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Posted: 7/29/2006 9:14:02 PM EDT
I have always been curious about the HBAR barrel on the Colt rifles. I have done a lot of research on this topic and have never come up with a clear understanding. Was the HBAR profile which stands for "heavy barrel assault rifle" (i think) actually fielded or was this barrel primarily used in sporting rifles? I have had colt A2 20in uppers in the standard configuration that has the slimming under the hand guard for the M203 or other accessories and these are noticeably less accurate especially when they heat up. Was this barrel originally designed to promote longer full auto fire and heat dissipation in the M16 or more for accuracy that one would encounter in a civi sporting rifle? Thanks in advance to all the gurus out there.  Turk |
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Yes HBARs take the heat better,are better for full auto and rapid sustained fire but I think HBARs just cost less and less machining time wich in turn is a money savings.So even though they do have a function..and I love HBARs..its less machining time and less cost to the manufacturers becuase of it. The lighter barrels under the handguards if you go back to when the M16 first came out I think was just to get the rifle as light as possible while still keeping it functional even though barrels have to eventualy through service use be changed out wich also translates into cost wich is way cheaper than us civilians experience because lets face it the military has 100s of thousands of rifles so things are gonna be cheaper per rifle. For us civies its just a way to keep costs down by making the HBAR the standard barrel wich makes sense on a buisness level.Hell im sure if I was an assembler selling rifles and going through say 100 barrels a week im probably gonna pay less than the average person who changes out a barrel based on want and not need although a barrel that needs more machining will still cost more. I dont notice an accuracy difference between my 14.5/phantom HBAR from Bushmaster and my M4 profile 1/7 Bushmaster counter part same legnth and flash hider.Will the lighter barrel heat quicker..yes and cool quicker but in semi-auto only and I always no matter how fast I shoot do it aimed and from the shoulder..its never gonna heat to the point where accuracy will be effeted. In select fire mode using a standard weight barrel as a bullet hose though is another situation all together. |
HBAR std. for Heavy barrel armilite rifle. Colt bought the rights from fairchild republic for the stoner AR series rifles. The Heavey barrel was not an issue type rifle. Mostly a match type for camp perry. Then came the Civilain demand.(Back when Colt gave a crap about Civilains) Also they were on some work done on verious SAW types done in the 1960/70. But they did not show Up till the A2 series in about 1984 from Colt anyway.
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I'm no Colt expert, just a long time Colt user. At one time back in '86 I had both my former Colt model R6500 SP-2 with the 20" Gov't profile (light under the handguards) and the Colt model R6600 AR-15A2 20" HBAR Sporter rifles. They both shot about the same and I didn't notice any heat problems with my Gov't profile barrel when fired in a normal way. I usually use my Gov't profiled rifle for plinking/ home defense because it was lighter and my HBAR rifle for target practice at the shooting range. Currently I have a Colt M16A2 Gov't profiled clone rifle, Colt AR6721 tactical carbine with 16" mid length gas system - midweight profile barrel, LMT Defender 2000 16" M4 CAR and a RRA 9mm A4 16" CAR. |
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