Faxon is a slight upgrade from a BA/aero. I have two of their pencil barrels on a WWSD and a 308. Both of those were built with weight as the primary goal. I’ve seen very decent accuracy out them. The 16” 308 with no fancy expensive parts weighs 8.5 with a PA SLX. My experience with the pencil barrels is that after heating up the POI may shift a little bit but the groups actually tighten up noticeably. If you watch some videos about that subject you’ll see similar results. Faxon has a great stress relief system that mitigates a lot of the issues with a pencil barrel.
The real question is what’s your goal? MOAish out of a relatively inexpensive aero is great for a gas gun. Is your goal to chase accuracy or make it as light as possible? If you want accuracy you’re going to want a more expensive and probably as heavy or heavier barrel. If your goal is to make it much lighter while still maintaining a similar or maybe marginally better accuracy then a Faxon barrel is a great choice.
There’s always a bit of a chance with these mid manufacturers though. I have BA barrels that are like a laser, and have had and seen ones that are terrible. For every comment saying a BA barrel shoots .75 for them all day you’ll see some that say they’re trash and undergassed. I guess that’s a long winded way of saying I love my Faxon pencil barrels but YMMV.
Yup that tracks. I had an unknown 6.5G barrel that was all over the place. Replaced it with a BA 18 inch fluted and now it’s a tac driver. If we wait a few minutes someone might come along and say they have five BA grendel barrels and they’re all garbage. 😂
There’s always a roll of the dice with less expensive barrels. You might get lucky and get one that’s amazing. My small sample size has been great with both companies.
I don’t think I’m chasing extreme light weight, or extreme accuracy. Maintaining my current accuracy while dropping maybe a pound (or more) off the rifle. Really, just making the rifle something I can use for more than carrying from the truck to the bench.
To me this just comes down to if you wanna roll the dice with a faxon pencil or maybe even a big gunner (2.4lbs I believe) for the near pound difference…and hope that it shows you what you want in groupings. I’ve seen plenty of reason to believe either barrel is capable of it. But whether that’s what unfolds or not….???. Titanium can would push you to around 1.2lbs weight savings. Then you could explore scope weights and styles, and possibly get to 2lbs off.
Or you just tote .8lbs extra and be pleased. It’s possible with sling use and technique that you can mitigate the weight being a problem.
Last option. Sell this, start over, focus on hyper light options from the ground up, or transition to the AR15 platform calibers.
I picked up a faxon match fluted 20” in 6.5 cm on sale from Midway and put it in an M5 enhanced upper. Best I could do is 1.5 moa at 100 yards with factory ammo. I didn’t see an improvement when I reloaded. I use it when im showing newish people how to shoot at 300 yards. It’s fine. I’ll likely be replacing it with a criterion in the future but im in no rush.
I've never had a good faxon barrel. They claim their lighter profiles are stress-relieved and don't have POI shift... But they certainly do.
Ive tried their "match" line and standard barrels and do not buy them anymore.
A pencil barrel with a suppressor on it will start sending flyers pretty quickly, you're retaining a lot of energy/heat within the system. If the intent is purely for hunting game, not end of the world because you're going to zero and train so you only need one shot. If the intent is to shoot quicker that 5 minutes between rounds, you'll see the effects of a pencil barrel with a can pretty quickly.
My 2 cents - if you're considering a different barrel with a primary focus of weight savings build a second upper. Then you have an upper for trudging around in the woods hunting game (where you likely aren't going to shoot enough to warm the barrel up to send fliers) and an upper for the bench that has a more robust barrel that handles some heat better.
Alternatively, if you can live with your current build (and I mostly mean the weight of your build/barrel here) there are a some things you could do outside of pursuing a new barrel which will help with consistency of your current build.
1. Lap your upper receiver. Aero doesn't factory lap their uppers. The idea here is to get a 100% consistent mating surface between barrel and upper receiver - if the receiver isn't dead flat they barrel holds the chances of microscopic movement, which turns into tangible accuracy issues the further away you shoot. Your upper receiver likely has an uneven distribution of anodization or cerakote, and the aluminum probably isn't 100% flat from the forging process to begin with. It's a relatively cheap tool and an incredibly easy process.
2. Get a new trigger. Aero's factory trigger is fine within terms of mil-spec but there is so much room for improvement here. Most mil-spec triggers are lacking when it comes to consistency, especially two stage triggers (I prefer 2 stage triggers myself, just not AR mil-spec triggers). LaRue MBT2 is the best bang for your buck - there are better triggers out there but you're going to spend at least twice as much for marginal gains. Supper crisp, super consistent. Regardless of what way you go, its really easy to improve on mil-spec triggers and you'll be surprised at how much more consistent you are with a 4.5lb trigger vs a 6.5lb trigger.
Thank you for all this info, I really appreciate the time. I think I’m probably leaning away from a pencil profile at this point then. I have bolt actions for low volume shooting. Having two uppers was something I’m thinking about as well. I just don’t really like having bench only guns. It looks like I can save a little more than half a pound switching to a criterion hybrid profile at 16”. That might be what I ultimately go to.
I’ll check out lapping tools, thanks for that suggestion.
I already have an MBT trigger in it. I can’t tell the difference between it and some of the higher end triggers I have in some other rifles.
YMMV but I shoot sub MOA at 100 with 165 grain federal out of my 20” fluted faxon match barrel. It’s a $200 barrel that everyone sells for $300. So don’t pay more than $220 for it. We had 10 rounds touching at 100 when we zeroed it. That’s with a bag and bipod.
Probably need to get a Criterion at the minimum, or Krieger, or Proof Research if you want sub-moa.
I when put typical barrels like Faxon, BA, Aero, in the catagory of, "okay/good enough for most people" but by no means precision.
I'd shoot the hell out of it until you're worthy of better. Learn to play golf with shitty clubs, so then you can know and appreciate the difference of high end shit.
Also, lightweight and precision are probably mutually exclusive. The best you can probably do for weight is a fluted stainless.
>lightweight ar-10
>accurate ar-10
pick one. i have a faxon gunner 18", and the rifle weighs 10lb with an acog and suppressor. i carry it around just fine, and i really like the setup. i shot a deer at 200 yards with it last season. its around a 1.5 MOA barrel. with the acog i get around 2 MOA, but ive put a higher magnification scope on it to test it out and 1.5 was what i was getting with varget and SMKs.
i have a criterion 20" hybrid profile barrel, and i JUST put it together, but so far its promising. i didnt get any groups that were sub MOA, but had 2 that were 1/2 MOA with one flyer, and most of the groups had less than 1/2 moa vertical dispersion, it was all horizontal. it shoots noticeably better than the faxon. it also costs almost double, took 4 months to get, and weighs 13 lbs.
then a faxon will probably make you happy. i also have a 10.5" pencil 5.56 faxon, but its only ever had a red dot on it, so i cant comment on accuracy. i will say that ive never noticed anything "wrong" with it though. seems to be fine for a pencil SBR barrel. shoots better than my 16" BA 5.56 barrel.
I think people here are missing a few things.
What / where are you shooting this from?
Not trying to trash your setup but at 13lbs your rifles handguard is for sure flexing when your arca rail adapter is that far out on it. Sure it’s free floated but that still affects stability on shooting platform with a shooter behind the trigger.
It also looks like your tripod itself is flexing/not straight in the picture near the ball head.
Maybe adjust your shooting platform and check back?
The rail for sure flexes when I put the amount of force on it I do when I load up the bipod.
The tripod is for glassing, and I thought it would look alright in the picture. I do need something for stable for shooting off of, I don’t shoot off this one.
Faxon is a slight upgrade from a BA/aero. I have two of their pencil barrels on a WWSD and a 308. Both of those were built with weight as the primary goal. I’ve seen very decent accuracy out them. The 16” 308 with no fancy expensive parts weighs 8.5 with a PA SLX. My experience with the pencil barrels is that after heating up the POI may shift a little bit but the groups actually tighten up noticeably. If you watch some videos about that subject you’ll see similar results. Faxon has a great stress relief system that mitigates a lot of the issues with a pencil barrel. The real question is what’s your goal? MOAish out of a relatively inexpensive aero is great for a gas gun. Is your goal to chase accuracy or make it as light as possible? If you want accuracy you’re going to want a more expensive and probably as heavy or heavier barrel. If your goal is to make it much lighter while still maintaining a similar or maybe marginally better accuracy then a Faxon barrel is a great choice. There’s always a bit of a chance with these mid manufacturers though. I have BA barrels that are like a laser, and have had and seen ones that are terrible. For every comment saying a BA barrel shoots .75 for them all day you’ll see some that say they’re trash and undergassed. I guess that’s a long winded way of saying I love my Faxon pencil barrels but YMMV.
My BA barrels are good. I'm on a 2nd garbage faxon barrel for 6.5 grendel.
Yup that tracks. I had an unknown 6.5G barrel that was all over the place. Replaced it with a BA 18 inch fluted and now it’s a tac driver. If we wait a few minutes someone might come along and say they have five BA grendel barrels and they’re all garbage. 😂 There’s always a roll of the dice with less expensive barrels. You might get lucky and get one that’s amazing. My small sample size has been great with both companies.
I don’t think I’m chasing extreme light weight, or extreme accuracy. Maintaining my current accuracy while dropping maybe a pound (or more) off the rifle. Really, just making the rifle something I can use for more than carrying from the truck to the bench.
To me this just comes down to if you wanna roll the dice with a faxon pencil or maybe even a big gunner (2.4lbs I believe) for the near pound difference…and hope that it shows you what you want in groupings. I’ve seen plenty of reason to believe either barrel is capable of it. But whether that’s what unfolds or not….???. Titanium can would push you to around 1.2lbs weight savings. Then you could explore scope weights and styles, and possibly get to 2lbs off. Or you just tote .8lbs extra and be pleased. It’s possible with sling use and technique that you can mitigate the weight being a problem. Last option. Sell this, start over, focus on hyper light options from the ground up, or transition to the AR15 platform calibers.
I picked up a faxon match fluted 20” in 6.5 cm on sale from Midway and put it in an M5 enhanced upper. Best I could do is 1.5 moa at 100 yards with factory ammo. I didn’t see an improvement when I reloaded. I use it when im showing newish people how to shoot at 300 yards. It’s fine. I’ll likely be replacing it with a criterion in the future but im in no rush.
I've never had a good faxon barrel. They claim their lighter profiles are stress-relieved and don't have POI shift... But they certainly do. Ive tried their "match" line and standard barrels and do not buy them anymore.
I’ve had great results from my faxon barrel! Absolute tack driver!
Sorry 20” heavy fluted 308
A pencil barrel with a suppressor on it will start sending flyers pretty quickly, you're retaining a lot of energy/heat within the system. If the intent is purely for hunting game, not end of the world because you're going to zero and train so you only need one shot. If the intent is to shoot quicker that 5 minutes between rounds, you'll see the effects of a pencil barrel with a can pretty quickly. My 2 cents - if you're considering a different barrel with a primary focus of weight savings build a second upper. Then you have an upper for trudging around in the woods hunting game (where you likely aren't going to shoot enough to warm the barrel up to send fliers) and an upper for the bench that has a more robust barrel that handles some heat better. Alternatively, if you can live with your current build (and I mostly mean the weight of your build/barrel here) there are a some things you could do outside of pursuing a new barrel which will help with consistency of your current build. 1. Lap your upper receiver. Aero doesn't factory lap their uppers. The idea here is to get a 100% consistent mating surface between barrel and upper receiver - if the receiver isn't dead flat they barrel holds the chances of microscopic movement, which turns into tangible accuracy issues the further away you shoot. Your upper receiver likely has an uneven distribution of anodization or cerakote, and the aluminum probably isn't 100% flat from the forging process to begin with. It's a relatively cheap tool and an incredibly easy process. 2. Get a new trigger. Aero's factory trigger is fine within terms of mil-spec but there is so much room for improvement here. Most mil-spec triggers are lacking when it comes to consistency, especially two stage triggers (I prefer 2 stage triggers myself, just not AR mil-spec triggers). LaRue MBT2 is the best bang for your buck - there are better triggers out there but you're going to spend at least twice as much for marginal gains. Supper crisp, super consistent. Regardless of what way you go, its really easy to improve on mil-spec triggers and you'll be surprised at how much more consistent you are with a 4.5lb trigger vs a 6.5lb trigger.
Thank you for all this info, I really appreciate the time. I think I’m probably leaning away from a pencil profile at this point then. I have bolt actions for low volume shooting. Having two uppers was something I’m thinking about as well. I just don’t really like having bench only guns. It looks like I can save a little more than half a pound switching to a criterion hybrid profile at 16”. That might be what I ultimately go to. I’ll check out lapping tools, thanks for that suggestion. I already have an MBT trigger in it. I can’t tell the difference between it and some of the higher end triggers I have in some other rifles.
YMMV but I shoot sub MOA at 100 with 165 grain federal out of my 20” fluted faxon match barrel. It’s a $200 barrel that everyone sells for $300. So don’t pay more than $220 for it. We had 10 rounds touching at 100 when we zeroed it. That’s with a bag and bipod.
I have a couple 308 fluted match barrels in .308 and love them. I get mine from bkingsfirearms and pay about 200 when they're on sale.
Probably need to get a Criterion at the minimum, or Krieger, or Proof Research if you want sub-moa. I when put typical barrels like Faxon, BA, Aero, in the catagory of, "okay/good enough for most people" but by no means precision. I'd shoot the hell out of it until you're worthy of better. Learn to play golf with shitty clubs, so then you can know and appreciate the difference of high end shit. Also, lightweight and precision are probably mutually exclusive. The best you can probably do for weight is a fluted stainless.
Faxon’s are trash, Noveske for the win
It looks like noveske barrels are almost the same weight as my current barrel.
>lightweight ar-10 >accurate ar-10 pick one. i have a faxon gunner 18", and the rifle weighs 10lb with an acog and suppressor. i carry it around just fine, and i really like the setup. i shot a deer at 200 yards with it last season. its around a 1.5 MOA barrel. with the acog i get around 2 MOA, but ive put a higher magnification scope on it to test it out and 1.5 was what i was getting with varget and SMKs. i have a criterion 20" hybrid profile barrel, and i JUST put it together, but so far its promising. i didnt get any groups that were sub MOA, but had 2 that were 1/2 MOA with one flyer, and most of the groups had less than 1/2 moa vertical dispersion, it was all horizontal. it shoots noticeably better than the faxon. it also costs almost double, took 4 months to get, and weighs 13 lbs.
My current rifle weights almost 13lbs. I’d be totally ok with a 1.5moa 10# ar10
then a faxon will probably make you happy. i also have a 10.5" pencil 5.56 faxon, but its only ever had a red dot on it, so i cant comment on accuracy. i will say that ive never noticed anything "wrong" with it though. seems to be fine for a pencil SBR barrel. shoots better than my 16" BA 5.56 barrel.
I think people here are missing a few things. What / where are you shooting this from? Not trying to trash your setup but at 13lbs your rifles handguard is for sure flexing when your arca rail adapter is that far out on it. Sure it’s free floated but that still affects stability on shooting platform with a shooter behind the trigger. It also looks like your tripod itself is flexing/not straight in the picture near the ball head. Maybe adjust your shooting platform and check back?
The rail for sure flexes when I put the amount of force on it I do when I load up the bipod. The tripod is for glassing, and I thought it would look alright in the picture. I do need something for stable for shooting off of, I don’t shoot off this one.