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It's not uncommon for it to be marked HF and not CHF. I think BCM's are marked HF.
And yes, it's chrome lined.
At least yours is marked. My FN 300blk didnt even have the HF.
PSA CS told me all barrels supplied to them by FN are cold hammer forged. I guess I'll have to take their word for it.
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well.. I'm confused a bit. i got my upper. I bought a CHF CL barrel. what I got though is stamped:
FN(oval logo) HF MP 5.56 NATO 1/7
so... is that CHF, and they skipped the Cold initial for some Reason? IIs this not Chrome Lined after all?
It's not uncommon for it to be marked HF and not CHF. I think BCM's are marked HF.
And yes, it's chrome lined.
At least yours is marked. My FN 300blk didnt even have the HF.
PSA CS told me all barrels supplied to them by FN are cold hammer forged. I guess I'll have to take their word for it.
The part that bugs me is the chrome lining. The item description was clear that the barrel was double chrome lined, for extra goodness, and to be honest, that was part of the selling point for my purchase. I know it's an FN BBL, and FN makes good barrels. I'm pretty sure they are all hammer forged, as from what I understand, HF are actually easier and cheaper to make - once the very very expensive equipment is in place. So there's no reason for FN to not hammer forge. The BBL marking is very professional, I'm sure it was done by FN at the factory. I don't know why this is marked HF vs CHF, but unless I'm missing something, there is no "cold" version of hammer forging vs just hammer forging (am I wrong in that?). So I'm not too freaked out that it's marked HF vs CHF.
But this barrel SHOULD be marked CL on it, and it's not. This bugs me. For $299, my first thought is that is should come with a BCG, and it didn't. They had quality 16" options for nearly half this price. But I let it all slide, because it came with a better grade barrel; and bought it anyway w/out the BCG. So now I'm bummed to see it not marked as advertised.
I guess I'll going to give PSA a shout, and see what they say.
Regarding the upper, it is otherwise quite well made. The A2 cut down portion is indeed skinny, for the weight savings. The M-Lock handguards are quite nice; I much like. I kind of wish they had a lighter end of the BBL, vs the heavy A2 style thickness out front, as that's just wasted mass. Worse - they appear to have used a full carbine style 14.7" standard A2 BBL, because the skinny stops well before the Middy gas port (i.e. it's heavy under the handguards for a couple inches beyond the middy positioned gas port) - which is more wasteful extra mass, but they did advertise that, so can't really complain. In handling, the length savings is pretty minor over a conventional 16" (which everyone always says; so no surprise I guess), and by keeping the barrel heavy for those last 4-5", the weight savings is pretty minor as well. I did measure some weight savings, but it's not much. If you're looking for a minimalized weight legal 14.7" build, this one isn't quite it; wait for a skinny BBL version. I pulled the trigger on this, because it's very hard to find affordable pinned 14.7" uppers, and it IS a high quality upper. So no big regrets - mostly I'm just annoyed it's apparently not marked CL as advertised.