Addax Polygonal upper

[deadon57]

I noticed that Addax has a nice Stainless Steel upper. Instead of standard rifling, it uses Polygonal groove rifling. What's the skinny on this type of rifling? I'm in the market for a top tier upper.

[Pax]

Polygonal rifling extends the life of the barrel and marginally increases average muzzle velocities, (in turn, marginally increasing the round's effect on target and accuracy). It also makes for a slightly thicker barrel as the "grooves," or "valleys" as they may be called in polygonal rifling, are not as deep as traditional grooves. It is also easier to clean.

Not a bad choice at all for a barrel. A Stainless Steel barrel will provide you excellent accuracy, however there are conflicting reports as to their life expectancy and I really cant speak on that point since I'm no expert on the subject. That being said, Chrome-Moly barrels have been getting the job done quite well for decades.. But if you want to get something fancy, go ahead and get SS, I'm not stopping you. I doubt that you will outlast the barrel, whichever you choose.

Other decent barrel sets to look into are the Rainer Arms UltraMatch, (Ratchet-rifled, an excellent type of rifling), any BCM barrel (they button rifle 410 Stainless barrels...), Noveske's Stainless line, (they claim its polygonal, however I believe it's actually a hybrid type of rifling), and any Daniel Defense CHF or White Oak barrel. The UltraMatch series feature Wylde Chambers and some BCMs feature similar chambers built to USMC SAM-R specifications. Once in a blue moon the Wylde apparently has issues, no word on the SAM-R's reliability that I've heard. I know these are a lot of options, but the good news is that whatever you choose, I'm sure it will perform just fine.

[deadon57]

Thank you, it occurred to me that Glock has Polygonal barrels also. I did more looking and came across LaRue barrels, they are up there in quality and also have Polygonal barrels and are stainless. I'll probably stick to standard barrels, I'm leaning toward either BCM or Noveske, hell I might get both.

[MistWolf]

From the ad, it looks like Addax is using barrels from Blackhole Weaponry http://www.blackholeweaponry.com/

[Cameron]

I have a 16" Lothar Walther LW50 barreled upper with the Wylde chamber and the 1in7" twist polygonal rifling. I also have an 18" Bravo Company SS410 upper with the USMC SAM-R chamber, 1in8" twist and button rifling.

You really can't tell the difference as both barrels will shot sub MOA with match ammo, and both have had no issue feeding a large variety of .223 and 5.56 ammo.

Cameron

[BAC]

Cameron, how do you like your Lothar Walther barrel and how much does it weigh? I'm strongly considering them for my next middy, although I haven't decided if I'm going to have it reprofiled or fluted.


-B

[Cameron]

Cameron, how do you like your Lothar Walther barrel and how much does it weigh? I'm strongly considering them for my next middy, although I haven't decided if I'm going to have it reprofiled or fluted.-B

Mine is a little different, it is a Lothar Walther LW50 made to the specified profile for Daniel Defense. DD sold it as a complete SPR upper, and it has a more aggressive taper than the offering from LaRue.

You can see the taper at the muzzle end, I really like the feel of the DD and prefer it to the LaRue Stealth 16".



BCM SS410 SPR & DD LW50 Recce

My point in posting about my two barrels, is that I can't see any difference between the traditional button rifling and the so called polygonal rifling.

Cameron