Aero Precision (AP) just officially announced their partnership with Ballistic Advantage (BA). AP acquired a majority stake in the barrel maker and BA will now operate as a subsidiary of AP. With Aero Precision’s quality AR-15 and AR-10 receivers and Ballistic Advantage’s massive range of excellent barrels, this is a match made in heaven.
Many of you Aero Precision but fewer may be familiar with Ballistic Advantage which is a shame because they make excellent barrels. BA offers a wide range of barrels in various lengths, materials, finishes, profiles, and gas systems. I have used several of their barrels from their least expensive Modern Series barrels to their higher end precision barrels. They have all been excellent. In fact, their Modern Series barrels are among the best values on the market right now, their Hanson profile barrels are some of the best all-around lightweight barrels available, and their short barrels are known for being smooth and reliable.
This is very good news for shooters.
Meh, their barrels are just OK, nothing special. I think your over hyping them.
Over hyping for financial gain right? Those are my opinions. I receive no compensation from BA and I have paid for every one of their barrels that I have used.
Never said or inferred “for financial gain” and honestly it never crossed my mind nor would I care if you did gain financially. It’s a free market economy and I hope you make money HAND OVER FIST, but the fact that you would accuse me of this and jump all over me with such vitriol is shocking and sad to say the least. Now I know why no one comments on this site, apparently having a slightly different opinion is reason enough for backlash. No worries, plenty of other gun sites to visit.
You know what… You’re right. I jumped to a conclusion and took your comment too personally. My skin must be a bit thin today.
No worries man, happens to the best of us. Now about these barrels, I do admit the Hanson profile looks interesting and I am big fan of 4150 Chrome Moly over 416 Stainless as I tend to use my rifles like a rented mule (hey it’s a tool, no need to baby them right?), but they claim that it reduces recoil…?…Not that I am an expert but that’s the first I’ve heard of a barrel reducing recoil (maybe it has to do with the weight?). I haven’t had any experience with QPQ coatings and am concerned that it might not hold up well to high round counts in short periods (I can put over 1500+ rounds through my rifle in a couple hours training). I would be interested in trying one of these QPQ/melonite barrels, they seem to be all the rage these days. Looks like a call to Ballistic Advantage is in order!
Currently I’ve got a setup with the Noveske N4 barrel and that is one DAMN FINE barrel. It may not be THE most accurate barrel setup, but its plenty accurate enough (more than I can squeeze out of it). The most impressive part about the N4 is its ridiculous consistency. 100 rounds or a 1,000 the group size stays the same. Yes it is quite expensive, but for a defensive carbine setup, I don’t think it gets much better.
I know from my calipers and first hand experience that they take some care with their gas port specs. I think there is where their recoil reduction claims come from. It has been my experience that they get it right.
The Noveske N4 barrels are excellent. It will serve you well.
“No 90 degree angles” is Ballistics Advantage’s explanation for its soft shooting Modern Series barrels. See the interview with Clint Hanson (6:35) in the following YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhJsAFf5K94
I’ve never shot a BA barrel, it may in fact be the softest shooting barrel ever, but I don’t buy the BA physics.
Thanks for the video! Yeah I am suspect as well but I will hold my conclusion until I can get my hands on one of their barrels. There are so many variables when it comes to recoil it’s hard to boil it down to one component. For 230 bux it’s worth a shot, I’ve spent more money on other worthless items.
So is the Hanson profile between a pencil and medium profile?
I have never see the recoil claims in relation to the Hanson profile and I am a bit dubious. However, as I said, their barrels have shot very flat for me – almost like having an adjustable gas block with just enough gas. I have found that to be true on all of their barrels – not just the Hansons.
I have always attributed this to the way they tune the gas ports. Their gas port spec is very small compared to just about anything I have tried and they will even tune barrels to your set up. They have worked very well for me… black magic not withstanding. 🙂
Yeah I can see that…less gas, less recoil…But how has that affected the operation of the rifle? Have you seen a noticeable decline in distance of the ejected brass? I actually don’t mind an over-gassed rifle since it can increase reliability (given enough dwell time to allow case pressures to subside).
Good question. I prefer to have a properly gassed rifle to an over gassed rifle (but you are right, over gassed is better than under gassed). Especially since gas ports don’t get smaller. They erode with round count. The barrels that I have tried have all run very well and eject consistently.
To be clear, I don’t think there is any magic involved – just solid quality and some care taken with the gas port. I am not smart enough to know if the lack of right angles is doing anything.