What should I do with my AR?

[Raven18940]

So several years ago I bought a lower receiver off a friend who just had it laying around collecting dust. It proceeded to collect dust in my closet for a long while until late last fall. I got a parts kits and assembled the lower myself (first time I've ever done anything like this) and bought a Rock River rifle length complete upper with a stainless steel match barrel. The idea was to set the gun up for service rifle competition in case I wanted to try that out and I also just liked the full size M16 look.

Fast forward several months and I'm not super happy with the rifle. Reason being its barrel is too heavy. It's an HBAR and I feel awkward to hold and shoot from anything but a bench rest. It's just really front heavy. I tried adding a weight to the stock to balance it (which it did) but then the gun was kinda absurdly heavy to hold (12 lbs). So I removed the weighted stock for a regular one so I'm back at the original problem. I've got a few ideas on what to do and I'm curious what you all think are good or bad ideas.

1. Get the barrel milled down to a more reasonable weight - Apparently there are people that can lathe the barrel to something like an A2 or A1 barrel profile. This would easily drop almost 2 lbs off the barrel weight. Does anyone know someone they would recommend for a procedure like this? I don't have a lathe myself.

2. Replace the barrel - Bushmaster makes a A2 profile barrel. Just buy it and swap it out. They also make a superlight barrel that really interests me.

3. Sell the complete upper - Is a RRA complete upper worth more whole than in parts? If so I might sell the whole thing and then just build a new upper from parts. Bushmaster makes a carbon fiber receiver that I'd really like to try.

[Hammerslagger]

Respectfully, learn to shoot it offhand (standing no support) at 200 yards, 20 shots in 20 minutes. Many of the world's best shooters do with even heavier rifles. When you manage to shoot a 200 by 16X you will beat G. Anderson's world record set in 1971. {10 ring = 7"; X ring = 3"}

If marksmanship proficiency was easily learned, most persons would quickly become proficient.

You likely have a fine, accurate rifle. Just use it.

[carver]

If your rifle were a hunting rifle, or even a battle rifle, weight might be a concern. But if you are only going to shoot papper with it what difference does weight make? It's been my experience that a heavy gun is easier to shoot at, and hit a target, than a light one. It's the weight that makes em steady!

[permafrost]

Have you considered cutting 4" off and having it recrowned? Should still be extremely accurate at 16". (Assuming you have a 20"barrel)

[Daffyd]

Hi, Raven!

I've had some mods done to my Armalite M15 with ADCO Firearms! They're top notch and reasonably priced. Check out their list of services offered, and one of them is to flute or reduce the barrel down. Check on-line, their reputation is solid, and they're highly rated.

http://www.adcofirearms.com/

Good luck with your decision!

[RunningOnMT]

please delete

[RunningOnMT]

Before I had even finished reading the post the thought about milling the barrel came to mind. But after having a second or two to think about it, I can see a couple potential problems. Number one, heat treating may be ruined. Number two, and this is how I would think if it was my rifle, how will this effect accuracy? Could you end up with a rifle with Mini 14 syndrome? How will harmonics be effected? I assume that there has been some engineering that's gone into these barrels which has taken into account the length, thickness, and material.

So you could put money into machining and refinishing something that has maybe a 50/50 chance of ending up as something you'd like. I think the better option is to sell this upper and buy what you want. Since this one is brand new maybe you could work out a swap with an interested party who may have exactly what you want.

[gdmoody]

I agree with ROMT and your #3 choice, sell the upper as a complete unit and buy the carbon fiber Bushmaster and give it a try. If that one doesn't work out for you then just do it again!

[joncutt87]

You should donate it to me

[Zhurh]

I hunt with AR's last few years; 6.8 & 338 fed. My 556's stay in the gun vault along with the mini-14's. One of the local Indians wants to buy one off me; and I think I'm going to sell one of the 556's. I'm ordering a SCAR-H in 308 win, $2700. Money from 556 will give me another hunting AR. I'll probably never buy another 556 new, but sure like hunting with the new calibers available on AR platforms.

[old semperfi]

raven,i take i you are of smaller frame and weight.i suggest you trade for a barrel of your choice or sell it and buy another.i shoot with an extreemly heavy barrel on my flat top and have no problems.i however used to shoot between 2-3 thousand rounds a month and have done it for years,only recently have i slowed down.make your rifle suit you not the other way around. old semperfi

[Raven18940]

I'm not sure where people got the idea that I think I'm a bad shoot because the rifle is too heavy. The rifle is perfectly fine and accurate, I just don't like shooting it. The problem is the only range near me is a short range, 50 yards max. As a result I tend to do more standing, tactical style shooting with my friends. It's just what's fun for us. Because the AR is so front heavy, it wears me out during this sort of shooting. As a result it gets left home a lot in favor of my AK or my Mini-14 (and the mini gets left home cause the rear sight keeps trying to escape ).

Daffyd,

Thanks for the suggestion of Adco, their name has come up before. I actually sent them an email a little more than a week ago asking about this and they have yet to reply.

I think I'm also gonna fire off an email to RRA asking about lathing the barrel and if they would recommend it/can do it. I figure they'll know best. Failing that I've spied a light weight 16" mid-length barrel on their website that I'm very interested in.

[al45lc]

I don't blame you, a gun that doesn't 'feel' right is a tough gun to master, this is especially true of guns that feel heavy front or rear.
When a gun doesn't fit and feel 'right', the muscle memory is much harder to obtain and so is the 'human' accuracy factor.
I won't tolerate a gun that doesn't fit and 'feel' right, it's a waste of training time and ammo.

[Daffyd]

Hey, Raven!

You're welcome! If you still haven't heard from ADCO, try a post at AR15.com. ADCO Firearms has an area in the Industry Section, under the dealers group! One of their guys are in there everyday checking things out. They generate a lot of business out of there! Good website too!

Daffyd

[Raven18940]

AR15.com won't accept my gmail address. >_<

[JLA]

Raven. dont have that barrel turned down to a smaller contour. the heavy contour will shed heat better, and is more rigid, which translates to better accuracy. Have thet thing fluted instead. Six flutes the length of the tube will nearly cut the weight in half while maintaining the heavy barrels rigidity. And the flutes will increase the external surface area of the barrel which will help it cool faster and stay cooler while running.

[Raven18940]

I'm considering that.

[Daffyd]

Were you ever able to get e-mail address to work on AR15.com? I could post a message for you, if you would like. Just curious.

Daffyd

[Raven18940]

So I got a reply from RRA. They advised against machining, saying the barrel was stress relieved. I also took the rifle to two gun shops and the best they thought I could get was $700 for it. They said my problem was that the national match upper was a very niche thing. So I think selling it is off the table (unless some here is interested). In fact, both gun shops really thought anything 20" was niche. Given this new information about low demand for 20" barrels, I think I'm gonna work with what I have and get the barrel machined down to an A1 pencil profile. And I'll buy the tools I need to build the upper so i can do it myself.

[Raven18940]

So it seems that RRA doesn't use taper pins to install its front sight bases. I now have a 3mm punch stuck in the sight on the barrel where the pin used to me.

[Bobitis]

Originally Posted by Raven18940

AR15.com won't accept my gmail address. >_<

Originally Posted by Daffyd

Were you ever able to get e-mail address to work on AR15.com? I could post a message for you, if you would like. Just curious.

Daffyd

They won't accept any generic e-mail addy (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Makes no sense to me, but it's not my site. Maybe they think it will keep the spam to a minimum? Whatever. Most of 'em are Rambo wannabes any ways. Yer not missing anything.

As to your dilemma, I would not cut the barrel down. Yer not gonna gain that much (.77 lbs if it's 3/4" od). RRA is correct about machining the barrel. It's already been tempered and stress relieved. It could be done, but it would need to be stress relieved again because the machining would ruin the original effort. At this point, you're throwing away even more money.

As far as being a 'niche' item, to each his own. No gun shop is gonna give ya anything close to what you paid for it, and the term is simply demeaning you into their mentality.

Many folks will sugest ebay to get rid of it. Problem there is, anyone who shops on ebay is looking for the sucker deal (not that that's a bad thing).

Post it on as many reputable sites as you can, and you'll get a fair price for it (Not what you paid), but fair. Beware in any case.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Raven18940]

Well my current plan is try to sell the barrel. If it doesn't sell after a month I'll machine it. Or maybe I'll just toss it in the closet to make a varmint upper one day.

[Raven18940]

So I've just learned that RRA likes to assemble their rifles with red loctite. I think I'm just gonna take a hit and try to sell the complete upper. Then I'll just build a new carbine upper.

[smraerif]

A barrel reprofile costs around $130

[Raven18940]

Originally Posted by smraerif

A barrel reprofile costs around $130

$110 actually, but then I need to add in $90 to mount a new FSB on a .625 width barrel.