I was looking at building a lightweight AR pistol, using off the shelf parts, that wouldn’t break the bank. Part of what I needed was a lightweight barrel. Faxon Firearms had exactly what I was looking for with their 10.5” pencil profile barrel. As a bonus, Faxon threw in their slim profile muzzle brake. So off to assembly I went.

When the Faxon barrel first arrived, I weighed it on my scale. There’s a few reasons for this. First, I wanted to know the actual weight. The barrel alone weighed in at 14.53 ounces, so not even a pound. The same barrel in a 16” weighs about 20 ounces. Second, this Faxon barrel comes with a gas block, but no gas tube. Because I figured I wanted a total weight, I weighed it with a gas tube and the supplied gas block. Total usable weight was 16.26 ounces, so essentially a hair over a pound. Speaking of the gas block, a really cool thing about it is the pre-drilled hole so you can pin the gas block on with the supplied pin. The gas block also has set screws on the bottom to tighten it up. Having a pinned gas block is especially nice if you are expecting any type of hard use situations.

The Faxon pencil barrel specifications are pretty standard. This one has a pencil profile. It is made from 4150 CMV steel, has a 5.56 NATO caliber and is 1:8 twist button rifled. Faxon QPQ Nitrides the whole barrel for corrosion and wear resistance. Because it’s a pencil profile, Faxon uses a 0.625 gas block diameter. Being a 10.5” length, it uses the carbine length gas system. To quality control their barrels, Faxon magnetic particle inspects them so that good barrels get sent out to the user and bad ones don’t. Lastly, the barrel is threaded the standard ½-28 and has a recessed target crown.

Faxon also sent me one of their Slim 3-port muzzle brakes. This particular muzzle brake has an outside diameter of 0.620”. It screws directly onto the barrel threads and comes with a crush washer. The small outside diameter of this brake makes it possible to remove the gas block without removing the muzzle brake. This can be especially nice if you have to pin and weld a muzzle device on to meet a legal length. It is 2.125”’ long, so it will bring a 13.9” barrel to the legal 16” length. I however am using this on a pistol, so no need to pin and weld. When installing the 3 port muzzle brake, be extremely careful as the metal is softer than I realized. I rounded the corners of it with an open end wrench trying to time it properly with the supplied crush washer. Make sure your wrench is on the solid portion, not over a port. That crush washer is stronger than any I have seen. Besides my error in installation, the 3 port design actually works very well. I was a little hesitant due to the smaller size, but it performs as well as other 3 port comps I have used. It actually tamed the little 10.5”’s recoil down some. Now it is loud, but all compensators like this are. The slim brake also only weighs 1.12 ounces.

The Faxon Lightweight barrel combo serves its purpose. I put it through some use during a “range day.” This is a training style match that the local club has. The barrel and comp both performed well with zero hiccups. Now that can’t be said about the shooter. I also did some accuracy testing at 100yds. The barrel averaged about 2-3” groups with normal ammunition. As expected, as the barrel heated up a little, the groups would string some, but I included it in the group sizes, so you can tell it’s not terrible. For a 10.5” barrel, the accuracy is fine for me because I don’t expect to use this pistol past 100 yds anyhow.

If you are looking into a super lightweight barrel, definitely check out the Faxon line of barrels. They are one of the few that come with a pinned on style gas block. The 10.5” barrel and gas block were just the lightweight stuff I was looking for. While you are over at Faxon, don’t forget to look at the slimline comp too.

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Short lightweight barrel with a pinned gas block

Target Market:

Builders wanting a super lightweight barrel/gas block combo

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

Barrel:

4150 CMV
Button Rifled
5.56 - 1:8 twist rifling
10.5" Pencil profile
Carbine length gas system
QPQ Salt Bath Nitride finish
1/2-28 threaded muzzle
.625" gas block diameter
Gas Block Journal Length: 1.1"
M4 barrel extension
Magnetic Particle Inspected
11-degree Target Crown
Barrel weighs 14.53 oz
Weight with gas block and gas tube is 16.26 oz
Pin on gas block

Comp:

QPQ Salt Bath Nitride
Thread: 1/2"-28 TPI
Weight: 1.12 Ounces
Length: 2.125 Inches
Outer Diameter: .620”
Caliber: .223/5.56

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

Different lengths and calibers

What others are saying?:

5/5 stars at FaxonFirearms.com

Top shelf quality. As a toolmaker I can pin a gas block but for the money it's not worth me setting up to do it. Beautiful work

Link to other reviews:

Closes I could find was for the 16” pencil barrel - HERE

Price point:

MSRP:

Barrel - $195.00

Muzzle Brake - $59.99

Retail: Probably a little cheaper if you can find the same combo

I need it now! Availability:

Faxon Firearms

Our Rating:

Pros:

Super light
Pinned gas block
Optional muzzle brake that matches barrel
QPQ Nitride finish

Cons:

Accuracy

Score: 8.00 Great

Favorite Link: Gun Guys Garage

Faxon Firearms has been making quality barrels for some time now. They recently entered into the rimfire barrel market with their 10/22 barrels. Faxon has three different barrel contours to choose from as well as two types of fluting options. There are also three different coating options to choose from. I opted for the flame fluted standard profile in chameleon PVD.

The Faxon 10/22 barrel has a bunch of features not provided on the factory Ruger model. Most notably is probably the addition of Flame fluting. Faxon does a unique style of fluting as one of the options. As one can guess, the fluting looks like “flames”. If you get the “Chameleon” PVD coated barrel, the flutes are actually a different color than the rest of the barrel, which actually makes the flames look a bit more realistic. Since the barrel is PVD coated, the look of the coating will vary from barrel to barrel. This particular one is more of a lavender to blue fade with the flutes being a yellowish orange color. Some are more a blue to green fade. Fluting, both standard and Flame, provides better cooling of the barrel by providing more surface area for the barrel to give off heat. More important to me, is that on a rimfire barrel, it reduces the overall weight. In this case, the Faxon barrel is 0.4 lbs lighter than a factory Ruger 10/22 barrel. Faxon’s pencil profile reduces the weight by another 0.4 lbs, so a 0.8 lb reduction total. The Chameleon barrel sent to me weighs 1.4 lbs total.

When manufacturing the rimfire line, Faxon uses all the same quality materials they use in their other barrel lines. The Rimfire barrels are made from 416-R stainless steel bar stock, in Cincinnati, OH at the Faxon plant. The barrel is given 6 groove rifling with a twist rate of 1:16. The 1:16 is pretty standard for 22 rimfire barrels. They then cut a recessed target crown into the muzzle. The muzzle is also threaded ½-28” to a depth of 0.625”. A thread protector and spacer is also included. The spacer is to be used on muzzle devices that use the 0.400” depth instead of the 0.625” depth. Faxon rimfire barrels are also magnetic particle inspected for flaws and then heat treated and coated. Currently all of the Faxon Rimfire line barrels come in a 16” length.

When looking into 10/22 barrels, one typically finds “bull” style barrels. Faxon has those now too. But the standard profile is really nice if you're not into those “heavy” barrels. The Faxon Rimfire barrel has a tapered profile. It goes from 0.912” after the chamber down to 0.600” before where the muzzle threads start. This is pretty close to the Ruger’s standard barrel profile. The Faxon does fit in my standard 10/22 stock. It may not fit all of them, but it fits mine fine. Faxon also gives the Rimfire line a “Sporting” chamber. This gives the Faxon 10/22 barrels the ability to feed almost all the .22lr ammunition out there. I personally would have liked to see a slightly different chamber used, something like a “Bentz” for a little better accuracy. But I understand why Faxon went with the normal “sporting” chamber.

I ended up mounting the Faxon barrel to a stock Ruger 10/22 action. The barrel fit about the same as the stock barrel I removed. Meaning it slid into the receiver easily with little side to side movement. I then proceeded to mount it in an Enoch Deep-Six chassis. I opted for a chassis because I felt that a regular stock would not do the Faxon Chameleon barrel justice. The barrel looks really good mounted in the chassis. The chassis is also lighter than some wooden stocks, making this barrel/chassis combination very light.

After essentially making a complete different 10/22 than I had started with, I headed out to the range. Since ammunition availability is scarce, I rummaged through my stores of .22lr ammo. I found around 8 different types of plinking ammo, but no match ammo. I figured plinking ammo would be fine for this test. Especially since I don’t consider the Faxon barrel to be a true match barrel. Yes, the barrel is very high quality, it just doesn’t have a match chamber. I shot the various “cheap” 22lr ammo, through the barrel, at 50 yards. All but one of the major brands seemed to group around 1 - 1.5”’s at the 50 yard mark. I started with 5 shot groups and then moved to 10 shot groups. I was really pleased with how well the Faxon barrel shot. My factory barrel shot around 2 - 3” groups with these kinds of .22lr ammo. So as far as accuracy is concerned, I think the Faxon is good to go. If someone were to take the time and figure out which ammunition their barrel prefers, I would expect better results than what I had.

If you’re looking for something different in the 10/22 game, look into the Faxon Rimfire barrels. They aren’t necessarily cheap, but they are excellent quality and made in the USA. With all the different options, you can get extra lightweight, fluted, flame fluted, coated, etc. I’m very pleased with the quality of the barrel along with how it stands out from everyone else's boring barrels. Go give the Faxon Rimfire line a look if you’re building a 10/22 or just looking for something different.

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Lightweight 10/22 barrels

Target Market:

10/22 owners or builders wanting a lighter, more accurate barrel

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

Chamber: .22 LR Sporting
Flame Fluted
416-R Stainless
Weight: 1.4 lbs
Length: 16"
Twist rate: 1:16
Chameleon PVD coating
Rifling: 6 Groove
Target Crown: Recessed
10/22, non-takedown
Taper - 0.912" after chamber, .600" before thread shoulder
Muzzle Thread: 1/2x28
Thread protector included

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

Straight fluted, Pencil, Heavy, all in black, gold, or chameleon

What others are saying?:

5 stars at Faxon Firearms

Great barrel

Barrel came in fast and well packed. Looks better in person. Fits like a glove no issues setting it. Shoots great but I only have 150 rounds through it so far.