Odin Works Ultralight 16" .223 Wylde barrel: quick function report
There is nothing wrong with the barrel, but it does have a few quirks.
Some people out there might remember I was working on a light(er) weight "utility" carbine concept that I am now calling the "90% Carbine" (for reasons that will be explained when I finally write up all the stuff I've done). For various reasons, I selected for builds some 16" barrels that seemed to have promise: Wilson Combat Ranger, Wilson Combat fluted (like the old "Paul Howe"), BCM ELW, Faxon Gunner, a BCM M4 and a Green Mountain M6 as "controls", and, finally, an Odin Works Ultralight. I have no complaints about the Ultralight, and I do like the barrel taper in front of the journal for various reasons, but I thought I would share some of my experiences with the membership because I was unable to find a lot of information about the Odin Works barrels before buying it some months ago.
Normally I like a government profile-weight barrel because of the smallish effect heat has on accuracy; I'll build using a 26-29 oz. barrel for that reason alone. But, since this was going to be a lighter build, I selected barrels that might have a chance to overcome accuracy loss due to heat with other factors, such as stainless construction, a Wylde chamber, tapered profiles, etc. For a barrel that weighed less than 23 oz., the Ultralight seemed to check all the boxes. I have yet to assess accuracy, so this discussion is not about that.
The Ultralight comes with a tunable gas block. In one of their videos, Odin Works states that it is a "set it and forget it" setup, and not a true "adjustable" gas block. Odin Works states that the interior of the tunable block would become gummed up and difficult to adjust over time. So, find your sweet spot, jam the adjustment screw with the supplied set screw, and leave it alone. Once the screw that closes the gas flow from the gas port is in a position to shut off the return gas flow, it takes about 3.5 turns to completely close the gas block to any meaningful flow from the gas port to the gas tube.
I got tired of spending mucho bucks on all these builds, and decided to try out a nitrided Brownells brand BCG and bolt. Recoil system is a Vltor A5. You can kick me for those choices later. After putting together the basic build, I checked headspace. The chamber was very tight, and, although I don't have a lot of experience with Wylde chambers, I thought it might be a bit too tight. The 5.56 No Go gauge did not close, but neither did the 5.56 Go gauge. A US Army field gauge did not close and appeared to be properly aligned with the bolt not in battery. Also, a variety of snap caps all did close the bolt properly. I checked this with several other BCGs with identical results. After some thought, I decided that I could shoot the thing if I was able to ensure that a cartridge went into the chamber and the system was in battery.
So I found myself at the range, with a rifle with no handguard so I could get easy access to the adjustment screw, and went to work. I had decided that the process did not require minute adjustments, so there would be a total of eight possible settings, with a half turn between each. 0 would be all the way open, and 7 would be all the way closed. Using basic Federal Green Tip (XM855), I got all the way to 7 before the rifle decided not to cycle the following round. Well now, that is a pretty gassed rifle. After playing around with it, I decided position 6 was not that reliable as far as cycling was concerned: the cases exiting the ejection port didn't exactly fly, they reminded me of a sick old man falling on the concrete apron. So I decided that position 5 might be acceptable for that load.
I switched to Federal AE223, which has a bit less "oomph". It stared to not cycle at position 5, and absolutely would not cycle at position 6. I backed the opening up to position 4 and called it a day.
Along the way, for each "click" when I pulled the trigger, I had to check to see if the rifle had cycled properly, pulling the mag and then retracting the charging handle. In almost every case, the lack of necessary gas prevented the system from chambering a new round. In one case, and this is a puzzle, the rifle did chamber a round but did not cock the hammer. Sometimes, just to check, I would pull the charging handle prior to pulling the trigger. By the end of the test, it became very difficult to pull back on the charging handle if there was a round in the chamber. I was using an older BCM Gunfighter Mod 5 (small) handle and my usual pinch-pull left hand technique did not work.
I lost count along the way, but I believe that I used about 30 rounds or so on this process.
CONCLUSIONS
Like I said, I have no complaints about the barrel, but I do need to work out a few things.
1. Tight Chamber: I don't have a lot of experience with .223 Wylde chambers, and I do not know if a 5.56 Go gauge should close with a Wylde chamber. (I probably should have figured this out before doing this, but I have worked with new, tight chambers in 5.56 before.) However, I could not see a problem as long as the bolt was closed and in battery. Considering that all the parts in the upper (except the charging handle) were brand spanking new, it is possible that tight tolerances, burrs, and/or powder debris might have contributed to the difficulty in retracting the charging handle. It is also possible that the tight chamber may have made it more difficult to extract the case and cycle the system. If so, then the system may be more overgassed than I thought.
2. Do you really want a tunable gas block?: One of the reasons for my buying this barrel was the opportunity to fool around with the tunable gas block. Normally, I would go with a known manufacturer who has done their homework on gas ports and gas blocks. I don't mind an overgassed rifle if it is reliable. I ain't picky if it always goes bang. But now I feel that this barrel is married to that gas block. Without an adjustable gas system, there may be excessive gas going into the return system.
When I get a bit more experience with this barrel, I'll add on to this thread.
'That whole effort was held together by sweat, shame, and a tiny bit of pride.' -- Son of Commander Paisley
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Originally Posted by AndyLate
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