Quoted:


Great post as always. You should have your own sub-forum here

Quoted:



Consistent sub-MOA. Beautiful.

Quoted:

Impressive indeed! What powder were you using?

Quoted:
Accuracy Evaluation of a Noveske 18” SPR Barrel


https://app.box.com/shared/static/xo7ecsfy00l7r24032azve25v4q79als.jpg




Noveske’s 18” SPR barrel is a stainless-steel barrel that has a medium contour and a 0.750” diameter gas block journal. The gas block journal for this barrel is designed for Noveske’s low profile gas block and the journal is only one inch in length; standard length gas blocks will not work with this barrel.  Fortunately, Noveske’s pinned and set-screwed low profile gas block is included with the barrel (as well as an intermediate length gas tube.)




https://app.box.com/shared/static/w6ryaniwlaxl65xdym2ud4e2jqpm5871.jpg





https://app.box.com/shared/static/ckdarziwj3e0ay7jipk4qf34tfbd8qcc.jpg





The Noveske SPR barrel employs an intermediate length gas system  which eliminates the short-stroke issues that are sometimes encountered in cold weather with some 18” barrels that utilize a rifle length gas system.  The barrel extension has “M4” feed-ramps. The barrel has a 1:7” twist rate and polygonal rifling (not a polygonal bore.)



https://app.box.com/shared/static/9me4uu47u5ke7q89kcpx3q5ris1trr7y.jpg




https://app.box.com/shared/static/2nr1zffw7j1uhlkqf6fgqlqpbnn3epuc.jpg





The chamber found in this barrel is Noveske’s proprietary Noveske Match mod 0 chamber that “was developed to fire MK262 Mod 1 on AUTO in hot environments."  I installed the SPR barrel in a Colt M4 upper receiver and free-floated the barrel with a LaRue Tactical 12” handguard.





https://app.box.com/shared/static/6mjhqvzx7yrojh30a1zss4r4e7u0hhhg.jpg





I conducted an accuracy (technically, precision) evaluation of the Noveske 18” SPR barrel from my bench-rest set-up following my usual protocol.  This accuracy evaluation used statistically significant shot-group sizes and every single shot in a fired group was included in the measurements. There was absolutely no use of any group reduction techniques (e.g. fliers, target movement, Butterfly Shots).

The shooting set-up will be described in detail below. As many of the significant variables as was practicable were controlled for. Pictures of shot-groups are posted for documentation.

All shooting was conducted from a concrete bench-rest from a distance of 100 yards (confirmed with a laser rangefinder.) The free-float hand-guard of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifle rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag. Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the objective-bell of the scope. Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe. The set-up was very similar to that pictured below.




https://app.box.com/shared/static/xo4duzdgtp.jpg




https://app.box.com/shared/static/lkg47ptc04.jpg




For this evaluation, I used one of my standard match-grade hand-loads topped with Sierra 55 grain BlitzKings.  When fired from my Krieger barreled AR-15s, this load has produced ½ MOA 10-shot groups at 100 yards.




https://app.box.com/shared/static/n5uicctmu8ve7kxmht3zboy2inihdvzq.jpg



Three, 10-shot groups were fired in a row from the Noveske SPR barrel from a distance of 100 yards with the resulting extreme spreads:

0.812”
0.732”
0.873”

for an average 10-shot group extreme spread of 0.81”.  The three, 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group.  The mean radius of the 30-shot composite group was 0.28”



The smallest 10-shot group . . .

https://app.box.com/shared/static/fs89f0e2sy9c48p6qb2japknx67i42nd.jpg





The 30-shot composite group . . .

https://app.box.com/shared/static/o9me2v3tg4g7gqubs09r3gyttmby30yf.jpg



….

Quoted:


I love your posts, Molon! Thanks coming back. Oh have the exact same barrel on a Larue 13.5" hand guard,and I love that barrel. I shoot it with Speer 64 grain Gold Dots, and it is a fine weapon. Right Now I am shooting it with Noveske/Troy irons, but am looking at avoid variable scope to mount it on

Quoted:

I haven't seen it posted or question asked, but what trigger are you using for these tests?

Quoted:


Which springs are you running (Service, DMR, or Match)?

Quoted:

N133 for light bullets? N140 for the heavies?

Quoted:

As always many thanks for your contributions.

Quoted:

Was this a recently purchased Noveske barrel?

Quoted:

Thanks for keeping it real brother.

Quoted:

Thumbs up Molon!  Just what I was looking for.  Thank you for doing this.

Quoted:


Thanks for accurate data!

Quoted:

I am glad I invested in a Noveske SPR complete upper when I did.  $1400 was a hurt in the wallet, though.

Quoted:

I have this barrel in my 3 gun rifle and it is a shooter. When I zeroed it at 50 yds all 10 shots were covered up by a dime no problem. Very accurate barrel so far. I would love to see what it would do at 2-300 with something besides 55 gr fmj and a tr24 maybe some 69 bthp and a 4-16 or 5-20.

Quoted:

Thumbs up Molon!  Just what I was looking for.  Thank you for doing this.

Quoted:

WOW. Half MOA? There are some bolt guns, like the Accuracy International that guarantee a 1/2 MOA.

A gas gun shooting 1/2 MOA is awesome.


Great thread! As always.