Yes, it does have to do with quality. Any halfway decent AR does not do that after only 3-4 rounds.
You obviously don't understand barrels where accuracy is concerned.
BCA's .350 Legend barrels are an M4 profile. A barrel in an M4 profile with a .350"x.358" hole bored through it has significantly less metal around the bore due to the larger area of the bore, especially compared to the same barrel in .22 caliber. The resultant thinner barrel heats up much more quickly, and when this happens to barrels, shots begin to scatter. That is why the friend of
@ohihunter2014 is experiencing reduced accuracy after 3 or 4 shots. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the quality of the barrel, and it would come as no surprise to anyone who understands barrels that a .223/5.56 barrel wouldn't heat up nearly as quickly.
My father owns a Remington 700 Classic in 35 Whelen. Remington evidently used the same size barrel blank for all their sporter barrels because the Whelen barrel is super thin and light. I developed a couple of elk loads for the rifle and it is ridiculously accurate, but one must shoot slow because if the barrel heats up, things go south pretty quick.
Ever pay any attention to match-grade and benchrest rifles? They ALL have heavy barrels, and for a couple of reasons; they're stiffer, which is conducive to accuracy and they heat up less quickly. Ever notice the barrels of varmint rifles? Same thing. I assure you that you'll not see bolt action prairie dog hunters using rifles with sporter weight barrels.
Anyone here who has done much shooting/hunting with ultra-light rifles with their pencil thin barrels can attest to the fact that they're good for about 3 shots before shots start to scatter. But with a hunting rifle this is not normally an issue because it's rare to need more than 2 or 3 consecutive shots.
So,
@ohihunter2014 have your buddy try slowing the pace when he's shooting his .350 and remind him, it's a hunting cartridge, not a spray-the-backstop-at-the-range cartridge.
35W