20" lightweight/pencil barrel experiences (with or without suppressor)?

I'm working on an A5 build of sorts, and I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on 20" lightweight/pencil barrels? Specifically, I'm looking at a Criterion barrel that checks all the right boxes: http://www.fulton-armory.com/barrelf...melined-1.aspx

I'll be running it 50% suppressed, 50% regular, so any feedback is appreciated, especially on the suppressed end. Barrel life (with qualifiers on shooting style)? Dispersion after X number of rounds? POI change with a can? How hard have you run it and what did you notice?

There are lots of threads out there on these kinds of barrels, some mentioning not to shoot them with cans due to the barrel length and profile, but none of these threads outside of a few from Molon give any hard feedback. Molon's are awesome, but I'm also interested in hearing about some other experiences outside of precision.

Thank you if you have any experience!

Any insight, M4C?

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...els-14-5/page3

Not 20", but page 3 has some poi shift with/without silencer on a lw barrel.

Remember the longer the barrel, the more it's profile becomes important. An untapered true 20" pencil is going to have some whip and droop with a can on. 6MOA? 8MOA? Depends on the can I spose.

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Originally Posted by Brahmzy

Remember the longer the barrel, the more it's profile becomes important. An untapered true 20" pencil is going to have some whip and droop with a can on. 6MOA? 8MOA? Depends on the can I spose.

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The M16 and M4's at each upgrade received a heavier barrel.

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Originally Posted by SteveS

The M16 and M4's at each upgrade received a heavier barrel.

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Only from the gas block journal forward, though, except the M4A1.
The A2's barrel is the same diameter as the A1's under the handguards. That's why there's a degree of distaste out there for "government profile" barrels.

Not necessarily relevant to the topic at hand, though. I'm just being nit-picky. Then again, I have to wonder if the muzzle-heavy A2 profile might exacerbate POI shift with a suppressor, especially when warmed up.

I think there are way to many variables to give an exact answer on how much drop there is going to be with the can. I'd bet it would be significant with a 20 inch pencil barrel. I noticed about 3 MOA drop with my can on my 6920 barrel.

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Originally Posted by Brahmzy

Remember the longer the barrel, the more it's profile becomes important. An untapered true 20" pencil is going to have some whip and droop with a can on. 6MOA? 8MOA? Depends on the can I spose.

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Exactly! Part of the reason I'm hoping someone has some experience with em. I suspect the same as you.

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Originally Posted by RiflemanBobcat

Only from the gas block journal forward, though, except the M4A1.
The A2's barrel is the same diameter as the A1's under the handguards. That's why there's a degree of distaste out there for "government profile" barrels.

Not necessarily relevant to the topic at hand, though. I'm just being nit-picky. Then again, I have to wonder if the muzzle-heavy A2 profile might exacerbate POI shift with a suppressor, especially when warmed up.

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I think an A2 profile would be worse for sure, but I don't have any evidence of that. Kind of what made me explore this barrel possibility in the first place: if the dumb A2 profile has been through hell and back for a long time, why not a lightweight profile? Same under the handguard with less weight out front, after all.

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Originally Posted by C-grunt

I think there are way to many variables to give an exact answer on how much drop there is going to be with the can. I'd bet it would be significant with a 20 inch pencil barrel. I noticed about 3 MOA drop with my can on my 6920 barrel.

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Yeah, there are a ton of variables involved. Even worse, it seems very few people have experience with them. It makes it hard to get a handle on my expectations and if I want to spend money on that barrel.

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Originally Posted by RiflemanBobcat

Only from the gas block journal forward, though, except the M4A1.
The A2's barrel is the same diameter as the A1's under the handguards. That's why there's a degree of distaste out there for "government profile" barrels.

Not necessarily relevant to the topic at hand, though. I'm just being nit-picky. Then again, I have to wonder if the muzzle-heavy A2 profile might exacerbate POI shift with a suppressor, especially when warmed up.

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Ive heard from a pretty good source that the extra weight of the 'Government' profile actually preloads the barrel and helps with the accuracy and consistency of suppressor POI.

I'm a fan of 20" pencil barrels, I have a 55 grain and below specific rifle built with a floated NOS USGI 1/12 barrel... 1 MOA with match ammo is very tangible if Indo my part.

In regard to a can, I personally think a pencil barrel be a terrible idea, especially rifle length. The POI would surely shift significantly, and I doubt it would be consistent enough to be reliable for range work.