FAXON FIREARMS - Duty 5.56x45 NATO 10.5" 1-8 Twist Pencil Contour BBL Nitride

Was shooting a Faxon Match Series 14.5” Pencil barrel, 416R .223 Wylde chamber using a Faxon Upper and Lower with a XTSP trigger. Three different people besides myself shot a softball target at 300 yards and consistently hit it. This was also using a Vortex Red Dot. Nobody could believe it shot this well. Hats off to Faxon what a great barrel.

Its a pencil barrel with all the pros and cons of that so I wont talk about that aspect of the barrel. I have about 250 rounds through the barrel so far and the accuracy is as good as the ammunition I was shooting can achieve. I was very happy with the price and the installation process. Ive had not one malfunction (after we got the gas setting right) with no feed or extraction problems. I didnt notice any quality problems with barrel before I installed it. So far Ive had a very good experience and would buy other products of theirs.

I bought this for a minimalist, lightweight AR build for coyote hunting. I put 100 rounds of 4 different loads through it so far using a Vortex Crossfire 2 MOA red dot. Even with the 2 MOA optic, it shot MOA at 100 yds with everything. It really liked factory Hornady 55gr GMX, coming in at 3/4" at 100 yds. What really impressed me was that it didn't heat up like I thought it might being thinner, yet it cooled down quickly when it did, and I didn't see any difference in group sizes when it got warm. Definitely a high quality piece of hardware. I followed Faxon's break-in procedure, which wasn't too labor intensive, though I've read from others that you don't really need to. I also used the Faxon low-profile gas block with it.

This barrel went on an ultralite build and the end result was just under 5 pounds and just went to 6 pounds with a full mag and red dot sight. Very accurate even when it got hot. Barrel got hot after 5 rounds and smoking hot after a mag full.

This is an overall fantastic addition to my build. Good quality, the finish seems pretty durable and corrosion resistant (I live in Washington state and went shooting on a very wet day), it is very light at 1 pound, and is pretty accurate for a pencil barrel that isnt extremely expensive. I was getting about 1.25 MOA with hand loads. I was a bit concerned about the fact that it had a mid length gas port instead of a standard carbine length gas port for a 14.5 inch barrel when I purchased it, but with a standard buffer and spring the rifle is perfectly tuned, throwing hotter brass out at the 2:30 position and wolf 223 out at 4:30 to 5 position, the reduced dwel time also reduces the felt recoil. If youre looking to build a light rifle this barrel can be beat for the price point. Cant recommend this enough.