16" AR barrel needed for best accuracy but general purpose

[jackal2001]

I thought I would start another thread for another project. So I have a 16" AR that I built a while ago back in the panic days. It has a 16" BCM BFH (CHF) barrel which gets mediocre accuracy at best. I wanted something at the time to build as a SHTF gun, which can take mag dumps if needed and keep on ticking.

Fast forward a few years and we're seeing more different barrel coatings, nitride/qpq, etc. I'm seeing more "match" style barrels now with nitride coatings that may serve my purpose better than the BCM barrel I have now.
Examples:
Criterion hybrid nitride
Faxon Match nitride
BA Premium QPQ/Nitride
others?

Just looking for experience with these or any other recommendations. These are all around the $300 range but price really isn't that important.

 

[MaximusDecimusMeidius]

Craddock using a bartlein blank would be my first choice if you can stretch your price range a little or a craddock using a criterion if you can catch a sale might be right around $300.

I've always had good luck with WOA but I really don't like their barrel profiles.

CLE is obviously great but well over $300 with a premium blank.

Never been overly impressed with criterion; never had one that shot better than any of my ballistic advantage barrels.

In the mid price range I've had good luck with Wilson combat and seekins barrels but honestly I'd rather go up to a craddock or down to a ballistic advantage than be in that middle price range these days.

 

[RyanScott]

I would feel bad using a Craddock barrel for a fire team rush or a peel.

 

[MaximusDecimusMeidius]

Ehhhh, I've never heard anyone use the term "mag dump" that has actually worn out or replaced a barrel.

But yeah, if you knew that it was going to be super hot on a regular basis, I'd probably go CHF chrome lined some of the Daniel Defense shoot decent or there are a lot of decent 4150 CMV nitride barrels like TriArc that are decently accurate and the chrome moly steel would probably take the heat a little better than stainless if you're super worried about it.

 

[Gatorshark]

I havent tested the newer barrel coatings, but I would wager you couldnt shoot out the barrel you have now for a shift scenario.
Ballistic Advantage is one of many that makes good "mag dump" specimens.

 

[opus56]

Take a look at Lothar Walther barrels.

 

[JS8588]

Take a look at Lothar Walther barrels.

Yep.

AR15 Mid w. Mid l. STAINLESS LiFe HD® Coated | .223Wylde polygon | MuD:1/2-28 UNEF - 2A | L:16.00"

Mid Weight | Mid Length gas | LiFe HD finish | NiB Extension

www.lothar-walther.com

 

[KYAggie]

I have a Faxon nitride match 6.5 barrel on a AR 10 build. I wish I could say what it will do with good match rounds, but life has gotten in the way of me ringing it out. It’s just under MOA with Barnes 127 LRX and Reloder 16 which tells me it should do much better with match bullets, but I haven’t had the chance to see. I just put together an AR15 upper with a Faxon pencil weight nitrided barrel and I shot it last week on a bench with a cheap primary arms red dot with Federal XM193 ammo. I was just function testing, setting the adjustable gas block, sighting in, etc, but got 3/4” groups at 50 yards with the red dot and not great ammo, which was surprising. If I scoped it and ran good ammo, I think it would be a decent shooter. I didn’t build it to be a tack driver, but it’s showing promise.

 

[jackal2001]

The barrel I have now, I know will withstand anything I throw at it, round count, heat, etc. I was curious if I can get better accuracy with added durability of a nitrided or a Criterion CL barrel. It seems like real world reports of Criterion are they are not that great on accuracy.

 

[jackal2001]

Yep.

AR15 Mid w. Mid l. STAINLESS LiFe HD® Coated | .223Wylde polygon | MuD:1/2-28 UNEF - 2A | L:16.00"

Mid Weight | Mid Length gas | LiFe HD finish | NiB Extension

www.lothar-walther.com

Doesn't look like you can order barrels directly from them from their website.

 

[JS8588]

Doesn't look like you can order barrels directly from them from their website.

"Request quote" adds it to your cart. No idea why it's labeled that way.

 

[jackal2001]

"Request quote" adds it to your cart. No idea why it's labeled that way.

No it doesn't.
Inquiry-Form
At the moment you cannot place an formal order directly of this website, please proceed with your Inquiry.

 

[JS8588]

No it doesn't.
Inquiry-Form
At the moment you cannot place an formal order directly of this website, please proceed with your Inquiry.

Yep, just pushed it a little further and saw that myself. Shoot them an email. They're normally pretty responsive.

 

[jackal2001]

I'm going to head out to the range shortly and take some garbage plinking ammo along with some BHBB 55g and 75g MHP to see what the BCM barrel can do at 50 and 100 yards with my 4x ACOG benched.

 

[jackal2001]

Here are some pics of the gun and targets at 50 and 100.
It is a 16" BCM BFH (CHF) barrel with a TA31H ACOG. These were the best targets at 100. There were others with non-match ammo that were well over 2-3" at 100.
Looks like my average with BHBB 55 and 75 is right around 1.4" with an ACOG. Not bad considering fixed 4x magnification and no crosshairs. Also how you see the rifle setup is how I shot if from a bench. No additional bags.

 

[PBWalsh]

I mean honestly, is your fantasy SHTF scenario REQUIRING a greater deal of accuracy than 1.5moa? Are you going to need the ability to perform headshots at 600 yards or engage a man sized target at 1k? Hits on a full size IPSC at 600 require a minimum of 3 moa.

I know on SH we all like to jerk around the holy sub-moa groups, but practically speaking, 1.5moa is going to be better than most folks will have the ability to shoot under field conditions, myself included.

If I were you (and I have nearly the same rifle build pending my ACOG being shipped from PA), I would be more than happy with that accuracy. Now, can you repeat that same group under duress?

Note I am not saying you’re out of shape, just trying to bring the thoughts back to reality.

Oh, I have enjoyed my Criterion Hybrid 16” .223W. I’m a pretty average shooter and it was around 1.2” at 100y if I remember correctly. Shot using a 10x SWFA, bipod, and rear bag.

 

[jackal2001]

I'm happy with those groups using match ammo. With red box federal AE223 I had 100Y groups at 3.1" and 3.7" and I'm sure XM193 will be way worse. I guess what I'm asking is what is a good average on standard military ammo? This is where the barrel loses out I believe. It seems to do very well at 50 yards using Wolf or IMI considering.

 

[Simonsza1]

Wilson combat has plenty to chose from and they all fall under the $300 mark. Might be a good option as well

 

[stilesg57]

I’ve had very good results with both Faxon and BA. Multiple barrels of multiple lengths/configurations from each. For higher volume I’d recommend BA because both my pencil and gunner profile Faxons heat up pretty quickly and start wandering more than the BAs when they do.

Haven’t tried the Criterion offerings but only heard good things.

For real survival/shtf my pick would be a Faxon pencil because it’s crazy light, and weight will be much more important than sustained fire accuracy in a real survival situation IMO. This guy weighs nothing for example (16 faxon pencil) and the first round that’s gonna matter the most is substantially better than minute of meat or minute of man:

A 5.5lb build is a lot easier to pull off when your barrel weighs 19oz.

 

[Molon]

I guess what I'm asking is what is a good average on standard military ammo? This is where the barrel loses out I believe.

There isn't an AR-15 barrel on the planet that is going to magically transform garbage M193 clone ammunition into a load that consistently groups well.
The accuracy specification for M193 cited in MIL-C-9963F is as follows:

The average of the mean radii of all targets of the sample cartridges, fired at 200 yards, shall not exceed 2.0 inches.

These averages are from 10-shot groups fired from machine rested, bolt-actioned, heavy test barrels. All things being equal (which of course they seldom are) this specification equates to a mean radius of 1 inch at 100 yards.

The following results were obtained using a Colt 6721 barrel (one the most accurate "off the shelf" chrome lined, NATO chambered AR-15 barrels that I've tested) firing M193 clones from my bench-rest set-up.

....

 

[dms416]

For the money, Daniel Defense's 16" middy CHF gov. profile is impressively accurate. It's also conservatively gassed with a 0.072" port.

To add to Molon's point. First AR was a 6731 (16" HBAR 1:9) Colt and it totally fucked me on AR accuracy standards for a long time. Used to shoot spent .223 brass off a post at 50+ yards with M193 and M855 and a 4x ACOG on the gun. Had many a frustrating days trying to feed that same crap into other guns and expect similar.

 

[jackal2001]

I'm in the ES range of the average. I'm seeing 2-4" groups; granted without a real scope. I just hear people complaining about BCM barrels. Paying high prices for garbage accuracy because of the name. Again, at the time, it seemed like the in thing to go with.
But ya, I think 3" average group size is the norm for xm193 in any gun.

 

[Molon]

I just hear people complaining about BCM barrels. Paying high prices for garbage accuracy because of the name.

Bravo Company 14.5” ELW

Shooting off-the-bench at a distance of 100 yards (using a high magnification scope), this barrel produced a 10-shot group that has an extreme spread of 0.946” with a mean radius of 0.33”.

....