Preferred replacement AR15 barrel

Take a ride to Green Mountain Rifle Barrell in Conway NH. Nice stuff at great prices.
I have a green mountain 9mm barrel and it is superbly accurate.

If you can spend the money I would suggest a Daniel Defence 1:7 barrel. I would also strongly recommend a mid length gas system regardless of which barrel you end up with.
 
i've built uppers with the following barrels and had excellent results:
-faxon
-odin works
-BCM
-white oak
-ballistic advantage

the cost of the barrel is irrelevant compared to costs of time and ammunition. buy the best possible. twist rate, rifling and finishing are all matter of preference. i personally prefer a 1:8 or 1:9, not 1:7 unless all you're shooting is Mk262. for me an 18 or 20" with rifle length gas is considerably more fun to shoot than a 16" mid length.
 
For your intended purpose, there's no need to spend extra $$$ for the 'cool' brand barrels. Keep in mind that many if not most of these companies are not making their own barrels and farm out the work to places like Ballistic Advantage. Ballistic Advantage barrels are excellent at a very good price. Also a +1 for a Green Mountain.
 
...i personally prefer a 1:8 or 1:9, not 1:7 unless all you're shooting is Mk262. for me an 18 or 20" with rifle length gas is considerably more fun to shoot than a 16" mid length.

1:8 is fine for Mk262. 1:7 is only needed for tracer rounds or other long bullets like 80gr single load match bullets. Although saying that, 1:8 can usually stabilize the 80gr bullets too. I also prefer 1:8, but went with 1:7.5 for my current service rifle barrel so I can ensure stabilization some of the longer bullets. 1:8 is harder to come by than 1:7 though.
 
Plinker for occasional mag dumps? Budget performance?

Green Mountain does a good job with making relatively inexpensive, surprisingly accurate chrome-lined barrels.

This is the barrel Haley Strategic used for the Jack carbine:

GM-M19 14.5" 5.56mm Midlength

Product Description
5.56 mm, 1:7 twist, 14.5", 4150 steel, M4 Replacement barrel for mid length gas system, chrome line bore and chamber, button rifled, stress relieved, air gauged, drilled gas port hole, assembled with M4 extension, muzzle thread 1/2 x 28.



This is supposed to be a good lightweight barrel:

FN America Cold Hammer Forged Lightweight AR-15 16'' NATO Barrel, Light Profile

Here is the Spike's Version:
Spike's Tactical 14.5'' FN Cold Hammer Forged 5.56 Barrel

I've also heard good things about Ballistic Advantage and Faxon Gunner barrels as well.

If you want to focus more on accuracy, Larue Stealth barrels are a good value at the $225 price point.

If you're not in a hurry you could wait for a sale.

5.56 Stealth Barrel - LaRue Tactical
 
Last edited:
So many good options. And like all internet questions of opinions, everyone has personal favorites.
I am a huge fan of White Oak Armament barrels. The MK18 SPR profile stainless with a .223 wylde chamber I have used in several builds, is amazing. Shoots too well for iron sights alone. (Yea I know, flame on). It’s just an amazing barrel. That said... it’s fairly heavy. But you do kind of want the weight out front like that.
Rainier Arms has their own line of excellent barrels as well, and I have yet to even hear a bad thing about them.
 
This will be a pure plinker. Practice, practice and more practice with different scenarios. Doesn't need to be sub MOA, but decent accuracy is something I'll look for. She will get hot with controlled mag dumps and sustained firing through mags. So something that can stand up to the beating is what I'll ultimately be looking for.
Sounds like FN CHF barrel is a great option for you. It’s essentially a machine gun barrel.
 
I've bought a lot of high end barrels but I've settled in on WOA for 556/223 hands down awesome barrels.
 
Love my Faxon firearms hybrid barrel. 14.5", .223 Wylde, Nitride finished, 1:8 twist, and it has a hybrid profile. It is Milspec profile for the first 10 inches, and then tapers into a pencil profile. Super light, super accurate, and no issues shooting hundreds and hundreds of rounds in a day. Heats up a lot less than I expected.
 
Buy every recommended barrel, then a corresponding upper to attach to it. It’s OK to have more uppers than lowers.



You won’t have that problem for long though....
 
You dont say

what caliber
what chamber
what length
what profile
what gas system
what finish (external)


You are building and/or have preferences for.

1:8 .223 wylde stainless carbine 16" heavy

1:9 5.56 nitride rifle 20" Govt/Socom

etc

Assume you are also replacing the bolt (or entire BCG) at the same time.

If you have preferences and/or restrictions (you are building 223/556) then that can influence choice of barrel manufacturer.

Odin works makes only stainless finished barrels for example

Also, given that the barrel and BCG are the real cost of the build, are you building from all new parts or planning to reuse parts? Not sure I would drop real money on a good barrel and BCG and then reuse anything else from a complete upper that was sufficiently used to wear out the barrel.
 
I have never understood the government profile. It is bass ackwards. Why put extra metal where you don’t want it and take metal away from where you do want it?
 
You dont say

what caliber
what chamber
what length
what profile
what gas system
what finish (external)


You are building and/or have preferences for.

1:8 .223 wylde stainless carbine 16" heavy

1:9 5.56 nitride rifle 20" Govt/Socom

Well, he’s asking for recommendations. And he did say the length, either 11.5 or 14.5 but he’s on the fence. He also gave other things of value, such as he will use it for plinking and it doesn’t have to be super accurate but he would like it to be able to handle heat. It’s easy to take those requirements and provide recommendations on a barrel, of varying profiles, gas lengths, and chambers.


Assume you are also replacing the bolt (or entire BCG) at the same time.
Why do you assume that? A bolt(and especially a bolt carrier) is likely to outlive a barrel by a considerable timeframe. Use headspace gauges, check the extractor condition, and call it a day.



Also, given that the barrel and BCG are the real cost of the build, are you building from all new parts or planning to reuse parts? Not sure I would drop real money on a good barrel and BCG and then reuse anything else from a complete upper that was sufficiently used to wear out the barrel.

He said he’s replacing a barrel that’s shot out, not doing a new build out of spare parts. The barrel is a wear item, the upper itself effectively isn’t. There’s no need to use a brand new upper receiver, or BCG, or charging handle when putting in a new barrel. I can’t believe I’m reading that.
 
INRE: New build vs. recycle spare parts.

For those who haven't been following how retarded-cheap AR parts have gotten--a new Toolcraft nickel boron bcg AND an Aero upper (with charging handle) can be had for $150 (and maybe free shipping).

Given what is afoot in politics, and coming up on an election, it makes almost no sense not to stack quality components as deep as you can.

These are the good old days. Anybody remember the $79 Chinese SKS's at gun shows? $100 crates of ammo? Yeah. This is that time. Parts are probably NEVER going to be as cheap or available as they are today, tonight, as in right now.
 
Last edited:
INRE: New build vs. recycle spare parts.

For those who haven't been following how retarded-cheap AR parts have gotten--a new Toolcraft nickel boron bcg AND an Aero upper (with charging handle) can be had for $150 (and maybe free shipping).

Given what is afoot in politics, and coming up on an election, it makes almost no sense not to stack quality components as deep as you can.

These are the good old days. Anybody remember the $79 Chinese SKS's at gun shows? $100 crates of ammo? Yeah. This is that time. Parts are probably NEVER going to be as cheap or available as they are today, tonight, as in right now.

Then buy parts as spares/backups. It doesn’t make sense to buy new parts to replace perfectly good parts. All you’re doing there is making two sets of used parts instead of shooting the used set and having a new set stored as backup.
 
I’m a big fan of DD and BCM cold hammer forged barrels. Ultimately it will depend on what your end goal is. For example, the two barrels I just mentioned are excellent “duty” or all around barrels, but a varmint hunter would most likely hate them because they just aren’t capable of the accuracy those guys need.
 
Here’s a range report for my new Black River Tactical barrel. Note that I was using a 4x ACOG at 100 yards. Due to the lighting, I had a little bit of difficulty maintaining a sharp sight picture. My numbers below may be off by up to 1/2 MOA due to my own inconsistencies.

The rifle was very soft shooting while standing, with the mid-length gas and an H2 buffer. I imagine the barrel profile handles heat similarly to the government M4 profile, but probably builds up heat faster than the SOCOM profile barrel. I don’t have quantifiable thermometer measurements to be certain though. And looking below, this barrel definitely likes the heavier bullets. If you want any sort of precision out of 55gr bullets, look at a 1/8 twist or slower.

Barrel: Black River Tactical Optimum 14" Multi-Purpose Carbine profile
Mid-Length Gas
6P 1/7 rifling
5.56 NATO chamber

55gr, Independence (~7 MOA)
8/10 shots: 6.72 MOA
9/10 shots: 6.92 MOA
10 shots: ? (Not on 7” target)

55gr, PPU M193 (~3.6 MOA)

8/10 shots: 3.36 MOA
9/10 shots: 4.61 MOA
10 shots: 4.98 MOA

55gr, Hornady .223 FMJ (~3.4 MOA)

8/10 shots: 3.36 MOA
9/10 shots: 3.75 MOA
10 shots: 3.75 MOA

69gr, IMI HPBT - Match 5.56 (~1.7 MOA)

8/10 shots:1.62 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.92 MOA
10 shots: 2.35 MOA

75gr, PPU HPBT - 223 (~2.3 MOA)

8/10 shots: 2.19 MOA
9/10 shots: 2.55 MOA
10 shots: 2.7 MOA

77gr, Magtech OTM - 5.56 (~1.2 MOA)

8/10 shots:1.14 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.36 MOA
10 shots: 1.36 MOA

77gr, Black Hills TMK - 5.56 (~1.5 MOA)

8/10 shots:1.39 MOA
9/10 shots: 1.48 MOA
10 shots: 1.94 MOA

Overall, I wanted better precision. It’s a general purpose carbine for me, and I am happy with the Magtech 77 OTM, Black Hills 77 TMK, and IMI 69gr HPBT, but was expecting no worse than about 2 MOA for everything but the cheapo Independence ammo. The rifle is nice to shoot though. It’s my first mid-length and the recoil impulse is very smooth compared to a carbine-length.

I’m hoping to get velocities and also test the Black Hills 50gr TSX this Friday. Also, the shape of the Hornady 55gr group was a little odd. I will likely redo this one to see if I get similar results. I’m also planning to test the Aguila 62gr FMJ at some point. Hopefully it shoots better than the 55 and I can use it for carbine course-work.
 
Last edited:
For your intended purpose, there's no need to spend extra $$$ for the 'cool' brand barrels. Keep in mind that many if not most of these companies are not making their own barrels and farm out the work to places like Ballistic Advantage. Ballistic Advantage barrels are excellent at a very good price. Also a +1 for a Green Mountain.
Do you know if Ballistic Advantage dimples the barrel for gas block. I have read they do and then some say they don't. Sent an email out to them but figured I would ask here. Thanks
 
If you need a wrench, let me know. Might be headed out your way next week and can drop it off.
 
Back
Top Bottom