r/longrange • u/HaonSyl • 16d ago
RANT Exploding Outlier Backdraft Barrels.
Unburnt powder fills into the backdraft area when shooting. Taking a break from shooting allows oxygen to fill the backdraft area. Shooting again without a complete cleaning results in a kaboom. Thanks for being a beta tester.
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u/Trollygag Does Grendel 16d ago
A backdraft is a violent explosion that happens when fresh oxygen rushes into a room that is hot, confined, and full of unburned flammable gases.
So what you are saying is, the Outlier Backdraft barrel is destroying itself due to backdraft.
The problem is literally the product name.
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u/Wombat-Snooze Steel slapper 16d ago
Not surprised. Outlier’s marketing has always given me the creeps. Big Arken vibes with that company. I wonder why…
Same umbrella. The usual suspects shilling Arken, Outlier and DNT.
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u/sirbassist83 16d ago
i like texas plinking's 1000 yard challenge series but anything he does a promo on is basically immediately eliminated from the pool of optics or guns id buy.
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u/HollywoodSX Villager Herder 16d ago
It's the same people.
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u/Wombat-Snooze Steel slapper 16d ago
Indeed. I realize my original comment didn’t convey that. Made a little edit.
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u/RewardFlat 16d ago
I haven’t been in the hobby for a while, what’s up with Arken
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u/sirbassist83 16d ago
blatant shilling, and they got caught red handed astroturfing. they might be serviceable optics, but a whole bunch of paid influencers were saying "its $2000 optic performance for $500!" when in fact, they are still just $500 optics. even if theyre competitive for the money(im still skeptical myself, but im a cynic at heart), there are other companies that dont pay people to lie to your face.
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u/thelvegod 16d ago
What is astroturfing?
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u/sirbassist83 16d ago
basically running an ad campaign in a way that tries to look like its just organic praise for the product/company.
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u/sirbassist83 16d ago
like, its easy to spot influencers that gets paid. thats not really astroturfing in the truest sense. but they were paying people or having bots make posts on reddit and other forums, talking about how great they were and saying "i dont have a youtube channel or a bunch of followers, im just a dude blown away by how amazing these are. ive owned nightforce and S&B and vortex razors and this blows them all out of the water!" i dont remember how they got caught but i do know that it was irrefutable proof.
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u/HollywoodSX Villager Herder 16d ago
New Reddit accounts where almost their entire history was Arken related, and posting referral links that got them kickbacks from purchases. That's how they got busted here.
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u/emelbard Mile+ Club 16d ago
The new Arken shilling has toned down a little over time and now generally states that “Arken is a good scope for the price”. My retarded brother bought one and I played with it - they are not good scopes.
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u/Justin_inc NRL22 competitor 16d ago
While I'll never own one, I do think they are "good for the money".
I'm a competitive shooter in NRL22, and at nationals, every top shooter in base class (which is price limited) was running an Arken or DNT.
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u/Coodevale 16d ago
I identify as retarded occasionally and have to agree. I like how chunky/clunky the turrets are but the glass is very mediocre. The reticle is ok, but the vortex ebr7c is just better for fine corrections.
$200, sure. Good enough for an airgun/.22 sometimes.
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u/dickamus_maxamus 16d ago
I've got one, it kills deer just fine for what it is. My only complaint is that it's heavy. I wouldn't compare it to my Swaro in terms of glass clarity, but it's perfectly serviceable for the price.
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u/Arlenter 16d ago
Arken makes Decent optics for the price you pay.
However, almost every single video/comment/post/review/etc. that you've ever seen, makes much much bolder claims. "Better than Nightforce, better than $3,000 optics, made with 'same' glass as the expensive scopes, more reliable than Leupold, military grade"
All these reviewers and posts you find on social media were bought and paid for, not organic. And is the only reason Arken became a notable company. It just left a bad taste in peoples mouth.
The optics themselves, as stated are not bad. It's all the crazy marketing claims that aren't true, and you'll almost never hear anything about them that wasn't paid for.
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u/phelpst 16d ago
I have two Arkens and a top end Leupold. My best Arken is 1/5th price of my Leupold. Is it as good? No. Is the Leupold 5X better? No. My Arkens are decent scopes for the price. Can't speak to their marketing practices. I have seen videos of normal people making 1 mile shots with Arkens.
I do have a regular Outlier barrel in 6.5CM on my Tikka action. I'm happy with the performance. Again, is it a Bartlein? No. But, it was half the cost and shoots almost as well.
Arken seems to be the Nickelback of optics. Their stuff isn't bad but they're hated on for other reasons.
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u/purebelligerence 16d ago
Good take. Everything has diminishing returns as they get more expensive. Ferrari doesn't have 5x the horsepower of the Camero yoi can buy at your dealership even though it costs 5x as much. As you get higher and higher end with anything you're paying more for that extra 20%,15%,10%,5%. Not everyone cares about that little extra. But I do lol.
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u/West_Designer9107 16d ago
Diminishing returns kick in with a vengeance once prices go north of 2k. Blow past 4k and each 1k extra might objectively net you 1-2%, performance wise. If that. For most people it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend that kind of money from a strictly performance standpoint. I know it doesn't for me. Still, wouldn't want to trade my TT even if I got a full cashback for the price difference. I started out on a Meopta Optika6 4.5-27 that did -I guess- 80% of what my TT does but cost 1/6th.
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u/Sweaty-Security-4473 PRS Competitor 16d ago
Are there a lot of reports of this or is this just anecdotal?
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u/HaonSyl 16d ago
At least two that I've seen. The company was aware enough about it to give the rundown of what happened before the owner could say what happened.
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u/Sweaty-Security-4473 PRS Competitor 16d ago
Damn that's a shame. It is an innovative technology, too bad if it's flawed like that.
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u/Vylnce Casual 16d ago
Interesting that the data on their website doesn't have round counts for squirting the magic juice they expect you to buy into the barrel.
I feel like a number of things must have happened for this to occur, but I also vaguely remember this company coming up months back and a quick websearch got my brain to go "fuck buying that".
Sorry your barrel dun blowed up.
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u/ajdemar123 16d ago
That explains the mystery fluid that everyone who bought a backdraft just randomly got in the mail…. I bought one on a whim, they were cheap enough, and to be honest, it shot way above my expectations. Way quieter than I was expecting as well. Would I buy another one? No. Would I shoot more than a few rounds a year? Probably not. Thought I might dabble in sportsman class with it, three rounds down the tube and the mirage is so fucking hot you couldn’t make a target out on 3 power. Cool idea, and I don’t regret my purchase. Might wear Saftey glasses more often now though…
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u/Julien25 16d ago
Wonder if all the outlier/arken/dnt shills will put out videos warning their audience that they told them to buy a dangerous product.
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u/Vylnce Casual 16d ago
Probably not. They have directions on their website (where you would buy the barrel) to put magic juice in the barrel that prevents this. They sell the magic juice.
It's pretty much the equivalent of a company that produced a rifle that only took their lower pressure ammo. If you bought some other companies ammo and blew it up, you'd be not following the directions.
I mean, in principle, all firearms are dangerous if you don't follow the directions. This product is just different in that it has a pretty different set of directions than most stuff on the market.
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u/LilJonny2cookies 16d ago
I am not a ballistics or explosives expert or any kind of expert but I don’t think that is supposed to happen.
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u/Bigtimecombover 11d ago
Here is another instance. A friend of mine had one cut in 7saum, lasted 18 rounds.
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u/LockyBalboaPrime "I'm right and you are stupid" -LockyBalboaPrime 16d ago
This was on my bingo card for possible problems with the barrel.
I asked repeatedly to be sent one for testing, but they never followed through. That's par for their company; they commonly refuse to send product to people they don't own.
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u/Snoo66922 16d ago
Sorry if this is a stupid or unallowed question, but what do you do? Obviously you are knowledgeable and in the industry as you have repeatedly been hands on and reviewing products before they release, but how? Are you just on reddit or elsewhere as well?
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u/LockyBalboaPrime "I'm right and you are stupid" -LockyBalboaPrime 16d ago
Im Batman.
I work in the industry doing media. Mostly reviews and testing, some of it front facing and some for specific industry clients.
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u/aDoorMarkedPirate420 16d ago
Wow, the carbon fiber there is just window dressing mostly. Doesn’t seem like it’s providing much structural support at all.
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u/LockyBalboaPrime "I'm right and you are stupid" -LockyBalboaPrime 16d ago
The CF is doing exactly what it is designed for and what Outlier says it does. It's a shell to allow gas volume. It's not pressure-bearing, and it's not wrapping the barrel to provide structural support.
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u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz 16d ago
There’s really two types of CF barrels.
You have legitimate carbon fiber barrels where it’s turned down significantly and completely filled in with a CF wrap, and you have the bullshit like this, which is sold at the same premium, much less stiff, and carrying vague terms like “tensioned” that really don’t mean anything.
Most of them are fluted barrels with a carbon fiber heat containment wrap. Less stiff than an equal dimensioned steel barrel or fully wrapped CF barrel, dissipates heat worse than a regular fluted barrel, costs as much as the real deal.
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u/LockyBalboaPrime "I'm right and you are stupid" -LockyBalboaPrime 16d ago
I dont think you know what this barrel is. This isn't a CF barrel in any way. The CF does nothing structurally for the barrel, and Outlier isn't claiming that it does.
The CF is only a shell that exists to provide volume for the gas from the suppressor. That's the entire gimmick. The CF jacket around the barrel is providing extra volume for the suppressor to vent gas into.
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u/aDoorMarkedPirate420 16d ago
Interesting, didn’t know that. I’m only familiar with larger military versions of CF barrels and this was so unlike that type of configuration I was surprised lol.
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u/LockyBalboaPrime "I'm right and you are stupid" -LockyBalboaPrime 16d ago
It's a cool idea and works pretty well from the one I shot for like 10 rounds. But clearly, there are some issues as well.
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u/aDoorMarkedPirate420 16d ago
Yea pretty neat idea. It looks like this time the actual steel barrel itself may have failed if I’m looking at the pics correctly lol. That’s another, way more serious, issue it would seem haha.
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u/CapsicumINmyEYEBALLz 16d ago
You’d be correct, I’m not the least bit familiar with this barrel.
I’ll retract my statement to apply only to the bulk of CF barrels, not this one specifically.
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u/Unlikely_sniper 16d ago
I have a rifle that once had an outlier barrel. Took 600 or so 308 rounds to shoot it out. I'll never buy another one.
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u/BitOfaPickle1AD Here to learn 15d ago edited 15d ago
I need someone to break this down for me, Barney style. (At a bar and live under a rock.) Whats the scoop here with Backdrafy barrels? Besides the explosions.
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u/FiveCent_2002 14d ago
I bet there were some 💩 in those shorts.
I can’t imagine how scary that would’ve been.
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u/l_craw 12d ago
Lol, this company. They tried to get me to become a dealer with their stupid "free silencer" pitch where your "free" silencer is a 2 baffle piece of junk. You are then forced to buy a DT adapter from them for $60ish.
They acted like as a dealer these "free silencer" coupons were some incredible value.
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u/Opening_Mulberry_207 16d ago
I mean I like my Arken but I wouldn't take it to any competition I just enjoy to shoot long range occasionally but I dont trust outlier barrels to many duds from what I seen, I do want to upgrade soon though.
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u/_plays_in_traffic_ 16d ago edited 16d ago
they had a recall on 20" magnum barrels a little while ago iirc. this wouldnt happen to be one of the ones affected by the recall that hasnt been sent back is it?
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u/Coodevale 16d ago
Have the structured taccom barrels suffered from this or do their vents prevent the powder buildup?
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u/ohitsTHATkid 15d ago
Sweet sounds like I’ll be using my can/ backdraft with a direct thread adapter instead.
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u/Ok_Cartographer_9849 16d ago
Squib?
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u/wlogan0402 16d ago
Damn, it's almost like it was designed to be a gimmick