New Swiss Arms Barrel

angryeyebrows

angryeyebrows

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Finally finished a project that was started many months ago with Ian from Herron Arms. I always thought the full size Swiss Arms rifles felt too long so I wanted to make a Swiss Arms carbine non-restricted, to keep it as short and light as possible. The long barreled carbine has a barrel of 17.9" which is .6" too short, so the goal was to make a new non-restricted barrel with an integral flash hider to meet the minimum non-res requirements.

The barrel was made from a Krieger barrel blank and then instead of parkerizing it, we had it nitrided. This process is a metal treatment that is applied to both the inside and outside. Essentially it doubles the barrels life without the loss of accuracy that is inherent with chrome lining. It is even spaced correctly to allow a NATO bayonet to mount properly.

It turned out really nice. Here are some pics.

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#### Proenneke said:
Nice. Range report please :)
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I'm waiting for the ACR to arrive...Then I will decide which to keep. I'm a minimalist and it will drive me crazy to have two of the same type of rifle.

gorky said:
Looks great ! Do you notice a difference in the balance of the gun ?
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Ian followed the original barrels profile and I think that it is pretty close to the factory long barrel, taking into account the lack of a rifle grenade bump and the addition of about .6 inches. If you have ever held the long barreled carbine, that's what it feels like.
 
I will see what I can do for a range report as soon as I get some time. As for the weight, it comes in at about 8lbs unloaded, where the full size rifle is about 9lbs unloaded. It is 37" long where the full size is about 39.5" long. So it's a little lighter and a little shorter, but it is definitely more balanced feeling than the full size rifle, which to me feels front heavy, especially with the bi-pod.
 
Sweet looking carbine you got there. Being an integral flash hider does that mean Ian machined it out of the barrel blank too?? Damn that looks nice! Was on the fence about building something similar now I gotta talk to Ian again!
 
aznshooter said:
Sweet looking carbine you got there. Being an integral flash hider does that mean Ian machined it out of the barrel blank too?? Damn that looks nice! Was on the fence about building something similar now I gotta talk to Ian again!
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Yup, the flash hider is cut right from the blank. I had it out to the range and it shot great. I will take it out for one more session when I have time and I'll document the groups.
 
angryeyebrows said:
I'm waiting for the ACR to arrive...Then I will decide which to keep. I'm a minimalist and it will drive me crazy to have two of the same type of rifle.
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........and why would you settle for this old design when your getting the latest and greatest?

Sell this one to me. w:h:

Nice rifle! I have always wanted the carbine length SAN, but the restricted status has kept me away. Maybe Harron arms will start to produce more of these non restricted barrels.
 
X-man said:
I like it. Did Herron Arms do the nitride finish too or do they farm that out?
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I researched a company who could do it and had some experience and knowledge of firearms. The starting price for the gas nitride process is $360 plus tax. It isn't cheap. BUT you could do 10 barrels for that price. Which only really puts the cost at about $40 per barrel.

After making a phone call or two I found another company willing to do some AR barrels with my Krieger, which cut the cost down quite a bit.

The other great thing about the nitride process is that it can be applied to stainless steel as well. I might look at doing it again with Questar's ACR barrel...after I get it turned down a bit!
 
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