I’m thinking about getting this upper receiver from BCM (http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BCM-URG-MID-16%20DDL12) but can’t decide if getting the hammer forged barrel option is completely worth the extra $100. Where will I see the advantage? I know the hammer forged option is stronger, but will someone like me (who shoots paper, wants a good weapon for when the shtf, and would like to do carbine courses in the future) ever see my extra $100 be put to good use?
if you plan to shoot a ton of rounds per year then the hammer forge is worth it due to the barrel life. How many rounds do you expect to shoot per month or per year. Standard barrels can last 10k rounds, hammer forge 2-3x that.
I shoot about 200 rounds when I go to the range because I can’t afford to shoot more at this time. I would like to go at least once a month when I get my new build together.
If you have the $100.00 to spend, and it isn’t a big deal; go for it. IF you won’t be able to afford ammo or food for the next week, keep the $100.00 and go for non-hammer forged. You’ll see extra life from a CHF barrel, but CHF doesn’t change accuracy or reliability (Until you get close to shooting out the barrel, then reliability becomes and issue, but that is after tens of thousands of rounds, if not more). You could always save the $100.00 and use it for ammo or training, and then if/when you need a new barrel (Very doubtful if you are just a recreational shooter that shoots 1,000 rounds and less a year) you can just buy a CHF one then.
I would opt for the CHF barrel personally; no reason to delcine getting more life out of a barrel if cost is not a big issue…
Don’t sweat the decision too much, they are both great barrels and will last a long ass time. 
100 bucks is not much in terms of a rifle build which often costs 2,000 once you include the optic (ACOG? over 1K sometimes, Night Force in the range of $1500), mount (Larue 125), rail (300 or more?), match BCG (205), fancy trigger (170-350), fancy buttstock (UBR 225), fancy brake (150), good LPK ($80), nice grip ($40), rail covers (?), Troy flip up sights ($240), tritium front sight insert ($50), special buffer ($40 on up), etc.
Well I’ve been trying to set my budget at right about $1k for my new upper. Not to mention I’m gonna have to buy a front BUIS since I don’t have one and the upper doesn’t have a front sight post. So that right there is gonna put me at $1k after shipping and all that. Also I guess by the time I shoot out the barrel I’ll (hopefully) be in the position where I can spend a couple hundred bucks on a new CHF barrel and keep shooting for another 10 years. As long as there is no compromise in accuracy then I can live with the non CHF option. Times are tight but I gotta keep shootin!
ive read its a YMMV on accuracy improvements? Never really seen it quantified. I’ve never had direct experience with a CHF. I dont shoot enough to justify the CHF for a barrel life standpoint.
Wasn’t Pat Rogers’ “filthy” BCM a 16" hammer forged barrel that still shot MoA after 25,000+ rounds?
As 500 gr mentioned, when you consider the additional cost in the total cost of the rifle, it’s not that high, and if you can afford it, I’d say go for it.
I’ve heard this as well, but haven’t seen any real world evidence of it. I have one of the first few DD M4 V1’s to be built aqnd sold and it has a non-CHF barrel; I will just replace it with CHF when the time comes. I have (3) buddies with the same DD M4 V1, but the newer CHF barrel, I out shoot all of them with my rifle, and I see no difference in my accuracy whe I try out their rifles.
Anyone done any real hard-use comparisons? Such as pushing multiple non CHF and multiple CHF barrel to the 10K mark and seeing if the non-CHF has any noticeable decrease in accuracy Vs. the CHF barrel? Sounds like an interesting test I would like to see performed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the CHF barrel held accuracy better than the non-CHF approaching the higher round counts, but not sure if it would even be that much of noticeable or problematic decrease?
I’ve seen the 10~15k barrel life # tossed around. Is that based on semi-auto or military F/A type usage?
Good question…also is it the heat cycles or is it the friction caused by the bullet that causes a barrel to lose its life? Probably a combination of both?
CHF for me. And to be specific, a CHF DD lightweight (.625"approx) profile 14.5" mid-gas barrel.They should be out in the next 3 weeks.
A fellow at Sabre Defence told me they expect their milspec chrome lined M4 barrels to run 35,000 rounds. And those are button rifled, not hammer forged.
I wonder what the true barrel life is for a Noveske with a hammer forged barrel made from M249 barrel steel. 100,000 rounds? Should be the same for a Centurion barrel.
A lot of barrels sustain more damage due to sloppy use of the cleaning rod than from bullets.
High heat+high friction=accelerated wear.
Ok, Filthy 14 is a standard BCM 16" middy non CHF. currently has approx 32,000 rounds through it. I don’t know about the moa part.
CHF is NOT necessary for most.
Hot gasses only. The chrome lining is far harder than the bullet jacket.
I’m not sure how a hammer forged barrel outlasts a standard barrel if they are both chrome lined. The heat and friction will eventually wear away the chrome lining, so isn’t the hardness of the chrome the relevant component of barrel life?
As the chrome is worn away the rifling has a less consistent contact with the bullet and you get a degradation is accuracy. The rifle with still work the groups just open up?
I also don’t understand how chrome lining that is twice as think (Noveske) would make a difference. If the rounds wear the chrome lining a measurement of X wouldn’t both barrel standard chrome lined and double thickness chrome lined now have the same amount worn? They had to have the same interior dimensions to to start with and in both cases the bullet wears the same amount of chrome, so the interior diameter would be the same…
Cameron
I’m glad i got a CHF barrel. I dont shoot a lot either but it’s good to know it will last a very long time and they can handle really high volume shooting.
Well thought out and stated and I would really like to see this answered as well.