Virgin Valley Custom Guns .223 Remington Barrel
This review was way too long in coming. I should have completed this project and posted a report long ago. Got lots of excuses but few valid reasons so wont even try. Ill just apologize to all involved and say Ill try to do better in the future.
The subject of this review is a 14 matte finish stainless steel barrel for the Thompson Center Arms Contender. It was made from a Shilen Match blank with 1 in 12 twist rate. It is fitted with a medium grade French Walnut forend using the VVCG hanger bar system. Scope is held in place via VVCG SS base. No provision was made for a front sight as it was to be strictly a scoped barrel. Break in was in accordance with the sheet provided by VVCG for use with Shilen barrels. After break in cleaning was performed at intervals between 20 and 50 shots generally depending on what I was shooting.
Initially it wore a Burris 3-12 AO handgun scope set in Burris Signature rings. Later I swapped that scope onto another barrel and mounted a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24 scope on this barrel. I was a bit leery of a somewhat short relief rifle scope on this barrel at first but early testing proved that the recoil even with my very light hold was no problem from the bench.
The barrel was tested with a variety of factory ammo from Hornady, Remington, Winchester and Federal. The specific factory loads used were as follows:
1. Hornady: 40 grain V-Max, 53 grain HP WC and 55 V-Max
2. Remington: 50 grain V-Max and 45 JHP
3. Winchester: 40 grain Ballistic Silvertip and 50 grain Ballistic Silvertip
4. Federal: 50 Grain Speer TNT HP and 55 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip
Group averages for the above loads are five 5 shot groups and were as follows:
Hornady 40 grain V-Max 0.75, Hornady 53 grain HP WC 1.9and Hornady 55 V-Max 0.90. As you can see this barrel wasnt too fond of the 53 grain HP WC load.
Remington 50 V-Max 0.65 and 45 grain JHP 1.05.
Winchester 40 grain Ballistic Silvertip 0.75 and 50 grain Ballistic Silvertip 0.80.
Federal 50 grain Speer TNT HP 0.95 and 55 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip 0.60.
In addition I tested a large selection of hand loads using bullets from 35 to 55 grains in weight from Hornady, Nosler, Remington, and Speer. For the most part I used LC92 cases for the hand loads as I have a large supply of them and in the past loads in them have proven capable of superb accuracy. Some loads however were put together in all of the same factory cases used with factory ammo. Primers in all cases were CCI-BR4.
Testing was done with hand loads put together using an old set of RCBS dies Ive owned for many years in a Hornady press as well as using a Forster Bonanza Co-Ax press and Forster Bench Rest Dies. I was not able to detect any appreciable difference in the level of accuracy when the same components were loaded using these two systems. But in fairness to Forster who claims their system should produce superior accuracy Im not sure that this barrel provided accuracy at the level needed to see a difference if such should exist. This was THE most accurate Contender barrel in this caliber Ive ever owned or been closely associated with. Let that be understood up front. But like ALL other Contender barrels from the TC factory that Ive been associated with it just didnt reach the same level of accuracy that barrels of larger caliber have for me. As a for instance Ive owned a couple of TC Custom Shop barrels in 6 TCU that easily bested this one for overall accuracy average. Both of those barrels shot many loads into 0.4 or so and practically all loads using both Hornady and Nosler bullets into well under an inch. This barrel is the first and ONLY so chambered barrel Ive been able to get consistent sub MOA from however. Ive long since lost count of the sub MOA groups this barrel turned in but it was not uncommon at all. Of the TC factory barrels Ive owned and been around none would do that except on very rare occasions. It is no secret Ive not been a fan of factory .223 barrels for that reason. Ive long said to buy a custom barrel if you want a .223 Remington Contender barrel and this one seems to have borne out the wisdom of that advice.
I am not going to list all of the hand loads used as the list is just too long. I will list many of them but not all by any means. It really isnt material in my opinion as the results youll get from a similar barrel or even this barrel would vary due to lot of lot variations in components or your use of different brands of components. Suffice to say the barrel proved itself to be accurate enough for any use Id likely put it to and perhaps in the hands of a better shot would have done better still. I found no particular preferences it had in bullets from 40 to 55 grains in weight. It shot them all with excellent accuracy. The Hornady 35s intended for the Hornet also shot well and sure did go fast. I am kinda partial myself to bullets of either 40 or 50 grains in this chambering. Thus most of what I loaded used bullets of those two weights.
Some of the hand loads used were as follows. All used LC92 cases and CCI-BR4 primers unless otherwise noted. Velocities were not recorded for all but when they were are listed. Except for the loads which the barrel just didnt seem to like five 5 shot groups were generally the minimum fired. Some of them were much more as I had a good supply of them loaded up and on hand when the test began.
Hornady 40 V-Max 27.1 H335 0.85
Hornady 40 V-Max 28.0 H335 0.90
Hornady 50 V-Max 26.4 Varget 0.75 @ 2812 fps
Hornady 50 V-Max 27.0 AA2520 0.85 @ 2950 fps
Nosler 40 BT 27.3 W748 1.3
Nosler 40 BT 27.5 H335 0.7
Nosler 40 BT 28.2 W748 1.15 @ 2848 fps
Nosler 40 BT 28.0 AA2520 1.2 @ 3105 fps
Nosler 50 BT 26.4 Varget 0.6 @ 2900 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 26.0 AA2520 1.1 @ 2772 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 27.0 AA2520 0.8 @ 2928 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 28.0 AA2520 0.85 @ 2998 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 26.0 H335 0.75 @ 2918 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 26.5 H335 1.45 @ 2964 fps
Speer 50 TNT HP 28.5 W748 0.70 @ 2944 fps
RP 50 PLHP 26.2 Varget 1.1 @ 2795 fps
RP 50 PLHP 27.0 Varget 1.02 @ 2903 fps
RP 50 PSP 27.0 Varget 1.7 @ 2892 fps
I could go on listing loads and results but I dont think it would add anything worthwhile to the review. The results shown are typical of the performance I got from this barrel with these components in the lots I have on hand. Not every load shot sub MOA but many did and not all of them are listed here. This was/is the most accurate .223 Rem. Chambered barrel Ive dealt with to date. Far more accurate than any of the factory barrels Ive worked with so chambered.
Contact Virgin Valley Custom Guns at:
Virgin Valley Custom Guns
2410 West 350 North
Hurricane, UT 84737
Phone: (435) 635-8941
Fax: (435) 635-8943
E-mail: sales@virginvalleyguns.com
Or visit their web site at:
http://www.virginvalleyguns.com/Graybeard
