Alright, the short and skinny of it, I have a particular rifle I'm looking to shave a little weight off the muzzle end.  It's got some fairly heavy accessories on it that I'm not looking to ditch and I'm needing to swap the suppressor mount out (it's a pinned/welded 14.5"), so I figured while it's off, the easiest way to shed weight would be swapping the barrel.

It currently sports a 14.5" Colt M4 profile barrel with a chopped FSB, so I'm figuring I can pretty easily drop 5-7 oz.

Anyways, this rifle will see some occasional suppressor usage, so I've ruled out straight up pencil profile barrels.  The 3 options I'm deciding between are as follows:

- 14.5" Faxon Gunner Profile Midlength - This one weighs around 19oz. stripped and I can keep weight savings up with a V7 Ti LPGB.
- 14.5" BCM ELW Midlength - This one comes in at 20oz. stripped.  Same LPGB choice as above.
- 14.5" Ballistic Advantage Hanson Profile w/.625 GB Seat - This one comes with a pinned LPGB, but it's not LW, so I'm looking at close to 23oz. for the whole unit.

Any thoughts or opinions?  I have also kicked around the idea of swapping out the Geissele handguard for something like a BCM KMR, but I have a lot more faith in the Geissele, so I'm still on the fence with that (it'll also only save me about 2.5oz).

I like where your head is at. Maybe also consider DD's offerings? I know they make some lightened chf barrels and I'm a sucker for their stuff.Outside of that, I'd go with the BCM

BA has a 14.5 performance barrel with pinned GB that weighs 20.7 oz.  Not sure if it would be good for suppressor use.

Out of the choices you listed, I like the Faxon.

Get the GUNNER.

Spin the front of the barrel down.

That BA barrel listed as 20.7 doesn't include the weight of the GB.  I emailed and asked.

I've thought about re-profiling my current barrel but

a) it's roughly half the cost of a new barrel, and
b) I'm leaving some weight on the table sticking with the .750 GB seat.

BCM ELW without a doubt between those.

Would the Larue PredatAR be an option?  It's tapered profile is similar to the BCM ELW I think.

Go with the .625 ballistic advantage barrel and swap the gas block for a v7 or battle arms block. Their barrels are great and even their pencil barrels hold up to suppressor use well.

I have a 16" Faxon GUNNER and love it. The balance is very nice, even with a suppressor hanging off the end.

My pinned / welded 14.5 inch GUNNER is superb!  No regrets!

 
Looks good! As does that IPA


I'm extremely impressed with my 18" GUNNER. Thinking about trying a 14.5" next, along with an 18" Fluted.