Why don't you use Green Mountain?

In stock are 20" A1 profile 1 in 12" twist 4150 and chrome lined.

I think most are down for the quest to find an original barrel in the best condition possible. Nothing wrong with green mtn barrels fwiw.

I went to there site to look.
Found the barrels but, I could not find one with the FSB mounted on it.
Maybe I just missed it.

Do they make a barrel with the FSB mounted?

Thanks for the heads up on the barrels.

Ron

No, they don't offer a pinned FSB, sorry to say.

You would have to send the barrel out to ADCO or Retro Arms Works for the job. Or, Class Three Machining.

That is why I would not buy the Green Mtn. barrels for a retro build.
By the time it takes, money spent on shipping and paying some one to in stall the FSB it is not worth it for me.
For example, I can order a barrel from Brownells and get it in about a week and install it.
If I am building a Retro or an A2 I only buy barrels with FSB installed.
I have a few of the GM 20" barrels I bought at a gun show from a dealer and I like them. They are not on retro rifles.

Thanks
Ron

Brownells has them with a FSB, and a Delta ring. Why can't anyone else do what Brownells does? Anyone? Anyone?

I agree, it would make it much easer on most of us and save some shipping cost.

I ordered from Brownells 4 of the 20" barrel sets with non "f" marked FSB, 1/12 this week to try.

I bought 6 of the Delton 20" pencil barrels 1/9 with non "f" marked FSB last month.

I tried to find some Colts to buy, but they are out of my price range and hard to find in the amount I want.
The up side is this will save the Colt barrels ( and parts) for those that need them. (I already have several of them built with Colt parts.)
I just enjoy building them.

Ron

I picked up one of the Brownells barrels, and am impressed with the way it looks.

If anyone is still looking Sherluk has 20" pencil profile barrels in stock. I used one on my recent 604 build and it looks great!  They are made by ER Shaw. it is not chrome lined but has a .625 non F front sight base with taper pins and 1x9 twist $175.00

I bought one of the Green Mountain 1-14" barrels to go on a 601 upper receiver I lucked up on.
It's chrome lined. I made up my own jig to mount the FSB so that was no problem. It would be nice if they'd offer their barrels with the FSB mounted tho.
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/gm-m14-m16-a1-5-56mm-1-14-twist-20-barrel/

I concur. I have a commercial jig, and it's not too hard to pin an FSB with my Bridgeport, but I'd rather just buy one.

I agree Green Mountain is probably the best A1 barrel out there IMO, but it would be awesome if they offered them like Brownells does ready to go.  I see their 1-14 twist is out of stock at the moment, and it looks like the prices went up a few bucks weren't they like $165-168 just a couple months ago?  Not up that much though

And to CNCprogrammer, do you mind me asking how you made your jig up?  I sadly don't have access to a mill at the moment but have been trying to come up with an easy way of making one or possibly sourcing it out.  I know BRDE has the jig for $175, I just hate to pay that much for one at the moment since I like to rig my own stuff up.  What I thought of making is basically the same setup as his except without the barrel indexing part, just a straight bar that goes over a flat top upper that has a couple picatinny slots milled into it and a clamp on the side to attach to the upper receiver as to let the upper index it.  Then weld on or mill out a square section below the rail to fit into the FSB like on his jig.  I don't see it taking that much time to machine up and am kind of surprised someone with access to factory CNC equipment hasn't came out with a low cost jig for others to buy.  One for sub $100 would probably sell pretty well, and heck I bet these cheaper companies that outsource things to China could sell one for about $30-40.  

What I do now is just tap the lower hole in the FSB and put a set screw in it and line it up and drill out the taper holes.  This way isn't that hard but if you try sighting it in first I find the set screw drifts after a few rounds messing up the zero unless you dimple the barrel to start with.  And it can be hard to dimple the barrel in the correct location without a jig.  So far I have just sit the upper with carry handle and the FSB down on a perfectly flat spot and pressed down so that they are both even on the ground and then attached it that way.  I have only done a couple and it seems to line up pretty well.

I wouldn't buy a stripped barrel again, they end up sitting forever before I send them to get an FSB pinned.

Of course that's my own fault.

Personally I don't want to drill and pin a FSB etc. myself as I don't have a drill press. So I'd rather buy a barrel that's already had the FSB installed. Thoughe there's a decent smith near me I'm sure could do it, I'd rather just order one already installed and not have to .

IF I knew the GM barrel would group better than anything out there short of a match barrel then maybe I'd order one. As Well as the Faxon I installed on my son's carbine shoots XM193 I'd buy one of those if I could find a 20" with the FSB installed. I think AIM offers a few but last I looked it was 16" barrels. Didn't notice a 20" with the FSB.

If you really are wanting a barrel that will group the best and you're willing to pay a little more for it then the Green Mountain is a good choice.  I won't tell you it will for sure shoot better then the others on the market but they have a really great reputation for accuracy and I'd bet my money on their A1 barrels any day of the week over the other similar options available.  Nothing wrong with the others either, accuracy is typically always good in about any AR barrel just sometimes it is even a little better like with most of the GM barrels.  This is my opinion only based on 100s of reviews I have read over the years and some personal as well but others may disagree.  

If you do the work yourself the GM barrels aren't really anymore then other similar options like the Brownells ones but it sure is nice having it done already.  I bet ya Green Mountain would sell twice as many A1 barrels If they'd pin the FSB on them.  

TNTE sells the Green Mountain barrels along with others including Faxons with the FSB pinned already.  You just have to pay a good bit extra for it, they are $265 with FSB, handguards cap and barrel nut.  That's about $90-100 extra, it was $100 but I believe the GMs recently went up some so it's about $90 now.  Figure the FSB, handguard cap, and barrel nut can be had for about $35-40 that means your paying them about $50-60ish extra to pin it.  May be worth it for some people but I'd rather save the money and do it myself even though it would be nice to buy it already done.  To others that have lots of money floating around it makes sense though.  

I bet those 20" Faxon Gunners shoot really well too.  But they have a QPQ finish so will be shiny black on the outside and not match that well for a true replica build.  If you found a good deal on one though a little bit of a rattle can paint could probably take care of that.

Which is why I asked them years ago to offer those A1 barrels in 1:8 twist like they do the A2s.