09/03/2026
Do carbon fiber barrels shift as they heat up? Testing a blank from Helix 6 Precision gave us a good opportunity to run a little science experiment and share the results here. Do you want to see the same test on a fatty steel tube for reference? If so, let us know in the comments.
Test notes:
1. Both barrels shown were chambered in our 25SAW cartridge, and the test load is a 135gr Berger LRHT recipe left over from the NRL HUNTER Grand Slam this year. This load was tuned for the Benchmark barrel, not specifically for the Helix 6 barrel. We’ve found the Helix to shoot very well, but since overall accuracy wasn’t the test intention we ran the same load in both barrels.
2. There is an obvious shift after the first shot through the Benchmark barrel. This is not heat related, but due to the fact that the test rig had been completely disassembled and reassembled prior to this shot string.
3. The Benchmark barrel is my personal competition tube, and currently has about 1200 rounds on it. It is well seasoned and has performed excellently since new. The Helix 6 barrel is still very new, with only about 50 rounds fired since chambering. We don’t believe barrel life has effect on heat stress, as when we have seen a barrel in the past with an actual heat stringing issue it has always presented from the very beginning.
4. While we’ve been well aware of the Benchmark’s quality for years, we’re super happy to see the Helix 6 also perform at a high level with no real movement under stress outside of the demonstrated baseline accuracy with the given load. Going forward, expect to see our shop stocking both blanks on the shelf as a way to help customers deal with component lead times.
***es
