Barrel Profiles

**prepare** · 12-31-21, 09:19

Government profile barrels make little to no sense. Any barrel for that matter with a thicker profile forward of the gas block doesn't make sense.

SOCOM profiles on 11.5 & 12.5 make more sense as far as the profile/taper but that makes for an un-necessary heavy barrel.

It seems like barrel profiles are designed around the .750 gas block journal which makes even less sense to approach the design from there.

The Criterion Core continuous taper makes a lot more sense for both carbines and rifle length barrels IMO.

Below is a link with a description and additional information.
https://criterionbarrels.com/product...v=7516fd43adaa

Criterion Core.jpeg

**17K** · 12-31-21, 09:38

Continuous taper makes a lot of sense but doesn’t make much difference.

Adding mass to the end of a barrel can affect harmonics/whip and increase accuracy. It’s why all things being equal a government profile usually shoots better than a pencil, despite them being the same from the chamber to the gas block.

Nose heavy bias also is also easier to stabilize and that makes them seem a lot more accurate than they are, or maybe makes a lightweight seem less accurate than it is. I’ve shot a few BCM ELW barrels for people who thought they were bad, but in every case but one, it was always the shooter.

So, I’m pretty much over complaining about the still ever-present government profile.

**prepare** · 12-31-21, 13:51

A barrel with a .625 gas block journal does not necessarily mean a pencil barrel.

Here's an example of a .625 that has a smaller diameter behind the journal. If the the portion behind the journal was the same size as the journal this would make more sense.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]

**kirkland** · 12-31-21, 15:00

I was just looking at those Criterion core barrels the other day, look pretty nice. I been wanting to build an 18" rifle gas upper. That's probably the barrel I'd choose. I agree the govt profile makes no sense. The M4A1 Socom profile is pretty nice though. Check out Molon's accuracy reports on the Colt Socom barrel, pretty impressive.