Anyone have experience with both?

I'm putting together a 14.5 - 16" recce configuration that I plan to run with a SF SOCOM suppressor. I already have a Colt SOCOM laying around that I considered mounting.

Just wondering if the 16" Recon will be worth the extra wait (back order), and actual physical weight.

Goals are realistic, 4-600yds max with an LPVO.

I have a Gen 3 Afghan Noveske rifle (14.5 heavy stainless barrel) that is an absolute laser beam. Surefire socom can is used for the suppressor and a razor gen 2-e 1-6 lpvo.

My block 2 clones are built using Colt socom barrels too. same socom suppressors.

The only time I think you will notice a difference is from the bench if your shooting for groups. Side by side the Noveske is a more accurate gun. The colt socom is accurate too, but I think it's kind of apples to oranges to compare them. The colt is a heavy use barrel, the noveske stainless isn't (at least to me it isn't)

If your shooing M193 you won't notice, if your shooting 69/77 grainers then it becomes obvious.

Thanks for the input. Done any running around or moving through brush with the Afghan? I ask because I forgot to mention that I may be using this setup for hogs sometime in the near future with 69 - 77grn OTM (whatever I'll be able to get my hands on). Besides that, regular diet will be M193.

Not really, just walks in the woods or shooting at steel out in the desert. The 14.5 is pinned/welded with a surefire closed tine warcomp to hit the bare minimum of 16'' OAL (regular closed tine is too short). It's a heavy gun with the LPVO, heavy stainless barrel, and the suppressor hanging off of the front of it.

I don't think there is a wrong answer here, both are exceptional barrels.

By the way Midway has 16 inch Recon barrels with a matched/headspaced bolt for $529. The gas block comes pinned to the barrel already and it has the gas tube with it. Link

They also have Afghan barrels but they are the steel barrels and come with the FSP.

Noveske 16" Recon Barrel Accuracy




















The 10-shot group pictured below was fired from my bench-rest set-up at a distance of 100 yards using a match-grade hand-load topped with the Sierra 55 grain BlitzKing (the same load used with my Colt SOCOM barrel testing).  The group has an extreme spread of 0.776".







.....






Colt M4A1 SOCOM Barrel Accuracy:  Another Look





In 2010, I posted one of the first publicly available, in-depth accuracy evaluations of a Colt M4A1 SOCOM barrel.  At that time, the Colt SOCOM barrel was relatively new to the civilian market.  Many people, including myself, were pleasantly surprised by the level of accuracy/precision that I obtained with the SOCOM barrel; particularly since it is a chrome-lined, NATO chambered “military-grade” barrel.  Since that time, the Colt M4A1 SOCOM barrel has developed a significant appreciation amongst AR-15 enthusiasts.


The M4A1 SOCOM barrel








More recently, I assembled another upper receiver group based on the Colt M4A1 SOCOM barrel.  This new build features a Colt cage-code marked M4 upper receiver, a Colt “C” marked bolt carrier group and a 13.5” Geissele MK14 M-LOK free-float hand-guard.






A genuine Colt M4A1 SOCOM barrel is 14.5” long and has a medium contour; it is not an HBAR.  The barrel has a 5.56mm NATO chamber and a 1:7” twist.  

Colt SOCOM barrel





Colt HBAR






A genuine SOCOM barrel has the typical M4 circumferential cut-out located approximately 1.4” forward of the gas block for the attachment of an M203 grenade launcher, as well as rectangular shaped cut-outs underneath the hand-guards on the port and starboard sides of the barrel, located approximately 1.4” aft of the gas block, for the same reason.  The gas port on a genuine SOCOM barrel has a diameter of 0.062” and the barrel employs a carbine-length gas system.


The SOCOM barrel has a stripped weight of 1 pound, 14 ounces.  That is only 2 ounces heavier than the ubiquitous 16” government profile barrel found on the Colt 6920.  

Colt SOCOM barrel





Colt 6920 barrel





The stripped weight of the SOCOM barrel is 5 ounces heavier than the stripped weight of the standard Colt 14.5” M4 barrel. The pic below shows the difference between the standard M4 barrel and the SOCOM barrel.  From the gas block journal forward, the two barrels are identical


SOCOM barrel on top, standard barrel on bottom





The next pic is a close-up comparing the two barrels in the area between the chamber and the gas block journal, showing you where the extra weight is added.







The date-code on my original SOCOM barrel was “11/03” and the date-code on my newer SOCOM barrel is “02/18”










My original SOCOM barrel had an “F-marked” front sight base.  Colt no longer stamps an “F” on their front sight bases, but their newer front sight bases maintain the length of 1.98” from the top of the barrel to the shelf for the front sight post.











My original SOCOM barrel was stamped:

“C  MP 5.56  NATO 1/7”



The newer SOCOM barrel is stamped with Colt’s cage code.

“13629  M P  5.56 NATO 1/7”











Both of these SOCOM barrels have the “O” stamp near the chamber portion of the barrel. Naturally, the M4A1 SOCOM barrel has M4 feed ramps.










Accuracy Conmparison


In 2010, my original SOCOM barrel with the “11/03” date-code produced a 10-shot group fired from a distance of 100 yards that had an extreme spread of 0.90”.  That group was fired from my bench-rest set-up using match-grade hand-loads and a high magnification scope.







My newer SOCOM barrel with the “02/18” date-code produced a 10-shot group fired from a distance of 100 yards that had an extreme spread of 0.93”.  This group was fired off of sand-bags using match-grade hand-loads and a high magnification scope.






. . . .

You should have picked up one of the Wilson Combat 1:7 recon tactical barrels when they had them.

Easily a .75 MOA gun with match ammo or handloads.

The  Chrome Lined Carbon Steel versions were a limited production overrun for some government contract.
The 416R are also sadly no longer made and I was the one who purchased the very last one that Wilson sold. It was left over form one of their Paul Howe rifles.

When thinking about the the socom vs SS, it's about which will be more accurate vs what will last longer.
And I am talking about 10s of thousands of rounds.
The stainless will be more accurate.
The hard chrome lining will not wear as fast.

The noveske does not have a standard 5.56 chamber. It has what is called a noveske match mod0 chamber, that is something to consider.

It also has 5R rifling. Many that have shot precisely bolt guns know about this as Remington made it famous with their M24 SWS

The Wilsons have a 6R.

Both you have mentioned are good barrels.  

I see, well that's not to far from what my regular use will be. And I'm surprised midway had anything in stock let alone Noveske barrels!

Thanks for gracing this thread with your input Molon. My initial research when comparing weights actually led me to one of your threads.

AR-15 Stripped Barrel Weights

Excellent info as always. The barrel in question is a mil issue SOCOM. Not as old as yours but pretty close.

Attached File


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Attached File


I think I'm just going to go ahead and put this thing to use. Your data driven accuracy test of the past years have always been the go to for me though. Glad to see you've put  a Recon through the paces.

If Socom is an option, it's usually a good bet. I have four and have had zero complaints with them.

Ha, I'm debating picking up another since they've become so available lately. I have 3 as of now

I've had both the Colt Socom barrel (14.5"/carbine gas) and Noveske N4 chrome lined barrel (16"/Midlength gas). The Noveske is significantly more accurate. I got rid of the Colt barrel and still have the Noveske in my recce build. That said, with the cost and availability of the Noveske barrels these days, I don't know that I would buy one today? Its a good barrel but I'm not sure its a $400+ barrel?

Noveske 16” N4 Barrel Accuracy Evaluation








I’ve posted short reviews of Noveske N4 Light barrels in the past, so for this article we’re going to take a more in-depth look at the Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel. For starters, Noveske’s nomenclature of “Light” for this barrel is somewhat misleading/confusing. When most shooters hear the term “light- weight” in regard to AR-15 barrels, they think of the “pencil” barrel profile of the original Colt M16/M16A1 and also the same light-weight profile of the Colt 16” carbine barrel found on the Colt 6520 and 6720. However, this is not the profile of the Noveske N4 Light barrel.




Colt M16/M16A1 barrel . . .






Colt 6520 16” light-weight barrel . . .






The stripped-weight (no flash hider, no front sight base/gas block, just the barrel and barrel extension) of the Colt 16” light-weight barrel is 1 pound, 6 ounces. The stripped-weight of the Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel is 1 pound, 12 ounces; which is the same stripped-weight of the Colt 16” government profile barrel found on the ubiquitous Colt 6920.


Colt 6920 government profile barrel . . .






Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel . . .






As you can see in the pics above, for the N4 Light barrel, Noveske has done away with the next-to-useless M203 (grenade launcher) cut-out found on the Colt government profile barrel. The N4 profile also has a more evenly distributed barrel diameter (and thus weight) fore and aft of the gas block journal, which moves the center of gravity of the barrel farther aft compared to a government profile barrel. This all makes for a superbly handling 16” barrel.

The reason that Noveske uses the “Light” nomenclature for their N4 barrels is simply because the N4 barrels are lighter than Noveske’s original medium contour stainless steel barrels. For comparison, the Noveske 16” medium contour Recon barrel has a stripped-weight of 2 pounds, 2 ounces and as mentioned above, the 16” N4 Light barrel has a stripped-weight of 1 pound, 12 ounces.


The Noveske 16” Recon barrel . . .







The Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel is a cold hammer forged barrel. It has a mid-length gas system, “M4” feed-ramps and a chrome-lined chamber and bore. The barrel has a 5.56mm NATO chamber and a 1:7” twist and has been high-pressure/magnetic particle tested; as the barrel stamp indicates. Contrary to erroneous Internet reports, the N4 barrel does not have polygonal rifling.


The barrel stamp . . .







The mid-length gas system . . .







For this evaluation, I used one of my standard match-grade hand-loads topped with Sierra 55 grain BlitzKings. When fired from my Krieger barreled AR-15s, this load has produced ½ MOA 10-shot groups at 100 yards.









Three, 10-shot groups were fired in a row from the Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel from a distance of 100 yards with the resulting extreme spreads:

1.29”
1.18”
1.31”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 1.26”. The three, 10-shot groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius of the 30-shot composite group was 0.37”.

After firing the above three groups, I fired an additional five, 10-shot groups in a row for a total of eight, 10-shot groups fired in a row. The average extreme spread for all eight of the 10-shot groups was 1.24”. I over-layed all eight of the 10-shot groups on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form an 80-shot composite group. The mean radius for the 80-shot composite group was 0.39”.





....





Noveske 14.5” CHF Barrel Accuracy






The 14.5” N4 barrel was tested in the same manner as described above. Three 10-shot groups fired from 100 yards using match grade hand-loads had extreme spreads of:

1.029”
1.360”
1.275”

for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 1.22”. As above, I over-layed the three 10-shot groups on each other using RSI Shooting lab to form a 30-shot composite group. The mean radius for that composite group was 0.37”.



...

Colt socom barrel can easily get you to your goal ranges. I have a socom barreled upper with G mk16 rail, Kahles k16i in G 2.04 mount, and Aimpoint T1 in Arisaka offset mount. It’s a great all purpose 0-400 rifle.

Great results with the N4, To be honest I expected a better average for some reason. I'd definitely choose the recon over the N4 if I was going the Noveske route, unless wait was more of a priority.



Sounds pretty similar to the route I'm taking, the scout/recce do all rifle. I'm planning to run a 1x6 and offset RMR.

I have a lot of experience with Noveske barrels in the 14.5 to 16 range. The 14.5 Afghan is on my “if I could only have one rifle” setup. I’ve only relatively recently built some rifles with the 14.5 Colt barrels.

Both will easily achieve the goal you’re after. However, the Noveske (especially the stainless versions), will be on a whole different level. If weight is a factor then I wouldn’t hesitate to look into their other barrel profiles and materials. Even the chrome lined stuff will out shoot the Colt, IME.

Since you already have the Colt you might as well mount that and give it a test run. If it meets your needs then you’re set. If you’re left wanting then the Noveske is definitely a step up.