Proof or carbon 6 22 or 24

[dsharpe]

I am getting parts together for a vanguard s1 in 7mag.

First, I have read that proof has gone downhill recently so I was going to go with carbon six instead. Is that the best choice?

The gunsmith wants a barrel blank, would it be bad to get a prefit vanguard barrel and do it that way or get the blank and pay $450 to have it machined and installed?

 

[Mag_7s]

I can't speak on Proof just yet, as I only have a blank right now. But what I can share is I contacted the gun smith I use and told him about the rifle I'm currently building. I plan on him cutting the chamber and threading the muzzle. He said he wasn't really a fan of Proof, and they are kind of hit and miss, something to the effect of 80/20. He is a highly regarded smith and has spun up a couple Bartleins for me in the past. So needless to say I trust his experience and opinion. However I guy I work with just did a prefit on an origin and says all shots are touching at 100 yards. However it is worrisome to have a gunsmith say he wouldn't recommend them.
Hopefully others will give some more experiences here.

 

[Mag_7s]

Smiths can be funny. You can find highly reputable smiths that love or hate most barrels/actions/stocks, and yet tons of hammers are cranked out using all kinds of components. I’m sure some have had bad experiences, some of the opinions are based on margins, and some are based on personal relationships.

I have proof CF wrapped barrel on one of my 7mags, and it shoots well with factory ammo - about 1/2 MOA 5-shot groups and sub 7/8 MOA 30-shot group. A friend has same style barrel on his 7mag that shoots well too. I’ve had good experience with Proofs stainless prefit, and my backup rifle is getting a proof CF wrapped barrel spun up as we speak. I also have bartleins and benchmarks, and there’s other good choices out there as well.

If you go with a Proof, I’d go with the Sendero contour over trying to shave a couple ounces on Sendero lites.

Good to hear, thank you for the positive input! A good chunk of my confidence has been restored.

 

[ID_Matt]

Between personal rifles and doing load work for my gunsmiths customers, I bet I have loaded for a little over 10 proof barrels. All of them except for 1 were very easy to get 0.5 moa or better using quality components. The 1 that was a bit tougher eventually got to 0.5 moa or so but took a few trips to the range. These were all chambered by the gunsmith, no prefits.

Have only shot 1 carbon six and it shot fantastic, but it was a prefit and the chamber finish was rough. Needed polished by a gunsmith.

 

[Flyjunky]

I am getting parts together for a vanguard s1 in 7mag.

First, I have read that proof has gone downhill recently so I was going to go with carbon six instead. Is that the best choice?

The gunsmith wants a barrel blank, would it be bad to get a prefit vanguard barrel and do it that way or get the blank and pay $450 to have it machined and installed?

What caliber is the gun? Most of the complaints that I've heard about proof barrels are in the .308 caliber.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

Benchmark
Bartlein
PVA Osprey
Carbon 6
In that order.

 

[Keener22]

I’ve got two Proof barreled rifles. One is their rifle, the Elevation, chambered in 6.5CM. Consistent .4-.5 MOA with Hornady ELDM and ELDX on 10-15 shot groups.

Second is an AR I built myself. 18” .223 Wylde Proof barrel with a Triarc BCG in a DD stripped upper. I get varied results with that one with various factory ammo- anywhere from .4 MOA to around 1 MOA. That being said, I haven’t ever really given it a proper test with a cool, clean barrel for each different load. I’ve just kinda shot them all back to back, naturally they opened up as I went on. The best shooting ammo was some random Fiocci 50gr BTHP I had, and I can’t imagine that stuff outdoing Nosler or Hornady 55gr and 73gr loads in an even test.

 

[dsharpe]

What caliber is the gun? Most of the complaints that I've heard about proof barrels are in the .308 caliber.

7mm rem mag

 

[Buckslyr]

Look at preferred barrels. Have one of their carbon barrels on my muzzleloader. Their carbon is awesome.

Also have several proofs(.264,.284) they are both shoot in the same hole.

 

[Usernameisusername]

What did you go with?