I’ve always loved them. But amongst those here, why are they desirable? There seems to be an increase in interest in them.
Less weight, less felt recoil for me. Trimming down my heavy barrel has been the BEST thing I’ve done to my rifle.
I’ve been talked into putting one on my new build. Mostly for weight savings. Though I will admit a bit of skepticism about durability. I just don’t know enough.
When you’re talking about stationary mass, it doesn’t really make sense that lowering it would decrease felt recoil. If that’s what you feel then I can’t knock you for it, but I wouldn’t bill it as an inherent quality of pencil barrels.
They lower weight though, certainly.
Here’s a recent thread about the trend towards pencil barrels and the potential reasons:
Not really into them myself. My AR’s are very simple/KISS set-ups and are 7.5 to 8 pounds loaded with a 20 rd PMag. But I’d guess it’s a result of those who put alot of accessories on these guns and end up with a 10 pound rifle. Every ounce you can save weight on is important.
Pencil barrels are great for 90% of the populace. They weight savings can be considerable.
We have been selling DD’s HF barrels at an alarming rate. To me personally, the M4 and HBAR profiles are stupid.
Either go Pencil or Govt profile.
C4
They are an excellent idea. Im glad Grant is selling some quaility pencil barrels. Nice to have options other than Bushmaster Superlights and DPMS.
I love the way a lightweight carbine handles. I used a lightweight barrel in combination with plastic receivers to build this 16" carbine that weighs only 5 lb. 1 oz. 
I’ve only had limited experience with lightweight barrels (a shitty, well used pre-ban Bushmaster rental at the local indoor range) and I did like the negligible weight compared to the M16A2, A4, and M4 that I’ve been issued since being in the military. However, I am used to the weight and simply prefer heavier profile barrels. There is something about the thinner profile that I don’t like…
A MACDONALDS STRAW IS NOT A RIFLE BARREL DAMN IT!!! :rolleyes:
The M16A1s had a pretty skinny barrel. If compactness weren’t such a priority to me, I think all my AR rifles would have would be 20" A1 profile barrels since they handle so nicely.
There is something to be said about lightweight. I learned a lot building up an ultra light carbine for my wife with Project Featherweight. I turned that barrel down to .565" and it’s proven to be very accurate. I’ve not shot it for groups with a magnified scope but with a 3.2 MOA Aimpoint H1 it’s not hard to hit a 8x10" piece of steel at 200yds shooting offhand at off the bench using Radway Green with runs very well in this AR.
The only time I think you would really need a barrel with a profile heavier than .625" would be if you use a sound suppressor or have a full auto. For anything else .565"-625" profile is just fine. One of my co-workers uses a carbine gas length 16" .625" profile barrels on his 3gun rifle and he holds his own against some of the best in 3gun/multigun.
completed my BCM 16" middy lightweight build today. Im waiting for the MOE middy handguard in FDE to come out. Will get a Primary Arms H-1 clone later also for fun. I dont have an accurate scale at the house to measure the weight. Anyone have suggestions for an accurate digital scale with 2 decimal places?
Not a big fan of the Standard profile barrel… I like the M4 Profile and think it is a good compromise of weight and stiffness and good practical accuracy that can handle a little increase in cycle rate . I believe Standard profiles just happen to be the new flavor as there is nothing new out there right now that folks can chase after…
how many threads do we need on this topic?
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to shoot this rifle as much as I would like, but I love it. I am not some prissy woman that is only interested in looks. I am short, so the size of the weapon,so lightweight is important to me, if I need to be able to maneuver quickly. As a former Army Reserve officer, I am interested in function and for the weapon to serve the purpose for which it was built. It is light, fast and accurate.
Oh, and there will not be any pink on my rifle!
A Colt light weight is not a McDonalds straw!
My first AR was a Colt 16" HBAR and it was perfect until I shot a buddy’s SP1 Carbine. I now have 2 Colt LW’s and am always looking for a third. I’ve found the LW profile to be accurate enough to hunt coyotes with or do most anything else for that matter.
Had an LMT M4 upper but couldn’t tell any difference, hopefully my Noveske SPR will show me the error of my thinking…
but for just killin stuff, I doubt it.
Don’t know what to tell you…perhaps ‘less muzzle rise’ is a more appropriate phrase for what I experienced. All I know is that with the heavy barrel recoil was significant, and with the pencil barrel (same exact barrel just cut down) muzzle rise is just slightly more then my .22 kit. Seriously, it’s a night and day difference. I don’t know why, I just know it’s there. Didn’t change anything else at that time…I do have an FSC556 on it, perhaps it just does a better job at controlling muzzle rise with the lighter barrel.
My neck and back are thankful of the weight savings, too…standing around in a class all day with a heavy barrel AR isn’t particularly fun.
So which is it? It’s a result of people bolting too much stuff to the gun to begin with, or every ounce you save is important.
IMHO the M4 profile is the worst, and the lease sensical. At least the Noveske N4 profile makes some amount of sense at the same weight.
I believe Standard profiles just happen to be the new flavor as there is nothing new out there right now that folks can chase after…
I think you’re wrong here too. There are a lot of us that have been shooting .625" barrels for a long time but there haven’t been many options on the market for quality examples. You either had to buy a 6520 and start swapping parts around or you had to buy a sub-standard barrel from another maker. Guys like me have been waiting for affordable .625" barrels that are properly made and tested with the right specs for a long time. The manufacturers didn’t start making them to create a market they started making them to fill a need in the market.
the misconceptions about so-called “pencil” barrels, and really barrel profiles (and lengths) that exist in the shooting world are absurd, and often it’s just more of the same “I like what I bought and I’m going to defend it to the death” mentalities.