Anyone have any experience with Windham’s barrels?
They aren’t a manufacturer I’d buy a complete rifle from but they offer this particular barrel… https://shop.windhamweaponry.com/collections/barrels-parts/products/ba14m4-7
…Which would work well for an RO727 type build I’m wanting to do. Windham uses “Non F” height FSBs, which would normally be a con, however in my case I’d be using it with an A2 style upper it would be quite convenient to get an M4 profile barrel with a Non-F FSB already installed.
The specs of the barrel look good, although I’m fairly sure Windham does batch testing rather than testing each individual unit.
Because they are kind of a “Meh” AR brand overall from what I can gather though I’m undecided on whether to use one of their barrels.
Any thoughts on the barrels themselves, specs, QC experiences etc?
Technically the barrel is just for a Retro build vs a dedicated duty or HD weapon but I try to build my Retros with as decent parts as I can within the constraints of what suitably retro components are available, in the off chance they ever get pressed into more serious use for some reason.
Based on what you’ve outlined, I’d have no problem using that WW barrel assembly. I have three of their rifles and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them, if you can get them for the right price. They just run and are more accurate than I am capable. I also bought one of their barrel assemblies and it installed without issues. For a chrome lined barrel assembly, I think you’d have a hard time beating that price.
Not sure how the Windhams are compared to the old Bushy barrels. But I shot the hell out of an old Bushmaster barrel, and the only issue was the port being too big. It wasn’t gaping, but it was over-gassed.
The Windham M4 barrels use a .067" gas port according to the Windham rep who responded to my inquiry about the port sizes.
Colt uses .063 IIRC so the Windham barrel is likely going to be a bit over gassed by comparison. That doesn’t seem like a lot to me in absolute terms but I don’t know where .067 actually falls on the spectrum of carbine port sizes currently out there.
Ah so it’s more of a difference than I thought. It’s not a dedicated HD gun but the idea of building something that I know from the outset could be more prone to function issues kinda bugs me.
I usually use “H” buffers in carbine-gas guns with 14.5" or 16" barrels. Would going to an H2 buffer mitigate the potential for problems?
My other option would be to buy a stripped BCM barrel and have a Non-F FSB installed like I did for one of my other Retros.
I have that barrel on a parts carbine I slapped together. Used a BCM carbine receiver extension kit with the BCM action spring and H2 buffer. I run only M855 through my guns and it shoots fine. Not noticeably over gassed and has never shown signs of overpressure.
Everything else being equal, you’d probably do fine with that barrel at that gas port size running a carbine receiver extension with a handful of H variant buffers to experiment with, but if this is a build you’re putting together, I’d opt for an A5 buffer system and increase your reliability threshold from the get-go.
Since I’m kinda doing a Retro “clone” (at least externally anyway) with the older CAR stock, the A5 wouldn’t work as it’s a touch longer than a standard receiver extension and would project out beyond the stock if I had it collapsed, which wouldn’t really look right. If I were building an actual “go to” or working gun I’d give the A5 a harder look Although it would probably just end up with a rifle receiver extension and a fixed A1-length stock on it again like my other such ARs…hell, at this point I’d probably put a fixed stock on an SBR if it were a “working” gun, I’ve really become fond of fixed stock carbines.
The recoil of an over gassed AR will be sharper from the buffer hitting the back of the RE harder than necessary. A heavier buffer will soften that blow, but won’t fix the over gassing. I discovered this while experimenting with different buffer weights and an upper with an adjustable gas block.
Colt uses a .0625" gas port in their M4 barrels. They found that the .0005" makes a difference. The .067" gas port of the Windham barrel is too large, but can be fixed using a BRT micro port. The BRT gas tube with the reduced gas inlet would be another possible fix.
This echo chamber talk of fine tuning gas ports and gas systems and complaints of recoil(what recoil?) on 5.56 guns and debating it like it’s engineering on a space shuttle is making it hard to enjoy this site anymore.
Well I asked questions, and got answers, so I’m pretty satisfied. If I have problems with the build I now have some possible solutions to reference.
I get really obsessive compulsive about my guns functioning properly.
I could have kept it simple with a typical “Windham is garbage. Get a Colt” or “You pay more for the pony. Windham is just as good”. But neither response would have addressed the concerns Circle 10 has.
Right on. No argument about properly functioning guns from me. Just some get a little carried away about tuning. If they actually used the gun they would realize it’s wasted time.