View Full Version : DPMS Mini SASS barrels
Does anyone have one of these barrels or have shot one of these? I just think the price is to good to be true and maybe it is?? just trying to get some real accuracy results.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=688404
You can do far better. Look at something from Noveske.
You can do far better. Look at something from Noveske.
I know I can spend 400 dollors and get a better barrel but that isnt the question.. Have you shot the barrel in question?
I have read a few comments from folks who have, and have shot, that barrel over at arfcom. They say it is a shooter, and a good value. I really haven't read anything bad about that barrel at arfcom, or anywhere else. However, I have heard that it is backordered into the 87th dimension, beyond time and space, despite what MidwayUSA says. If you're not in a hurry it seems to be a solid value.
Thanks for the info and the heads up about the backorder.. I will have to email midway about it.
You can get a WOA for $90 more.
http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=449
ETA: Not putting down the DPMS, but that $90 off isn't out of whack given their normal cost cutting materials and manufacturing processes.
Dirknar, I found one for sale last night on arfcom's EE. It includes a gas block:
http://ee.ar15.com/ItemView.aspx?iid=32049
Thanks Hikeeba and Gary..
Ya I think kwelz was right.. I can do better.. Noveske is a little pricey but those WOA's look promising.. anyone with experience on them?
Or the Shilen's from Rainier arms look to be a decent buy.
There's gobs of glowing reports on the web about the WOA barrels, so i'd say if you like the price and barrel configuration, chances are you'll be happy.
Not as many reports from owners of the Ranier/Shilen barrels. I've seen a few tidbits from owners, but not a lot of details other than they are happy and the barrel is quite accurate. I have read posts on various rifle/benchrest forums about Shilen barrels, with and without the ratchet rifling, and everyone pretty much showers them with praise.
Don't forget about your BCM SS410 barrels. A lot of folks seem to have good results with them, too. Link to the naked 18" SPR-ish barrel for your convenience:
http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-18-SPR-SS410-Barrel-with-Rifle-Length-Gas-p/bcm-recbrl%2018ss.htm
If a 20" interests you, Lothar Walther currently has a stainless steel 1:8 .223 Wylde chambered barrel for $325: http://www.lothar-walther.de/473.php
I, too, was shopping barrels not too long ago. After months of reading and pondering different possibilities, I ended up with a barrel made by Superior Barrels (henceforth, SB). It's a Douglas match blank that was turned by Compass Lake Engineering, and then treated with SB's proprietary Hard Blue process. I went with the SB barrel for two reasons: 1) I know someone that has one of their barrels, and he likes it and shoots well with it. 2) Putting out a feeler, I emailed SB to ask them when they would have barrels in stock again, and what pricing would be. What followed was more than a week of email exchanges in which they entertained every queston I had about their product, and beyond. They talked like regular people, and not like salesmen. They were never short in their responses, and not once did I feel like they were blowing me off. Also, they never tried to push their product on me. They are two guys who love to shoot, and they treat others the way they'd like to be treated. The email exchange sealed the deal for me, and when this current batch of barrels became available, I bought one. The SB barrel was more expensive than any others I had considered, but after our email exchanges, I honestly felt I was buying more than just a barrel off the Internet.
Hikeeba I have checked out the SB's lineup also. How does yours shoot? I like shooting the 55gr vmax and the 75gr bthp or A-max's.
A couple of things.
1 - I am not a big fan overall of DPMS.
2 - I am a huge fan of Noveske barrels.
Having said that, I was able to shoot a pre-production DPMS mini-sass being produced for a highly respected sniper school. It is based off of the MK12 SPR. It used an 18", 1:8 DPMS mini-sass barrel. The rifle was shooting 1MOA or slightly sub MOA and we were getting very consistent hits out to 920 yards on 18"x30" steel with 75gr Black Hills. This rifle eventually became a school weapon and is currently being sold by this Sniper School.
For that price listed, I am contemplating putting one on backorder.
Hikeeba I have checked out the SB's lineup also. How does yours shoot? I like shooting the 55gr vmax and the 75gr bthp or A-max's.
Dirknir, the barrel is still in a box under my workbench waiting for a receiver that I have yet to order. I will report back after I get it up and running. I've only seem one comment on the barrel that I purchased (Amynta), and that guy's best test fire 5-shot group was just under an inch spread at 100 yards with hand-loaded 53gr Sierra Match Kings.
Well I just ordered the 18" Special Purpose Rifle (SPR), 'Terebratus', with Hard Blue and a bolt..
I hear ya on the customer service. I got very informative email responses from them and quickly..
I hope this sucker shoots. It WASNT cheap but should be worth it. Especially if its a lifetime barrel as they advertise.. They say around 15k before accuracy starts dropping off.. thats a lot for me.. it would take me a lifetime on my budget lol.
Well I just ordered the 18" Special Purpose Rifle (SPR), 'Terebratus', with Hard Blue and a bolt..
I hear ya on the customer service. I got very informative email responses from them and quickly..
I hope this sucker shoots. It was cheap but should be worth it. Especially if its a lifetime barrel as they advertise.. They say around 15k before accuracy starts dropping off.. thats a lot for me.. it would take me a lifetime on my budget lol.
Congrats on the purchase. I hear you on the budget thing. Will you be swapping the barrel into an upper you already have, or are you building a new upper around it?
My original plan was to replace the barrel on this upper in the pic. I forgot that when I installed this barrel into the mega upper, it was REALLY tight.. The barrel extension was way to tight and I got to the point on the install to either beat the barrel the rest of the way into the receiver or beat it out.. I chose poorly to beat it in the upper so It is REALLY in there. I might just buy another stripped upper and start a new one.. or at least borrow the FF tube so I can shoot it.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/Dirknar77/DSC_1346.jpg
chadfedwards
02-10-12, 06:54
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Thanks Hikeeba and Gary..
Ya I think kwelz was right.. I can do better.. Noveske is a little pricey but those WOA's look promising.. anyone with experience on them?
Or the Shilen's from Rainier arms look to be a decent buy.
I've had really really great luck with WOA barrels. Incredibly accurate, and they're reasonably priced. I just swapped mine out for a BCM, but that's purely a weight issue, as I'm going for something a little different than a DMR
Cesiumsponge
02-10-12, 07:43
i purchased a mini sass 5.56x45 chambered barrel from midway for my spr build. it is a heavier barrel but i'm willing to accept for the added range plus it stays on target a little better. i've turned out consistant .3-.75 moa w/various ammo, it shoots bout 1 -1.5 moa w/surplus ammo. i have not had a chance to shoot farther than 300 yds. overall i love my franken gun. great multi purpose build.
spikes, bcm, larue, yhm,dpms,magpul
dont forget the sass gass block its got three set screws instead of two it cost 100 bucks still only bout 300 for both im happy
Consistent 0.3 MOA with 5.56mm handloads or match ammo out of a gas gun? Better let GAP in on the secret. :rolleyes:
chadfedwards
02-10-12, 07:59
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You may not be aware, but in order to get accurate group sizes you need to be shooting several 5 round groups or even 10 round groups.
its direct gas. no i dont handload been using commercial ammo 55 grn vmax, and 69hpbt from ssa. w/great results the first 3 rnd group from the barrel was bout .75
by the way i did say consistant .3 to .75 moa either way it shoots better than i do havent had a chance to really try different ammo
just answering the original question yes it seems to be a shooter
besides i dont know very may individuals that 'need' a sub moa rifle for practical purposes
Cesiumsponge
02-10-12, 11:58
its direct gas. no i dont handload been using commercial ammo 55 grn vmax, and 69hpbt from ssa. w/great results the first 3 rnd group from the barrel was bout .75
by the way i did say consistant .3 to .75 moa either way it shoots better than i do havent had a chance to really try different ammo
just answering the original question yes it seems to be a shooter
besides i dont know very may individuals that 'need' a sub moa rifle for practical purposes
Must be a magic AR barrel. Even $5000+ bolt guns can't consistently shoot 0.3MOA except in the benchrest world. Shooting an oddball 3-round group one time doesn't make it a 0.3 MOA rifle.
chadfedwards
02-10-12, 17:15
ok let me put it this way then
ive fired m855, a.e. 55 grn, v max 55grn and some 69 grn hpbt
total 500 or so rnds
been shooting 3rnd grps for size no i dont get it red hot but i dont really let it cool either ive shot at some steel etc. every time i go back to paper for size it has been from 3/8inch to 1.5 inch with diff. ammo from above.
Yes there are more pricey barrels that undoubtedly are better for various reasons, but so far w/ my limited time owning this barrel thats what its done for me thus far. So to respond to the original question it seems to shoot just fine either way time will tell
by the way ive never really been a fan of dpms, and all i said was what it had done so far never said it was a '.3 moa rifle'
i was merely offering my experience thus far w/ the product that started the thread i didnt realize it was the place bash anything not noveske, lilja, etc. etc.
Cesiumsponge
02-11-12, 19:19
ok let me put it this way then
ive fired m855, a.e. 55 grn, v max 55grn and some 69 grn hpbt
total 500 or so rnds
been shooting 3rnd grps for size no i dont get it red hot but i dont really let it cool either ive shot at some steel etc. every time i go back to paper for size it has been from 3/8inch to 1.5 inch with diff. ammo from above.
Yes there are more pricey barrels that undoubtedly are better for various reasons, but so far w/ my limited time owning this barrel thats what its done for me thus far. So to respond to the original question it seems to shoot just fine either way time will tell
by the way ive never really been a fan of dpms, and all i said was what it had done so far never said it was a '.3 moa rifle'
i was merely offering my experience thus far w/ the product that started the thread i didnt realize it was the place bash anything not noveske, lilja, etc. etc.
Cool dude. Too bad you've been quoted so your original text still exists on this thread. You're the one making the claims...until you erased them. You said it was a 0.3MOA rifle. On both your posts, you bracketed the performance of your rifle as 0.3-.75MOA. By doing so, you are claiming it is capable of 0.3MOA, repeatably, with a certain ammunition selection. It's one thing to amuse folks with tall tales. Now you're outright intentionally lying by trying to erase your posts. Let me jog your memory:
i've turned out consistant .3-.75 moa w/various ammo, it shoots bout 1 -1.5 moa w/surplus ammo.
no i dont handload been using commercial ammo 55 grn vmax, and 69hpbt from ssa. w/great results...by the way i did say consistant .3 to .75 moa either way it shoots better than i do
You claim that accuracy with commercially loaded, 55gr V-Max, 62gr M855, and 69gr HPBT ammunition in 5.56mm/.223. I don't think you realize how outlandish that claim is considering heavy contour SPR barrels carrying the 1/7 or 1/8 twists were were developed for heavier rounds like the 77gr Mk262. With commercial match ammunition, folks can expect .75-1MOA out of a solid match barrel on the AR platform. With spending months and months developing a handload, some lucky folks might approach .5MOA if they are lucky and get an exceptional barrel and perfect load.
No one is achieving 0.3MOA out of the 5.56mm AR platform. The jump from .75MOA to .5MOA is big in the precision rifle world. The jump from .5MOA to .3MOA is almost impossible, something you don't see except in the benchrest world which is a niche area of firearms that doesn't really apply to us. The AR platform doesn't have that kind of accuracy inherent to it. Nor do any practical bolt-action rifles on commercial loads, which are more accurate than gas-operated guns.
So you're saying you're a consistent 0.3-0.75 MOA shooter and the rifle is even more accurate than your abilities? How do you quantify that? You can only make that claim if it's well known the hardware outperforms your own skills. If someone is shooting 1.5-2MOA out of a known line of match barrels and the barrels are known to shoot sub-MOA with a quality ammunition, then that person can claim that the rifle shoots better than them because the accuracy of the barrels are known. You're claiming your rifle shoots 0.3-.75MOA and it "shoots better than i do"? Based on what? Is there a large group of people shooting 0.1-0.2MOA so you know the barrel is capable of more and you're the limitation?
You should be out there entering sniper and tactical precision shooting competitions. You'd be dominating everyone with their $10,000 Accuracy International and Sako bolt-action rigs with your AR15 shooting off-the-shelf 55gr V-MAX :rolleyes: Or you can simply say "I was bullshitting all of you, sorry".
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