New AR in 7.62x39 keyholing

Talked with the manufacture and he's sending 2 new barrels. Requested that I send him back the bad ones so he can evaluate and see what happened. He's definitely working with me on the cause and making sure I'm taken care of. Its a new company out of South Carolina (http://www.esssolution.com/)

Was using the standard A2 flash hider and thought that might of been an issue. Took it off and they still tumbled.

We both think there is an issue with the rifling.

Will see how the next two work out. Should be here by Saturday.
 
He called me this morning and informed me that they are doing a recall on those barrels. Found that the rifling had issues at the M4 cut out area just past the gas port. Their QC department checked a few barrels and found a couple with issues. The sampling resulted in 3 of 20 barrels with this issue so they are recalling them all.

Another person who purchased 10 barrels had 1 bad one out of the lot.

He offered money back or an HBar profile in replacement. Since the 2 replacement barrels shipped and will be here today he asked if we wanted to try them or ship them back. I told him we'd check them out to give him an idea as to whether or not they are useable.

So far, I'm impressed with their customer service. Will see after I get the next two barrels in.
 
Found that the rifling had issues at the M4 cut out area just past the gas port.
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Why do they even both with that cutout? There are not that many people attaching M203's to civilian ARs. The only thing it does is reduce the potential accuracy of the barrel as far as I can see, and is the case here if what the barrel maker says is true.
 
I'll be the goofball that asks it: maybe it's the ammo? My AR used to do that with some Turkish M855. Getting my hands on better ammo cured the problem and it hasn't done it again since.
 
Talked with the manufacture and he's sending 2 new barrels. Requested that I send him back the bad ones so he can evaluate and see what happened. He's definitely working with me on the cause and making sure I'm taken care of.
Click to expand...

He offered money back or an HBar profile in replacement. Since the 2 replacement barrels shipped and will be here today he asked if we wanted to try them or ship them back. I told him we'd check them out to give him an idea as to whether or not they are useable.
Click to expand...

This is nice to hear. It sounds like he is working well with you on this issue. Keep us posted on how the new barrels work out. -Goodspeed
 
Since he sent us 2 new barrels, we're gonna give them a try. Our 2 barrels were bad but 1 out of 10 from another order were bad too. He decided to recall them but I think we will check these ones out. If they don't work then I'm undecided. I like the lightweight barrel in 7.62x39 because it keeps my rifle around 5 lbs with the Cav Arms Mk-II lower. I want a lightweight AR in that caliber. If I go to the HBAR then my profile gets heavier. Dunno which way I'm gonna go but most likely will get a refund and go elsewhere for the M4 style barrel.
 
No luck. Both barrels came in and we shot them. First one keyholed like the others and the second one showed the bullet was definitely unstable in flight. Egg shaped holes.

He confirmed my assumptions. The barrels are just a bit to thin at the M4 cut out area just past the gas port. With the .22 caliber bore, its not an issue but at the 7.62 bore it just doesn't work.

He's discontinued all the barrels in that configuration and has developed a new barrel minus the M4 configuration just past the gas port. He's test fired them and is going into production on Monday.

We get the first couple off the mill. He's also throwing in an M4 style in .223 for my next project for free. I did some research and the .223 barrels have been in production for years and are provided to DoD and other customers. I tried to research using his Cage Code but it didn't provide much.

Either way, I'm impressed with their customer service and his willingness to work with me. I'll provide a report on the new barrels after we test fire them. I really want this project in 7.62x39 and am sticking with it.
 
so.....?

So what is the relieved area have to do with keyholes?? The machining on the exterior of the bb, the assorted contours of the M4 profile, how does that effect bullet stability. Sorry, I don't get it.

Is it a harmonics thing or what???
 
Not sure what his engineer found. They ran a lead bullet down the bore and found that the area just past the gas port changed enough to cause an issue. Might have something to do with wall thickness. Dunno for sure.
 
I'll bet

Bet you when they drilled the gas tube port, they bent the bbl, or wonked the internal dia enough to deform the bullet. If they used M4 profile it would make sense that the barrel would be thinner with a .311 bore dia instead of a .224 and thus more easily deformed.
 
Just got the new profile barrel in yesterday. Went to an H-Bar profile. They abandoned the M4 style and went to a 5/8 instead of 1/2 for the muzzle threads.

Going to test fire them this weekend.

They even threw in an extra .223 M4 barrel for free for me. Will see how they all perform.
 
Both barrels shot just fine. Shot 100 rounds out of each at 25 yds to make sure everything functioned with no keyholing. After that, went out to 100 for sight in using open sights.

Here's a couple pics of the performance at 100 yds.

Barrel #1 at 100 yds. Walked the rounds right in. This is my buddy's rifle on a Bushmaster lower.
762x39barrel1.jpg


Mine on a Cav Arms Mk-15 lower and free floating handguard.

762x39barrel2.jpg


I cannot say enough about the great customer service we got from Andreas at ESS Solutions. Their Hbar 7.62x39 barrels are going for $73 bucks bare and $139 with sight base. That's the 2 that we ran this weekend. They've abandoned the M4 style 7.62x39 barrels after we identified the issues.

On a side note, the .223 barrel ran without a hiccup as well. That barrel they gave me free for all the time and effort we went through to help them out.

Website is here with pricing: http://www.esssolution.com/pricing
 
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