15Discounts, it got worked out very well. Excellent customer service. I use them routinely for parts needs, great people. As to Faxon barrels, I keep reading and hearing that they CAN be shooters, but the % chance that you'll get a winner is not very high. Most accuracy-minded people I've encountered have held a pretty low opinion of Faxon barrel reliability, as well as on likelihood of getting a good shooter. I've been tempted a few times to get one -- mostly because some people seem to get a shooter and make a video about it. But I think there are better options if spending around $300 for a barrel.
I had a VERY similar experience with my PRO 2A 20” 6MM ARC (purchased in May 23’) and had to send it back with no questions asked and they replaced it. I thoroughly explained my experience which closely mirrors yours. Very happy with the customer service. Took approx 7 days total to get my replacement (lifetime Warranty). Paid $850 out the door for a complete rifle with Timney 3lb trigger and lightweight hand guard. My second barrel has been performing better and more or less meets their 1 MOA guarantee and I’m satisfied with the purchase at this point. But i am struggling finding a good working load. Been working up +30 loads using 105bthp’s and Staball Match with 3 different primers. Mine seems to like OAL 2.230-2.240 (1.720-1.730 CBO) trimmed to 1.475” Hornady factory once fired brass, Staball Match 27.3 Grains (zero pressure signs at 85 degrees F) with around .002-.003 neck tension. I even tried a light crimp and saw almost no difference. The velocities are a little lower than ideal but fast enough @2540 Avg which is acceptable for what is a varget class ball powder marketed for temperature insensitivity. Standard Deviations and extreme spreads have been very good often in single digits. Had some decent groups with 80 grain Winchester BT SPire points as well with the same powder. I’m open to suggestions, and my load data is my load data, reloading is risky, use my information at your own discretion and risk.
To bad. I was hoping you found the problem. If you want a good barrel look at Compass Lake Engineering. The extra money you spend on a custom barrel will be saved on ammo and load development. I would also never have a button rifled barrel fluted and would even hesitate at having the muzzle threaded if you want the most accuracy, same for hammer forged.
Thanks for this. I have a couple OdinWorks barrels, a 20" 6.5 Grendel and an 18" .223 Wylde. Both are good shooters with decent factory loads. The Wylde barrel has shot well for about 650-700 rds, the Grendel for about 350. Thus far, on each. Still shooting fine. I have a 16" 6.5 Grendel from Six Sigma Arms, made by Lilja, that I've got about 75 rds through so far and it's a fine shooter. Six Sigma also has 6 ARC barrels made by Lilja, if I was building a 6 ARC upper I'd try one of those.
I’m actually working through - 24” EABCO right now. 1.5” with all 3 Hornady factory offering but my generic 105gr load for my 18” Odin barrel will consistently do 4 of 5 in 3/4” with 2x fired brass. Hoping to bring those flyers in once I get my next batch of brass annealed.
I bought the 6 arc 20" match barrel. After the first cleaning, I put a scope through it and found chips and gouges from tooling. Sent it back they sent me a replacement, it was worse than the first. They are still trying to fond me a good barrel. I think I will get a refund.
I don't shoot 6ARC very much. What experience I have with it shows that it's a jump sensitive cartridge. A friend of mine had one in a ballistic advantage barrel and was having issues with it as well. He's an experienced hand loader like I am, however, he doesn't shoot for small groups in competition. He was at his wits end and I took the rifle and loaded some bullets with the 105 Bergers. I found jam and started single loading at twenty thousandths from jam. The bullet was still in the lands slightly (about five thou or so). I used Vit N135 loaded at twenty four grains and started with an SD of 3 and an ES of 6 (in a gas gun). I backed away from the lands and seated deeper by about ten thou at a time. The first five shot group was decent at about .750 MOA. Not bad but not great either. At fifteen thou off the lands, it cam to life. I shot four separate groups and each was smaller than .400 MOA. I didn't go up or down on the powder charge as the SD's and ES's never came out of the single digits. The speed wasn't great out of his twenty four inch barrel (2540 on average). I also ran about four thou neck tension (interference between the bullet and cartridge case neck). I didn't have any come unseated when I sent the bcg home. One of the things I have noticed is that most factory 6ARC factory ammunition offerings run about two thou neck tension and in a gas gun the bullet WILL unseat and jump forward. This leads to inconsistent chamber pressures and causes huge problems when shooting for groups. The barrel opening up when it heats up shows more problems than just ammunition. It sounds like the barrel is over head space and the bore is not inline with the chamber correctly. This can be a problem with mass produced barrels. I hope you get the other barrel to shoot well.
It is a finicky cartridge. Between getting a good seating depth, not having the base of the bullet way into the powder column and having it fit into an AR magazine, there's not much room to play with. It's like trying to balance a bowling ball on a broom stick😄. I load mine about .004" into the lands with 90gr Bergers. I think it also helps with the bullet moving forward with the bolt slamming closed. With the 90gr Bergers I have room to seat where I want, keeps the base out of the powder, full bearing contact in the neck and fits in the magazine. I think the 105 Hybrids would work good because they're not as jump sensitive, but impossible to find.
I had a poor experience with my 20" 5.56 Faxon barrel that they no longer sell. It would shoot M193 and other 55gr ammo very well, but as soon as I put 75gr and 77gr ammo through it, it made a shotgun pattern. What made matters worse is that I learned how to hand load 5.56 on this barrel and I thought it was my reloading skills. Factory ammo ruled that theory out, and my 16" rifle would obliterate it on the range with the same ammo. I replaced it with a Green Mountain barrel which is extremely accurate.
Reloading for these barrels is what makes it frustrating because there’s always a lingering doubt if “did I screw up my loadings”. Lol. I keep some factory ammo clues that I can run just to check my reloads sometimes. 😉
Yeah you put way more money and effort into it than I would’ve. I get that some barrels are particularly sensitive but they still should at least shoot decent groups at 100yds with about anything and by decent I mean at least a 2” group not flying all over
Well, I discovered the handguard touching the gas block issue about half way through those round. So I fixed it and started over. Didn’t know for sure what was barrel related and what was build related. But yes, for future barrels I’ll watch things more closely and make my decision a bit sooner. Short it going to a bolt action, or spending $800 on a Proof Research 24” barrel the Faxon 24” was about the only option I saw. I had high hopes for it and probably spent more time than I should’ve on it. 😉👍🏻
I have the 20" 1/7 twist ss 416 R from BA about 500 rounds thrugh it and have hit .750 inch with it and cfe223 105gr Match Burners. It works ok for me.
I was looking really hard at the faxon 24" for prs as well but after seeing your videos with all the problems of it not grouping and all the other stuff on TH-cam for the AR platform and not being able to find anything in stock for a 24" pretty much anywhere I ended up going away from the AR platform all together and got a bolt gun. Sorry you had to spend so much time and effort into it but I'd be in the same boat as you doing it if not for your videos. Thank you.
My 6.5 Grendel Faxon bbl, 20" match, does not shoot very well either. Just not up to snuff after a year of diddling with dozens of loads. I won't bash Faxon though because their 10" 9mm barrel will shoot cheap 115 gr ball through the same hole at 100 yds, with a red dot that covers the hole.
I picked up a 24” EABCO barrel in 6mm ARC and it’s shooting great so far. I haven’t worked up any loads yet but it runs 105 Hornady black at 2740 fps with sub moa groups
@@mckimmym I assembled the upper last night but traveling this weekend. 😢 Hopefully I’ll get break-in completed next weekend and some grouping shoots on paper.
I know your pain, sold my 6 arc upper....look into th÷ 243 LBC. Almost identical, yet accuracy is 90% better, and velocity is higher. Me and buddy both built 6 arcs.... neither one is shooting them anymore !!!!!
Well I hate you spent so much money trying to get it to work and wound up being a dud. Good information though, I have one faxon barrel and it’s a 300blk, it shoots well enough for what it is but my cheap ol BCA 300 out shoots it all day lol.
Faxon customer service is terrible. I had a big run around with them last year. 16in 223 gunner barrel. Shot 4 groups with federal gmm, only got 1 group inside of 1.5moa. M193 was about 6moa, was told the barrel was fine. After a bit of sn argument they upgraded me to a match barrel. Still need to test it again, but federal gmm is expensive.
I didn’t deal directly with Faxon’s customer service. Their return/refund policy is non existent if you didn’t purchase directly from them, so I did the return through AR15Discounts.com. They were great once they found out what the barrel was doing, even tough I was out of the 30day no questions asked period.
![fellow fellow - Proud [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9uZF7BlUQPE/mqdefault.jpg)
I had mcgowen spin me up a 20" 6 arc early on and was able to score a good chunk of all 3 ammo offerings. Got it together and went testing,. The first 50 rds wasnt super tight, but after that man did it tighten up, id say just over half moa on the 105s and 108s, 103s go to about .75 moa.. its a laser almost. Also got a 223 wylde barrel at the same time, its even better believe it or not. 55 vmax, frontier 75gr bthp both are touching for 10 rd groups.
That’s awesome!! How much do their barrels run??
what rifling did mcgowen cut on your 20" arc?
I had an 18" Gunner Profile Barrel in 308 Win. I loved the weight savings but at best it only shot 1.4" - 1.6" groups at 100. And that was only with Federal Gold Medal Match 168 and 175gr bullets. Every other round I fired through it shot roughly 2" or 2.5". It was a really picky barrel, and while the weight savings on an LR308 rifle were great for me, the accuracy and pickiness of the barrel caused me to sell it. I was tempted to get a Faxon Match barrel in 6.5 Grendel for a build I'm doing, but after watching your video, I think I'm going to pass. Thanks for the information
Agreed. Was very disappointed.
I honestly expected more from Faxon.
Hey man great channel, I am local to ya. Saw your stickers at a local firearm shop. I just built a Noveske 6mm arc and have fallen in love with the caliber! Keep the content up! Hope your next barrel choice will give a better outcome for you
Awesome! Where are you at?
I’ve already started with a 20” Ballistic Advantage barrel and it’s doing much better so far.
AR-15 Discounts is top notch to work with; used many times very few issues but when there is their service is excellent and I use them whenever I can.
Same experiences here 👍🏻👊🏻
Same here. I had some bolt/barrel headspace issues on a barrel I got from AR15Discounts, it got worked out very well. Excellent customer service. I use them routinely for parts needs, great people.
As to Faxon barrels, I keep reading and hearing that they CAN be shooters, but the % chance that you'll get a winner is not very high. Most accuracy-minded people I've encountered have held a pretty low opinion of Faxon barrel reliability, as well as on likelihood of getting a good shooter. I've been tempted a few times to get one -- mostly because some people seem to get a shooter and make a video about it. But I think there are better options if spending around $300 for a barrel.
@@seanoneil277 I had high hopes. Biggest regret is about $$$ spent proving it wasn’t going to work. Lol
I had a VERY similar experience with my PRO 2A 20” 6MM ARC (purchased in May 23’) and had to send it back with no questions asked and they replaced it. I thoroughly explained my experience which closely mirrors yours. Very happy with the customer service. Took approx 7 days total to get my replacement (lifetime Warranty). Paid $850 out the door for a complete rifle with Timney 3lb trigger and lightweight hand guard. My second barrel has been performing better and more or less meets their 1 MOA guarantee and I’m satisfied with the purchase at this point. But i am struggling finding a good working load. Been working up +30 loads using 105bthp’s and Staball Match with 3 different primers. Mine seems to like OAL 2.230-2.240 (1.720-1.730 CBO) trimmed to 1.475” Hornady factory once fired brass, Staball Match 27.3 Grains (zero pressure signs at 85 degrees F) with around .002-.003 neck tension. I even tried a light crimp and saw almost no difference. The velocities are a little lower than ideal but fast enough @2540 Avg which is acceptable for what is a varget class ball powder marketed for temperature insensitivity. Standard Deviations and extreme spreads have been very good often in single digits. Had some decent groups with 80 grain Winchester BT SPire points as well with the same powder. I’m open to suggestions, and my load data is my load data, reloading is risky, use my information at your own discretion and risk.
Xcaliber and compass lake with a headspaced bolt is the only way to go. Or any other competent well known barrel smith.
Got a fluke. I can shoot 20 rounds though my suppressor and still get grest accuracy, and grab my suppressor. 6 ARC doesn’t hardly heat up the barrel!
To bad. I was hoping you found the problem. If you want a good barrel look at Compass Lake Engineering. The extra money you spend on a custom barrel will be saved on ammo and load development. I would also never have a button rifled barrel fluted and would even hesitate at having the muzzle threaded if you want the most accuracy, same for hammer forged.
Compass Lake is second to none in custom barrels. I also use Mos-Tek custom barrels as well. Well worth the price and the wait.
Thanks for this. I have a couple OdinWorks barrels, a 20" 6.5 Grendel and an 18" .223 Wylde. Both are good shooters with decent factory loads. The Wylde barrel has shot well for about 650-700 rds, the Grendel for about 350. Thus far, on each. Still shooting fine.
I have a 16" 6.5 Grendel from Six Sigma Arms, made by Lilja, that I've got about 75 rds through so far and it's a fine shooter. Six Sigma also has 6 ARC barrels made by Lilja, if I was building a 6 ARC upper I'd try one of those.
I’m actually working through - 24” EABCO right now. 1.5” with all 3 Hornady factory offering but my generic 105gr load for my 18” Odin barrel will consistently do 4 of 5 in 3/4” with 2x fired brass. Hoping to bring those flyers in once I get my next batch of brass annealed.
I bought the 6 arc 20" match barrel. After the first cleaning, I put a scope through it and found chips and gouges from tooling. Sent it back they sent me a replacement, it was worse than the first. They are still trying to fond me a good barrel. I think I will get a refund.
Good call. 😉👍🏻👊🏻
I don't shoot 6ARC very much. What experience I have with it shows that it's a jump sensitive cartridge. A friend of mine had one in a ballistic advantage barrel and was having issues with it as well. He's an experienced hand loader like I am, however, he doesn't shoot for small groups in competition. He was at his wits end and I took the rifle and loaded some bullets with the 105 Bergers. I found jam and started single loading at twenty thousandths from jam. The bullet was still in the lands slightly (about five thou or so). I used Vit N135 loaded at twenty four grains and started with an SD of 3 and an ES of 6 (in a gas gun). I backed away from the lands and seated deeper by about ten thou at a time. The first five shot group was decent at about .750 MOA. Not bad but not great either. At fifteen thou off the lands, it cam to life. I shot four separate groups and each was smaller than .400 MOA. I didn't go up or down on the powder charge as the SD's and ES's never came out of the single digits. The speed wasn't great out of his twenty four inch barrel (2540 on average). I also ran about four thou neck tension (interference between the bullet and cartridge case neck). I didn't have any come unseated when I sent the bcg home. One of the things I have noticed is that most factory 6ARC factory ammunition offerings run about two thou neck tension and in a gas gun the bullet WILL unseat and jump forward. This leads to inconsistent chamber pressures and causes huge problems when shooting for groups. The barrel opening up when it heats up shows more problems than just ammunition. It sounds like the barrel is over head space and the bore is not inline with the chamber correctly. This can be a problem with mass produced barrels. I hope you get the other barrel to shoot well.
It is a finicky cartridge. Between getting a good seating depth, not having the base of the bullet way into the powder column and having it fit into an AR magazine, there's not much room to play with. It's like trying to balance a bowling ball on a broom stick😄. I load mine about .004" into the lands with 90gr Bergers. I think it also helps with the bullet moving forward with the bolt slamming closed. With the 90gr Bergers I have room to seat where I want, keeps the base out of the powder, full bearing contact in the neck and fits in the magazine. I think the 105 Hybrids would work good because they're not as jump sensitive, but impossible to find.
I think the cork time is what messes with these long barrels. It's a good thing you already have the ODIN.
I had a poor experience with my 20" 5.56 Faxon barrel that they no longer sell. It would shoot M193 and other 55gr ammo very well, but as soon as I put 75gr and 77gr ammo through it, it made a shotgun pattern. What made matters worse is that I learned how to hand load 5.56 on this barrel and I thought it was my reloading skills. Factory ammo ruled that theory out, and my 16" rifle would obliterate it on the range with the same ammo. I replaced it with a Green Mountain barrel which is extremely accurate.
Reloading for these barrels is what makes it frustrating because there’s always a lingering doubt if “did I screw up my loadings”. Lol.
I keep some factory ammo clues that I can run just to check my reloads sometimes. 😉
Yeah you put way more money and effort into it than I would’ve. I get that some barrels are particularly sensitive but they still should at least shoot decent groups at 100yds with about anything and by decent I mean at least a 2” group not flying all over
Well, I discovered the handguard touching the gas block issue about half way through those round. So I fixed it and started over. Didn’t know for sure what was barrel related and what was build related.
But yes, for future barrels I’ll watch things more closely and make my decision a bit sooner. Short it going to a bolt action, or spending $800 on a Proof Research 24” barrel the Faxon 24” was about the only option I saw. I had high hopes for it and probably spent more time than I should’ve on it. 😉👍🏻
I have the 20" 1/7 twist ss 416 R from BA about 500 rounds thrugh it and have hit .750 inch with it and cfe223 105gr Match Burners. It works ok for me.
I was looking really hard at the faxon 24" for prs as well but after seeing your videos with all the problems of it not grouping and all the other stuff on TH-cam for the AR platform and not being able to find anything in stock for a 24" pretty much anywhere I ended up going away from the AR platform all together and got a bolt gun. Sorry you had to spend so much time and effort into it but I'd be in the same boat as you doing it if not for your videos. Thank you.
That’s crazy I have the same barrel in the 20in version and it shoots 75gr vmax awesome.
My 6.5 Grendel Faxon bbl, 20" match, does not shoot very well either. Just not up to snuff after a year of diddling with dozens of loads. I won't bash Faxon though because their 10" 9mm barrel will shoot cheap 115 gr ball through the same hole at 100 yds, with a red dot that covers the hole.
Or maybe it’s hard to screw up a barrel with just 9” to work with…🤷🏼♂️😉😂
I picked up a 24” EABCO barrel in 6mm ARC and it’s shooting great so far. I haven’t worked up any loads yet but it runs 105 Hornady black at 2740 fps with sub moa groups
That’s a nice velocity. I definitely want to find a longer barrel that will perform well. I’ll check into those. 😉👍🏻
@@kentuckyrangetime They are reasonably priced too. I think I got mine for around 230 with a discount code
@@mckimmym I ordered one yesterday 😂😉👍🏻👊🏻
@@kentuckyrangetime looking forward to the video!
@@mckimmym I assembled the upper last night but traveling this weekend. 😢
Hopefully I’ll get break-in completed next weekend and some grouping shoots on paper.
I know your pain, sold my 6 arc upper....look into th÷ 243 LBC. Almost identical, yet accuracy is 90% better, and velocity is higher. Me and buddy both built 6 arcs.... neither one is shooting them anymore !!!!!
My Odin Works 18” barrel shoots lights out with anything I put in it. I’m just trying to stretch a bit more velocity out of this longer barrel. 😉
Well I hate you spent so much money trying to get it to work and wound up being a dud. Good information though, I have one faxon barrel and it’s a 300blk, it shoots well enough for what it is but my cheap ol BCA 300 out shoots it all day lol.
Faxon customer service is terrible. I had a big run around with them last year. 16in 223 gunner barrel. Shot 4 groups with federal gmm, only got 1 group inside of 1.5moa. M193 was about 6moa, was told the barrel was fine. After a bit of sn argument they upgraded me to a match barrel. Still need to test it again, but federal gmm is expensive.
I didn’t deal directly with Faxon’s customer service. Their return/refund policy is non existent if you didn’t purchase directly from them, so I did the return through AR15Discounts.com. They were great once they found out what the barrel was doing, even tough I was out of the 30day no questions asked period.
I can't see the video. It just buffers.
Probably your internet speed…. No one else seems to be having issues…🤷🏼♂️