What is the latest on Volquartsen Carbon Fiber Barrels: 1022

[Orion8472]

What is the latest opinions on Volquarsen carbon fiber barrels, specifically for the 10/22? I'm most interested in how well they keep zero while heating up. I'm okay with the weight factor. I'm wanting to make a lighter target rifle and am okay if it can't put all bullets into the same hole at 50 yards. I'd be okay with 1/2 inch at 50 yards.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[Orion8472]

Or is it just better to stick with aluminum sleeve?

Or....is it really just better to stick with a steel or stainless barrel?

This thread is just for rifles using 22lr.

 

[Orion8472]

Any thoughts would be helpful.

 

[LiveLife]

I'm wanting to make a lighter target rifle and am okay if it can't put all bullets into the same hole at 50 yards. I'd be okay with 1/2 inch at 50 yards.

Any opinions would be appreciated ... Any thoughts would be helpful.

Have you tried other accurizing mods?

I too considered carbon fiber barrel, fluted barrel and bull barrel options for my 10/22 and T/CR22.

I shoot on average 300-500+ rounds per session and to my surprise, 10/22 factory barrel even after 6000+ rounds is producing 1/2"-3/4" groups at 50 yards with CCI/Blazer/Aguila boxed 40 gr ammunition. Warming of barrel increases group size but not by much.

I have been testing KSA bull barrel with micro groove rifling and barrel warming up seems to not have much effect on group size and thinking about testing the bull barrel in the 10/22 (But since T/CR22 receiver is essentially copy of 10/22, likely produce same results).

I hope this helped.

 

[greyling22]

I put a kidd sleeved barrel on my 10/22. Shoots great. As accurate as my CZ now. I have not run it very hard though. I have noticed the chamber on my tacsol mkii' pistol upper is tighter than the factory chamber and more prone to jamming. I assume that applies to the vq barrels.

 

[flightsimmer]

I have a Volquartsen carbon fiber barrel on my 1022 and I can get groups at 75 yd that you can cover completely with a dime.

I have never noticed groups getting larger as the barrel heated up on mine.

I like to use it to shoot shotgun shells at 100 yds like a sniper rifle.

 

[LoonWulf]

I put a kidd sleeved barrel on my 10/22. Shoots great. As accurate as my CZ now. I have not run it very hard though. I have noticed the chamber on my tacsol mkii' pistol upper is tighter than the factory chamber and more prone to jamming. I assume that applies to the vq barrels.

Match chamber 22 barrels run tight and will actually jam the bullet into the rifling which can cause some sticking issues. The lothar walther barrel on my 457 we'll leave loaded rounds in the chamber sometimes, and I can't even get aguila into chamber lol.
Friend of mine had a volquartsen barrel on his gun, I don't remember ever seeing him have an issue with getting stuff in and out, and it shot well. That's my only experience with them and was years ago.

.

 

[LiveLife]

Match chamber 22 barrels run tight and will actually jam the bullet into the rifling which can cause some sticking issues. The lothar walther barrel on my 457 we'll leave loaded rounds in the chamber sometimes, and I can't even get aguila into chamber

This is another reason why I didn't go with match barrels with match chamber as I planned on shooting "cheap bulk" ammo mostly as tighter chambers were reported to not feed/chamber sloppy cheap bulk ammo.

That's the reason why I chose KSA bull barrel as they advertised more generous "Ruger Match Chamber" dimensions to work with cheap bulk ammo and it does, even reliably feeding likes of Thunderbolts.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Another thing to consider is frequency of cleaning the barrel/bore. If you are shooting for groups and cleaning your barrel/bore each time, consider not cleaning as this could be messing up your grouping.

I did a myth busting thread on cleaning vs not cleaning 10/22 barrel and as many match shooters posted, it took some time for cleaned barrel to "season" enough to start producing consistent groups again and now I DO NOT clean 10/22 barrel rather just run dry patch through and only bore brush with Hoppes #9 every 2000 rounds (But I do keep the muzzle crown clean).

 

[Orion8472]

Thanks for the replies so far, guys.

I'll say this quickly,...I don't really clean my barrels all that often, so yeah, I get the idea of "too much cleaning".

A KIDD sleeved barrel was one of my options, but heard good and bad things about carbon fiber barrels...but many of those were for larger caliber rifles. I would assume that 22lr wouldn't really be the same, nearly as much.

I almost purchased a Volquartsen carbon fiber barrel, $350, but it wasn't threaded, so I passed. But was someone saying that the chamber on the Volquartsen isn't as tight as the KIDD, or did I get the wrong impression?

Most likely, I'll be running CCI Standard Velocity anyway.

 

[flightsimmer]

You can get a carbon fiber barrel from Volquartsen that's threaded for a silencer or if you already have one you can send it in and they'll install a threaded tip for you.

Besides being lightweight, a barrel under tension is more accurate as was demonstrated with the Dan Wesson revolvers.
It seems to cut down on the harmonics.

 

[greyling22]

Dirty chamber is only an issue for me because I run suppressed. And usually 1 pass with a bore snake fixes the problems. I have not had issues with the kidd using cci sv.

 

[Orion8472]

So,....given the same ammo used, which would have a better probability of accuracy, and as the barrel heats up?

KIDD 16.5" Black Fluted Bead Blast Rifle Barrel Chrome Moly Bull Barrel
Volquartsen Ruger 10/22 Lightweight Carbon Fiber Barrel Black Forward Blow Comp

I don't have plans for a can. I just like the looks of Volquartsen's forward blow comp.

 

[Orion8472]

Any more input on this topic?

 

[Orion8472]

Well, I went ahead and got the Volquartsen Carbon Fiber, all black, with the forward blow end piece. Is there any special "break in" instructions I would need to know before the first time out with it?

 

[LiveLife]

Well, I went ahead and got the Volquartsen Carbon Fiber, all black, with the forward blow end piece. Is there any special "break in" instructions I would need to know before the first time out with it?

This is just me but I usually fire several hundred copper plated cheap bulk ammo like Federal Value Pack to "burnish" the bore surface before shooting lead ammo.

And during the "burnishing" of the bore, if the chamber is match "tight" and you are planning to shoot non-match "bulk ammo", you will get to determine which ones feed/chamber more reliably.

 

[Orion8472]

I was just planning on using Standard Velocity CCI for the most part.