There may be no actual data, it may all be personal opinion!
I am in need of an upper to go on a BCM lower. I’d really like to find a BCM 5.56 14.5, but if I can’t, what would you recommend? I don’t mind building an upper if it comes to that!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pepsiblue,

best for what? in what caliber, with what ammunition, with what construction, material etc. etc.

The term "best" is subjective, and must be qualified for the intended use.

The best accuracy will generally come from a cut-rifled stainless steel barrel. The short list includes Bartlein, Krieger, and JP. High levels of accuracy also require a precise chamber and ammo matched to the barrel. I'm guessing this isn't your priority. Few shooters demand cloverleaf accuracy from a 14.5" barrel upper.

The greatest barrel life will generally come from chrome lining or nitride treatment. Nitride will almost always be more accurate than chrome lining. Hammer forging in theory makes the metal denser, and increases more barrel life. Bartlein just introduced a new SS barrel material that's called 400ModBB, which is supposed to dramatically increase throat life. But I don't think the steel is offered yet in AR15 platform, and it carries a significant price premium.

Barrels are tough to find now. Cheaper barrels are often cheaper for a reason. If you avoid the value-line barrels, and if you are patient in your search, I suspect quite a few brands will meet your needs.

My barrel selection runs from a Sabre Defense 20" fluted 410 SS 8 twist gem to a 20" Bushmaster HB 9 twist take off from a agency that seldom used it. This one being a real joy to shoot as well. All the other are shorter, lighter and from various makers. Not a turd in the herd.

Now days there are more choices and some great quality. We recently installed a Midway SS barrel for a varmint rig, my friend is really pleased with the accuracy for varmints. I understand that some are not all that good though.

Thanks guys....

I guess instead of saying best, I should have said best quality.

Simply speaking and available to general public options are Centurion Barrels.

Which ive heard are FN porduced chrome lined barrels.

Thats not an end the debate answer but a grossly over simplified one.

quote:

Originally posted by pepsiblue:
I guess instead of saying best, I should have said best quality.

Again, what is you primary intended use? Are you looking for long life or high accuracy?

"Quality" could be determined by the type of steel in the barrel, but evaluating the steel blank itself will be challenging. I don't know if metallurgists could make a determination. Time will tell if Bartlein's new BB steel is the best, for both long life and accuracy. You could always order one from Craddock Precision, then let us know over time. At $880 for that barrel, it better be outstanding.

Do you consider "quality" from how the barrel's exterior looks? A well-polished stainless barrel will rule here. A well-polished chromoly barrel will be very nice, too. Parkerizing and cerakoting can be well done, but some don't like the looks as much. Assuming you have a rail and a muzzle device, little of your 14.5" barrel will be in plain view.

Maybe you consider "quality" by how nicely the crown is done. Barrels tend to be more accurate with good crowns, however crowns are hidden by muzzle devices.

Maybe you consider "quality" by how the bore is cut. Hammer forged in theory should produce a very consistent bore and chamber, but the process is rarely used on barrels used in precision competition. A hand lapped and air gauged barrel should be very accurate -- you won't see this on chrome lined barrels, and probably not on nitrided barrels.

Maybe you consider "quality" by how well the chamber is cut. Start with whether you want a 5.56, wylde, or match 223 chamber. The best 'smiths use sharp tools, cut the chamber relatively slowly, and leave very few tooling marks. You will need some tools and experience to judge a chamber's quality.

Maybe you consider the specs of the barrel extension an important part of "quality". IIRC correctly, the standard spec is .998" O.D. for the barrel extension, which induces a little play when inserted in a standard spec upper with an I.D. of 1.000". Some 'smiths offer barrel extensions of .999" or a little more, which requires heating the upper to insert the barrel. JP Rifles believes in this method, and their AR systems are quite accurate. Lesser quality barrel manufacturers might have barrel extensions measuring from .996" through .9975". These will require shimming or other methods to produce the tightest barrel to upper fit.

Maybe you consider "quality" on how the barrel maintains accuracy as it changes temperature. Heavier profile barrels will do better than pencil profile barrels. Fluting a larger diameter barrel may be an option to obtain the best results for a given barrel weight. However if the barrel isn't stress relieved after fluting, it may produce unwanted POI shifts with temperature changes. Similarly for button rifle and cold hammer forged barrels -- the processes induce stress into the steel, and it must be relieved for best accuracy.

And then there's budget. A $100 barrel from a little known manufacturer off the web won't compare to those on the top of the heap. The big boys producing custom & semi-custom barrels include Compass Lake Engineering, White Oak Armament, Craddock Precision. There are others, too. These folks work with barrels from Bartlein, Krieger, Criterion, Douglas, Shilen, Rock Creek, and maybe others. If you truly want a "best quality" barrel, this might be the start of your short list.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Simply speaking and available to general public options are Centurion Barrels.

Which ive heard are FN porduced chrome lined barrels.

Thats not an end the debate answer but a grossly over simplified one.

Centurian's CHF barrels have thicker chrome for longer life. They are as good a CHF barrel and as long lived as you will find. But they are not target barrels. The SPR and Recce barrels are stainless and designed for accuracy. I really like the keyed gas blocks they use now, perfect alignment every time. And no break in is needed because break in is silly. Just shoot it and clean it when accuracy starts falling off.

Criterion gets really good marks for accuracy even on their 4150 CMV chrome lined barrels. You get the life of a combat barrel and great accuracy from hand lapping after button cutting. The Hybrid and new CORE series have newer profiles that fix some of the deficiencies in gov't profiles. They also make nitrided stainless and raw stainless.

Daniel Defense CHF are specified for the URX uppers Geissele is providing to the military. A coworker has a DD on a long range AR and he says it's way more accurate than expected.

Geissele is making their own CHF barrels for their guns now, I'm curious how they compare to other barrel makers but I don't see them available separately yet.

Personally I like nitrided stainless barrels. The generally better accuracy of a stainless barrel (because it machines more easily than 4150 CMV), with increased life from the hard nitride layer, and a nice look. I don't like raw stainless barrels on AR's and don't want something cerakoted. Wylde chambers and 1:8 twist to shoot anything (except tracers or >80 grain stuff that can't be mag fed). I want accuracy but I'm not skilled enough to take advantage of the improvement from a Krieger or Bartlein. I'm not shooting long distance competitions, but if I was I might build a precision AR with a high end barrel. Might as well take the barrel out of the equation.

There are tons of barrel brands now, but I suspect that many are OEM'ed from bigger barrel companies. Fritz just said pretty much everything you need to know. First decide what's important to you. Lots of compromises on accuracy, weight, profile, heat dissipation, and other factors. If you are going for small groups at long range, the best barrel for you is completely different than one for a bullet hose on an NFA FA lower.

And you can get a $40 Teslong borescope on Amazon that works fine and allows you to see quality of rifling, chambering, gas port, etc. Very educational. I can see my nitrided stainless barrels are better inside than the one 4150 CMV 1:7 mid-length gov't profile fixed FSB barrel I have.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lefty Sig,

I spend about a hour a day looking for instock AR barrels in 5.56 in 16 inch to 20 inches. Not much around or worth buying, hope it gets better.

quote:

Originally posted by jdshank:
I spend about a hour a day looking for instock AR barrels in 5.56 in 16 inch to 20 inches. Not much around or worth buying, hope it gets better.

The market availability of barrels probably won't get better for some time. It may get worse over the next few months.

In addition to the high demand from politics and new gun owners, this is the time of year that competitors prepare for next season. I have replacement barrels in the basement for rifles with barrels that are getting long in the tooth. Buying a barrel right now for a new build might be challenge, however.

The best availability of barrels will likely be from companies that are closely tied to barrel blank manufacturers. I suspect the hardest barrels to find for awhile will be 14.5", 16", and maybe 18" barrels of lighter to medium contours. Heavier profile 18" and 20" barrels are generally available with a little searching and patience, even through the worst panics.

I recently built with a ballistic advantage barrel in 556 and it still shoots tight groups (cloverleafs at the 50m zero line) after a 2500 round rifle course. I'm happy and the price was right. If I'm not mistaken there should still be some available at spicetac or a few other places.

quote:

I spend about a hour a day looking for instock AR barrels in 5.56 in 16 inch to 20 inches

That would confuse me. Do you have some odd requirements? I spent about 3 minutes right now and found barrels I would buy with those specs from vendors I consider top notch and those were in stock. What for example would be an issue with this from wilson combat who I happen to like a lot...https://shopwilsoncombat.com/Match-Grade-Barrel-556-NATO-Recon-Tactical-16-1-8-Twist-Stainless-Fluted/productinfo/TR%2D556RCMG16FT8/.
And again there were a number of others. Just wondering...

Larue Tactical stealth barrels are a great and accurate value at about $250.


Krieger barrels are very very accurate for around $800.

JP is similar.


FN or Colt or Daniel Defense cold hammer forged and chrome lined are super durable.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
What for example would be an issue with this from wilson combat who I happen to like a lot..

It appears that Wilson barrel is currently out of stock. It's a fluted 16" 1/8 twist recon tactical barrel, weighing 31 ounces. I see that their unfluted recon tactical and their LE profile 16" barrels are available, with weights of 35 ounces and 28.7 ounces, respectively.

*****
I've shot out a 16" Wilson fluted recon tactical 1/9, and an 18" Wilson fluted recon tactical 1/7. Both were very accurate barrels. I currently have uppers with a 16" Wilson unfluted recon tactical 1/8, a 16" Wilson fluted recon tactical 1/8, and a 14.5" Wilson fluted Paul Howe 1/8. All three barrels are very accurate. IIRC I have either one or two 16" fluted recon tactical 1/8 barrels still in the box, for future replacement. I also have an 18" WC fluted heavy-profile Super Sniper 1/8 barrel for a precision upper still in the box. Now is a tough time to find a WC barrel. I usually buy WC barrels on their once-per-year sales, when barrels are 20-25% off. Every WC barrel I've own is a definite sub-MOA barrel, with factory match-grade ammo, out to 500 yards. A few perform better than that, when I'm not being a sheep dip behind the trigger.

My least expensive barrel is a DSC 1/8 24" bull profile. Decent accuracy, but not quite up to WC barrel standards. It's probably the next in line for replacement, as it has a fair number of rounds down the pipe. Depending on how things go with 6mm ARC on the market, it may become a 6mm ARC upper. Or it may stay 223 and get a match-quality 20-22" barrel.

My least accurate barrel is an LWRC 14.5" 1/7 fluted. It only shoots 69 grain SMK bullets well. I don't recommend LWRC as a barrel option, but it's based on this one barrel.

My most accurate barrel is a DCM-profile Krieger 20" 1/7.7 twist with a 223 chamber. Chambered by Krieger, I bought it from Fulton Armory for under $400. Have a spare in the box that cost me maybe $350 from Brownells -- I should have bought two or three on that sale. They now cost around $500. This barrel is capable of 1/4 MOA accuracy when I'm pulling the trigger correctly. I hope the spare in the basement is just as good the current barrel.

My second most accurate barrel is a Bartlein 18" 1/7.7 heavy profile, Wylde chambered by Craddock Precision. Originally, I was a little disappointed by its inconsistent results. I changed the rifle's buttstock from a Magpul UBR to a Magpul PRS, and that helped a lot. Then changed the suppressor from a direct thread TBAC 223 to a CB attach TBAC Ultra 7 30-cal. I shoot this setup much better now -- getting close to the results of the Krieger, but not quite there yet.

OP -- if you're looking for a truly accurate match-grade barrel, they're out there. The barrels will be heavy, they'll be fairly expensive, you should shoot them with quality ammo for the best accuracy, you probably shouldn't do mag dumps with them. You may have to order the barrel from a shop that cuts the chamber -- like Compass Lake, White Oak, or Craddock. It may take a 2-4 weeks to have the barrel in your hands. But barrels are out there.

Thank you for all of the replies! I appreciate all the help, and I definitely learned a lot. I thought that I may have to build an upper, and was trying to determine what barrel that I should go with. Luckily I found a complete BCM upper in stock yesterday, and snatched it up!

“ best barrel “ is a very subjective thing ,
But in my 40 + years of shooting all types of firearms , I’ve found the Krieger barrels to be
The best for my criteria . Bartlein is now the
Camp Perry crowds choice , which offers great
Opportunities for a krieger barrel shopper .
Buy a dcm profile barrel , have it profiled
To your specs by Compass lake .your good to go .
Barrel , trigger , optic . Buy once , cry once .

My needs are not that great, but choice of sub 13" and 16" GI cut is all the seems to be available unless you want stainless. 16" to 18" 32 to 38 oz,.750 at the port, mid gas and 1/7 or 1/8 twist. keep the price below $250, Spend too much time looking and calling, not much to pick from?

I will probably never use the inherent accuracy of the barrels I have. But I want as much quality as I can afford and I like military profile barrels. Colt and Centurion HF for me. So figure out what you want, settle on several choices and surf the interwebz.