DMR/SPR rifle barrels

[californiasushi]

In the OP, barrel blank manufacturers are mixed in with companies who finish them. It's kinda a confusing situation since a company like White Oak Armament/Precision will sell both Kriegers and Wilson blanks that they finished. OP, which brands you get recommended will pretty much be determined by the background of the person offering the recommendation. A tactical precision shooter might recommend a Hawk Hill, Bartlein, or Krieger (finished by a top notch gunsmith). A High Power shooter might recommend a Wilson, Krieger, or Douglas blank finished by Compass Lake Engineering or White Oak. A tactical shooter might recommend a BCM, Noveske, or Larue. A 3gunner might recommend a Wilson blank finished by JP or Nordic Components. There's a ton of choices and realistically, unless you're working really hard to tune a load and working on your reloading process, and especially if you're just shooting factory match ammo, mostly all of them will do fine in the SPR/DMR role. It's up to the OP to determine if where the recommendations are coming matter.

As far as personal experience, I've had a WOA SPR and Noveske SPR barrel and they shot about the same with similar velocities. Both were somewhat picky about the loads they shot well.

One consideration is that although the sticker price on the Krieger might be higher is that cut-rifled barrels generally have a longer barrel life than a button-rifled barrel so the cost per shot, in terms of barrel life, might be similar.

[majohnson]

Once I sell my two 6.8 barrels I plan on picking up an Lilja barrel in 6.5. Their barrels are popular with the benchrest group. I have barrels by both Bartlien and Krieger, they shoot equally but Bartlien seem a little faster. A lot of guys end up using what ever they can get when it comes time for a new barrel.

If it is a caliber you plan on shooting for a long time where you might need to rebarrel, consider buying your own reamer. Then you are assured of a matching chamber. Plus you will always know the condition of the reamer used to cut you chamber. You can have the reamer set to a specific bullet or other factor you want control over. It something I decided to do on my current build.

[Scoby]

I've been well satisfied with my 16" WOA SPR in .223 Wylde. It was a little picky in handload development but is a great shooter. Thanks MarkM for the H322 powder recommendation.

Actually my very best MOA grouping out of this barrel was .685 MOA at 400 yards or 2.74 inches. It will consistently shoot between .75" to 1.0" at 100 yards all day long.