When I got into ARs back in about '97 EVERYTHING was "HBar" and it was like a sales gimmick. Just saying "Delta HBar" sounded so cool. It was over a decade before I even found out that a real M16A2 was light weight under the handguards. My first 2 ARs were a 20" and 16" Hbars. Anyways, after building a M16 (semi auto) clone I realize how sweet a pencil barrel handles. I have a 20" HBar for hunting and I find that I get fatigued and my muscles start shaking trying to hold it offhand for long periods (waiting for a good shot) I am trying to replace it with a mid length light weight upper and the ONLY one I see is DSA. WTF? Why is it still hard to find LW barrels? None of us are shooting enough to justify a heavy ass barrel! I think it is the few that shoot ARs off a bench or prairy dog hunting, most of us are useing them for CQB. Is it because it cost more to turn it down more on a lathe?
Why is America infatuated with heavy barrels (HBars)?

I'm seriosly considering buying a damn lathe!

DD has some good LW barrels, see their DDM4 LW rifles. You can also buy these uppers seperately. (Here, and probably other places) These uppers are also super lightweight, the v7 doesn't even feel like a real gun because it weighs so little. Althought that might be because I'm used to shooting an M1A.

$

Yeah they aren't cheap, although I'm pretty sure you can get those uppers cheaper than that. If you're willing to build your own upper then there are many options which shouldn't be too expensive:

Del-Ton 20", 154$ with FSP
DD Lighweight mid-length 16", 289$
Model 1 16" Carbine length, 145$
And a bunch more here

Rock River lists # AR0213CLASY as a chrome lined 16 Inch Mid-Length Lightweight Barrel Assembly, 1:9 Twist Price tag is $255 Linky

Whether you shoot light weight or heavy barrels, do yourself a favor and learn fundamentals of stabilization , natural point of aim, etc. You're fighting the gun, trying to muscle it into the target. You need bone to bone contact as much as possible and learning your natural point of aim will have you on target with almost no muscle use so you won't shake, get tired etc. The other thing you need to do is learn your vision / sight pattern. Learn how many seconds into the hold / breath your sights settle down, usually three or four seconds. You will notice a pattern. The sights may move left to right, the up and down, and than left and settle slowly across the target and hold there for a split second. The movements I gave were just an example, but learn your pattern, and learn when it slows to the target, you will begin to break the shot a millisecond before it actually stabilizes on the center of the target.

Do those things, and you will be much more accurate, faster, and won't be fatigued regardless of the weight of your rifle.

Look at the women in Olympic shooting. They are very exaggerated in their stance, but women are built to be better shots than men. You'll notice that they are getting their spine curved / torqued around for a solid mass, and their elbows are on their hips with one hip out, like holding a baby. They are able to achieve nearly 100% bone support, where there is no movement. The weapons literally weigh nothing to them at that point. A man can get very close.

I would urge you to read Constantine's Modern High Power book, it will do more for your shooting than any piece of equipment. It is expensive now, but well worth the cost. I need to get mine back from my nephew. Used they're going for $85 now.

This thing is as thick as two bibles.

If I shot full auto, I'd like a heavier barrel, but in semi auto and especially how I shoot, HBARs are a waste for me. YMMV.

I have 2 ARs, one has a lightweight barrel, the other is a pencil.

+1    

+1

I shoot better offhand with a heavier barrel. Easier to get skeletal structure support.

The first 9 uppers listed on Bravo Co for 16 " mid length  uppers are all (Light weight).  

http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/AR-15-16-Mid-Length-Group-s/27.htm

Is OP  confused? Or just not looking hard enough?

Why HBAR because it is another option out their that people like and as long as people buy someone will make.

I have a few HBAR rifles they are heavy but I also have lighter rifles for other purposes.

I like the 20" HBar. They shoot damn nice. You could send it to ADCO to get reprofiled.

I went with an HBAR for my 18" SPR build simply because it is almost exclusivly shot off of a bipoid or any other type of supported position and the little bit of extra weight cuts the recoil down.  At 100m I can keep wolf gold inside of a pingpong ball with a high rate of fire.

I highly doubt most people are doing "CQB" but if they are then they are more than likely using something that is 10.5" or less with suppression which is going to be light even with an HBAR profile.

Topic Moved

I have a 20" HBAR on my A2 rifle, a 16" HBAR on my A2 carbine, and a 20" pencil barrel on my A1. These are all military clones, and the A1 feels like it weighs half what the other 2 weigh (each, of course). I have to hire an assistant to carry my weapons for me.

It would take a $500 custom pencil barrel from a tier one manufacturer to hold with a HBAR from a OEM production quality run in terms of performance.  

That's why HBAR's have a place.  The pencil barrels are great for the 2MOA with quality ammo customers, or the 50 yard flat range customer who shoots bulk or russian ammo.

Back in the mid 90's when I was shooting hi-power, most of the rifles were not free floated.  I could sling a M16A2 tight enough to move the POI 1-2 targets over at 600m.  With my personal 6601 (Colt HBar) the heavier barrel was more resistant to sling pressure and the extra weight was a bonus in off hand and rapid fire.  I still think that heavy barrels make sense for carbines that will not be floated-like MOE handguards.

Didn't Molon post tests of a Colt chrome lined pencil barrel (.625) where he was shooting sub MOA groups?

America is not infatuated with heavy barrels.  They're easier to make, and more abundant.  Light barrels are hard to find because people buy them up as fast as they make them.

As crazy as it sounds, some states allow the sale of HBars but not plain lowers.  Go figure.  In those states, I have a feeling you are going to find a strong preference to HBar ARs.

Other than that, if you only bring it to the range, an HBar is going to be a good rifle.  Have to carry that bitch up the side of a mountain in Afghanistan is another story.

OP isn't looking very hard.  Lightweight and medium contour barrels are everywhere these days.

After a bit of research I picked up a Daniel Defense lighweight 14.5 midlength chf.  There were some good videos and reviews posted over on m4.net.  One of the videos is of him taking it out to 700 and making consistent shots.  FYI its a .625 gas block seat, midway listed it at .750 and so did DD site. (unless they changed it since I got my barrel earlier this year.)

I got my first HBar barrel in ?87?  

Highpower shooters were finally starting to warm up to the "Poodle Shooter" after having to re-bed their finicky M-14 for the 10th time and the HBar made sense for competition.

One of the many criticisms of the AR that I recall was how inaccurate the M16 was supposed to be.  How sling tension alone could cause a POI shift.  How the thin USGI barrel would shift POI as it heated up, on and on.  

Then Highpower shooters started to play around with heavier bullets and it was easier to get an Hbar that had a rate of twist that would work better for that.

Then the ban came down and all the cool kids wanted an M4, which was short (and thick in sections).  Then people discovered that the original "pencil barrels" were actually useful and kept the weight of the weapon down as the weight of the weapon bloated due to adding optics.

So I associate my Hbar with chicks with big hair and bitchin' Camaros.

Why bother buying another upper. Pull the barrel, sell, buy new barrel in config. you want. Thank me very much

And Mullets?

Excellent info sir. Thank you for taking the time to type it.

'Cause Murrica loves their barrels like their women.

Thick and heavy

Yep. We like our stuff big and heavy... bbw porn and 1 ton diesel trucks with 52 inch tires and 50 caliber desert eagles and big bagger Harleys with 30 inch front wheels... and AR15s with big front heavy HBars.

I saw him test two and it looked like both were 1.5-2MOA guns for 10 rounds.  The lightweight barrels were tested with his badass 52 grain handload and the HBARs with that load put 10 into MOA groups.  

I've done my own testing and have found high quality lightweight barrels to be able to put 4 out of five into MOA with 69 grain gold medal match, but then the fifth will fly and open a group to 1.2-1.5MOA. Go to ten and the groups will look like 1.8- 2MOA.  

I've found SOCOM contour barrels to be more consistently accurate and able to print 5 into sub  MOA  (like .6MOA) groups and ten into 1MOA. I've also found the heavier barrels to shoot different weight ammunition more similarly as it pertains to POI.  

If lightweight barrels could be consistently sub MOA, the Marine Corps M40 wouldn't weight 16.5lbs.  Seriously accurate and consistent guns don't have light barrels.

It really comes down to two different camps of shooters:
Riflemen
and
carbine shooters

Carbine is a 0-200 game where the lightweight won't cost you much except in the extreme durability camp for abusive use.  Rifle is more of a 0-500 game and the lightweight won't cut it out there, especially not with ball or bulk ammo.