Is anyone producing a stainless “pencil” contour barrel yet?
These are not a good idea, so no one makes them.
C4
Could you elaborate please?
Which of the current 16" midlength stainless barrels are the lightest these days?
As I understand it, SS is superior for accuracy but not as heat resistant as chrome lined, and thus will wear out sooner. A pencil barrel heats up pretty quickly, so guys who take a carbine course with a pencil SS barrel would probably need to rebarrel as soon as they get home.
Noveske makes one. I would not call it a pencil barrel but it is a light weight stainless barrel. They are on their rifle called the Rogue Hunter. Might want to ask them what the contour is. I have one and it is nice.
This would be for a predator rifle so no problems with heat at all. I just want something light, well made, and stainless.
I’ll go look at the Noveske, thanks!
May not be as light as you want but I just recieved one of the Lilja-Nordic SS barrels and have the gun assembled but haven’t fired it yet. $289 from Nordic.
shop.nordiccomp.com/Lilja-Nordic-AR-Rifle-Barrel-Stainless-16-BBL-223-16M-LN.htm
Barrel is made by Dan Lilja…a guy well known for accurate barrels.
WW
Definition of pencil nonwithstanding, I have a lightweight 1:8
Noveske SS bbl on one of my uppers that still shoots .75 MOA after two classes and 2500 rounds. I believe it was a special run.
Barrel warping is the issue and is why you aren’t going to find anything lighter than a GOVT Profile (or some variation close to that).
C4
That Lilja-Nordic looks good. I just wish it was lighter out front and had a tighter chamber than the Wylde.
Grant, could you weigh one of your stripped BCM 16" SS410 barrels for me? Do you have a reamer print (or numbers) of the reamer used on these?
I do not have any stripped barrels to weigh, but can gurantee that it is a Govt profile + in weight.
The chamber print is proprietary.
C4
Wylde chamber is a good all around one. If you want a .223 chamber, just buy a RRA SS barrel and have ADCO or someone turn it down to your specs.
C4
The Lilja-Nordic and BCM SS410 look similar in profile and weight with a slight advantage going to the Lilja-Nordic.
But how would you compare the chambers of these? Would the “proprietary” chamber of the SS410 be a little tighter or looser than the Wylde? I would like a tighter neck and less freebore between the two.
As for the RRA I would rather not have a barrel turned down and want a little more quality for this project.
The BCM barrel is made for combat so it going to mimic a 556 NATO chamber.
You can contact PAC-NOR and they will build a barrel with your chamber and dims.
C4
Nordic/Wilson barrel I recently built a middy rifle using one of these barrels I wanted something a lighter than my Noveske Afghan. For $185 it is a accurate barrel. I bead blasted the barrel and dimpled it for the gas block.
That’s a bargain. Let us know how it shoots.
I’m assuming that its’ one downside is 1:9 twist?
For competition, with match 55gr, 62gr, or 69gr it would be pretty impressive.
Beyond that, the needs for a SS barrel or a lightweight are pretty counterindicative: If you need a few tack driven shots, it can work, but a high end CL barrel turned down would be more than adequate for most uses, and where more precision is required a lighter profile doesn’t make the most sense.
[ETA] I guess in addition to competition, a small predator hunt would be somewhere else these would shine - I stand corrected.
There is a niche market in the hunting world where the AR-15 platform really shines and that is predator hunting. The predator AR-15 has/requires many different attributes from other AR-15 uses. A light weight, precision made stainless barrel, with a short throated 223 chamber, or better yet, in 20 Practical, is ideal for the bullets we use to take coyotes. My current predator rifle has a Douglas match grade 20" barrel chambered in .223 by CLE. It is a 1-12" twist with a short throat so I can reach the lands with the 40 Vmax or Nosler BT and still have the cartridge fit into the magazine. These 40 gr loads shoot into one ragged hole at 100 yards pushing 3800 fps. They drop a coyote dead, period, and shoot very flat out to 300 yards.
The predator hunter likes his AR-15s light as there is a lot of “humping the gun” invloved. Hence my desire for a light weight 16" midlength stainless barrel. My current rifle is .625 under the handguard and is pretty light. But I would like to have a 16" version for in and out of the truck more easily. I could go custom again but was hoping to compromise with an off the shelf solution.
Here’s a photo of my current coyote getter with some new furniture on it. Maybe I should just get the barrel cut to 18" and stick a fork in it…
