Recommendation for a semi-lightweight 18" precision barrel

[elephantrider]

A little heavy. Proof Research Stainless -- https://www.rainierarms.com/proof-re...lde-8-twist-16

OOPS sorry I thought it was an 18"


RA Criterion Tapered 18" - https://www.rainierarms.com/rainier-...-lite-rifle-18

OOPS you already found that one. I give up.

Criterion 18" hybrid, 35-36 oz.
https://littlecrowgunworks.com/produ...v=7516fd43adaa

I have a 16" intermediate RA barrel and it is over-gassed by quite a bit.

[FaxonNathan]

31oz and balances precision and weight:
http://ballisticadvantage.com/17-7-5...ce-barrel.html

AR15 Performance (ARP ) 18" barrels appear to be 37oz and would be worth a look:
http://www.ar15performance.com/5_56_223_wylde

The Faxon Gunner 18" barrel is very light and fairly accurate, but much more biased towards light weight than 5-10 shot precision.

With many companies, "3 gun" will be the marketing name for the type of barrels you're seeking.

A pleasure to be mentioned. The GUNNER is an excellent choice and I would encourage looking at the FLAME barrel. Stainless and fluted.

[Hammer_Man]

I've had good luck with Criterion, so their hybrid profile barrel would be my choice.

[elephantrider]

On second thought. I'd probably go for either the Faxon 18" Gunner (23oz.), or the Faxon 18 Heavy Fluted (35oz.), depending on what your weight limit is. 5.56 chamber, ported correctly, Nitride finish, so no corrosion worries (been down that road with raw stainless before), great value, and plenty accurate. I am fairly certain that even the lightweight Gunner would meet your 5-10 shot accuracy requirement.

[RHINOWSO]

Decisions, decisions.

Obviously a Proof CF 18" would be sweet, but its $800. I can spend that but don' really want to spend that.

Criterion has a good track record and they do a Hybrid SS with Niride finish, along with some other barrel profiles. $250-300.

And the Faxon 18 Heavy Fluted can be had for $200 though the right vendor, which would be the most economical.

[Jsp10477]

image.jpgIt's not lightweight but it shoots. 18" ARP 3r with 5/8x24 threaded muzzle. Top left was the first shot, adjusted and shot 5 more. Shot off a concrete bench with a front rest and bunny ear bag in the rear.

[vicious_cb]

I don't trust most nitrided stainless steel 'match' barrels on the market. Unless the barrel maker is polishing, hand lapping, final finishing the bore or whatever method they use. All you are doing is hardening any imperfections left after machining making them harder to shoot out. Honestly the best thing you can do is get a good quality match grade barrel and break it in to the point where it's shooting at its maximum accuracy potential, clean it and send it off to get nitrided. That way you are hardening it in its most 'accurized' state. You would have to find a place that does it without screwing up the barrel extension.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I don't trust most nitrided stainless steel 'match' barrels on the market. Unless the barrel maker is polishing, hand lapping, final finishing the bore or whatever method they use. All you are doing is hardening any imperfections left after machining making them harder to shoot out.

This is logical and reasonable. However, the shortcut to addressing this is seeing whether X company's nitride barrel shoots well, ideally by reading reviews from earlier purchasers. It seems to be quite possible for a company to make a quality nitride barrel with a sufficiently smooth bore that many people report very good* accuracy with several brands, including AR15 Performance and Faxon.

*I don't say "match" because that doesn't really mean much. If your skills and ammo choice allow sub-MOA accuracy you have multiple factors to consider in maintaining or improving that, and you're probably looking at well made expensive barrels anyway. There are certainly sub-$200 " 'match' " barrels in the market, but probably not so many sub-$200, sub-MOA barrels.

Honestly the best thing you can do is get a good quality match grade barrel and break it in to the point where it's shooting at its maximum accuracy potential, clean it and send it off to get nitrided. That way you are hardening it in its most 'accurized' state. You would have to find a place that does it without screwing up the barrel extension.

From reading on this topic it seems that just a few live shots in a barrel will cause microcracking in the throat, and nitride treatment after that has occurred is probably a bad idea. Better sticking with makers that fully polish the bore during manufacture.

Also, I have not read of any company that is able to nitride a barrel + barrel extension unit without causing torque issues. Most companies drill the gas port after nitriding. I have an AAC 300BLK barrel that appears to have nitride treatment on the gas port (meaning it was drilled before nitriding) but I'm not certain, and it also has an unusual looking barrel extension with a possible seam running around the circumference of the largest diameter part.

I imagine it would be possible to machine the barrel and extension area from a single piece of metal to avoid this issue, presumably at much greater cost than separate machining.

[tehpwnag3]

I've found WOA to be a great bang-for-your-buck SPR barrel, and right around your weight reqs.

https://www.whiteoakarmament.com/sho...m-barrels.html

[Jsp10477]

Most ARP barrels are melonited 4150. He doesn't market them as "match grade". Matter of fact he has a section of his site explaining the difference in production and match grade barrels. Sometimes he'll sell a run that were lapped before meloniting.

My dcm profiled Kreiger (Kreiger direct) and my brothers Bartlein (Compass Lake) will shoot tighter groups and cost over twice as much.

Shooting in the field off a bipod or barricade, I'm not a good enough shooter to see the difference. The difference I notice is the weight. I have to shoot off a bench with a rest and bag to shoot small groups most of the time. All of the tiny groups in Molons tests are shot off of a bench also.

I've shot several thousand rounds through melonited barrels from Lothar Walther and ARP and over a thousand through my Kreiger. All of them clean easily and none of them have fouling issues. Small samples. Ymmv.

I may try a Faxon sometime to see how it compares.