Hey Guys,

 I remember at one time, Bushmaster was saying that Colt HBAR civilian barrels were not full diameter the whole length (not full under the handgrips) perhaps due to being compatible with an M203 mount.  My friend took his handguards off on his 1/7 Colt HBAR (it was built around 1993) and it was full diameter. Another friend took the ones of his 1/9 Comp HBAR (also built around 1993) and it was full diameter too.  Was all this talk of non full length heavy barrel Colts a bunch of nonsense for the civilian market "Sporter" guns or did some actually have heavy at the muzzle end only configurations.  IF so, is their an identifying code for them that distinguishes them from each other?

KK

COLT has a 20" HBAR version like you have seen, and they also have a 20" Government profile which is light under the hand guards like you have heard about... The Government profile barrels are what is sold to the military and law enforcement, the HBAR is what is sold to the civilians...

ETA: Civilians can still purchase the Government profile barrels through certain distributors though... Civilians just cant purchase them directly from COLT...