Rainier Arms UltraMatch barrels

[TruEdge]

Had plans to put a Fulton armory barrel on my Maten but due to the gas block size ,it took (.875), am thinking about switching gears. Before I planned on Fulton for my barrel I was looking at the Rainier UltraMatch 20" .308 barrel https://www.rainierarms.com/?page=sh...roduct_id=2239
I'm looking for some reviews from people with 1st hand experience with their barrels especially the UltraMatch line. I'm looking to get an accurate build here so I've been debating barrels for quite some time now. Also does anyone know if rainier will headspace the barrel to the bolt if you provide one? If anyone knows of any other quality barrel makers feel free to post them.

[Mute]

I have a 20" Ultramatch on my Mega Ma Ten. It's shoots sub-MOA consistently. I haven't really pushed it to test just how accurate it is, but quick zeroing and some occasional groups shows this barrel to be quite accurate.

[TruEdge]

Thanks for the reply mute. What BCG did you use in your maten build?

[Justintoxicated]

I have one 24" version though, I wouldn't recommend it at this time. My first one caused high pressure signs and would blow out the primers on factory ammo. It was pretty accurate shooting my weaker handloads though! (Yes the barrel was headspaced fine, something else was too tight though.)

Not sure if I got the same one back or a different one when I sent it in. Using the same ammo it no longer blows out the primers, or shows as much high pressure signs but seems way less accurate. Granted I have only had it out once so I need to verify this more by dialing in a new load. Basically with my custom load, I could shoot 5 shots into one hole, but with the replacement my groups were only moa at best, and that was difficult to achieve.

Got frustrated with the whole LR 308 and haven't been back to the range with it.

[Mute]

Thanks for the reply mute. What BCG did you use in your maten build?

I'm using an Armalite AR10 bcg.

[Shakey]

I had a 18" 308 UltraMatch barrel. It worked pretty well, I was able to get 1 MOA groups (which is about as accurate as I am with any semi auto 308) with Black Hills 168 and some reloads.

The only slightly unusual thing I noticed with it was that headspace was on the short side (1.630/1 depending on the bolt) and the chamber had a long throat, almost like they used a chamber reamer designed for 200+ grain bullets. My totally uninformed speculation is that they original batch of these barrels may have had a shorter throat, that caused issues with some ammunition, and they fixed the problem by going to a longer throat. Or something like that.

[TruEdge]

I'm kind of disappointed to hear the 2 reply I got were pretty negative. I was hoping they would have been better barrels

[till44]

I've had great results with the Ultra Match barrels. Sub-MOA performance and the install was always easy. I've used DPMS and Fulton Armory BCGs.

Rainier will headspace and dimple the barrel on request.

And shameless plug, I have an extra Ultra Match and BCG in the marketplace, cheap too.

[Shakey]

I'm kind of disappointed to hear the 2 reply I got were pretty negative. I was hoping they would have been better barrels

Hi TruEdge,

I definitely would not say my experience with the barrel was negative. A 1" 5-shot group at 100 yards with a semi-auto 308 is pretty darn good for me. It all depends on what you are trying to do.

[Thorax]

Quality barrel makers ? really ?.....mmmmk

Douglas
Shilen
Kreiger
Bartlein
Lilja
McGowan
Hart

THOSE are quality barrel makers....not these knockoff jobs like DD, rainier, noveske, and the rest of the knobs like them.

[Shakey]

They are made from Shilen barrels. You might want to read the product description in the first post.

[Mute]

One other tidbit that may help. When I started purchasing parts for my build, I bought the barrel along with an Armalite AR10 BCG from Rainier and had them check the headspacing for me.

[TruEdge]

They are made from Shilen barrels. You might want to read the product description in the first post.

That's true, this is one of the reasons I was thinking about buying the ultra match series

One other tidbit that may help. When I started purchasing parts for my build, I bought the barrel along with an Armalite AR10 BCG from Rainier and had them check the headspacing for me.

Thanks for the info. I emailed rainier about this but they never got back to me. Now I know. Thanks

[J-cat]

I'm using an Armalite AR10 bcg.

How's the fit?

I'm building one but the bolt carrier seems kinda loose in the raceway, at least when compared to the high-end rifles at the store.

Is the Armalite bolt carrier bigger than a DPMS bolt carrier?

[97F1504RAD]

Have you looked into the Mega Barrels? They have been getting great reviews.