Could use some AR15 Christmas help??

[Alibiiv]

I am not an AR person whatsoever, and could use some help for a Christmas present for my son. He has a Smith and Wesson M+P AR15. He mentioned a while ago that he was thinking about a Proof Research barrel for his AR, but they were really expensive and he didn't have the money right then. I did some research on Proof Research's sight, but could not find AR15 barrels that were 223/5.56, could only find a barrel in 223 Wylde. I don't know too much about ARs, but.....I do know that he wants a .223/5.56 barrel. Can someone give me some direction please. It doesn't have to be a Proof Research barrel, just looking for a barrel for an AR15 that will shoot bug holes. Preferably an 18 inch barrel, on the heavier side and in the $800 price range. Thanks for any help

 

[cohunt]

The wylde chamber is a hybrid that will shoot either 223rem, or 556 nato ammo safely-- it is generally considered to be a "more accurate" chamber design

 

[BigDon]

I am not an AR person whatsoever, and could use some help for a Christmas present for my son. He has a Smith and Wesson M+P AR15. He mentioned a while ago that he was thinking about a Proof Research barrel for his AR, but they were really expensive and he didn't have the money right then. I did some research on Proof Research's sight, but could not find AR15 barrels that were 223/5.56, could only find a barrel in 223 Wylde. I don't know too much about ARs, but.....I do know that he wants a .223/5.56 barrel. Can someone give me some direction please. It doesn't have to be a Proof Research barrel, just looking for a barrel for an AR15 that will shoot bug holes. Preferably an 18 inch barrel, on the heavier side and in the $800 price range. Thanks for any help

A .223 Wylde Chamber is dimensionally able to shoot both 5.56 NATO rounds and .223 rounds safely and accurately. No so with a .223 chamber. The .223 Wylde is an excellent choice.

 

[P7M13]

 

[DoneNOut]

Not many own an AR15 to shoot cold barrel between rounds. These carbon wrapped barrels will change POI rather quickly with string fire. Might I suggest going with a Lelja, Kreiger, white Oak, etc custom barrel? You can go gov profile to keep the weight down too.

 

[Termite I]

I haven't shopped for barrels in a long time but I think any of the ones BFD Guns mentioned are within your price range.
Did I mention I'm up for adoption?

 

[Tidus56]

I also wouldn't do a carbon barrel on an AR-15 if I was going precision I would do compass lake, white oak, AR performance. If I was doing good quality I would run a ballistic advantage barrel and yes a 223 Wylde is the chamber I would get.

 

[DoneNOut]

I also wouldn't do a carbon barrel on an AR-15 if I was going precision I would do compass lake, white oak, AR performance. If I was doing good quality I would run a ballistic advantage barrel and yes a 223 Wylde is the chamber I would get.

I've bought and installed hundreds of AR barrels. White Oak and Faxon barrels are lights out shooting. Faxon really surprised me the level of accuracy over the 30 barrels I bought from them. White Oak was pretty boring though, I knew what they did! I personally want to try Lelja and Kreiger and compare to White Oak.

 

[Reelamin]

You could do what you want with no negative or contrary comments from me. I could care less if it had a "556", 223, or a Wylde chamber as they will all shoot a 223 perfectly fine and vice versaa. Even if you actually had some military surplus true 556 you wanted to shoot. If you want a AR15 that shoots true "bug holes" as I believe what is is .25" or smaller at 100yds. Even if you want one that will shoot under .5" it takes a lot more than just a barrel. Take the load development out of it you may want to look at the AR's capable of shooting that accurately. What immediately comes to my mind is, free floating handguard, no front sight, adjustable gas block, target level trigger, and some other things that vary by person. Brands that I saw shoot the best were Kreiger, and for your budget you should be able to do all of it or real close.

 

[snox801]

Not sure what the proof barrels cost but win dad of the year and get him a larue upper for his lower for probably the same cost and boy would he be thrilled. But I may be way off as I've never bought a proof for an ar. They may be cheaper than I think.

 

[DoneNOut]

You could do what you want with no negative or contrary comments from me. I could care less if it had a "556", 223, or a Wylde chamber as they will all shoot a 223 perfectly fine and vice versaa. Even if you actually had some military surplus true 556 you wanted to shoot. If you want a AR15 that shoots true "bug holes" as I believe what is is .25" or smaller at 100yds. Even if you want one that will shoot under .5" it takes a lot more than just a barrel. Take the load development out of it you may want to look at the AR's capable of shooting that accurately. What immediately comes to my mind is, free floating handguard, no front sight, adjustable gas block, target level trigger, and some other things that vary by person. Brands that I saw shoot the best were Kreiger, and for your budget you should be able to do all of it or real close.

Friendly advice. The phrase, "Couldn't care less", is the true phrase to convey there is no less caring possible. To say, "I could care less", implies there are further levels of caring you go not care less. Yeah, I learned this the hard way on the stand on cross examination. Burnt into my head since. Anyhoo, reelamin is on point with what he recommends.

 

[jpfrog]

The first AR I bought was way back in 07 or so. A bone stock DPMS that I used for some local IDPA matches when we did some "3 gun" type stages. I made a couple of tweaks but it mostly was relegated to the back of the safe. I have built a few since then, and decided a couple of months ago I wanted to revamp this mostly stock AR. A new stock, buffer/spring, match drop in trigger, adjustable gas block, m-lock hand guard, and adapter for a suppressor I use on some other rifles has completely transformed my tired old rifle into something I now toss in the truck every time I head to the ranch because it's fun to shoot again. I may swap the barrel at some point but I think the other upgrades provided a bit more bang for the buck on this platform. YMMV. Have fun with it though- your son is a lucky guy!

 

[Alibiiv]

You could do what you want with no negative or contrary comments from me. I could care less if it had a "556", 223, or a Wylde chamber as they will all shoot a 223 perfectly fine and vice versaa. Even if you actually had some military surplus true 556 you wanted to shoot. If you want a AR15 that shoots true "bug holes" as I believe what is is .25" or smaller at 100yds. Even if you want one that will shoot under .5" it takes a lot more than just a barrel. Take the load development out of it you may want to look at the AR's capable of shooting that accurately. What immediately comes to my mind is, free floating handguard, no front sight, adjustable gas block, target level trigger, and some other things that vary by person. Brands that I saw shoot the best were Kreiger, and for your budget you should be able to do all of it or real close.

Thank you for this reply. He did put a free floating m-lock handguard on it and he did comment on the handguard making a difference. And I did notice there were some barrels that did have an adjustable gas block. Again I am a wood and blue metal, bolt action Ruger 77, 1895 Marlin kind of guy, this is all new territory for me. Even my .22 is a blued Ruger 77/22. Oh.....and I do reload, however I am not going to reload to feed his AR. I like to reload, but I don't like to reload that much to feed this gun.

 

[Alibiiv]

Not sure what the proof barrels cost but win dad of the year and get him a larue upper for his lower for probably the same cost and boy would he be thrilled. But I may be way off as I've never bought a proof for an ar. They may be cheaper than I think.

Just looked at the Larue uppers, they have some match uppers on sale for $749, and I did see some other uppers for $1500. I am a good dad, but....the budget is around the $800. I know he has a lot of money in a fee floating hand guard, don't know exactly how much but I know when he buys something for one of his toys it's not a cheap date when he buys it. Thank you for this reply.