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+--- Thread: 20 lightweight barrel? (/showthread.php?tid=24296)
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20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
Im in the market for a lightweight 20 barrel but Im not sure what my options are.
Im replacing a Faxon group buy barrel that shoots poorly.
Doesnt need to be a super match barrel but will be going into a general purpose rifle. 2-3 MOA would be perfectly acceptable as it will eat a lot of wolf ammo that generally shoots 2-3MOA in my guns.
So anyone have recommendations?
20 lightweight barrel? - peak98 - 02-21-2022
Try to locate a group buy Monster barrel by Green Mountain? Ive got one that Im pleased with. Im hoping the next group buy offers a 14.7 with a pinned/welded low pro flash hider that finishes up just over 16. If I come across a 16 Monster, or the 14.7... my 20 barrel will be for sale as I like the shorter barrels more and more. Good luck with your search, hope you find just what youre looking for.
peak98
20 lightweight barrel? - 3404speed - 02-21-2022
I thought faxon barrels were supposed to be good?
20 lightweight barrel? - myrifle - 02-21-2022
Grendelshooter Wrote:Im in the market for a lightweight 20 barrel but Im not sure what my options are.
Im replacing a Faxon group buy barrel that shoots poorly.
Doesnt need to be a super match barrel but will be going into a general purpose rifle. 2-3 MOA would be perfectly acceptable as it will eat a lot of wolf ammo that generally shoots 2-3MOA in my guns.
So anyone have recommendations?
Your best bet is to pony up the cash and get a barrel from mark at PF.
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
3404speed Wrote:I thought faxon barrels were supposed to be good?
Lol, not in my experience.
I get about 6 MOA from the faxon group buy barrel Ive got. The old AR Performance barreled SPR does 2 MOA with the same ammo (wolf)
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
myrifle Wrote:Your best bet is to pony up the cash and get a barrel from mark at PF.
Why?
20 lightweight barrel? - tdbru - 02-21-2022
GS,
I've been quite happy with my 20" Faxon Gunner
https://www.armorally.com/shop/faxon-6-5-grendel-20-gunner-barrel/
I put the upper together myself and used Locktite 609 if i recall.
with a 9x scope on and tweaking loads I was able to get the Sierra 85gr. HP to under 1 MOA
now I've got a 4X scope on it. Most loads shoot between 1 and 2 MOA. Some factory loads only do 2.5 MOA
Some of my handloads didn't work out well at all, about 3 to 4 MOA. but that's why one tweaks the handload, to see if there are better results lurking in the barrel.
These "rack grade" barrels are the luck of the draw so it seems.
make sure the barrel is secure in the upper and is free floated.
i was trying to get the weight down without sacrificing ballistics. So this 20" Faxon Gunner does the job for me.
I'm sure a brux or other top self match barrel would group everything well.
it doesn't seem to me that your faxon group buy is the same thing as the faxon gunner, is it?
do you hand load or do you only shoot factory loads?
I'm not sure that Wolf is capable of match grade accuracy, so I would not judge a barrel based upon results shooting Wolf myself.
If you hand load, you can probably play around with the variables (bullet, powder, primer, case, COL, etc.) until you get a load that will group through the tube you now have, though it might take awhile, and coming up with components these days, or for that matter even loaded ammo, is not so easy.
Good luck.
-tdbru
20 lightweight barrel? - myrifle - 02-21-2022
Grendelshooter Wrote:Why?
Because you gave us no supporting data to base a response on. It could be the barrel, it could be the gun is put together crappy, it could be your not that good of a marksman.
But without any data from your end best we can do for advice to your problem is spend more money on a custom barrel.
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
tdbru Wrote:GS,
I've been quite happy with my 20" Faxon Gunner
https://www.armorally.com/shop/faxon-6-5-grendel-20-gunner-barrel/
I put the upper together myself and used Locktite 609 if i recall.
with a 9x scope on and tweaking loads I was able to get the Sierra 85gr. HP to under 1 MOA
now I've got a 4X scope on it. Most loads shoot between 1 and 2 MOA. Some factory loads only do 2.5 MOA
Some of my handloads didn't work out well at all, about 3 to 4 MOA. but that's why one tweaks the handload, to see if there are better results lurking in the barrel.
These "rack grade" barrels are the luck of the draw so it seems.
make sure the barrel is secure in the upper and is free floated.
i was trying to get the weight down without sacrificing ballistics. So this 20" Faxon Gunner does the job for me.
I'm sure a brux or other top self match barrel would group everything well.
it doesn't seem to me that your faxon group buy is the same thing as the faxon gunner, is it?
do you hand load or do you only shoot factory loads?
I'm not sure that Wolf is capable of match grade accuracy, so I would not judge a barrel based upon results shooting Wolf myself.
If you hand load, you can probably play around with the variables (bullet, powder, primer, case, COL, etc.) until you get a load that will group through the tube you now have, though it might take awhile, and coming up with components these days, or for that matter even loaded ammo, is not so easy.
Good luck.
-tdbru
I dont want a match barrel, because I largely wont be shooting match ammo out of it, hence my stated desire for a 2-3 MOA barrel. Rack grade is just fine by me. This is a service rifle not a match gun.
I do reload, but I have tens of thousands of rounds of steel case because it suits my needs very well.
Im pretty wary of faxon at this point. Ive never had an AR shoot 6 inch groups from a rest. Even my dads old blackthorn uppers never shot this badly. The Gibbs side charging upper/ALG handguard it was mated with had a larue 20 .223 barrel prior to this build and was an absolute (boat anchor) tack driver. Honest .5 moa gun with 77gr Nosler CC hand loads over AR Comp. Only change was the group buy barrel which shot nothing well. I figured it might just be the ammo but it didnt shoot handloads, Mexican match, Hornady or Berger factory loads much better. Uniformly bad barrel.
Used to be I would just buy ARP barrels without thinking twice. They always shot well no matter the round or load. I have an 18 SPR profiled barrel in my thermal rifle and a 16 lightweight in my SPR (both Grendel of course) that shoot wolf routinely into 2 inch groups, and hand loads sub-MOA. Unfortunately hes not making Grendel barrels anymore.
If faxon is the only game in town Ill give it a shot, but damn I wouldnt think a run-of-the-mill Grendel barrel with a profile lighter than a fence post would be so rare.
Even the barrel you linked is out of stock lol.
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
myrifle Wrote:Because you gave us no supporting data to base a response on. It could be the barrel, it could be the gun is put together crappy, it could be your not that good of a marksman.
But without any data from your end best we can do for advice to your problem is spend more money on a custom barrel.
Im not asking why does my rifle shoot badly.
I was simply asking what the options are for a lightweight, rack grade, 20 barrel are.
I know why the gun wont shoot, because the barrel is garbage.
20 lightweight barrel? - biodsl - 02-21-2022
How do you define lightweight?
20 lightweight barrel? - tdbru - 02-21-2022
GS,
when i was trying to put together as light a weight upper I could with a 20" or longer tube, this faxon gunner was all i could find sans a custom ordered barrel from Brux or other custom match barrel makers. Not a bad choice but like you I didn't have the budget for that quite yet. If you can find another pencil weight 20" 6.5 Grendel barrel, please let me know. It would be good to keep handy for if/when I wear this one out. however this one was all I could find for a 20" or longer light weight barrel. If you want to "make sure" you get a shooter, then the only avenue I am aware of is to order a custom barrel from Brux or Bartelin or Krieger, etc. which, though expensive, should deliver the goods. And if it doesn't these companies will usually make it good. Since the barrel is a large percentage of a rifles potential accuracy, then of course the better barrel you can acquire, the better the rifle should group. common sense to me. On my 20" faxon gunner, I haven't been hugely disappointed, nor have I been wowed either. I do like the 4150 CM vanadium nitrided however as this should last a long time. So perhaps I'll never wear it out and it will just be what it is for me - average grouping with tuned handloads. It's minute of coyote out to 300 yards, which adequately meets my needs and goals for my lightweight build, but it's no F-Class precision rifle either. Best of luck with your light weight build.
-tdbru
20 lightweight barrel? - tdbru - 02-21-2022
GS,
here was a barrel by one of our vendors that was the only other one that made my short list, but they've been out of stock for over a year or more. the faxon gunner was all I could find in stock. Should these come back in stock, you might consider them too.
https://www.sixfivearms.com/product/monster-20/
-tdbru
20 lightweight barrel? - Tx264 - 02-21-2022
Ballistic advantage 20" 33oz
Wilson combat recon 20" 39oz
WC used to make a 20"hunter 32oz.
20 lightweight barrel? - tdbru - 02-21-2022
Faxon Gunner 20" is 1.92 lbs = 30.72 oz. as a comparison point.
-tdbru
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
biodsl Wrote:How do you define lightweight?
Thats a really good question that I should have addressed in the OP.
Something akin to the criterion hybrid profile. Thats why I wanted to try the group buy barrels in the first place.
Weight, 2-2.5 pounds or so.
20 lightweight barrel? - peak98 - 02-21-2022
Is 20 the only option or will 18 suffice?
peak98
20 lightweight barrel? - Grendelshooter - 02-21-2022
peak98 Wrote:Is 20 the only option or will 18 suffice?
peak98
Ive been thinking about that myself.
For the extra weight Im not sure the ballistic juice is worth the squeeze, especially with Grendel.
I like 20 rifles but the way things are at the moment I may get the 18. Im unsure about it but that 18 faxon at 1.7lbs is really appealing.
Especially with the Gibbs upper, which are about twice the weight of a regular upper.
20 lightweight barrel? - Old Bob - 02-22-2022
Grendelshooter... Wilson Combat 20" barrel makes your 2.5lb limit at 36.9oz . Their 18" barrel is 32.1oz. You get a good barrel without paying a super premium custom barrel price. I have the 20" barrel on my Grendel AR. It's been sub MOA with Hornady factory ammo (123gn AMAX - no longer made).
https://shopwilsoncombat.com/BARREL-65-GRENDEL-RECON-18-FLUTED-STAINLESS-GLASS-BEAD-1-8/productinfo/TR%2D65GRCRG18FT8/
https://shopwilsoncombat.com/BARREL-65-GRENDEL-RECON-20-FLUTED-STAINLESS-GLASS-BEAD-1-8/productinfo/TR%2D65GRCRG20FT8/
20 lightweight barrel? - myrifle - 02-22-2022
Grendelshooter Wrote:Im not asking why does my rifle shoot badly.
I was simply asking what the options are for a lightweight, rack grade, 20 barrel are.
I know why the gun wont shoot, because the barrel is garbage.
So if I offer you 20 dollars for it. You will sell it to me right?