Any downside to re-contouring a barrel into LW vs just replacing with a new one?

[Wake27]

Over the last few years I’ve grown to really like non-government profile barrels. My two most used are a BCM ELW-F and Noveske Skinny. I recently got a URG-I and figured I’d do something about the government profile barrel down the road, which brings the question. It’d be significantly cheaper to just re-profile the area in front of the gas block journal and muzzle but I’m not sure how much that’s inviting the potential for problems. Obviously there’s the possibility that the gunsmith could screw that up, but I’m not sure how likely that is if he’s qualified and trusted. Other than that, I’ve seen claims that a “sharp” gas block journal will negatively affect barrel harmonics and therefore accuracy when compared to a continuous taper design with a .625 journal. Anyone know if there’s any merit to this or anything else that I’m overlooking? I’ll also be getting the pinned SF4P removed and a WarComp pinned on, if that matters.

I only have a little over 200 rounds through the DD barrel and it definitely performs well enough that I’d rather not have to replace it and the Geissele gas block. Also, I know it doesn’t matter much with ARs but I like the idea of having a new bolt and barrel wear together.


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[georgeib]

Get the barrel you want and just sell this one. The loss you take on it will still be less than the cost to reprofile and re-parkerize.

[MorphCross]

This would just be my take but why not pick up a DD 14.5 Lightweight ML barrel? It still uses a .750 GB journal. You can keep the clone correct barrel/FH combo as is and you would have a finished barrel from DD that has undergone the stress relieving for the contour it was turned down to at the factory. Grab a second bolt from a reputable company and borrow/buy a set of 5.56 NATO headspace gauges to confirm.

[Todd.K]

Barrels are not stress relieved after contour that I have ever seen.

[MorphCross]

Good to know.

[Wake27]

This would just be my take but why not pick up a DD 14.5 Lightweight ML barrel? It still uses a .750 GB journal. You can keep the clone correct barrel/FH combo as is and you would have a finished barrel from DD that has undergone the stress relieving for the contour it was turned down to at the factory. Grab a second bolt from a reputable company and borrow/buy a set of 5.56 NATO headspace gauges to confirm.

If the argument is that a continuous taper is more accurate, than that wouldn't really do anything for me.

The quote I've gotten is $110 IIRC, including reparkerizing. If I replaced it with anything, it'd probably be a BCM BFH ELW barrel which means I'd need a .625 gas block as well. I'm already $354 into it and would be considering adding one of their uppers to it as well, since the barrel extension is slightly undersized for better accuracy. At that point, I basically bought the URG-I for the rail and feel like there would definitely be some diminishing returns unless there is a legit accuracy improvement.

[mack7.62]

Why exactly did you buy a URG-1 if you want to completely change it up?

[docsherm]

Get a new one. So many issues with changing barrels like that.

[Wake27]

Why exactly did you buy a URG-1 if you want to completely change it up?

Mostly the rail, but I had zero intentions of changing that much. I figured it wouldn't be hard to make it into a LW barrel, but just wanted to make sure there weren't potential issues that I wasn't aware of before actually doing so.

[grizzman]

Years ago, I had ACCO reprofile a DMPS 308 barrel under the handguard. It had no affect on the barrel's accuracy, but sure improved the handling.

I personally wouldn't do the same to a DD barrel with a low round count, since it should be pretty easy to sell it as is.