Help me indentify this AR barrel caliber

[Thomas]

I bought this upper years ago and I don't remember the specs. I believe it is an 18inch stainless ar stoner in 223 wylde but not sure anymore. I'm trying to identify it without taking the barrel nut off, as I don't know how to safely reinstall it. Anyone recognize this marking.. I can only see part of it. What I can see is. -13 1-8

Update .. belive it says 04 -01-13 1-8.. is that manufacture date? How can I figure out if its 223 wylde or like just 223 or just 556

Pretty sure there are no other markings

 

[fnfalguy]

I’m guessing the 1-8 is the twist rate.

 

[Thomas]

I’m guessing the 1-8 is the twist rate.

Yes 1 in 8 twist.. isnt 223 wylde generally 1 in 8 twist? Can 223 or 556 be 1 in 8 twist or are they 1 in 7 and 1 in 9

 

[fnfalguy]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen 5.56 barrels with that twist rate as well, so that doesn’t help narrowing it down.

 

[Thomas]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen 5.56 barrels with that twist rate as well, so that doesn’t help narrowing it down.

5.56 would be okay. I don't want to fire 5.56 in it though if its a 223, so that's why I'm trying to figure it out.

 

[SomeSoldier]

Calipers?

 

[togmaster]

Take the barrel nut off.

 

[Edwardteach72]

"Expensive" option: go / no go gauge

But you won't have to remove anything.

Less "expensive" option: take it off and look

 

[repete]

Geez, just do a chamber cast and remove all doubt. If you don't know how to chamber cast no problem I'm sure lots of info on utube. It's not hard but to do it right you'll need to get some Carosafe.(sp?)

 

[dwa12479]

What a shit design barrel that the relevant info is hidden under the barrel nut.

An armorers wrench is all you need to remove and reinstall the barrel nut. They're not terribly expensive, and any AR owner should have one.

 

[Thomas]

What a shit design barrel that the relevant info is hidden under the barrel nut.

An armorers wrench is all you need to remove and reinstall the barrel nut. They're not terribly expensive, and any AR owner should have one.

Will anything move and get out of wack where o need a gunsmith to reset the barrel

 

[1075tech]

Will anything move and get out of wack where o need a gunsmith to reset the barrel

You'll have to remove the gas tube. You'll need a small pin punch.

 

[meketrefe]

like others said nobody can even begin to guess w/o seeing it so you have to pull the barrel so you can read.
At the same time if the barrel was made in the last 20 years there is a huge chance it is not a 223 SAAMI chamber.
Even if the barrel says 223 Rem there are more than a dozen reamer versions that are 100% compatible with 5.56
and 223 match ammo. Wylde is just one of them but there are also variants of that one. 223 even w/o being labeled
in the barrel or reamer as match provide some very slight nice variations and, most importantly they are safe and
cross compatible to use with any ammo.
there are even variants of the 5.56 as there are several reamers and countries involved and they are not all exactly
the same.

I would be more concerned about proper headspacing and tennon length if this was from an unknown or dubious source.

So remove your barrel to start but otherwise wylde or not doesn't mean anything.

If that says 1:8 that is mos likely the rate that is also simple to verify with nothing more than a cleaning rod and masking tape.

 

[dwa12479]

Will anything move and get out of wack where o need a gunsmith to reset the barrel

Nope. You can pop the gas tube out of the block, or take the whole block with tube off (that's my preferred method if it has set screws). Just mark it ahead of time so you can realign it. Then take the barrel nut off. There are lots of youtube videos on replacing gas blocks/tubes and barrel nuts. It's really pretty simple.