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Posted: 9/30/2016 10:04:38 PM EDT
| So I'm doing a 20" build. The original barrel I wanted to use is out of stock with no time frame, if any, when it will be back. So I look around and I get my hands on an FNMI barrel and flat top FN upper. The upper is brand new but stripped. I bought and upper parts kit from RRA to finish it. The barrel is marked "FNMI MP 5.56 NATO 1/7" and is definitely used by wear on the exterior. It does not have an F marked FSB, so I'm guessing this came off an M16A2, not an A4. Inside it has a shiny bore and excellent rifling. I'm just kind of hung up on how beat up the exterior is. Everything else on this build is new, but this barrel is used and not aesthetically perfect. I thought that since I couldn't get the barrel I originally wanted, an FN barreled upper would be neat to have instead. I'm not against guns having beauty marks, wear, or signs of use. However, I want to be the one that puts them there. I want to tell myself just get over it, but I have this nagging voice in my head saying that if I'm not happy now in the build process, I won't be happy with it in the end and thus it'll always be "flawed" in my own head. Am I being overly sensitive towards the appearance of the barrel>? |
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Pics for reference...
Ding in the side, half the size of a pinhead, but still took some force to cause. 
Here you can even see the coating on the sling loop has been worn completely away, plus overall finish wear. 
More finish wear. Also light surface rust on threads. 
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| Consider trading it with someone who wants to build a clone. I know a few of those guys would start drooling at the possibility of getting a surplus piece. We're talking about a crowd that will replace a perfectly good M14 stock with one that is beat to $#!% but has unit marking or spray painted rack numbers on it. |
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Quoted:
That's patina. Throw it together and see how it shoots. What he said. Build it, shoot it, and move on to the next. It will be great. Don't spend a lot of time worrying about what if and what if nots. These are like tinker toys and it works really well to think about it that way. The FN is a great barrel and if the rifling, crown and chamber are good it should shoot fine. If you don't like it I will take it off your hands. |
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Quoted:
So I'm doing a 20" build. The original barrel I wanted to use is out of stock with no time frame, if any, when it will be back. So I look around and I get my hands on an FNMI barrel and flat top FN upper. The upper is brand new but stripped. I bought and upper parts kit from RRA to finish it. The barrel is marked "FNMI MP 5.56 NATO 1/7" and is definitely used by wear on the exterior. It does not have an F marked FSB, so I'm guessing this came off an M16A2, not an A4. Inside it has a shiny bore and excellent rifling. I'm just kind of hung up on how beat up the exterior is. Everything else on this build is new, but this barrel is used and not aesthetically perfect. I thought that since I couldn't get the barrel I originally wanted, an FN barreled upper would be neat to have instead. I'm not against guns having beauty marks, wear, or signs of use. However, I want to be the one that puts them there. I want to tell myself just get over it, but I have this nagging voice in my head saying that if I'm not happy now in the build process, I won't be happy with it in the end and thus it'll always be "flawed" in my own head. Am I being overly sensitive towards the appearance of the barrel>? Yes Sally. Indeed you are being overly sensitive. |
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