Both obviously.

LMT Specwar

Followup to this thread

It took a couple months, but SOLGW did send 2 replacement barrels out of a different batch.

SOLGW SPR

These barrels are supposedly polygonal rifled, and some goontubers claimed they were the best performing barrels on the market. Seems surprising given their price point and that SOLGW supposedly warranties them against wear for life, meaning you get freebies when you shoot one out. Forever?

Some goontubers claimed the magic P3 rifling makes a better seal with no sharp corners, makes them easier to clean, makes them work across more bullet weights.

In reality-land, they have sharp lands just like any barrel does. It is true that there are only 3 of them, but the fouling that came out of the first set was so atrocious and the copper fouling build up on the edge of the lands was so shocking that it is hard to believe any of the benefits.

And the first two couldn't stabilize/group 55gr ammo.

The First Two

Both of the first two were extremely ugly barrels. Not at all like a precision bore.

Non-lapped

Burr gas port

Packed full of dry crud

As ugly as the BCA barrel tested earlier in the series

Rough chamber too

I would rate this a 1/10 bore. The only reason they didn't get a 0 is that they didn't have major visible defects.

Both of them were this way - even though they were sent from different distributors.

They also BOTH had ejection issues. The chamber was so rough that the brass would stick and I had to hammer them out using the charging handle - damaging my bag riders. :(

I tried cleaning them before shooting but it was fruitless. I have never seen a barrel produce so much black crud and not make any progress on reduction. Eventually I gave up and shot them.

After the test, they were copper fouled pretty badly, attesting to the poor quality bore.

The Second Two

These might have come from an entirely different planet.

All of the roughness is gone, but the rifling design is the same.

Still burred gas block, but not as bad as the first one. Its almost as if these had been fired a fair bit for precision before being sent my way because they came new out of the box with the early stages of gas port erosion.

Another bore shot showing them to not be hand lapped, but possibly some degree of machine lapping.

However, still not precision barrels. Here you can see the crooked cut throat against the other side.

Again, both barrels had identical bores, nearly identical crooked chambers.

Barrel Omega had a preference for Hornady's secant ogive bullets (.39 v .45 MR), while barrel Alpha had a preference for Sierra's tangent ogive bullets (0.485 v .381).

Why would two identical barrels prefer different bullets? The secret is in the throat. While they both had throat reaming flaws, but Omegas was off-center, while Alpha's was off-angle.

Being off center likely favors secant ogive bullets because they are thrust into the lands at a fixed angle (parallel to the bore) and only displaced into the center of the bore, while being off angle favors tangent ogive bullets because they self-align in the bore. Self aligning by angle correction is good when the angle is off, but if displaced, pushes the bullet out of correct angle.

But that's speculation, either way - one liked one, the other like the other.

Bores on these, I would rate a 7/10.

But that's not the end of the story. While I did not have any ejection issues, I did have feed issues with both barrels and all ammo types.

I suspect this to be due to the feed ramps having unbroken burs that you can see were grabbing the jacket of bullets going up the feed ramps. Most barrel makers break those sharp corners to prevent that issue.

They also weren't... attractive. Look at the dimpling nipple, weird extra ring scoring and finish issues - again, both barrels had similar burnishing or wearing off of the blackening.

New Barrel Results

Alpha's test target

Omega's test target

These barrels did okay. Both of them laid down some decent performance with small ES groups, but both had some curious habit of being diffuse rather than centering. Odd distribution from these.

Really remarkable how similar the barrel performance was - to within 2-hundredths of an MR MOA.

/u/MrSandwich69 selected, and I also recommended, taking Omega back as his pick of the batch in return for lending me one. Even though it had a slightly higher average group size and MR, it grouped smaller discarding the one match ammo least likely to be used and had the best performance across the 77gr class.

Best 2x10 by grain class

4x10 across all ammo

Conclusion

Good v Bad Buys

Good v Bad Buys, all ammo

Good v Bad Buys by Weight

Good v Bad Buys by Weight, all ammo

I don't think there is any category that these are a recommended buy, let alone a top choice.

At $350, that is an atrocious value.

Both barrels performed worse than the recently tested Rosco Purebred at a little over half the price of these SOLGW barrels.

Both barrels performed worse than the Criterion Core barrel that was a little more than half their weight.

I think all of this are systemic characteristics of SOLGW - not having barrels on hand, not being hands-on with the barrel process, and allowing these types of quality issues while the price of the barrels keep climbing - now at or even over $400 from some retailers with tax/ship.

Why did some goontubers glaze the moon about them? Who knows, that is up to you to speculate how they got the barrels. But even the honest ones, I suspect their early barrels were very different animals than the barrels than came out of the at least two, maybe three, different batches that I tested.

Their customer service people did seem nice, though they came across as vaguely suspicious of me when I mentioned why I had two of them and why I was accuracy testing them.

Next up on the docket is an FN vs Hodge test. Place bets now on whether some magic mystery metal and 'Hodge controls the specs' makes it perform any differently.

A.R.M.S. SIR 45 C/M builds. Top is a retromod recent build compiled of stuff I was going to sell and bottom is OG cod mw2 m4a1 2009 version. Just some fun arms sir builds for your viewing pleasure, packing up getting ready to choot em lizabeth

*Built for a buddy cause I blue balled him on a GAFSHUB deal

Burnt out me bench grinder, at home using hand tools. It’s not an entry stock (technically)! Used an A2 spacer on an entry tube. Same length of pull as a collapsed SOPMOD stock on a carbine tube. Good for taller individuals. The lengths a fella will go to just to NOT buy a LAW folder 🤦‍♂️

Still gotta figure out the buttpad, was thinking 1/8” 90a urethane or something pretty hard and malleable that won’t shatter like plastic. Maybe just pour urethane for buttplates on future batches? Any pointers appreciated.

Planning to do a 607 style retracing unit that doesn’t suck next

Have a new Geissele URGI and RC2, just slapped on my mk2 lower and toss a few round in semi then 20 frt. Normal for my support hand on guard to black? Ejection is 3 o clock no weird shifts.

Used to my Hux 5.56 TI.

Long time lurker. First time poster. Thought I would share my first “finished” build.

Taking her out later today to see what all the fuss is about

What started as a base plain jane ar, that has now turned into this.

For those who are looking for a good handguard for their Riflespeed gas block the Daniel Defense MFR might be the move.

The top section gives it just enough space for you to be able to adjust the gas block. You might have to use a multitool but I think the trade off is worth it for how flush it sits.

Both on sale. Would go on a suppressed 11.5 host. Which one? For the price difference kind of leaning towards the SOPMOD but feel like it might just be a tad too much stock for a shorty.

I’ve never subbed to battlehawk armory emails until recently but this is a “buy the optic and get a gun for free” deal 🫪

Gonna throw a aimpoint comp and an OCL OCM6 on it and call it a day.

I wanted to paint my stock, grip, and for grip but I have no idea what color would match my giesselle urgi upper. Or let alone look good with it. Any recommendations? What color did you guys go with?

Mk18 mod1
DDm4 PDW

Gonna try and fondle these double D’s a little more this weekend. Drop pics of your DDs in the comments…

Leaning heavily towards getting it as it's my first ar and was wondering what first additions/changes you all would make?

Aww

Brand: Daniel Defense

Model: DDM4A1 RII AR Rifle

Action: Semi-Auto / Direct Impingement

Gas System: Carbine Length / Low Profile

Caliber: 5.56mm NATO

Barrel Length: 14.5"

Barrel Description: CHF / Govt Profile / HP & MPI Tested

Barrel Material: Chrome Moly Vanadium Steel

Barrel Finish: Mil-Spec Heavy Phosphate Coated

Capacity: 30rds

Twist Rate: 1:7

Muzzle Thread: 1/2 x 28 

Muzzle Device: DD Ext. Flash Suppressor P/W

Stock Description: DD Buttstock

Stock  Material: Glass Filled Polymer w/ Soft Touch Overmolding

Stock  Finish: Black

Grip Description: DD Pistol Grip

Grip Material: Glass Filled Polymer w/ Soft Touch Overmolding

Upper Receiver Material: 7075-T6 Aluminum

Upper Receiver Description: Mil-Spec w/ Indexing Marks & M4 Feed Ramps

Upper Receiver Finish: Type III Hard Coat Anodized

Lower Receiver Material: 7075-T6 Aluminum

Lower Receiver Description: Mil-Spec w/ Flared Mag Well

Lower Receiver Finish: Type III Hard Coat Anodized

Rail Description: RIS II Quad Rail 

Rail Material: 6061-T6 Aluminum

Rail Finish: Type III Hard Coat Anodized

Attachment Style: Picatinny

Safety: Mil-Spec 

Bolt Carrier Group: M16 Profile / Mil-Spec Tested

Charging Handle: GRIP-N-Rip

OAL: 34.75"

Weight: 6.74 lbs