Experiments with Hammer Forged Barrels on AR-15s, Part II James Higley, Brian Vuksanovich, & Vern Briggs This

is our second article exploring the utility of hammer forged barrels on AR-15 rifles, and the fifth in a series about hammer forged barrels in general. Here, well consider two variations of AR-15 barrels: first, a 24" lapped barrel with 1-9" twist; second, a medium-short 18" barrel with 1-7" twist. Also, you will see some new tools and procedures for ARs. First, let's take care of the legal issues. Disclaimer 1: The article herein discusses the use of handloaded ammunition. Handloading must be undertaken with extreme caution. Loads should be checked against several sources, and all loads should first begin with recommended starting loads. The authors make no safety claims for the loads shown. Unsafe handloading can result in injury or death for the shooter or bystanders. Disclaimer 2: The article herein discusses gunsmithing, firearms modifications, and barrel fitting. These tasks should only be performed by qualified individuals. Improper modifications or improper barrel fitting can result in an unsafe firearm which may result in injury or death to the shooter or bystanders. Background In our previous article, we reported the generally excellent results obtained after fitting hammer forged chrome-moly barrels chambered for .223 Remington with 1-9" twists. These blanks were originally made for the Ruger Mini-14, but we fit them to AR-15s simply because there is a large body of knowledge about AR-15 accuracy. For further experiments, we chose two divergent approaches to ARs. The first involves fitting a long barrel to what highpower shooters call a space gun. The second involves fitting the non-standard 18" barrel length to a Designated Marksman Rifle. During our background research, we came across three publications that proved valuable, see Photo 1. The first, The Black Rifle by Edward C. Ezell and R. Blake Stevens, dates back to the mid 1980's. The book provides detailed documentation on the development and improvements made to the AR family. Original Army correspondence provides first hand, quantitative data not normally seen in the commercial shooting area. Some of you may recognize Mr. Ezell's name from the Small Arms of the World series that he authored for many years. The Black Rifle II by Christopher N. Bartocci continues where the first volume left off. The second volume covers much of the M-4 and Designated Marksman Rifle development inspiring the second rifle described shortly. Finally, Brownells AR-15/M16 Catalog shows many of the available accessories for the AR family of rifles. Much can be learned simply by browsing their catalog.

Photo 1 Three useful publications for those interested in the AR-15 The Black Rifle, The Black Rifle II, and Brownells AR-15/M16 Catalog. Our Space Gun Long barreled ARs have been a familiar sight at highpower matches and in the varmint fields for at least a decade now. Originally intended as a derogatory term, space gun now means an accurate, long barreled AR which may or may not have accessories added. Simply free floating the barrel generally gives a noticeable increase in accuracy, and many good space guns will shoot under MOA. For this experiment, we turned a hammer forged stainless steel 1-9" twist blank that would normally be used on a Ruger M77 Mark II Target rifle, and then fit the barrel to an AR-15 (see photo 2). The barrel measures 1" in diameter under the handguards and then 0.812" diameter out to its 26" length. After turning but before chambering, we lapped this barrel using a cast lead lap and 400 grit lapping compound. We also used Steel Bed epoxy to mate the upper and lower receivers together with minimal play. These procedures deserve at least one article each, so we wont be able to elaborate on them more at this time.

Photo 2 A space gun built with a lapped Ruger hammer forged barrel. An older JGS .223 Remington reamer was used to chamber this barrel with the dimensions shown in Drawing 1. Note the short lead and steep throat angle.

Drawing 1 Chamber dimensions for the space gun. In our earlier article, we chose four standard handloads to use for testing, and these are repeated below in Table 1 with the velocities obtained from the longer barrel. All bullets were moly coated. Targets 1-4 show the results of these four loads in this barrel.

Table 1 Space Gun Test Loads Bullet 40 grain Hornady VMAX 52 grain Berger 69 grain Sierra Matchking 75 grain Hornady AMAX Charge/Powder 25.2 grains Accurate Arms XMR2015 25.0 grains Hodgen Benchmark 22.0 grains Accurate Arms XMR2015 22.0 grains Accurate Arms XMR2015 Primer Remington 7 Case Lapua Overall Length 2.295" Muzzle Velocity 3487

Federal 205 Winchester WSR Remington 7

Lapua

2.275"

3257

IMI

2.260"

2765

Lapua

2.440"

2788

Target 1 40 grain VMAX.

Target 2 52 grain Berger.

Target 3 69 grain Sierra.

Target 4 75 grain AMAX. Note the four targets were fired without wind flags under fairly calm but switching conditions. We'll have more to say on wind in the next section. The two lighter bullets show just over MOA averages, while the groups open up with the heavier bullets. The 75 grain AMAX may be slightly long for the 1-9" twist, but it still averages well under 1 MOA. Given the light switching winds, we are pleased with the results. At the conclusion of these tests, we modified the rifle by slotting the handguard and adding aperture sights (photos 3 and 4) resulting in a nice match rifle for the 300 yard matches we typically shoot. Full 600 yard matches would probably need a faster twist.

Photo 3 RPA rear sight used on the long barrel AR15 match rifle.

Photo 4 Front sight for the match rifle. No serious tuning experiments have been performed yet. The DMR Concept The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have renewed the US militarys interest in accurate rifles. The development process of the Navys Mark 12 rifle is outlined in The Black Rifle II. Commercial variations of these rifles are available as Mark 12s or Designated Marksman Rifles from most manufacturers. Well use the term Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR). The military DMR rifles use the non-standard 18" barrel length rather than the 20" length that is standard on rifles. A 1-7" twist stabilizes the 77 grain Sierra bullet used in the special ammunition for DMR rifles.

As we were doing research into DMR rifles, Sturm, Ruger & Co. received a large contract to hammer forge and chamber 1-7" twist barrels for another firearms manufacturer. With the machinery all tooled up, Ruger kindly supplied a few barrels for this project. Photo 5 shows the basic components used to build this rifle. They include: 1. Chrome-moly 1-7" twist Ruger Hammer Forged barrel with a NATO specification 5.56 x 45mm chamber 2. Armalite A4 upper receiver 3. Eagle Arms lower receiver 4. Rock River Arms match 2 stage trigger 5. Brownell's 4-way gas block 6. High Standard bolt and carrier assembly 7. Brownell's 20 round magazine with chrome-silicone spring 8. Older Colt collapsible stock 9. Various specialized tools from Brownell's

Photo 5 Basic components for the DMR test rifle. The barrel measures 1 diameter under the handguard, 0.750 for the gas block, and then 0.740 to the muzzle, making for a heavy but stiff barrel. 5.56 NATO chambers vary somewhat, but this barrel uses the dimensions shown in Drawing 2. Note that the lead is much larger and longer than on the space gun, and the throat angle is less steep. Further information about .223 and 5.56 chambers may be found at http://www.winchester.com/lawenforcement/news/newsview.aspx?storyid=11

Drawing 2 NATO chamber dimensions for the DMR. A few words about the components are in order. The A4 configuration flat top upper receiver uses modified feed ramps as shown by the white arrows in Photo 6. We were not able to locate commercially available A4 configuration barrel extensions, so we modified standard ones with steeper feed ramps as shown in Photo 7. When assembled, the deeper, steeper feed ramps provide more reliable feeding at the high cyclic rates of the M4 carbine, and they also improve feeding the Sierra 77 grain bullet. Please note that this modification removes metal from the locking lug area which may reduce its strength. Any reader wanting to try this modification should read the disclaimers at the beginning of this article. We also note that commercial M4 barrel extensions will be available from Brownells by the time this article reaches print.

Photo 6 Modified feed ramps in the A4 configuration upper receiver.

Photo 7 Left: standard barrel extension. Right: modified barrel extension with deeper and steeper feed ramps. The installation of a collapsible stock on an AR-type rifle requires a special spanner wrench to tighten the locking nut. The early Colt stocks require a round pin to engage the locking nut, while later stocks require a rectangular lug to engage a much larger notch. Brownells manufactures a wrench with replaceable pins for both stock styles (Photo 8). Photo 9 shows this wrench tightening an early Colt stock with the round pin.

Photo 8 The Brownell's wrench has replaceable pins for both early and late style stocks.

Photo 9 Installing a collapsible stock with a spanner wrench. There are so many quality triggers available for the AR family that it can be hard to choose an appropriate trigger. Highpower shooters like the higher end Jewel and Geissele triggers. Looking on the other end of the spectrum, we chose a Rock River Arms two stage trigger to see if this inexpensive trigger would suffice. As with most two stage triggers, it has enormous sear engagement in the rest position. The large sear engagement provides a considerable safety margin, but a crisp second stage provides good trigger control. After a little tuning using a Brownells trigger block shown in Photos 10 and 11, we found Rock Rivers inexpensive trigger quite functional.

Photo 10 Rock River Arms two stage trigger in the cocked position.

Photo 11 Rock River Arms two stage trigger in the fired position. Note the Brownells trigger block which allows the hammer to fall harmlessly. The original DMR rifles developed by the military use a folding front sight - a logical design for a military rifle. For our rifle, which will primarily be used with optics, we chose a Brownells four way gas block seen in Photo 12. The integral upper rail always stays on the gas block, but the other three rails can be removed via two screws each. These alternate rail configurations provide great flexibility for adding accessories to the rifle.

Photo 12 Brownells four way gas block. The two side and the lower rails easily remove via two screws each.

Shooting The DMR Our first few shots from this rifle were promising. However, ARs tend not to handle well from the bench. In our earlier tests, we came up with a plastic forearm stabilizer (Photo 13). Even with this attachment, we found standard AR buttstocks inconvenient from a benchrest. The Brownells AR catalog lists the Magpul stock shown in Photo 14. While designed for military and law enforcement applications, it makes an ideal AR test platform. The flat bottom rides on the rear sandbag nicely.

Photo 13 The forearm stabilizer.

Photo 14 The DMR test rifle. For the tests with the space gun, we were fortunate to have a nearly calm day for shooting. Our luck did not hold with the DMR. Testing with Black Hills ammunition with 77 grain moly coated Sierra Matchking bullets showed slightly less than 2 groups at 200 yards in 10-20 MPH switching winds. Continued windy conditions forced us to learn how to use a wind flag. Benchrest shooters will chuckle at our experience because that sport demands windflags. High power shooters may not bring additional windflags to a match, but the shooters have the

advantage of being able to chase the spotter in slow fire. Rapid fire strings only take 60 or 70 seconds, which minimizes some of the wind effect. Further testing with a windflag showed much better accuracy. Target 5 presents the results at 200 yards using a moly coated 52 grain Berger bullet, 25 grains of Benchmark powder, and a CCI BR4 primer loaded in Lapua cases. This load has performed consistently in all .223 rifles we tested. A 10-15 MPH gusting, switching wind made this test challenging as the targets show, but the 0.77MOA average is quite respectable given the experience of the shooter.

Target 5 Shot with the DMR test rifle. We also tested this rifle with bare 70 grain Berger bullets, 25 grains of Varget powder, and CCI BR4 primers loaded in Lapua cases with excellent results as shown in Target 6. We would have liked to have done more testing with the Black Hills 77 grain ammunition, but we ran out before learning how to use the wind flag.

Target 6 Shot with the DMR test rifle. Table 2 gives more details of the test loads. The long barrel and tighter lead and throat on the space gun give more velocity than on the DMR as we would expect. Table 2 DMR Test Loads Bullet 52 grain Berger 70 grain Berger Charge/Powder 25.0 grains Hodgen Benchmark 25.0 grains Hodgen Varget Primer CCI BR4 CCI BR4 Case Lapua Lapua Overall Length 2.250" 2.250" Muzzle Velocity 2939 2736

After completing accuracy testing, we reconfigured the DMR rifle with its collapsible stock and a nice little Russian 4x scope as shown in Photo 15. The rifle weighs just over 9 pounds with the scope making it somewhat heavy but a very portable and accurate rifle. The addition of a four rail handguard, muzzle brake, and backup iron sights would complete the rifle.

Photo 15 The final DMR rifle weighs about 9 pounds complete with the Russian 4X scope. Conclusions The ease of getting good accuracy from the AR platform continues to amaze us, and the Ruger hammer forged barrels show excellent accuracy in all configurations we have tried. We did expect an accuracy penalty from the long NATO throat on the DMR rifle, but the best groups shot with the DMR are only a little larger than the best groups shot with the space gun, and this could well be due to the shooting conditions. James B. Higley Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology Purdue University Calumet higley@calumet.purdue.edu Brian Vuksanovich Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology Youngstown State University bdvuksanovich@ysu.edu Vern Briggs Forging Process Engineer Sturm, Ruger & Company vbriggs@ruger.com