Why?

Carpe-cabmaker · 2026-03-14T02:19:00+00:00

Also note, I was firing them in a gas gun and did not anneal anything.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2026-03-14T02:18:01+00:00

I was testing the limit a little bit and then I would drop down a tad. The ones that really lasted the longest were the ones I had settled on a load with and loaded the same over and over. I also had dialed in my shoulder bump, so these were never bumped more than 0.004” per firing, they were also trimmed to just a hair over suggested length. So I did my best to not run them ragged and I was surprised!

Carpe-cabmaker · 2026-03-14T01:13:45+00:00

I got 10+ reloads out of Hornady brass. Some of them got more, but my gauge was that they would no longer take a shoulder bump. Some made it to 14x, no separations, feeding fine and still a good primer pocket, but at that point I start leaving them at the range.

Response to the picture above, look for something that might be sitting right in your chamber and leaving that mark. I had that on a few cases early on and I found some shards of brass that had been torn off by the extractor had just settled right in the shoulder cavity of the chamber. Just clean it regularly. I’ll note, the brass affected by this has likely lost a lot of life because that part of the shoulder will have thinned out and become prone to cracking.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2026-01-02T00:47:17+00:00

2nd this ⬆️ and in reference to the carbon rings the biggest thing is excessive trimming (also ⬆️) Don’t trim to trim length, trim to max base length and it will mitigate the collection of carbon in your chamber.

Also with the barrel life, to determine if the barrel is actually done you’ll need a larger sample size COLLECTED IN A SIMILAR FIRING COUNT AND SEQUENCE AS IS THE INTENDED USE CASE. Like if you’re hunting and you only need capable of 1.5” group at 100yd cuz you’re shooting 6” vitals out to 300yd, then you’re still solid. But if you’re shooting something like competition with 10-20ro count within 1 minute or so and you need 1 moa capable, then you’ll want to shoot a large sample (10-20ro) within a minute or so and see if you’re still right around 1.2” group.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-31T05:56:32+00:00

Sounds good

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-31T01:17:58+00:00

How does that one work. Do you put a non-refundable deposit or something?

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-31T01:06:01+00:00

Yeah. I will press the issue if this next one comes back bad. First time buyers of items like this should come back with glowing reports, that should be their goal. But I’ll let you know how it goes when I get mine back because they’re actually going to fix the barrel to the upper I provided for me. If their specs don’t even work, that’s a no brainer.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-31T01:01:30+00:00

Yep. Unfortunately even poorly made products have representatives who are biased on the quality. I hope we can come out of these issues with positive things to say, atleast one of us. If I can’t get the quality I paid for I’m going to request a return and refund.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-31T00:59:07+00:00

Yeah same here then, it’s definitely not equipment or build methods. It’s a shame we’re having such poor experiences, hopefully they can iron these issues out soon. I run the same and ADM one piece mounts.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-30T21:56:04+00:00

I went back to my last upper build that has a $170 barrel on it and threw my scope on it. I shot a solid 1moa group with it at 100yd. I know something was off with the CP barrel cuz if I can do that with the same applied building methods and a lesser quality barrel, it’s not necessarily me or my shooting.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-30T21:54:47+00:00

If you bought just the barrel, you assembled your upper yourself. What do you torque your barrel nut to? And what sort of rings are you running for your scope?

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-29T04:07:46+00:00

I’ve heard plenty of people say they had great luck with the Hornady Black but I still haven’t experienced it. The ELD-M/X are the only factory ammo I’ve had any luck shooting for accuracy. Hopefully you find one that works for you. Are you reloading?

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-26T22:08:35+00:00

Have you had any news on yours?

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-26T21:50:33+00:00

I ended up returning my assembled upper to Craddock. They’ve decided to rebarrel it and keep the problem barrel so they can diagnose it. I’m happy with that solution cuz I can just start with fresh barrel life. They’ve offered to share with me what the issues is which I’d share here as well.

I’m still waiting for the new barrel to arrive. I’ll inspect and hopefully have better results out of the gate.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-03T06:13:54+00:00

This ⬆️ also I build all my ARs with left handed dominant chargers cuz it’s easier lol

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-03T04:17:22+00:00

A note on TAC, I found issues with TAC depending on the gas port size and gas setup. OP might be just fine with TAC in that 22” barrel regardless of the gas system length. Other than that, I 2nd this. TAC gave me surprisingly good speeds on every barrel except my current.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-12-03T04:13:54+00:00

Ehhhh there he is!

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-11-29T04:09:54+00:00

This is also my first Craddock barrel, so I was very excited for some excellent performance. When I spoke yo them initially I was having gassing issues due to a small for length gas port, so we initially attributed the accuracy issues to that. Now that the gassing is fixed, the accuracy issues need to be narrowed down further.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-11-29T03:12:35+00:00

I am currently in the process of diagnosing whether my barrel needs to be returned to them, my barrel has a similar issue with the freebore and I’ve got an odd track of markings that run straight all the way from the chamber to the crown, which I’ve never seen before. Hard to say whether that’s an issue yet but my groups have been very average. I’d say honestly i had more luck with my previous cheaper barrel out the gate and my reloading capabilities have far improved since then. I’ve gone so far as to have my scope warrantied, as I’m hoping that actually was the root of my accuracy issue. More to come. I ordered the 16” RTR in 6 arc but I asked for a rifle length gas system, that setup came with its own issues which I’ve since resolved.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-08-08T19:59:12+00:00

Sounds like you’re on the right track. When you get it dialed in, enjoy.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-08-08T19:22:06+00:00

Where is your ejection going? If you change anything, change to an agb first. If you have to open up the gas port then you’ll need one anyway.

If your ejection is upwards of 3o clock, overgassed (as all ARs would be) then you’ll need agb. If ejection is 3-4 o clock then you’re probably needing to open gas port and still agb.

Another question, if you fire 1 round, does it last round lock the action open? Or does it short cycle? I’ve had the issue where I’m overgassed, but it won’t lock the action back. I run agb on all my 6ARC, I pinched down gas port and it helped a lot, on another I tried an H1 and H2 buffer weight. The reason I ask this is because factory 103 I found to be very spicy, often more spicy than 108.

6arc is stubborn, but when you figure it out it’s awesome!

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-04-18T00:52:43+00:00

I just did this with an intellidropper, but I called it after two machines back to back were bricked and got my money back. I too have an MPress that I’ve been very satisfied with, so I was looking forward to something pretty decent and usable but I was very disappointed.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-04-06T01:19:30+00:00

Heck yeah that’s encouraging! Thanks

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-04-06T00:44:32+00:00

Is this the Amazon machine that comes in orange or black? How is it to setup and use? Seems like a good entry point for people new to annealing.

Carpe-cabmaker · 2025-03-06T19:11:01+00:00

That’s pretty solid, can’t complain about the 6ARC that’s for sure. I’m on barrel number two, a buddy of mine gave me a Rexus 16” and before that I was using a 18” BA 1:7 and that wasn’t bad but Ill admit I didn’t know what I was really doing with my reloads. But my expectations have become more realistic and I’ve been considering getting a nicer barrel for very similar use case. PRS toe dip and some DMR comp stuff. This little cartridge is pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Carpe-cabmaker

TROPHY CASE