Here’s a range report for my new Black River Tactical barrel. Note that I was using a 4x ACOG at 100 yards. Due to the lighting, I had a little bit of difficulty maintaining a sharp sight picture. My numbers below may be off by up to 1/2 MOA due to my own inconsistencies.
The rifle was very soft shooting while standing, with the mid-length gas and an H2 buffer. I imagine the barrel profile handles heat similarly to the government M4 profile, but probably builds up heat faster than the SOCOM profile barrel. I don’t have quantifiable thermometer measurements to be certain though. And looking below, this barrel definitely likes the heavier bullets. If you want any sort of precision out of 55gr bullets, look at a 1/8 twist or slower.
Barrel: Black River Tactical Optimum 14" Multi-Purpose Carbine profile
Mid-Length Gas
6P 1/7 rifling
5.56 NATO chamber
55gr, Independence (~7 MOA)
8/10 shots: 6.72 MOA
9/10 shots: 6.92 MOA
10 shots: ? (Not on 7” target)
55gr, PPU M193 (~3.6 MOA)
8/10 shots: 3.36 MOA
9/10 shots: 4.61 MOA
10 shots: 4.98 MOA
55gr, Hornady .223 FMJ (~3.4 MOA)
8/10 shots: 3.36 MOA
9/10 shots: 3.75 MOA
10 shots: 3.75 MOA
69gr, IMI HPBT - Match 5.56 (~1.7 MOA)
8/10 shots:1.62 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.92 MOA
10 shots: 2.35 MOA
75gr, PPU HPBT - 223 (~2.3 MOA)
8/10 shots: 2.19 MOA
9/10 shots: 2.55 MOA
10 shots: 2.7 MOA
77gr, Magtech OTM - 5.56 (~1.2 MOA)
8/10 shots:1.14 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.36 MOA
10 shots: 1.36 MOA
77gr, Black Hills TMK - 5.56 (~1.5 MOA)
8/10 shots:1.39 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.48 MOA
10 shots: 1.94 MOA
Overall, I wanted better precision. It’s a general purpose carbine for me, and I am happy with the Magtech 77 OTM, Black Hills 77 TMK, and IMI 69gr HPBT, but was expecting no worse than about 2 MOA for everything but the cheapo Independence ammo. The rifle is nice to shoot though. It’s my first mid-length and the recoil impulse is very smooth compared to a carbine-length.
I’m hoping to get velocities and also test the Black Hills 50gr TSX this Friday. Also, the shape of the Hornady 55gr group was a little odd. I will likely redo this one to see if I get similar results. I’m also planning to test the Aguila 62gr FMJ at some point. Hopefully it shoots better than the 55 and I can use it for carbine course-work.