20" Gov't. Profile for 3 Gun?

[sleepercaprice1]

I'm thinking of putting together another upper for 3 gun. I ran across a used Bravo Company 20" gov't profile, 20" 1/7 chrome lined that has less than 200 rounds through it. The current owner claims sub MOA accuracy. I've never owned an A2 profile upper. Would this be too heavy for general 3 gun use?

[Jesse Tischauser]

There is no ideal rifle length or weight for 3 gun. It's all personal opinion. The setup you mention would work for 3 gun in my opinion. Accuracy would be my biggest concern.

[Nick Weidhaas]

Really depends on the balance and accuracy you are looking for. I ran a 20" JP upper for 4 years and it worked out great. The JP 20" upper was light under the handguard, but fat in front of the gas block. You could always have the bbl turned down if u wanted. The chrome lined bbl should be good enough for 3gun. If you play w/loads, u should be able to find something it likes. Good luck!!

[chp5]

The Gov't profile is also turned down under the handguards and is pretty light. I like it and don't think it's too heavy.

[Religious Shooter]

Relative to other profiles I would consider the govt A2 profile as a light/medium weight barrel.

Me personally... I think the A2 profile is just right.

[J-Ho]

I've got a rock river 20" heavy barrel. It works well for me. Like someone said, the weight is all about personal preference. The weight makes for a nice stedy gun, but it is, well heavy. Try it. If it works, use it, if you don't like it, box it up and send it to me.

J-Ho

[aessu]

I have 20" HBAR and its way too heavy for me. Im going to turn it down to med contour next week.

[HRider]

I shoot a 20" HBAR with irons in 3gun. A 16" carbine points quicker, but I get faster hits with my 20" gun.

Hurley

[Xfactor]

Regarding barrel contours, I've been thinking about getting a medium weight barrel re-contoured to "light"... the claim is a 9oz weight savings. Sounds great to me, but I'm wondering if the barrel performance will suffer.

Are there some disadvantages to consider with a light contour barrel? Do they heat up too fast for 3-gun? Does accuracy suffer?

[Chills1994]

I've got a 20" stainless barrel'ed Rock River Arms upper on my FrankenAR.

At the time (about 2 years ago), when I was buying up parts to build an AR, it seemed like there were really only two choices: 16 inch or 20 inch. The 18 inch ones I could find were obscenely expensive. Sabre Defence was one maker, and IIRC, White Oak Armament was another maker of 18 inch barrels with rifle length gas systems.

So I came here to the forum to ask the same question. Everybody's reply at the time was "buy the 20 inch! If it is too long or too heavy, you can always have it cut down to 18 and even fluted at a later date."

I really haven't shot enough 3 gun or rifle side matches to make me "jonesing" for a shorter or lighter barrel.

For now, it is just set up with or for irons, with a screw on or clamp on front sight tower attached to the picatinny'ed gas block.

Also, at about the time I was building my AR, I stumbled across Matt Burkett's AR15 DVD where he said that some guys had showed up to, I think it was the Iron Man, with 16 inch barrels and factory ammo and couldn't make power factor. So that's why I was leaning towards the longer barrel. I reload for .223 now, so if I did ever go to a 16 inch barrel, then it might just be a matter of stepping up to a heavier bullet or more powder to make PF.

In a perfect world, where I had access to a money tree, I would have a complete AR build with a collapsible stock and a 16 inch barrel.

But with a money tree, I'd also have a pistol caliber'ed AR too...and a high zoot STI Limited racegun...and I would drive to matches in my Ferrari...

Anywhooo...I guess it all depends on where you live and at what ranges/distances you are going to be shooting at....and if you are going to shoot with iron sights where you might want the longer barrel to clamp a front sight to, right up next to the muzzle brake to give you a longer sight radius.

[Religious Shooter]

AFAIK Iron Man does not have a PF requirement.

[Chills1994]

Which is why I put the "I think" part in there.

Anywhoo...it was supposedly some big match where I guess the difference between a 16 inch barrel and an 18/20 incher was enough to drop the ammo below PF.

It would suck to plunk down that kind of money to go to a major match to only show up and learn that at most you're just shooting for fun...not for score.

[BigBore56]

The heavy bbl AR's are just not that easy to handle, unless you are shooting prairie dogs off a bench rest. I like my Wilson Custom M4 with 16" bbl..has an accuracy guaranty as good as most varmint AR's, but much lighter and better balanced.

[Xfactor]

The heavy bbl AR's are just not that easy to handle, unless you are shooting prairie dogs off a bench rest. I like my Wilson Custom M4 with 16" bbl..has an accuracy guaranty as good as most varmint AR's, but much lighter and better balanced.

So no degradation in barrel performance to speak of even with a light contour... do you find that accuracy falls off a bit as the barrel heats up? (I'm just thinking of a stage where there's a bunch of CQ targets to engage quickly, followed by some long range targets... )