AR-15 owners. I have a barrel question.?

Question

I am in the process of buying my first AR. I have been looking and am wondering about the barrel options. Please give some insight on chrome lined vs stainless vs non lined barrels. I am intrested in accuracy, and barrel life. Also if any of you have any optics ideas for a target/varmint rifle, let me know. What do you think about the super sniper optics line. The rifle's I am looking at are in the Bushmaster and DPMS line. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Depends on what you are doing with the rifle. Tactical? Chrome lined, medium contour, subdued color. Varmint or target? Heavy stainless steel. I think barrel length will give you more to think about. 24 to 26 inch barrels give best velocity and accuracy but are unwieldy. 20 to 22 inch barrels are very handy but you lose velocity and some long range capability.

My rifle is a flat top Bushmaster with a 22 inch heavy stainless barrel. I don't remember the last time I shot at anything further away than 400 yards. The rifle is a tack driver to that range. My primary use is target and varmint and I always shoot during the day.

With optics you have a huge range of choices from HOLO sights to $1,000 scopes. Again, it depends on what you are going to do with it. Mil dot scopes, I think are best for tactical applications. You have to spend time learning how to properly use them, but once you do they are excellent.

I have two scopes for my AR. One I use for my IPSC competition shooting. It is a 3 X 9 Variable Bushnell. Inexpensive scope but adequate for the task. I rarely have to take a early morning or early evening shot in these competitions so I really don't need the better light gathering capibilities of more expensive, better quality scopes. The other scope is a 4 x 16 Burris that I use for varmint hunting. Very good scope. I supose there are better but I don't want to spend the money for just a marginal improvement.

So, decide what your primary use will be and fit the barrel and scope into that use.

Answer 2

I own a DPMS with 16 inch barrel but that's not what you want if you demand the most accuracy and usefulness as a varmint rifle.

I wish I could help you with the chrome lined and stainless, but I really don't know. You may want to use a barrel at least 20 inches long.

Go to your local gun store, the guys there will help you out. You'll probably want a Bushmaster AR-15.

Answer 3

If I were you I would go with the DPMS Panther lineup of ars, I had the Lite 16(223) and it was awesome. I got it for around 720, thats a great deal when you look at the prices of say Rock River or Bushmaster. Acuracy with ars normally depends on you and a clean barrel, plus of course sights. This being your first, I would just get the basics and learn the gun,then add all the nifty extras. Barrel life shouldnt be an issue for quite some time. These guns are usually dead on right out of the box, mine was and it had stock sights.

Answer 4

I had an AR 15 but gave it to a granddaughter to shoot gophers and bought several AK47s. They have chrome lined barrels, can be scoped if so desired, and are fun and interesting to shoot. Plastic just does nothing for me I guess.