AR Sponsor
Posted: 3/13/2011 6:09:08 AM EDT
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A quick question from those of you who know.
I ordered a del-ton mid length rifle kit a few days ago. I ordered it with a hbar and am now second guessing my decision. I am not even sure if I can get them to change the order or not . But I know that the wait is 3 to 4 weeks at the moment. I am sure they have not started the build yet. Do you think I should go to the lightweight barrel? Riverrat |
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Ive never heard of anyone who gets a lightweight barrel regretting it, in fact usually they recommend it after having used one.
Heavy barrels are good for benchrest shooters, full automatic shooters. A heavy barrel heats up slower, but takes less time to cool off. A light weight barrel heats up faster but cools off faster. If your going to be doing any amount of offhand shooting, carrying your rifle from point a to point b, drills, and actual movement... I would get a lightweight profile or a government profile. |
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I just recently switched from a 16" HBAR to a 16" lightweight barrel.
Caveats: I don't get to shoot too often - probably get out 4X year lately, and when I do go out it's typically to a rifle range where I'm shooting from a bench out to 100 yds, or in a field somewhere just plinking at cans and such at 25-100 yds. I don't shoot competitions, I don't practice for zombie assault scenarios, I'm not LE or military, I don't shoot for MOA out to several hundred yards. Just Joe-Gun-Owner who likes to go out for casual shooting with his AR. So, with caveats out of the way here is what I'd say about the switch. My old rig was a Bushmaster Dissipator HABAR with 16" bbl, to which I had put on a collapsible stock. The rifle was VERY front heavy with that HBAR. If you were shooting from a supported position it was not so bad, but any extended offhand shooting became more challenging. It was for sure nice in that it was good and solid feeling, and the first few follow up shots were pretty easy because the muzzle flip was quite minimal. With the really heavy barrel and the light collapsible stock the weapon was not very well balanced. I swapped out the HBAR for a 16" lightweight barrel without a front sight post - think it was advertised as being 1 lb 9 oz, whereas the stock HBAR assembly was 3 LBS! The new lightweight barrel makes the weapon MUCH better balanced and much more enjoyable to carry about. It also comes up to the shoulder faster, however I DO notice quite a bit more muzzle flip than I did on the HBAR. Since we're talking 5.56 it's not like it's huge muzzle flip, but it is certainly more pronounced than with the HBAR and the follow up shots require more focus and effort to get back on to target after each shot (not a huge effort) As for accuracy I really lack detailed comparison because I've just not shot both set ups on paper recently enough, however my impression is that I have not lost any appreciable bench rested accuracy by moving to the lightweight. Shortly after getting the lightweight on there I shot some 77 gr. Black Hills match ammo out of it from the bench and was getting near MOA accuracy out to 100 yds with just an EoTech sight. I don't feel like I lost anything on the accuracy front for the kind of shooting I do. Having shot both, I'd say an HBAR is a fine way to go for supported shooting or from a bench, or for a rig where you expect to put a big magnified optic on it and want to reach out several hundred yards. For a regular old plinker, fun gun, defense around the home, carry for extended periods kind of rig, I'd say a lightweight is an excellent way to go. |
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