Ballistic Advantage Hanson profile barrel vs Sionics Medium Contour Barrel?

[Skeeter98]

The heart of an AR-15 the bolt and barrel. Right now I'm shopping for barrels and these 2 caught my eye. Both of these barrels are mid length gas systems with pre pinned .750 low profile gas blocks.

The BA barrel has a continuous taper and comes in at 27 ounces with most of the weight towards the rear. It has a nickel boron barrel extension and the barrel is nitrided with a 1/7 twist rate. The muzzle has an 11 degree target crown (IDK how those help). The reported gas port size is .0785" or .068"(there have been reports of these barrels being under gassed and not cycling lower grade ammo) and the manufacture claims a 1 MOA guarantee with good ammo. It is MPI and HPT. MSRP is $240.

The Sionics barrel is a medium contour barrel with an ever so slight continuous taper towards the muzzle and comes in at 29 ounces. It has a chrome lined bore and chamber with a 1/8 twist rate and the exterior is phosphate coated. The reported gas port size is .076" but someone else said .075" is the number he got from the manufacturer (IDK how important that difference is). It is MPI and X - RAY examined. MSRP is $220.

Anyone have any experience with these barrels and reasons as to which one I should go with? I plan to mainly shoot 55 to 62 grain brass cased ammo. Sometimes the good 77 grain match grade stuff. I just want a good general purpose rifle.

Does the slight differences in gas port size mean much?

[opngrnd]

I've had the medium contour Sionics barrel and was very satisfied with it. I ran it through a Mike Pannone class, did 3Gun, drills, and it was very accurate, pleasantly gassed, and I would buy again. I now have their 16" LW(to save weight) and 18" medium weight(for my SPR)as well, but if I could only have one to span the gap from run-and-gun to precision , it'd be the 16" medium weight Sionics. You could call me a fan boy if you want, but I pretty much always recommend Sionics these days if they make a product that matches the request of the user. I know of seven rifles that have been built by my buddies and I using their barrels, and each user would use the same barrel again.

I hear good things about the Hanson barrels, but I've seen one in person. I'll venture they are probably a good product.

[Skeeter98]

Are they consistently capable of 1 MOA or less?

[gaijin]

I have both.
My single example of Sionics barrel is not quite as accurate as my (several) Hanson BA barrels , which means zip statistically.
Both have worked well for me.

I don’t have multiple K’s of rds through the Sionics, but do on a couple of the BA barrels.
I would expect the Sionics to have the nod on longevity with moderately abusive firing due to CL.

I’ll add that my Faxon barrels (similar price point) have held up and are equally accurate.

[Skeeter98]

I have both.
My single example of Sionics barrel is not quite as accurate as my (several) Hanson BA barrels , which means zip statistically.
Both have worked well for me.

I don’t have multiple K’s of rds through the Sionics, but do on a couple of the BA barrels.
I would expect the Sionics to have the nod on longevity with moderately abusive firing due to CL.

I’ll add that my Faxon barrels (similar price point) have held up and are equally accurate.

I think they also use the same barrels in their full auto guns they sell to law enforcement agencies. The ba barrels seem nice. I guess its if I want to go with tried and true or a seemingly worthy alternative. Ive seen both barrel on youtube shoot quite well but those were sample sizes of 1.

[opngrnd]

Are they consistently capable of 1 MOA or less?

My 18" ones can get there if I handload. I've never bothered scoping my other ones and testing for precision. I do remember setting up and shooting from 200 with my 55gr fmj handloads, and coming in about 1.75MOA with an Aimpoint, using bags with the 16" med-con bbl.

[Vegasshooter]

My experience with Sionics is their lightweight barrel on a Patrol Rifle 3 XL I have. The barrel is super accurate. Like, much more accurate than I expected with the LW profile. I was very pleasantly surprised.

[Iraqgunz]

We do not pin our gas blocks. Barrels are dimpled and we use an specific type of set screw and high strength Loctite. We build all LE guns the same way and we have thousands of rifles and uppers in use with over 85 LE agencies with ZERO issues.


The heart of an AR-15 the bolt and barrel. Right now I'm shopping for barrels and these 2 caught my eye. Both of these barrels are mid length gas systems with pre pinned .750 low profile gas blocks.

The BA barrel has a continuous taper and comes in at 27 ounces with most of the weight towards the rear. It has a nickel boron barrel extension and the barrel is nitrided with a 1/7 twist rate. The muzzle has an 11 degree target crown (IDK how those help). The reported gas port size is .0785" or .068"(there have been reports of these barrels being under gassed and not cycling lower grade ammo) and the manufacture claims a 1 MOA guarantee with good ammo. It is MPI and HPT. MSRP is $240.

The Sionics barrel is a medium contour barrel with an ever so slight continuous taper towards the muzzle and comes in at 29 ounces. It has a chrome lined bore and chamber with a 1/8 twist rate and the exterior is phosphate coated. The reported gas port size is .076" but someone else said .075" is the number he got from the manufacturer (IDK how important that difference is). It is MPI and X - RAY examined. MSRP is $220.

Anyone have any experience with these barrels and reasons as to which one I should go with? I plan to mainly shoot 55 to 62 grain brass cased ammo. Sometimes the good 77 grain match grade stuff. I just want a good general purpose rifle.

Does the slight differences in gas port size mean much?

[Skeeter98]

We do not pin our gas blocks. Barrels are dimpled and we use an specific type of set screw and high strength Loctite. We build all LE guns the same way and we have thousands of rifles and uppers in use with over 85 LE agencies with ZERO issues.

What kind of accuracy (precision) can be reasonably expected from your barrels? An why use set screw instead of pinning the gas block?

[Iraqgunz]

Accuracy is subjective and can be affected by a variety of things such as optics, ammo, weather and of course the shooter. I could tell you that there is some kind of MOA guarantee, but that would be lying.

We don't pin the gas block because there is no need to. BCM doesn't pin them either and people generally don't seem to question that. In all the years where the low pro gas block has been in fashion, I have yet to see one that has come loose from usage. I have seen plenty that had issues because the assembly process was incorrect.


What kind of accuracy (precision) can be reasonably expected from your barrels? An why use set screw instead of pinning the gas block?

[Skeeter98]

Accuracy is subjective and can be affected by a variety of things such as optics, ammo, weather and of course the shooter. I could tell you that there is some kind of MOA guarantee, but that would be lying.

We don't pin the gas block because there is no need to. BCM doesn't pin them either and people generally don't seem to question that. In all the years where the low pro gas block has been in fashion, I have yet to see one that has come loose from usage. I have seen plenty that had issues because the assembly process was incorrect.

I guess if you do something and do it right, it just works. Is there any benefit of screwing it on vs pinning it?

[titsonritz]

My experience with Sionics is their lightweight barrel on a Patrol Rifle 3 XL I have. The barrel is super accurate. Like, much more accurate than I expected with the LW profile. I was very pleasantly surprised.

I thought the same thing about my LW Patrol Rifle 3 XL.

[Press Check]

What kind of accuracy (precision) can be reasonably expected from your barrels? An why use set screw instead of pinning the gas block?

In all my years dealing with AR's, the most frustrating thing I came across was attempting to remove a BCM gas block. Heated it to the temperature of the sun, beat it, called it names, tried to reason with it, etc., and it simply wouldn't budge.

True story.