Posted on 08/23/2019 6:58:19 AM PDT by Black_Rifle_Gunsmith
This week, I've got another article for those interested in "tactical" gunsmithing, and building and shooting black rifles:
The Complete Guide to AR-15 Barrels (Twist, Length, Rifling & Type). The barrel is arguably the most important part of your black rifle or pistol. It determines what types of rounds you can shoot, how accurate you can get, and how far you can reach out and touch targets. Picking the perfect barrel can make or break any AR build. Today, we’re going to go over everything with a complete guide to AR-15 barrels.
This guide gets into twist rates, barrel length and velocity, how barrels are made, and with what materials. We also get into barrel profiles, rifling, and barrel treatments. This piece is part of the Complete Guide to Building an AR-15.
Post a guide to BCGs also, please.
Excellent article - thanks!!!
I have a 10 year old S&W M&P-15. There is no info on the barrel. It doesn’t even say what caliber it is. If I hadn’t bought it new, I wouldn’t really know. The receiver has the caliber on it, but barrels can be changed extremely easily.
Not knowing due to my own ignorance, but don’t you need to apply to the ATF to use a different barrel or shorter barrel?
“but don’t you need to apply to the ATF to use a different barrel or shorter barrel?”
Only if you’re going to make what is known legally as a Short Barrel Rifle. In that case you do need a tax stamp or it’s a trip to Club Fed. But just swapping “legal” barrels is no issue from a Federal standpoint.
Hope that helps.
L
There’s one at the link.
Somewhere on the barrel/chamber should be a stamp with the actual spec. Either 223 or 5.56 NATO. Many time the stamp is cover by the barrel shroud.
The stamp on the Lower doesn't mean much and does not designate the capability of the barrel.
No. Only the Lower Receiver is serialized and has to have a Form 4473 filled out.
“Should be” and “is” are two different things.
Well, another poster said if you move to a different barrel length (as in a Short Barrel Rifle from a long barrel), that
there is a form for that.
Generally speaking, you can switch any barrel you like without Fed permission if the barrel is 16 inches or longer. You can even use a shorter barrel if a flash hider is pinned and welded on to make it 16 inches. Or apply with the Feds to make it a short barrel rifle.
Not exactly the most scholarly work I have seen on the subject.
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