BCM currently shows all of their 16" mid-length barrels in stock, including their LW and ELW. I don’t think they Melonite treat any, though.
The Faxon 16" pencil barrel is melonite and only 19 oz (lightest 16" I’m aware of). I have one, but haven’t assembled the upper yet so no firsthand report…other than it is light, looks good, and the price was great.
I absolutely love my bcm elw. I’m pretty sure I saw a guy on YouTube smack steel at 700 yards with a lw DD barrel and 77 gr bullets AFTER a 30rnd rapid warm up.
For a semi only rifle I bet 99% of the user base would be perfectly suited to a lightweight barrel.
Mag Tactical claims 1.2lb, which is 0.2oz heavier but not enough sig figs to really know. Both are really light.
I agree with Molon’s post about the 4 MOA dot. I have an Aimpoint with 4MOA on one of my carbines. Shooting 55g ball with average accuracy out of a carbine, placing 10 shots in a sub 3 MOA at 300 yards is easily done. With decent ammunition 2 MOA is doable.
Learning how to index the red dot on your target is an important factor.
My HD AR has a 16" pencil barrel with a 1:9 twist and an Aimpint Comp ML. Shoots fine. Nice and light. I never do sustained fire so I can’t comment on any loss of accuracy.
It amazes me that people out there believe that because you have a 4 or even 2 MOA dot on your RDS, that the GUN is some how not capable of better.
You could have a 20 MOA dot and get sub 2"
Optics, no matter how high the magnification or how fine the reticle, don’t necessarily help you hold the rifle steady.
1k NRA shooters can hold MOA with iron sights at that distance. If the black portion of the 1k NRA target is 44 inches, isn’t that like using a 4.4 MOA dot for aiming?
Same concept of indexing the dot T2C mentioned.
My point, and I should have explained it better, was that just about every sporting rifle will be able to out shoot the monkey who is pulling the trigger.
Regardless of the optic attached, the gun is simply putting a piece of copper coated lead down the barrel. For the most part, the rifle will consistently put them in the same area. It is we the shooter that limits what the gun can or can not do.
If I were to bag or vise any gun with a 4 MOA RDS, I have taken a bunch of the human element out of the equation.
Maybe you were not talking to me direct…dunno
Thanks Molon!