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Posted: 7/5/2016 10:28:27 AM EDT
| Can someone recommend a 16 inch hammer-forged 556 barrel, other than bcm or colt? How is fn for overall quality and accuracy? I have bcm, but am looking for better accuracy. Thanks. |
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Doesn't Criterion make a CL 16"? It's not hammer forged. Otherwise, that would be my suggestion as well. OP, why is hammer forging one of your criteria? If you really want to stick to a hammer forged barrel, you are really limiting yourself to only a few manufacturers (there are only a handful of hammer forging machines in the country). Daniel Defense hakes a good barrel Centurion Arms, Rainier Arms (Mountain Series), and Spikes Tactical all have decent hammer forged barrel (all from the same factory, I would wager, but that doesn't say anything about the specs on each one) |
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Quoted:
It's not hammer forged. Otherwise, that would be my suggestion as well. OP, why is hammer forging one of your criteria? If you really want to stick to a hammer forged barrel, you are really limiting yourself to only a few manufacturers (there are only a handful of hammer forging machines in the country). Daniel Defense hakes a good barrel Centurion Arms, Rainier Arms (Mountain Series), and Spikes Tactical all have decent hammer forged barrel (all from the same factory, I would wager, but that doesn't say anything about the specs on each one) Quoted:
Quoted:
Doesn't Criterion make a CL 16"? It's not hammer forged. Otherwise, that would be my suggestion as well. OP, why is hammer forging one of your criteria? If you really want to stick to a hammer forged barrel, you are really limiting yourself to only a few manufacturers (there are only a handful of hammer forging machines in the country). Daniel Defense hakes a good barrel Centurion Arms, Rainier Arms (Mountain Series), and Spikes Tactical all have decent hammer forged barrel (all from the same factory, I would wager, but that doesn't say anything about the specs on each one) Seeking purported durability of hammer-forged is my reason, valid or not. |
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I'm throwing the Rainier Arms mountain series FN made CHF barrel in here too. It's been a really good barrel and the accuracy has been very impressive. Thanks, I was wondering about those. The only review suggested poor finish leading to rust, so I was hesitant about them. Never bought anything from rainier, but I know they have an excellent reputation. |
| I have the 16" Rainier (FN) CHF Mountain barrel and it's remarkable. I also have DD CHF LW and it's fine as well but pretty much all the CHF barrels to market are excellent. It seems as though FN is the largest supplier as they cover PSA, RA, Noveske, Spikes, and their own FN marked series. |
Accuracy Evaluation of a Noveske 16” N4 Light Barrel
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 . . . 
I conducted an accuracy (technically, precision) evaluation of the Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel following my usual protocol. This accuracy evaluation used statistically significant shot-group sizes and every single shot in a fired group was included in the measurements. There was absolutely no use of any group reduction techniques (e.g. fliers, target movement, Butterfly Shots). The shooting set-up will be described in detail below. As many of the significant variables as was practicable were controlled for. Pictures of shot-groups are posted for documentation. All shooting was conducted from a concrete bench-rest from a distance of 100 yards (confirmed with a laser rangefinder.) The Noveske 16” N4 Light barrel used in this evaluation was free-floated during testing using a Larue Tactical free-float railed handguard. The free-float handguard of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifle rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag. Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the objective-bell of the scope. Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe. The set-up was very similar to that pictured below. 
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”. The smallest 10-shot group . . . 
The 80-shot composite group . . . 
….. |
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Colt and KAC aren't the only ones that make accurate chrome lined barrels. This is a FN made Spikes Optimum profile 16". Just under 1 MOA with 50 gr AE Varmint. <a href="http://s826.photobucket.com/user/DirtyMoe21/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160619_123632_zpsongridhq.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz182/DirtyMoe21/Mobile%20Uploads/20160619_123632_zpsongridhq.jpg</a> That's awesome. I've always liked those barrels but I've never owned one. I built an upper for a guy after Sandy Hook with one and he was impressed with it too. |
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Quoted:
That's awesome. I've always liked those barrels but I've never owned one. I built an upper for a guy after Sandy Hook with one and he was impressed with it too. Quoted:
Quoted:
Colt and KAC aren't the only ones that make accurate chrome lined barrels. This is a FN made Spikes Optimum profile 16". Just under 1 MOA with 50 gr AE Varmint. <a href="http://s826.photobucket.com/user/DirtyMoe21/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160619_123632_zpsongridhq.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz182/DirtyMoe21/Mobile%20Uploads/20160619_123632_zpsongridhq.jpg</a> That's awesome. I've always liked those barrels but I've never owned one. I built an upper for a guy after Sandy Hook with one and he was impressed with it too. Believe me I was surprised lol. It seems to shoot everything well so I can't complain. Have two of them and they both seem to shoot just the same. |
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