Hi all,

I'm currently building a rifle based around Hodge Defense parts on a Capitol Armory/Mega Arms lower and I'm having some trouble picking out a barrel. I'm using the Hodge Defense Wedge Lock rail system and the Hodge/SLR gas block to fit under it, and I'm now trying to decide on a barrel. I want to get a 14.5" midlength barrel and pin/weld a Surefire Warcomp on the end, but due to the pin/weld I'm hesitant to buy some of the less expensive barrels despite the good reputations of some of them. If I could find one, I'd consider just using one of Hodge's purpose-built barrels, but they're basically unicorns. The Hodge/SLR gas block is .750, so there's some options for a frankenbuild.

The goal here is really little more than a quality 14.5 general purpose "mini-Recce" made in the mold of Hodge's AU-MOD 2 uppers. This was a for-fun build that slowly spiraled out of control, hilariously enough, but now that I'm in this deep I figure I may as well give it a good barrel too. Barrel budget is about $250-$270. Durability with respectable accuracy is the name of the game since a pin/weld would make replacement a bit more time consuming. Weight is concern, but everything with a .750 gas block journal seems to sit around 23-26 ounces anyway, so I'm not super concerned about that so much as I am with weight distribution. Jim Hodge specifies his barrel as a "taper" profile on the AU-MOD 2s, so that or something similar is what I'm hoping to find.

I know the Hodge barrels are made by FN, but I can't seem to find a 14.5" middy from FN in my usual spots. My original plan was to go with the Ballistic Advantage Hanson to help control gassiness and trim down the weight some. Spike's Optimum profile seemed to fit the bill almost perfectly, but they're no longer FN marked so I'm assuming they're no longer using them as an OEM, which in turn has me hesitating there as well.

My current shortlist looks something like this:
-BA Hanson .750 - 26 oz, QPQ
-BCM Standard Enhanced Medium Weight - 26 oz, chrome-lined
-DD Lightweight - 22 oz, hammer forged, chrome-lined
-Spike's Optimum - 24 oz, hammer forged, chrome-lined

Any reasons I should pick one over the others? The BA is obviously the cheapest, but the DD is lighter, and the BCM looks like it'd have the best weight distribution overall. I'm not sure what the gas port sizing on any of these are either, which is a minor point of concern in case I decide to suppress the rifle later. I asked about these things on TOS, but didn't get much more than some anecdotal recommendations for Green Mountain and Faxon, which isn't really satisfactory for me since I'm spending significantly more time and money ensuring I get quality parts and trying to do deep dives on the technical aspects of the parts going into this rifle.