Well after a couple months shooting my 16S I really like it.

I was thinking about firing off the $200 to SBR it but wanted to find a shop that would do the barrel work and name/city engraving.

Thinking of going 12" or so.

Has anyone found a good source for this at a fair price...?

Troy at inrange did my ak and heqas reasonable. Nefarious arms did my scar but he doesnt engrave.

Hi Desert Dog out of NV does both and excellent work.

Just be prepared for a nearly total communications blackout between you and him as well as your item taking five times longer than what he quotes to come back to you.

Also don't bring up his name around the FN Forums.

That bad....?

Is the work solid..?

What kind of turn around could I expect..?

I currently have a PS90 barrel with him. I sent it to him in early June and was quoted a 3 week turnaround... I still don't have my barrel. I've emailed him twice asking for an update and he's answered neither.

From what I've read on FN Forums he has a rep for quoting weeks but taking months, never answering emails and rarely answering his phone. There were a handful people very pissed at him for cutting crooked threads on their barrels but most people report good quality work... you just have to be able to live with sending your barrel into a black hole for a few months.

I had a guy I was referred to on here cut my scar 16 barrel down a while back, he did excellent work and turned it around in less than 2 weeks. His name escapes me though. I then had my scar engraved locally, they did it same day and I just put some alumablack on it when I got home.

EDIT: The guy who did my scar barrel was Marvin Pitts, aka Nefarious Arms. He is highly recommended by me.

Cool... Thanks for the reply

Any other options out there..?

You won't find the one stop shop you seek. Send to Orion for the engraving, then to Nefarious for the cut down.

Avoid HDD. Way too many complaints.

+1 for Marvin. Very fast work. You can send the barrel to him while your form 1 is near approval and then send your receiver to Orion or Indent for the engraving. Marvin did my Scar in about 3 weeks and the work was great. Indent did the engraving and it took about 3 weeks too.

ADCO

I wouldn't hesitate to send ADCO almost any barrel to cut and rethread, but the SCAR barrels going this short require changing out the gas control screw (you don't drill out a SCAR gas port like an AR) and this requires some SCAR experience in particular.

Maybe Steve has done this work before, I don't know, but Marvin has a ton of experience

The SCAR's gas port is a removable, changeable screw with a hole in it. To change your gas port size you change the screw.

Marvin just removes the stock gas port plug for you to replace it with a factory FN sized port screw. Unless he started providing the new parts that is...

Edit: and this is a "tuning" process as well... most folks purchase several sized screws and try them to find the one best tuned for their rifle. There is no "default use this and it works automatically" size.

Since the Scar upper is the numbered part wouldn't I have to send the upper to Orion for engraving..?

Yes. They are saying you could send the barrel by itself to the barrel guy and the upper to the engraving guy so both are getting done at the same time

No. It's a common misconception that the serialized part must be engraved. Per the ATF, you must mark the weapon in a conspicuous place to include "receiver, barrel, or frame" (paraphrasing, you can easily find the supporting documentation online). On an AR, for example, one could engrave the upper receiver and be acting legally.

Most people engrave the lower so that they can run multiple NFA uppers on it. Otherwise, each upper would have to be engraved.

I will be engraving my SCAR polymer lower. That way, should I ever need to return it to Title I status, it's a $125 part that has my info rather than an unobtanium "upper" receiver.

If one never plans to get rid of the SCAR--I certainly don't plan to--it's a nonissue. But I prefer to preserve the option value associated with engraving a low-dollar item.

Back to the OP, Marvin is the go-to guy for barrels. I'm patiently editing for factory CQC barrels since they should require no additional tuning and, if you look closely, cut-downs are a tad longer than factory 10" guns. I also echo previous posters who suggest sending the barrel and part to be engraved to separate shops.