I have read about everything I can find on this site about the various AR uppers. Has anyone tried having Krieger put one of their barrels on an upper. I was also considering Dedicated Technology, which seems to get good results. Most all of my shooting is done from bench or bipod, so weight is not a factor. I am mainly concerned with having a really accurate AR for target plinking and prairie dogs. Thanks for any info.

Using Krieger barrels on the AR15 upper is done quite a bit. There are numerous builders that will use Krieger if requested. One in particular is Compass Lake Engineering, Mr. Frank White. I have Service Rifle NM w/ Krieger and they are a fine barrel and give good service.

RRA's 24" stainless bull bbl will go under 3/4" at 100 if you do your part.... whats wrong with that????....1 of the guys i shoot with can get better than that, he has a DPMS with a 24" stainless bbl...

You're definitely right about the RRA. I already have one of those, and it shoots well under 1/2" with handloads. I should have included that I wanted to try a 204 Ruger.

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...he has a DPMS with a 24" stainless bbl...

I have a DPMS in the 24-inch variety and I get 1-inch groups at 100 yards, too. I think I can do better with a better trigger in that gun. It just has the stock set-up with the yellow, low-weight springs. I have a 16-inch with a JP Enterprises adjustable that hits a one-liter soda bottle all day at 300 yards. That's one MOA at that distance so theoretically, it should shoot 3/8" groups (or better) at 100 yards. I built the gun myself. I like doing it my way...

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Originally posted by trentalan34:
I have read about everything I can find on this site about the various AR uppers. Has anyone tried having Krieger put one of their barrels on an upper.........

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.....I should have included that I wanted to try a 204 Ruger.

I am in the process of building/assembling an AR with a Krieger barrel. I am going to chamber it in 20 Practical though, instead of the 204. I want to shoot the 39-40 gr. bullets, so ordered a 1-11 twist. The barrel should be here in a couple of months.

I ordered the reamer from Dave Kiff at PTG. Should be here any day.

I went with the 20 Practical as it is a simple neck down of .223 and will fit in the mag without having to stuff a bunch of bullet into the case as I would in the 204.

I am spending my money on barrel and trigger. All the rest is just parts and pieces....

Jim

After doing quite a bit of reading, the 20 Practical is, well, more "practical" for the AR platform. I am glad you mentioned that before I ordered. Dtech uses Shilen Select Match grade barrels and turns out to be a little cheaper than having Krieger do the work. I don't have the equipment (and perhaps more importantly the skill) to chamber it and all myself. I wonder if the Shilen will be comparable to the Krieger. Let us know how yours turns out.

If I wasn't doing it myself, I would go with Dtech. He has an excellent rep as building a very accurate upper.

I would hope there is some difference in the two barrels, although realistically, the difference may be small enough that other factors may come into play that will affect accuracy. Hopefully, I can minimize those, and utilize all of the accuracy the barrel should have.

Jim

I have a very heavy Kreiger on a Colt upper, free floated under handguards. The work was done about ten years ago by Accuracy Speaks. The Colt lower has a Jewell two stage trigger, which is very nice and completely adjustable.

I checked out their website. Would you recommend them? Did you find the accuracy to be worth the extra money over a factory upper? I called Dtech to order, but I would have to wait until March. I might still go that way, but I will also look into Accuracy Speaks more. Thanks for the herlpful responses.

Shilen fans will no doubt argue that they are accurate barrels and they are as accurate as any I would say, but if used in high number of rounds as in XC match shooting and more than average shooting for varmints, there are those who will tell you the Shilen and Hart barrels will not last as long as the Krieger's. Krieger's are cut rifled and the others are button type which is not a bad thing, but there is a difference in life from my experience in Service Rifle match shooting(M1Garand, M14/M1A/AR15) Most new barrels with proper break in will shoot fine early in their life, but the more life you get the better and Krieger's do seem to give you more service than the others. Normal sporting rifle users will not shoot even hundreds of rounds in a year whereas match or varmint shooters will far exceed that number and it gets expensive to be replacing barrels frequently. On match rifles I have only used Krieger's or Douglas and accuracy was equal, but not the life. Will say that older, retired match shooter shot his M1A w/ Douglas barrel over 6000 rnds. and attained High Master rating with the rifle. Only failure he had on that set up was a broken hammer spring. Just prior to Camp Perry attended a match which hosted National Guard shooters from all over the country and while visiting with them and discussing their AR15's they late last year switched to Krieger's due to the life expectancy issue. They were using Douglas and liked them, but going for the extended life. Just my experience.

martin

Some very excellent barrel makers being tossed around. Can't go wrong with either.

The last one I rebarrled was a PacNor. Very happy and accuracy is REPEATABLE when the guy behind the trigger is.

If it matters, I went 1/8 teistand shoot 60, 69, 72gr. 60gr NBT and 69SMK for targets and partition and TSX for unlucky deers.

Thanks for the great replies. The more I think about this, the more gunsmiths get added into my pool of possibilities...Kevin Rayhill or 6mmar. I'll let you know what I decide on and how it shoots (after the waiting period of course). Thanks.

Personally I don't think you need a smith for an AR. With a good barrel it is not hard to build a .5" shooting upper. Building the lower is cake.

When it comes to triggers, think about Bill Springfield in CO. For less than $50 he can rework your standard AR trigger to a 3.5lb smooth beauty. I like his much better than my LMT 2-stage or RR 2-stage.

Thanks for all the advice. An update on the upper... I ordered a 6x45 upper from Mike at Dtech. It will have 22" Shilen barrel. I know this is a devaition from my initial plan, but I have a ton of 6mm bullets, it is reported to be easy to reload, and barrel life should be long. There are a lot of good posts about this round on this site for those interested. Now I am just waiting. Thanks again.

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I wonder if the Shilen will be comparable to the Krieger.

Krieger cuts their riflings. Most others pull theirs. I have a Krieger on my 300WSM. Love it. I'll never go with anything less...