Frequently Asked Questions

Krieger Barrels Answers

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    Background:

    Below are our recommendations for proper break in and cleaning of a barrel. The information below is meant as a guideline and not meant as step by step instructions. If you have a better way that works for you without damaging the bore or using improper chemicals, by all means continue to use your methods. Many successful competitive shooters will use these instructions to the letter, some will disagree.

    LONG & SHORT TERM STORAGE:

    Your Krieger barrel has been shipped to you with a SHORT TERM rust inhibitor sprayed in the bore to protect it from corrosion during shipping. Upon receipt of your barrel, you should first review the order confirmation and/or packing list to make sure the barrel matches the specifications you ordered. The very next thing you should do is clean the bore and apply a bore protectant suitable for the length of time it will be stored. This can range from a light gun oil all the way up to a preservative grease or cosmoline. The same should be done after a barrel is fit to your rifle.

    Preventing oxidation/corrosion in the barrel is the responsibility of the customer. We cannot be responsible for a barrel that has been improperly stored, neglected, or abused by either the end customer, gunsmith, or a distributor.

    BREAK-IN & CLEANING:

    With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these reamer marks.

    Because the lay of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, very little is done to the bore during break-in, but the throat is another story. When your barrel is chambered, by necessity there are reamer marks left in the throat that are across the lands, i.e. across the direction of the bullet travel. In a new barrel they are very distinct; much like the teeth on a very fine file.

    When the bullet is forced into the throat, copper dust is removed from the jacket material and released into the gas which at this temperature and pressure is actually a plasma. The copper dust is vaporized in this plasma and is carried down the barrel. As the gas expands and cools, the copper comes out of suspension and is deposited in the bore. This makes it appear as if the source of the fouling is the bore when it is actually for the most part the new throat.

    If this copper is allowed to stay in the bore, and subsequent bullets and deposits are fired over it, copper which adheres well to itself, will build up quickly and may be difficult to remove later. So when we break in a barrel, our goal is to get the throat “polished without allowing copper to build up in the bore. This is the reasoning for the fire-one-shot-and-clean procedure.

    Every barrel will vary slightly in how many rounds they take to break in For example a chrome moly barrel may take longer to break in than stainless steel because it is more abrasion resistant even though it is a similar hardness. Also chrome moly has a little more of an affinity for copper than stainless steel so it will usually show a little more color if you are using a chemical cleaner. Rim Fire barrels can take an extremely long time to break in, sometimes requiring several hundred rounds or more. But cleaning can be lengthened to every 25-50 rounds. The break-in procedure and the cleaning procedure are really the same except for the frequency. Remember the goal is to get or keep the barrel clean while breaking in the throat with bullets being fired over it.

    Finally, the best way to tell if the barrel is broken in is to observe the patches; i.e. when the fouling is reduced. This is better than some set number of cycles of shoot and clean as many owners report practically no fouling after the first few shots, and more break-in would be pointless. Conversely, if more is required, a set number would not address that either. Besides, cleaning is not a completely benign procedure so it should be done carefully and no more than necessary.

    CLEANING:

    This section on cleaning is not intended to be a detailed instruction, but rather to point out a few do's and don'ts. Instructions furnished with bore cleaners, equipment, etc. should be followed unless they would conflict with these do's and don'ts.

    You should use a good quality one piece coated cleaning rod with a freely rotating handle and a rod guide that fits both your receiver raceway and the rod snugly. How straight and how snug? The object is to make sure the rod cannot touch the bore. With M14/M1 Garand barrels a good rod and muzzle guide set-up is especially important as all the cleaning must be done from the muzzle. Even slight damage to the barrel crown is extremely detrimental to accuracy.

    There are two basic types of bore cleaners, chemical and abrasive. The chemical cleaners are usually a blend of various ingredients including oils, solvents, and ammonia (in copper solvents). The abrasive cleaners generally contain no chemical solvents and are an oil, wax, or grease base with an extremely fine abrasive such as chalk, clay, or gypsum.

    We recommend the use of good quality, name brand chemical cleaners on a proper fitting patch/jag combination for your particular bore size and good quality properly sized nylon or bronze brushes.

    So what is the proper way to use them? First, not all chemical cleaners are compatible with each other. Some, when used together can cause severe pitting of the barrel, even stainless steel barrels. It is fine to use two different cleaners as long as you completely dry the bore of the first cleaner from the barrel before cleaning with the second. And, of course, never mix them in the same bottle. NOTE: Some copper solvents contain a high percentage of ammonia. This makes them a great copper solvent, but if left in the bore too long, can damage/corrode the steel. Do not leave these chemicals in a bore any longer than 10-15 minutes MAXIMUM! DO NOT EVER use straight ammonia to clean a barrel.

    Follow instructions on the bottle as far as soak time, etc. Always clean from the breech whenever possible, pushing the patch up to the muzzle and then back without completely exiting the muzzle. If you exit the muzzle, the rod is going to touch the bore and be dragged back in across the crown followed by the patch or brush. Try to avoid dragging items in and out of the muzzle, it will eventually cause uneven wear of the crown. Accuracy will suffer and this can lead you to believe the barrel is shot out, when in fact, it still may have a lot of serviceable life left. A barrel with a worn or damaged crown can be re-crowned and accuracy will usually return. Have the crown checked by a competent gunsmith before giving up on a barrel that may otherwise be in good condition.

    This information is intended to touch on the critical areas of break-in and cleaning and is not intended as a complete, step-by-step guide or recommendation of any product. Use a quality one piece cleaning rod that is either vinyl coated or carbon fiber, a rod guide proper for the action you are cleaning, and chemicals, jags, patches, and brushes that you have determined work best for you. There is no right answer to cleaning products and equipment, however under no circumstances should you use a stainless brush. If you choose to use brushes in your cleaning use only quality bronze phosphor brushes or nylon. Clean them after every use to extend their life. Copper solvents will dissolve a bronze brush rather quickly.

    BREAK IN:

    The following is a guide to break-in based on our experience. This is not a hard and fast rule, only a guide. Some barrel, chamber, bullet, primer, powder, pressure, velocity etc. combinations may require more cycles some less. It is a good idea to just observe what the barrel is telling you with its fouling pattern and the patches. But once it is broken in, there is no need to continue breaking it in.

    Initially you should perform the shoot-one-shot-and-clean cycle for five shots. If fouling hasn't reduced, fire five more cycles and so on until fouling begins to drop off. At that point shoot three shots before cleaning and observe. If fouling is reduced, fire five shots before cleaning. Do not be alarmed if your seating depth gets longer during break in. This is typical of the “high spots in the throat being knocked down during this procedure. It is not uncommon for throat length to grow .005-.030 from a fresh unfired chamber during break in.

    Stainless

    1. 5-10 one-shot cycles
    2. 1 three-shot cycle
    3. 1 five-shot cycle

    Chrome moly

    1. 5 - 25 - one-shot cycles
    2. 2 - three-shot cycles
    3. 1 - five-shot cycle

    SERVICE LIFE:

    Quite often we get asked about the service life of a barrel or How long will my barrel last?. The truth is a complicated result of many factors, ultimately service life is determined by a combination of cartridge, cleaning practices, shooting style, etc. A barrel is “Shot Out or at the end of its service life when the throat erosion has resulted in the bullet no longer able to be seated to touch the lands and still remain in the case by a reasonable amount, and heat checking/cracking has progressed several inches forward of the throat.

    These are the normal determining factors that cause a degradation in accuracy from when the barrel was ‘fresh or new. Cartridge choice, powder selection, pressure (a combination of powder selection/amount, bullet weight, and cartridge design), and cleaning procedures will ALL have an effect on how long of a service life your particular barrel has. No two pieces of barrel steel will have the same exact properties either. We can give an “average barrel life for a particular cartridge if it is a common one used in competition, but that is no guarantee of any round count due to all of the listed factors above. Most cartridge designs larger than .223 Rem or .308 Win in powder capacity to bore ratio will begin to erode the throat measurably in less than 1000 rounds.

    Thank you for choosing a Krieger barrel.

    Beyond the basics, Reloading for accuracy

    With the recent influx of new shooters, as well as veteran shooters, new to the world of custom rifles, we have seen a lot of confusion on match prepping ammo for such firearms. Please understand, prepping ammo for a match or minimum SAAMI chamber can be very different than prepping ammo for a NATO chamber or a loose chamber on a factory rifle.

    Please feel free to critique and correct as you see fit with your own personal experiences. We are typing this as veterans of competitive shooting (including but not limited to: High Power/Service Rifle, Bench Rest, Silhouette as well as Bullseye Pistol) as well as reloading for the same, but we don’t know everything there is to know about shooting and reloading. We have made our own mistakes in the past, and have learned from them. We hope to pass some lessons learned on to reloaders/shooters who are struggling with similar issues but aren’t sure what or who to ask.

    Most of the returns that we see for function and even accuracy issues are traced back to improperly reloaded ammunition, or even poor or damaged factory ammunition, and can be solved by simply following these steps.

    Properly sizing brass.

    Get a case gauge for the cartridge you are reloading for, this is an invaluable tool when it comes to sizing brass. A case gauge is essentially a ‘chamber’ in a piece of steel with a hi/low limit step at the base to check headspace of your brass (checking from a datum point on the shoulder to the base of the case head), as well as a hi/low limit step at the case mouth to determine proper trim length. If one is not available for the cartridge you are loading for, have one made by a custom gunsmith.

    Do not believe that screwing your sizing die down to the shell holder will properly size it. We have had two personal incidents where doing this (following the die manufacturers instructions) has pushed the shoulder back .050” too far on a set of .308 dies, and also did not size the shoulder back far enough (by .005”) on a set of .223 dies. In both cases, the case gauge showed this on the first piece of brass sized! The .308 was an easy fix, just unscrew the die in the press by the .050” that it was short. The .223 needed .005” removed from the top of the shell holder on a precision grinder to correct the problem. Now that shell holder is ‘married’ to that sizing die for life.

    Some benchrest shooters and other advanced reloaders / long range shooters will even have custom dies made to re-size brass and seat bullets to there specific chamber, also using special "arbor press" type reloading presses for these operations.

    If the shoulder on your brass is pushed back too far, at ‘best’ you will have accuracy issues, at ‘worst’ you can have a failure to extract or failure to fire because the cartridge is pushed too far into the chamber. Or, it could fire, stretching the brass too far, too fast, and you could split or separate a case. If it is not sized back far enough for the chamber in your rifle, you can have a failure to feed or completely close the bolt. Depending on the length and the rifle type, this could result in firing out of battery and can be extremely dangerous!

    Properly sizing brass is even MORE important if you are firing brass in a loose chamber, then sizing it for a match or minimum tolerance chamber. Brass springs back a bit after sizing, and it is common for .223 Rem ammo fired in a NATO chamber to not size properly, even with a full length die, to fit into a minimum SAAMI .223 Remington chamber. In these cases a “Small Base” sizing die may need to be used, but still does not guarantee it will fully re-size brass fired in a loose chamber to the point that it will work in your minimum SAAMI chamber.

    Whenever possible only fire new, unfired brass in a rifle barrel with a new match chamber, at least for the first time, then have that brass re-sized and used in that rifle/chamber only. Even rifles chambered with the same reamer can vary enough that brass sizing can be an issue. Please keep this in mind when you have an "It works in rifle "A" but not rifle "B" " issue with your ammo.

    5.56 NATO is NOT .223 Remington. Although nearly identical in outside dimensions they should be treated as different cartridges. You can shoot .223 Rem in a NATO chamber, but it will expand to fit the looser chamber, and will not give premium accuracy. Unfired 5.56 NATO brass will “fit” into a .223 Rem chamber, but NATO ammo is loaded to higher pressures, making it unsafe, or at the least, uncertain in its pressures, to properly operate in a tight SAAMI .223 Remington chamber. 5.56 NATO ammo in a .223 Rem SAAMI chamber will almost always cause some sort of pressure and/or function issue and it should not be used.

    There is a long running debate over this issue, and we do not wish to argue it. These are the findings that our experience has shown, and it is our company’s stand on it. If it’s worked for you in the past, you have been lucky. It will eventually not work, most likely when you attempt it in a minimum SAAMI spec chamber such as we provide. The solution to shooting both 5.56 NATO and .223 Rem through the same rifle with a moderate amount of accuracy is to use the .223 Wylde chamber. This chamber is looser than a minimum SAAMI chamber, but tighter than a NATO chamber. There is the issue of the ammunition still being within a dimensional specification to work, even in the Wylde chamber. We have seen some examples of M193 ammo with bullet diameters over .224". This condition will cause feeding, function, and pressure issues in any properly sized barrel/chamber combination.

    Properly sizing brass also includes trimming the cases to the proper length for your chamber, and properly deburring/chamfering cases. If the case is longer than the maximum case length listed in your reloading manual, the neck of the case will actually flow into the throat portion of the chamber, “pinching” the bullet or severely increasing neck tension, resulting in high, or even dangerous pressures. This can/will also impede function and accuracy.

    Neck diameter or clearance between the case and the chamber is important as well. Common match rifle practice is to have about .002” to .003” clearance between the neck diameter of a loaded cartridge and the diameter of the neck of the chamber. This allows for the case to expand a minimal amount (extending brass life) while also allowing for dimensional changes in the steel as it heats up.

    Any tighter than this and you can have pressure/function problems, any looser than this and you cannot expect the best accuracy out of your barrel. Neck turning/reaming brass is a great way to uniform brass thickness to give consistent neck tension on the bullet, but keep in mind, for every .001” you turn off the diameter of the neck, you increase the clearance in the chamber by .001”. So although you may be uniforming the neck thickness of the brass, you are making the neck clearance larger. The only solution to this is to use a “tight neck” chambering reamer when your barrel is fitted to your action. Then turn your necks for proper clearance in the chamber you have.

    Other items to consider when prepping brass is cleaning primer pockets on fired brass, de-burr primer flash holes (inside), weighing cases and segregating them into groups, etc. The better quality brass you start out with, the better your results will be. We are not going to recommend particular brands of brass, bullets, primers, powder, etc. Nor will we give ANY load data for liability reasons. Every rifle will like something different as far as powder charges, type of powder, bullet seating depth, etc. This will have to be determined with your load development for each particular rifle.

    Weighing components.

    A very important part of  reloading for accuracy is weighing components. For maximum accuracy Brass & Bullets should be within about .2 (two tenths of a grain), and powder charges should be within .1 (one tenth of a grain). Brass can also be sorted by ‘water capacity’ in cc’s to segregate brass by volume or inside area capacity.

    Some long range shooters, want powder charges closer than that. There are electronic scales on the market that will measure to .01 grains, but care must be used with these as they are extremely sensitive to vibration, noise, and even fluorescent lights! For reference, one kernel of Varget powder weighs about .03 grains, so unless you are using ball or flake powder, you can’t get to within .01 grains, but the ability to measure that small is helpful when trying to create the most accurate ammo you can.

    Benchrest shooters are known to simply go by case volume and pay little attention to the actual weight of the charge. In theory, weight and volume would go together, but the ‘looser’ the powder is packed, the more volume it will consume while still having the same weight on a scale. They will use some extremely accurate powder measurers with drop tubes to give a very uniform volume of powder for each ‘throw’. A case that holds 90 grains of powder is going to be less affected by a variance of .1 grains than a case that holds 45 grains of powder. Keep this in mind when sweating over a variance in powder charges.

    Bullet Ogives and Cartridge overall length.  

    Bullets of similar weights but from different manufacturers will have varying lengths and ogive shape. The ogive is the tapered part of the bullet between the tip and the bearing surface. This is the part of the bullet that first contacts the throat and will determine cartridge overall length when touching the lands.

    Not only will bullets from different manufacturers produce a different OAL when touching the lands, but bullets from one manufacturer and from different lots can do the same. When setting OAL for ammunition that you are loading, always use a bullet from that particular box to set this length. If you are tracking throat erosion over the life of the barrel, use ONE bullet that you keep with your Stoney Point/Hornady OAL gauge. This way you are measuring the throat with the exact same ogive dimensions every time you check throat wear.

    What we have found in most cases, the best accuracy is achieved when the bullet has about .010” to .015” jump to the lands. Some rifles need more jump, some need less. Some rifles give their best accuracy with the bullet “jammed” in the lands, meaning you set your ammunition LONGER than your OAL gauge shows as touching the lands. Caution should be used with this technique though as jamming a bullet in the lands, then trying to open the bolt on a loaded round can result in the bullet sticking in the throat, and you ejecting a case full of powder all over the inside of your action and trigger! Also, this method should NEVER be used with a semi auto, especially with a floating firing pin. The bullet hitting the lands can slow the bolts forward motion, causing the inertia of the firing pin to strike the primer with the cartridge out of battery. This can be extremely dangerous!

    We hope this helps you get started. There are many books and publications on the market that cover these subjects in great detail and should be referred to. The information given here is to simply get you started down the road to properly create accurate ammunition for your competition or high end sporting rifle, and make you aware of the steps you need to take to produce the most accurate rifle with the best ammunition possible. This by no means is intended to give the highest level of reloading information. It is simply the next step up from basic reloading practices to help identify some of the additional steps "Beyond the basic's" that you need to know when reloading for accuracy.

    Please check out Sinclair International for a complete catalog containing a great selection of basic and advanced reloading equipment for the novice through experienced shooter/reloader.


    Absolutely. Damage is possible in many ways including but not limited to the following:

    • By not using a bore guide. Use a bore guide whenever possible to prevent damage to the throat of the rifling and nicks and scratches to the bore. Always clean from the breech end if possible.
    • Damage to the crown from the cleaning rod. This is the most frequent cleaning damage we see when a barrel is cleaned from the muzzle.
    • Never mix your solvents either in a bottle or in the barrel. You never know how the solvents are going to react with each other or to the steel. You can also damage a barrel from simply over cleaning (cleaning more often than needed) and by the over/improper use of abrasive cleaners.

      • For more information on how to properly break in and clean your Krieger Barrel click here.

    Fluting reduces weight while increasing rigidity over an unfluted barrel of the same weight, ie: smaller contour. By exposing more exterior surface area, it also aids in cooling your barrel.

    On the barrel contours that we will flute, we expect the same practical accuracy out of a fluted barrel vs. an un-fluted barrel as long as it is fluted by us. A note on fluting done by others: We have researched and performed fluting using many different methods over the years and have really perfected the system we use. Like any other outside operations performed on our barrels, we will not be responsible for the results of other methods of fluting performed by gunsmiths/machinists other than Krieger Barrels, Inc.

    There are several factors:

    • The finish of the bore.
    • The roughness of the throat after chambering. Fouling can start back at the throat. (Please see our "Barrel Break-In and Cleaning" Instructions.)
    • Quality of the bullet jacket material. I.e. match bullets vs. military style ammo (fmj) or lower grade factory ammo. Good quality hunting bullets that have pure copper jackets to control expansion will tend to foul more.
    • Pressure. Our experience and some of the bullet manufactures is that the higher the pressure/velocity, the more the bullets tend to foul the barrel. Long bearing surface bullets will also foul a barrel quicker than a short bearing surface bullet.
    • Finally, some barrels simply have an affinity to collect copper faster than others. We take great measures to ensure the consistency of our steel from lot to lot, but some lots of steel will copper foul more/faster than others. NO two barrels can be guaranteed to foul at the same rate.

    For the most part neither one is better than the other. The only difference we find is that sometimes the chrome moly might take a little longer to break-in and might have a little more affinity for copper or seems to show it easier. In terms of barrel life and accuracy, we can find no difference comparing clean barrels.

    No. With the single point cut rifled barrels that we make we have found no difference in performance based on the number lands/grooves as long as the surface area ratio remains the same.

    Krieger Barrels does not offer drop in barrels except in the case of a finish chambered AR-15 and DPMS LR308 (headspaced to a JP Bolt) and the Ruger Precision Rifle bolt action rifle. The large majority of bolt action rifles will still need a custom fitting to set the proper headspace to match the unique customer bolt. As we become confident that other rifle systems can produce match quality results without customer parts, we will add to this list.

    Semi-Automatic rifles will always mark your brass & bullets. We have had several calls from people asking this question with M14/M1-A, M1 Garand, AR-15 and AR-10/DPMS (GEN I) platform rifles. Every single semi-auto that we personally own marks the brass and bullets to some degree, and no two are exactly the same. To quote a respected shooter and author…

    "The M14, like many military semi-automatic rifles, is very hard on brass. Let us examine what happens to a cartridge during function of the rifle. As the bolt comes forward, the cartridge is stripped from the steel magazine lips, occasionally scoring the length of the brass. It is driven into the (steel) chamber, which can dent or bend the brass. Upon firing, the brass expands against the chamber wall and against the closed bolt. The case is then pulled out of the chamber, while still quite hot. The extractor and bolt try to twist the head off of the cartridge case while the body is still adhering to the chamber wall. It is dented while thrown against the moving operating rod hump at great speed. Finally the spent brass lands in the weeds, or the only mud puddle on the firing line. And you want to reload this piece of abused brass?" The M14 Owners Guide, P.106, Author, Scott A. Duff

    And to the same point, here is an interesting video of an M1 Garand firing and feeding in slow motion. Posted by Oelund at imgur.

    In addition to the above description, the loaded cartridge also is forced across and up feed ramps cut into the barrel, changing direction only once the bullet tip is forced into the top of the chamber. Once it is fired, the case mouth can also take a beating when it hit's the front receiver ring, barrel extension and/or a scope base if installed, further denting your brass.

    Although the sequence of operations may be different on an AR based rifle, the result is the same. Brass gets beat up in a semi-auto rifle. It is often stated by many sources, that brass fired through a semi-auto should only be reloaded 3 times, then recycled as scrap. You can sell scrap brass for up to $2 a pound. Here’s more information on how to make money off the materials we use on the range.

    Delivery times on custom barrels can vary throughout the year and can be dependant on the caliber and configuration you are looking for. The "Estimated Delivery" date on your order confirmation is when we expect the barrel to get to our shipping department. We require payment before shipment so be sure to arrange payment before your estimated due date so that your barrel can ship as soon as it is ready.


    Click here to view our live inventory on Krieger Direct

    Click here to check our updated lead times now.

    Yes! Krieger Barrels is a licensed exporter and sells to both individuals and distributors around the world. See our exports page for more information and to submit an inquiry.

    Depending on the nature of the problem we ask that the customer take some steps before calling. First, if this is an accuracy issue try changing to a known good scope, tighten mounts, rings, insure stock bedding is proper, action screws are properly torqued, try different bullets/loads/seating depth etc.

    If all of this is checked and tried, then have the gunsmith that performed the work on the rifle, or another gunsmith check that work. Many times an accuracy issue is the result of a poor crown or a chamber that is not straight, or simply an ammunition issue (see the Proper Reloading Practices article above).

    If all of this has been checked and found to be proper then you are more than welcome to send the barrels to us for inspection. We do require that if you send a barrel back to us that you supply the original serial number that was on the barrel when it shipped. This tells not only that it is a Krieger Barrel but also other information that will be helpful to us when investigating your problem.

    We use only the single-point cut-rifling method on each and every one of our barrels. Please note that some barrel makers advertise that they do cut rifling but are actually doing broach cutting. Broach cutting is a form of cut rifling, but the two methods are completely different.

    No. We never have and we never will. We use the single-point cut-rifling process on each and every barrel and always have. Single-Point Cut-Rifling is the oldest and most accurate way to rifle a barrel. Read more about our single-point cut-rifling here.

    There is sometimes confusion about whether Krieger Barrels does button rifling, because in 1999, another barrel company was started under our roof, Criterion Barrels, which manufactures button rifled barrels for the O.E.M. market. These barrels have never been available for sale by Krieger Barrels, and were always kept as a separate company from the beginning, both to reduce confusion and because the process to make them is very different. Criterion has since moved to a different production facility and continues to be friends and producers of high quality button barrels. You can always be assured that when you order a Krieger Barrel, you are getting a precision, match-grade, single-point cut-rifled Krieger Barrel.

    No. Due to our process of Manufacturing we Pre-Lap them before Rifling and finish lap them after rifling. This gives a very smooth and uniform finish. Fire lapping will not make the Barrel any Smoother. In fact, fire-lapping is a tricky and potentially destructive process, so if you fire lap one of our Barrels, we will not be able to extend our warranty to that barrel after that point.

    We feel there are several:

    • The process leaves no residual stress in the barrel steel.
    • Bore, groove, and twist rate dimensions very uniform throughout the entire length of a barrel.
    • On average the barrel lasts longer than a button rifled barrel.

    This is not conjecture on our part. This is information reported to us by military armorers and by very long-time competition shooters who have used a considerable number of both button-rifled and cut-rifled barrels.

    No. All of our barrels are made the same way and to the same dimensional tolerances. We do not manufacture different grades of barrels. Every quality improvement we make on one product line or caliber is shared with every other barrel type we make. In the same way, we do not offer different grades of steel, all of our steel is the best we can acquire, being double heat treated and cryogenically treated before we begin working on it.

    Due to our manufacturing process -- single-point cut-rifling-- we do not have the dimensional change issues that other barrel makers may have. Because of the uniformity of the twist and the consistency of the bore and groove dimensions, our barrels do not need to be graded differently.

    Bottom Line: Everything we make is top quality or it doesn't get "Krieger" stamped on it.

    Yes. Actually they get lapped twice. Once after the barrel is reamed to remove any reamer marks and then a second time after it is rifled for a finish lap.

    No. There have been many praises of this surface hardening treatment applied to rifle barrels in relation to extended barrel life, easier cleaning, non existent copper fouling. However there are some concerns that must be understood if you move forward with this.

    The temperature that the steel is brought up to during this process is within the range that can remove the temper from the steel if not properly finished potentially causing the steel to become dangerous and not contain the pressures your cartridge will produce. Any heat treating process done after the rifling process can lead to bore and groove dimensions and uniformity being changed.

    Also, the salt bath nitriding process produces a very hard surface finish. If the barrel is not broken in prior to this process being done, it will never properly break in. If the barrel is broken in there could be traces of copper left in the bore (even in the pores of the steel) and it will react with the nitriding process in the form of pits or corrosion in the barrel where it reacted to the copper.

    The person or company you choose to do this operation must be aware of these items and should assume responsibility for what happens to your barrel as all of these operations and procedures are out of the control of Krieger Barrels, Inc. For these reasons, we do not recommend salt bath nitriding.

    This is a tough one. There have been many reports and opinions on an improvement by using 5-R style rifling vs. conventional rifling. Many of these reports are of increased bullet speed, better gas seal on the bullet, less copper fouling/easier cleaning, etc. These are issues that are not prevalent with our traditional rifling style, so we really expect no improvement with our 5-R barrels.

    Our 5-R barrels are made with the same bore and groove dimensional tolerances and uniformity as our conventional record setting rifled barrels, so there certainly should not be a disadvantage. We offer the true Obermeyer style 5-R rifling in select calibers for shooters that feel there is an advantage to this style of rifling, you can be the judge.

    Read more and see drawing of the groove style.

    For the most part accuracy is a wash between moly coated and "naked" bullets. Your gun might shoot better, or it might shoot a little worse. For the most part we feel there is no difference. You will have to try them to find out if your gun "likes" them. Most people agree that you do lose a little velocity with them.

    As far as barrel life goes, there is no hard proof that a barrel will last longer using moly-coated bullets. These bullets might help a barrel that fouls badly (copper) to shoot better for a longer period of time (number of rounds being fired without cleaning). This could possibly help factory rifle barrels or a premium barrel that simply has an affinity to collect copper.

    When we cut, crown and chamber an Armalite AR10 barrel we want to ensure that we properly cut the chamber to a depth that represents minimum/tight headspace for the bolt to be used in that rifle.

    For the AR-15 and DPMS LR308 (GEN I), we have transitioned to using only a JP Enterprises bolt in our finish chambered barrels. JP Bolts have, in our experience, exhibited enough quality and consistancy that we feel confident at this time to use as a standard when setting headspace in our chambers (read more) and including in your barrel purchase if desired.

    At this time we do still require your Armalite AR10 bolt when performing a finish chamber as the JP DPMS LR308 (GEN I) bolt is not compatable with the Armalite AR10. Refer to the instructions below when sending us your Armalite AR10 bolt.

    How do I locate my bolt and send it to Krieger Barrels?


      Before you send us your bolt:

    1. Remove Bolt Carrier Group (Components of Bolt Carrier Group shown in image below).
    2. Remove bolt from the Bolt Carrier Group.
    3. Remove ejector and extractor from bolt.
    4. Send us just the stripped bolt (Number 8 in the drawing below) with a copy of your order confirmation, but keep your carrier, extractor and ejector. This way we have everything we need to route your parts and properly chamber your barrel.

    Major Components of Bolt Carrier Group:

    Exploded view of bolt:

    Printable Instructions

    From direct, hands-on experience over 35 years, Krieger Barrels has seen increasing variation in the quality and consistancy from one bolt to the next in both AR15 and AR10. In order to minimize the affect that this can have on the accuracy, function, and interoperability of your rifle with other bolts and parts we have decided to pick a single manufacturer of bolts as our current standard. We have seen that JP Enterprises bolts exhibit some of the tightest tolerances and best consistancy of any of the current bolt manufacturers. Given this, we are able to chamber our barrels to a standard JP bolt with confidence that it will function accurately and reliably from one JP bolt to the next. The bolt we would include with your barrel purchase includes a bolt assembly, firing pin, cam pin and a retainer pin.

    As such, we can now provide AR15 and AR10 barrels with the following options:
    • An unchambered but otherwise finished barrel ready for your gunsmith to chamber and install using your parts
    • A finish chambered and headspaced barrel, ready to install on your upper with your JP Bolt
    • A finish chambered and headspaced barrel, ready to install on your upper and paired with a JP Bolt which we will supply to you

    This does mean that we will no longer set headspace to a customer-supplied bolt, and you no longer need to send us your bolt for proper chambering. For the same reasons we cannot guarantee proper function or accuracy if a different bolt is used or if we did not cut the chamber.

    The only exception to this policy will apply to Armalite AR10 rifles. At this time you must still send us your stripped armalite bolt for us to use in final headspacing.

    More information from JP Enterprises on their bolts can be found here:
    • AR15 223: $138 (Info)
    • AR15 6.5MM: $153 (Info)
    • AR15 6.8MM: $153 (Coming Soon)
    • DPMS LR-308 (GEN I): $190 (Info)