Fn Cold Hammer Forged Lightweight Ar-15 16 Barrel Review
Do you e'er feel confused by all the butt options bachelor for your AR-15? What is the difference between chrome-lined and melonite lined? Pencil, government, or balderdash barrel? Cold hammer forged or mil-spec?
A quality rifle barrel tin can make a good gun great, and a poor 1 can ruin an otherwise stellar firearm–which is why we're here to help you sympathize what you lot need to know to cull an amazing new butt for your AR-15.
Nosotros're going to shed a niggling light on the issue by showing y'all how to cull your barrel, as well equally what the pros and cons of dissimilar styles of barrels.
Finally, we'll talk a niggling chip about who our favorite barrel manufacturers are, and which of their products you should look into, based on your individual needs.
Permit'southward get started!
What Makes a Good Barrel So Important?
Well, without a barrel, you don't really take a gun… just some parts that kind look similar one.
Seriously, though–the butt of your AR-15 has a huge impact on the accuracy and performance of your rifle, more and so than almost whatever other function.
There's a surprising amount of engineering that goes into these barrels, and while swapping back and forth is relatively easy, you'll want something that non just performs well simply also is sturdy plenty to last you for years.
A low-quality butt will have inconsistencies that can cause your shots to land well wide of your point of aim. If yous have a barrel that'southward flexing, expanding, unevenly-coated or otherwise changing shot to shot, your rounds simply aren't going to state as accurately, no affair how well you're shooting otherwise.
This tin be incredibly frustrating considering, while you might be doing everything right from a technique standpoint, you yet won't exist shooting in a mode that'south reflective of your skill level.
There's nothing worse than feeling similar you nailed a target, only to take the shot miss due to an issue with your gun.
The other upshot is you can take a barrel that's very mechanically authentic, but is constantly developing surface rust or wearing out quickly. These barrels make for poor investments and can ruin a twenty-four hour period at the range only equally fast equally an inaccurate barrel will.
So how exercise you cull a butt that won't allow y'all down? Well, first you have to understand a little bit virtually how these barrels are made, and what can be done to produce the best butt possible for your gun.
Let'south take a closer await.
Understanding AR-fifteen Barrel Terminology and Classifications
There are a few terms and characteristics of AR-15 barrels you need to understand in order to pick the best one for your rifle.
Length
One of the almost important characteristics of an AR-15 barrel is the length. Y'all can detect barrels from short vii" offerings all the way up to 24". Anything longer than this is going to offering sharply diminishing returns. You lot really don't demand anything over 20" at most, though 16" barrels are the almost popular choice.
It's worth noting that anything under sixteen" requires either a tax stamp if you're making it a short-barreled rifle, or must be configured as a pistol that'south not (technically) designed to exist shouldered like a long gun. You also should cheque in with your local laws, also.
If you're going for long-range accuracy, a longer butt in the eighteen-20" range is going to requite y'all the all-time results, while a shorter-barreled selection is going to be lighter, and easier to move indoors, or effectually barricades and other obstacles.
If you want a do-it-all rifle, become with the sixteen" barrel as this is the easiest path to a middle basis between maneuverability and long-range functioning.
Profile
The butt profiling refers to the thickness and weight of the barrel.
The most common is the "government" profile barrel which is a mid-range option. The lightweight, or pencil, barrels are skilful for those looking to shave some weight off their gun. Heavy, or balderdash, barrels are thicker and counterbalance more than, but offer more heat-resistance and stiffness, which both increase accuracy.
Cold Hammer Forged vs. Mil-Spec
This i is pretty easy. Cold hammer forged barrels are beaten into shape with a hydraulic hammer that applies fifty-fifty compression to all sides of the barrel bare.
This procedure, while slightly more than expensive than a normal forging, aligns the grain structure of the metal, while compressing information technology for strength. What you're left with is a butt that is stronger and more than resistant to flexing than information technology otherwise would exist.
While yous'll pay around $fourscore more for a CHF barrel, it's typically worth information technology, peculiarly in a pencil butt, or for a barrel that'southward likely to run across lots of utilise.
Mil-Spec, on the other hand, is a term that refers to the specifications used by manufacturers who build weapons for the war machine. Not every barrel labeled mil-spec is actually mil-spec (unless you're buying from Colt or FNH, the two manufacturers who build guns for our military), but they share certain compatibilities.
Butt Lining
There are three dissimilar processes for blanket or lining an AR-15 butt, and each one has its own benefits and drawbacks.
Beginning, we take chrome-lined barrels. The chrome lining in the butt reduces friction, helps dissipate heat, and makes the butt far more resistant to corrosion from h2o, salt, oils, and pulverization fouling.
Information technology can also have a strongly negative impact on accuracy as the chrome lining process creates uneven patches inside the barrel, which can cause major deviations in accurateness, especially at longer ranges.
In general, for a rifle that's likely to exist "ridden hard and put up wet" or one that will likely never be used as a match rifle, chrome lining is perfect as information technology increases barrel longevity immensely.
Adjacent, nosotros have stainless steel barrels, which aren't so much lined as they are just made of stainless steel. Now, reverse to pop belief, stainless steel will absolutely rust.
stainless steel barrel.
In general, stainless steel barrels are much less corrosion-resistant than chrome-lined barrels, simply a stainless barrel that'south used occasionally, and/or cleaned properly should be just fine–unless it's left to sit down in common salt water or is exposed to harsh chemicals for a long flow.
These harsh chemicals include the oil from your fingerprints, so make sure y'all wipe the exterior of the barrel downwardly with a protective oil and wipe fingerprints off when you tin can.
The chief benefit of a stainless barrel is the increased accuracy you go from having more precise and consistent rifling. No chrome lining means no rifling inconsistencies to throw off your shot.
This is why most "match" barrels are stainless steel, and why you'll usually but encounter them on rifles designed to run literally like a well-oiled auto, rather than on guns that volition see rough use in harsh environments.
This really highlights one of the main choices when it comes to firearms: you lot tin either have accurateness, or reliability. The more precisely machined everything is to a tight tolerance, the more accurate it is, but also the virtually susceptible it is to malfunction or performance loss due to dirt, grime, or vesture.
When it comes to barrel linings, there's another middle ground, notwithstanding: nitride meloniting. A melonite-coated butt combines the protection of a chrome-lined barrel with the accuracy and consistency of a steel lucifer barrel.
This is accomplished through the common salt nitride meloniting process, which adds a protective layer over the metal (all of the metallic, fifty-fifty the outside) but does so by altering the surface layer of existing metallic.
That ways no extra material to throw off your accuracy. Everything stays neat, make clean, and protected while maintaining maximum accuracy. Of grade, this option is still more than expensive than steel or chrome-lined barrels, then y'all'll have to make up one's mind if the extra cost is worth the benefits.
Twist Rate
Twist charge per unit is a ratio of rifling twist to inches of barrel length. You lot'll encounter it written similar "i:viii twist," "i:7 twist," etc.
In the case of 1:7 twist, this ways the rifling of the butt completes ane full revolution (and thus imparts 1 full spin to the bullet) every seven inches. AR-15 barrels typically come up in 1:7-ane:14 twists, with 1:9 beingness the near mutual.
The twist rate is important because it determines how stable your bullet is going to exist once it leaves the barrel considering that spin is what stabilizes it as it travels through the air, and the different twist rates are tailored to different bullet weights.
Hither'due south a skilful set of rules to follow in general when it comes matching v.56×45 ammo to a barrel twist rate:
- 1:12-1:14 = 35 to 50 grain
- 1:9-1:ten = 45 to seventy grain
- ane:vii-i:8 = 69 to 90 grain
Best Barrel Manufacturers For Every Budget
Now for the recommendations. We've installed, tested, beat, shot, and otherwise tortured just about every AR-15 barrel manufacturer's best products, and these are the manufacturers that nosotros've constitute to be the best.
PROOF Enquiry AR-15 Barrels
First, allow's go the best of the best out of the way. PROOF Research is an aerospace manufacturer that got into the AR-15 game a while back, and they hit the ground running with a space-age offering that is, in this humble gun writer's opinion, the best butt around.
PROOF Enquiry AR-15 Carbon Cobweb Barrel
Pros
- Best-of-the-all-time blueprint and manufacturing
- Exceptionally strong and heat resistant
- Lightweight
PROOF Research specializes in carbon fiber-wrapped barrels that give you the lightweight characteristics of a sparse pencil barrel, but the oestrus-dispersion, longevity, and stiffness of a heavy barrel.
These barrels are some of the most authentic and consistent on the market place, and the carbon cobweb wrapping makes them some of the longest-lasting equally well.
Then why not but buy one of these and call it a day? End the article here?
One word: price.
PROOF Research barrels start at nearly the aforementioned cost every bit a whole mid-range AR. The lowest prices I've ever seen were still over $600 for an AR barrel, with bolt-action barrels a hair cheaper.
So, if you've got the coin, or you've saved up and just desire the best damn barrel out there, this is the i I recommend. Just choice the length and twist rate you want and know yous're getting a production that's the end result of years of research and development past some of the best manufacturing folks in the concern.
Ballistic Advantage AR-15 Barrels
Ballistic Reward barrels are great not only because of their performance and precision manufacturing–merely also because in that location'due south just so many of them.
BA makes barrels for a number of manufacturers and builders, including Aero Precision, and every bit such, they accept a wide diversity of products available in different lengths, finishes, and profiles.
Ballistic Advantage AR-xv Hanson Butt
Pros
- Proprietary design eliminates butt whip
- Light weight barrel with the rigidity of a heavy barrel
- A variety of length options
Cons
- Limited rifling options
They also make the proprietary "Hanson" barrels, which have no gas block shoulder, which allows for a more symmetrical butt that has improved harmonics.
You have three unlike lines to choose from with Ballistic Advantage: Modern, Operation, and Premium. Modern is sort of the budget, manifestly-Jane line, with Functioning being tuned for greater accuracy, and finally Premium is a no-holds-barred beast that's fluted for an even more than rigid barrel that should be merely well-nigh as accurate as anything on the planet.
This diversity of product offerings is the chief driving factor behind the success of Ballistic Reward. They accept a barrel for every shooter, and they churn out enough of them to get every shooter a barrel, no affair what kind or size of butt they need.
Faxon Firearms AR-15 Barrels
Finally, we accept Faxon Firearms, 1 of the virtually prolific AR-fifteen butt makers, and arguably the best value effectually.
Faxon Firearms AR-15 Government/SOCOM Barrel
Pros
- Swell variety of lengths and twist rates
- Push rifled
- Nitrite coating for durability
Cons
- Accuracy isn't as skilful equally other barrels out there
If you're building a gun that needs to be authentic, just not tack-driver authentic–or one that needs to exist durable and corrosion-resistant, but not quite to the point where yous tin soak it in acid and low-cal it on burn down and await it to fine–Faxon has a number of offerings that are great investments.
They're likewise a smashing value, simply cheap doesn't always necessarily mean cheaply made, and that'south certainly not the case here. Faxon has worked hard to provide everything from short, 7" pencil barrels to 20" bull barrels at prices that the average shooter can afford without taking out a new mortgage.
Conclusion
That about does it for this one. We hope you've learned everything you needed to know near AR-15 barrels. In general, changing a butt out is piece of cake, and provided you've picked one that'southward correct for you, can seriously improve your AR, and your trips to the range.
Thinking about picking upwards a new AR-15 barrel? Which ane of these barrels exercise you similar the best? Let me hear from you lot in the comments below! Don't forget to check out the rest of our favorite AR-15 upgrades.
Source: https://www.firearmreview.com/best-ar-15-barrels/