I was cleaning my Bushy AR yesterday and noticed that on the barrel it's stamped with this: 5.56 H BAR. The first I know is the round, but what does the H BAR mean? I was thinking it meant heav barrel? The barrel is pretty meaty on this rifle. It's the 16" XM15 style with A3 upper.



Thanks,
Andy

HBAR - Hooray!  Bought Another Rifle!



It also stands for Heavy Barrel.[;)]

Thanks shaggy. Are these HBAR barrel good stuff? Other than being beefy they seem really nice. Are there other pros about them?

Thanks,
Andy

People have widely differing views on the HBAR.  Personally, I like them. The biggest complaint I've heard is that they're too heavy.  I don't really mind the weight though.  There's also a debate about whether they're better for full auto or rapid fire.  The theory goes, more metal in the HBAR means longer to heat up, but it also means longer to cool.  I do a lot of shooting in full auto and I haven't really noticed a huge difference there.

Not to nit-pick, but technically the "HBAR" stands for:

Heavy Barrel Automatic Rifle

Point for partial correctness.

HBAR is 'Heavy BARrel' - period.

In Latin it means "Needlessly Heavy".

HBAR barrels are made that way because its cheaper - not because its better.  It saves machining time.  My turned down HBAR (A2 profile) shoots just as well as a thin barrel as it did as an HBAR - but its 1 pound lighter and balances a heck of a lot better.

While all Match barrels are HBAR profile (for a variety of reasons) - just because a barrel is an HBAR that doesn't mean its a 'Match' barrel not that it has superior accuraccy.

Thanks fellas!!!!!

It means your rifle is a fat ass pig of a gun.

Why do some people tend to think all ARs are "Automatic Rifle"?