How good is a match barrel? What will it do for you that a stock OEM barrel won’t?

Generally speaking a good match barrel will cut your groups in half at 25 yards. That is if you have a solid grasp of shooting skills and the fundamentals. Here is my thought process for getting a match barrel. When I purchase a pistol whether it is factory new or used I immediately replace the sights. Stock sights generally suck! Once I have a good set of sights on the gun you can proceed with zeroing and honing your skills. Only when your skills are good enough for you to be putting rounds on a NRA B8 Repair Center at 25 yards should you think about installing a match barrel.

To take it one step further, you can pair a good match barrel with good match ammunition and you’ll have yourself a tac driver (as long as you have the fundamentals down).

Today we are going to take a quick look at the Wilson Combat Glock 17 Match Barrel.

Some pistols may require some minor material removal, but 99% of the time the Wilson Combat barrel will drop right in, as it did with my Glock 17.

My initial range session with the Wilson Combat Match barrel yielded excellent results. This barrel ate up all the ammunition I threw at it without any failures or malfunctions. I’m going to continue to run this barrel and see how it does longer term.

Specifications (courtesy of shopwilsoncombat.com)

• Match-Grade – Superb Accuracy (2″ Or Less At 25 Yards With Good Ammo)
• Polished feed ramp, bore and supported chamber
• 1 in 16″ twist conventional broach rifling will accept lead, jacketed or plated bullets without fear of pressure spikes caused by polygonal rifling
• Fully Machined From 416R Stainless Steel
• Heat-Treated To R/C 40 For Maximum Service Life
• Critical Manufacturing Tolerances Are Held To Less Than .0005″ (One Half Thousandth Of An Inch!)
• Glass Smooth Chamber And Perfectly Concentric With The Bore
• In Our Barrel Test Fixture We Routinely Obtain ½” At 25 Yard Groups
• Detailed Final Inspection Prior To Receiving The Wilson Name On The Hood
• Critical Lock-Up Contact Areas Cut To A Dimension That Provides A Good Lock-Up in most guns
• Compatible with all Generation of Glock® pistols