ar-15, barrelWhat are the disadvantages / advantages to a specific barrel weight? Obviously light weight barrels save weight, but is there a practical reduction of durability or anything? I am specifically talking about AR-15s, although I assume the advantages / disadvantages would be the same no matter the weapon. Thanks!
The simple answer is that lighter barrels are less resilient to very high volumes of fire. They heat up faster and dissipate heat slower, so you more quickly arrive at the point where your barrel should be given time to cool before it is damaged.
Other, less-commonly-important answers include barrel harmonics, rigidity and accuracy. Heavier barrels are less affected by harmonics because there is more mass to them and more effort is required to distort them in any appreciable way. Rigidity also aids in consistency, which can increase the accuracy of the rifle (but not the accuracy of you — sorry, that takes practice). To visualize barrel harmonics, check out videos on YouTube of very-high-speed cameras filming the firing of a gun. The longer the barrel, the more “shake” there will be to it as the bullet leaves.
Additionally, heavy barrels can have weight (and rigidity, given the same overall diameter) removed while increasing surface area (for greater cooling) with the aid of flutes. Fluting a barrel also has its own set of tradeoffs that are expertly explained in an article titled The Real Benefits of Barrel Fluting.
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