Just took receipt of my new Faxon Firearms 18" Gunner profile barrel with .625" gas block journal and rifle length gas port. I’ll have pictures and weight later tonight or tomorrow.
So far, it appears to be very well made. QPQ finish is excellent, M4 feedramps are perfectly machined, muzzle crown is very well machined. I don’t have a bore scope, but the rifling appears clean as well.
While not a continuous taper profile, like an ELW, it is light under the handguard and lighter from gas block journal to the flare before the muzzle threads. It does have a flare to retain the handguard cap of a set of plastic handguards.
Some basic specs: 4150 steel, air gauged, button rifled, 1:8 twist, QPQ inside and out, 5.56 NATO chamber, 11 degree crown, MPI.
I got a solid LEO discount, but threw in a gas tube as well. I was out the door for about $190. Can’t beat that price with a stick.
Will do. Still need to grab an SLR Ti sentry 6 AGB. Got a V7 Weapons systems Ti KMR barrel nut on the way now.
My only issue with it is the barrel was not dimpled. Not a big deal for me since I have the BRD barrel dimpling jig, but a dimple would be nice. The QPQ nitride finish basically destroyed a std bit i tried… dulled the hell out of the tip and started getting rather warm. Switched to a cobalt tipped bit and had no issues, though it certainly didn’t start nearly as fast as an untreated barrel.
Will do. I got slammed with call outs this last week and am heading to Baltimore tomorrow for some AVID forensic training. But I’ll get some pix up this coming weekend.
Looking at it I guess you can get the 18" with a .625 block, just not the 16.5" for some reason. The 18" costs a lot more than the 16.5" for some reason too.
Great price! I just built an 18" rifle gas with an Aero Precision barrel. This was my first 18" build and I have to say Im hooked. The recoil is so much lighter than my 16" guns, Im really pleased with the accuracy too.
I haven’t been able to bench shoot it yet, but in the sitting and prone I was popping clothespins off of 550 chord at about 50 yards without much effort. I plan to bench shoot it in the next couple weeks and Ill post the results.
I’d love to see a 14.5" version of this barrel. I’ve got a colt already, but was thinking of using parts from the area (Cincinnati, OH) to complete this build. Its a silly goal but with companies like anderson, faxon, and a few others local, it would be a fun project.
Email inbound Nathan!
Yeah, ironically my dad and his family are all from Cincinnati.
Going to be assembling my barrel this weekend. Had tons of unexpected call outs over the past few weeks. The SLR Rifleworks Ti Sentry 6 set screw gas block is ready for install.
Alright. Barrel is installed and everything went well. The weight Faxon gives is spot on. Installation with the V7 Weapons Systems Ti BCM KMR barrel nut went flawlessly.
Total rifle weight (Handy rifle) with aimpoint T1 on a Larue LT660 and no mag is 6.64 pounds for an 18" barrel with rifle gas and a reliable AGB (SLR Rifleworks Ti Sentry 6 set screw).
That’s down from ~6.94 pounds and the front of the gun feels SUBSTANTIALLY lighter.
Going to sight-in and run a few rounds through today.
Here goes nothing…
NOTE: Barrel has been torqued to 45 foot pounds, EFAB muzzle device timed right about 20 foot pounds using the PA precision shim kit and plenty of lube.
Gas block attached using Green loctite 620 sleeve retainer around the gas block journal, McMaster Carr knurled-cup-tip set screws using Resbond Blue 907TS high temp threadlocker. I torqued the set screws by hand until I felt the knurling grab the barrel metal and fold a little bit. Barrel was dimpled as stated previously.
