I've been thinking about the Faxon gunner profile in .223 wylde, 18" with rifle length gas, in 1/8, when it's in stock again, as the basis for my first build.

Faxon Match Series 18" Gunner, .223 Wylde, Rifle-Length, 416R, Nitride, 5R, Nickel Teflon Extension AR-15 Barrel

Crafted from 416-R stainless steel, this .223 Wylde 18 inch barrel is the pinnacle of quality. We manufacture and particle test all of our barrels in house.

faxonfirearms.com

 

In Stock Now

Faxon Match Series Firearms 18" GUNNER .223 Wylde Rifle-Length 416-R Stainless Nitride / Melonite 5R Nickel Teflon Extension Barrel

This” GUNNER Nitride / Melonite barrel from Faxon Firearms is chambered in with 1-8 twist rate. Buy with confidence, all barrels are backed by our satisfaction and low price guarantee. Get it now!

ar15discounts.com

 

I came up through the ranks with the M16A1, and learned to enjoy shooting them. The Army's barrels were made by numerous companies, including Colt. I also have a "lightweight" carbine barrel made by Bushmaster, back in the day (long before Remington bought them). It makes up a nice, easy to carry varmint/predator rifle.

 

I've been considering switching over to pencil barrels for my ARs.

 

I have a 1990’s Colt 6551 and ring gongs at 300-400 yards with M193, so my experience is positive. It’s not a tack driver but certainly acceptable accuracy. I only reload pistol calibers but think accuracy would probably improve with custom loads.

 

Nothing wrong with them per se, they just heat up faster. The old M16A1s we used in the army had them and they worked fine, and those rifles were basically abused. I personally prefer a somewhat heavier contour barrel on my personal rifles.

 

Thin barrels are fine as long as twist matches the correct pill. You're not shooting full auto, are you? Then save some weight and have fun.

 

I have “pencil” barrel rifles from BCM and Daniel Defense. I love pencil barrel rifles and think they are great for civilian self defense/home defense use. Light, handy, and fast.

 

One of the best. Colt 6720R. Limited run rifle

 

+1 on the 6720R. However, I rolled my own with m-lok instead of quad rail, lightweight BCG, Rodgers SuperStock, Elftmann trigger, Magpul K2+ grip. Preferred walk-around carbine. Pencil barrel saves considerable weight over M4 or HBAR profiles.

 

Had a 83 colt with a pencil barrel. Damn fine rifle that I sold in 2004 for a lot of cash money...

 

That is my favorite kind of money

 

If given a choice, I always go with pencil barrel. I’m not shooting sustained full auto. I’m not bump firing. Nor do I shoot John Wick style at matches. For my self defense and goofing around needs, pencil barrels are more than fine.

 

Nothing I enjoy shooting more than pencil barrel M16-A1s. Including the A1 rifle stock and triangle guards. No short-barrel collapsible combination feels as ergonomic. And 20" A2 uppers handle like pigs on a shovel. Like a Perazzi compared to a short-barrelled Mossberg then to a K-80 trap, respectively.

And yes, the happy switch gets used. Three 30 rd dumps then a break.

 

Mil Spec lower with Hogue over-molded grip. I love that grip so much. Aero Precision upper without a forward assist, a BCG from Aero, 16" Faxon pencil barrel, Faxon lightweight gas block, an 11oz aluminum handguard from a local gun shop that makes AR components.

 

Pencil or a enhanced light weight contour .
This is just my take on it.
Pencil for any general use rifle enhanced lightweight contour if you are planning on mounting a suppressor . If you doing a precision style rifle then its worth looking at a heavier contour.

 

I shot only M16A1s during my time in the Army. While my M16 in Basic was a bit noisy and loose, my other issued rifles were relatively tight, as were the shot groups I made during subsequent range qualifications. Actually, I thought the A1 was more accurate than I was. Full auto, while quite fun when emptying the magazine, was lacking on accuracy; lots of muzzle rise.

That being said, I genuinely liked the A1. Hated having to give it back when I left the Army.

 

Why do or would you love them?

Lot's of downsides I see, with the only upsides are cost, sexiness, and weight savings.

 

Having been issued both the M16A1 and M16A2 I have to say I like the A1 for carrying in the field, but the A2 is superior for precision shooting.

Don't get me wrong, a M16A1 (or AR-15 SP1) can shoot pretty good on 200 and 300 yard KD course. 500 yards is stretching things and 600 yards is a wash.

The A2 profile with a heavier muzzle end and more easily adjusted rear sight just makes things a bit easier IMO.

 

So far 24 votes say yes while not a single no vote..

 

Makes me want to vote no.

Not sure most even know what a pencil barrel is. For me, too thin for accuracy with heavier bullets. With 55s in a light build,. Okay I guess, but in today's technology, I'd probably go carbon wrapped for a low weight build.

 

Wish they'd make another run of 6720s. Would be all over it. Or a FN equivalent.

 

I was lucky enough to buy a complete A1 upper from an outfit called Gunny’s Surplus, or a name close to that in 2008ish. Built up a Vulcan lower…(I know) in a A1 configuration, still runs and shoots better than I can now.

I bought the Vulcan lower when I was working overseas, it was a panic buy when Obama was trying to ban AR’s. I wanted a boot camp rifle….

 

I preferred an M16 A1 with a three prong flash suppressor. Thought I would prefer a CAR 15 until I fired a short burst with one. Too loud and too much concussion. Fired outdoors from the wide open spaces of a firebase. “Say again, over.”.

 

Aren’t most of what we these days call a heavy barrel only thicher out beyond the gas block and thin under the hand guards? I’ve seen some makers that make a truly heavy barrel that is thicker under the hand guard, but you have to search those out. It seems like with a heavy barrel you have heavier weight where you don’t want it, because once your barrel gets hot the heavier weight at the end will pull your barrel down if it flexes. I have noticed that Bravo Company makes an enhanced lightweight barrel that has a bit more reinforcement just forward of the chamber and then tapers into a thin barrel for the whole rest of the way.

 

That sounds basically like Faxon's gunner profile. Government profile out to the gas block, then pencil from the gas block to the muzzle. Seems like a good idea to me.

 

I recently purchased a slightly used Aero Precision AR with a Balistics Advantage 16", midlength gas, pencil barrel.

I'm looking forward to seeing how accurate it is compared to my government contour barreled rifles.

 

Yes I like my pencil barrel. Very light and handy.

 

I love pencil barrels so much that only one of my ARs does not sport one, and that is only because ArmaLite only offers 20" barrels for the AR-10 in the A2 profile. I do not find the weight to make that much of a difference in recoil, but it does make a big difference in comfort of carrying, and how easily and naturally they point and swing. I prefer the full-length 20" (or 21" in the case of the Dutch AR-10 I owned) in ARs, and find that their cycle is so smooth, rather like a modest 230gr load out of my Glock 37. Even my 16" barrels have rifle receiver extensions and fixed stocks, and all of them are midlengths, and even then, I vastly prefer that gentle and long push that the cycling action gives me on the 20", versus the short and sharp rap (not any heavier, just faster and more abrupt) of the 16" midlengths.

I have shot plenty of heavy barrel ARs (Colt LMG, AR-15A2 HBAR, etc.), but vastly preferred the large collection of classic and modern lightweight barrel models I have been lucky enough to shoot. These include:

• 1958 Cuban-contract ArmaLite AR-10, semi and full-auto
• Early Colt-ArmaLite AR-15s: 601, 603, and 604.
• Colt SP1 (with an M16-profile BCG, Geissele SSA-E FCG, a narrower rear aperture, and narrower front post it is one of the favorites of my collection)
• Every 5.56/.223 AR I own has a Criterion chrome-lined 1:8" twist pencil-contour barrel, either in 20" for the rifles and 16" for the midlenghts

The one time I actually did prefer a heavier barrel option was comparing the Cuban and Sudanese/Guatemalan contract AR-10s to the later Portuguese model. The former 2 have barrels that start out as narrow in profile as a SCAR-17, but that were then fluted to make them even lighter. Those rifles, even in semi with the gas turned way down (the Dutch-produced AR-10s had adjustable gas), were downright painful to shoot in a T-shirt, and even a leather jacket. The Portuguese, which is a pound and a half heavier, fitted with what could at most be called a medium-contour, unfluted barrel by today's standards, came in at 8.5lbs, and was far more comfortable to shoot. Some of this certainly owed, though, to the Portuguese rifle's rubber buttpad, while the Cuban and Sudanese sported a steel, Gewehr 98esque buttplate.