Gordon CAR-15 Carbine 12.7" Barrel With AEM Clamped Collar and Brake

Now a Gordon mount that fits a cut down, Government Profile carbine barrel.

If you have been waiting on one of our popular Gordon 12.5" barrels to be back in stock, this is a comparable alternative. Our original "Black Hawk Down" barrels required a specific profile only produced by Daniel Defense. Later we later had them specially cut for us. The process was slow and barrel blanks were not always available. However, we have now collaborated with Allen Engineering on a collar design that will fit on a Mil-Spec Government Profile barrel. At Charlie's we pride ourselves on getting historical military rifles and parts correct, but we have taken broad liberties on this offering. This 12.7" barrel with an AEM clamped collar is made exclusively for Charlie's by Allen Engineering to correctly fit an AEM5 suppressor.  

At some point, we want to tackle the BHD Gordon gun and other Operation Gothic Serpent guns in more correct manner. The truth is that this is hard. The heroes who fought in Mogadishu in 1993 were using many one of a kind weapons. We are accelerating the process for those customers who want something close, and will correctly fit the Allen Engineering AEM5/Ops Inc. suppressor. We have engineered this barrel, collar, and brake to correctly fit your AEM5 suppressor. End of story. You can build the CAR-15 rifle in a 727 or 733 variant using this barrel and your mounts will work.

We have taken a Mil-Spec 16" barrel with an FSB, cut it down to 12.7", then installed our custom made Allen Engineering clamped collar with the standard Allen Engineering brake to bring you this barrel set.

If we take a step back in history, the actual barrel used in Operation Gothic Serpent was 14.5" Government profile barrel, with an Ops Inc. suppressor that was custom made for the US Military in a very small number. The actual design went much further back over the barrel than the Ops Inc. #12, now the AEM5, but it looked very much like the AEM5, so most clone builders today are taking the short-cut and using the AEM5 on a 12.5" barrel, as it achieves much of the look. The collar used in 1993 was a bit of a make-shift, and some may have seen the donut style collars that are being custom made today.

Our goal is to give you something close enough that will fit the Allen Engineering AEM5 suppressor without needing more custom work. Many do not give the attention to the alignment of the AEM5 on the proper collar and brake or the proper number of turns to make sure the suppressor is properly mounted. Because of how important this is, we have done all that homework for you. Is it perfect? Not at all. But until we get the proper suppressor built, this is pretty darn close.

This turn-key barrel includes all the attachments you would expect of a replacement barrel as well as the AEM brake and thread protector. Ready for you to install into a military grade upper receiver with military grade plastic handguards. A quality Mil-Spec receiver and handguards are required. Colt, LMT, FN, Daniel Defense, BCM, CMMG, Rock River, Precision Reflex, among others, should work fine. Billet uppers and inexpensive forgings, such as Aero Precision, may not fit properly. Handguards from Colt, FN, LMT, and Double Star are all good candidates.

Note on Barrels: 

With this new clamped collar design we can now use Mil-Spec, government profile, carbine, FSB barrels from Colt, FN, and Daniel Defense. These barrels came to us as 16" or 14.5" barrels. We send them out to Retro Arms Works to be cut down to 12.7". This length was determined by Allen Engineering as the spec for use of the clamp collar and brake to properly mount an AEM5 suppressor. Since the barrels are cut down from longer lengths, the factory markings (cage code, caliber, twist) have been mostly cut off.

Certain abbreviations and nomenclature may not be familiar to everyone, so let us break it down for you:

• Barrel Blank: This is the brand of the barrel or barrel blank. Companies like Daniel Defense and FN make a finished product. Companies like Criterion make both a finished barrel and a barrel blank, from which the barrel is contoured. All barrels will have the same exact contour. In this case, all barrels other than Daniel Defense will have some contouring done to the barrel or the blank. We don't need to make this complicated, but even an FN barrel, which is 99% the same as a Daniel Defense barrel in steel, contour, chrome-lining and so forth, is still re-contoured on a lathe to get to the exact measurements of a Daniel Defense finished product. So, even though we are buying finished FN barrels, we are doing some rework of the contour and perhaps of the threads and spacing steps, to make sure the barrel behaves and fits exactly like the original. Most importantly, this ensures our Allen Engineering collar fits.
• Barrel Maker: We use Daniel Defense, FN, Bergara, Criterion, and Green Mountain barrels made for Colt. Barrels with chrome-lining are chambered first and then chrome-lined. Barrels without chrome-lining are typically rechambered by our barrel smiths to 5.56 NATO. You may see .223 Wylde markings, which Criterion uses. It is very close to the 5.56 NATO, and for our purposes is no real difference. Every one of the barrel markers make very consistent and high quality barrels. The Green Mountain barrels were made for Colt, but during one of Colt's bankruptcies, never made it there. Criterion makes outstanding barrels, as does Bergara. FN and DD are both military barrel contractors, and both are superior consistency and quality.
• Barrel Rifling Method: For these, we will be using either cold hammer forged (CHF) or button rifled barrels. In cold hammer forging, a giant hydraulic press pushes from all directions to imprint the lands and groves in the bore. Most military barrels are buttoned broached where a mandrel is pulled or pushed through the opening in the barrel to create the rifling. Both methods are very high quality. CHF provides consistency, but buttoned rifling can produce more accurate barrels, or if the wrong barrel maker is chosen, worse results. In our case, all the buttoned rifling is done by a very high quality company.
• Lining: We offer either chrome-lined or unlined chrome-moly-vanadium (CMV) steel. The chrome-lined barrels are CMV steel with hard chrome lining for durability and corrosion resistance, while the other barrels are unlined and may be 4140 or 4150 carbon steel, and are shown as CMV.
• Barrel Twist: Shown as 1:7, 1:8, etc. A 1:7 twist (the current military specification twist) is considered very fast, and useful for 77 grain bullets. A 1:8 is also a fast twist, and is good for 62 to 77 grain bullets. Finally, a 1:9 twist is more average and is good for 40 grain to 60 grain bullets. Any of these twists will work just fine for our use.
• Chambering: 5.56 NATO is the military standard, while .223 Remington is the civilian standard. A .223 Wylde or Compass Lakes' proprietary .223 CLE are hybrid chambers designed to allow a wider range of projectiles while handling the pressure of a 5.56 NATO round. SAAMI states that a .223 Remington chamber is considered incompatible with 5.56 NATO rounds. Any of the chambers we are selling will work 100% fine with 5.56 NATO or .223 ammo.

We don't want to make barrel selection too complex, but we will be getting different barrels in stock at different times. Each has a different cost profile. The biggest difference you need to worry about is: is the barrel chrome-lined? If not, more maintenance may be required. Any of these barrels will be fine for a Gordon barrel.

Generally speaking, only the barrels which are available and ready for testing and final packaging will be shown as available. While the pricing may seem high, that is due to the engineering, testing, and additional lathe work that is done on each barrel. This also includes hardware costs. While we would encourage purchase from the currently in stock barrel selection, you may sign up to be notified when the barrel of your preference will be available. Most will be available from time to time, with the exception of the Daniel Defense. We expect the supply of DD barrels to go down to zero for the foreseeable future.

Note on Front Sight Posts:  

DD barrels mostly have factory installed front sight posts. Other offered barrels will have the FSB professional installed by the smiths at Compass Lake Engineering, who are one of the two shops that Potomac and Charlie's works with on barrel engineering. You want to get that FSB alignment perfect. We are using "F" height FSBs, which are designed for flat top receivers. We realize that some might want a standard FSB for a 733/C7/A1 upper receiver. At this time, the supply of the standard height FSBs are not there in the quantities required. We would like to offer these at a later time when parts availability allows. Many will want to use these with a current flat top upper. Whether a carry handle or flat top upper is chosen, adjustments in the sights can compensate for the height.

Fit and Testing: 

Before they pass go, all barrels are individually tested for proper fit and alignment of an Allen Engineering AEM5 suppressor. Alignment is checked with a Surefire bore rod, and fit of the suppresser is checked by mounting an actual suppressor. Ron Allen has given us guidance on the correct tolerance to make the right number of turns on the suppressor.

The Gordon Barrel Kit Includes:

• 12.7" phosphated Government profile barrel. Specs will vary based upon the barrel manufacturer chosen. We are working to bring you the best barrels possible, but sourcing and specs will vary each month. Choose from the drop-down menu. 
• F-height front sight base, either factory installed by Daniel Defense or precision installed by the best in the business.*
• Barrel nut (not shown as the picture was staged as a prototype)
• Front round handguard cap (not shown as the picture was staged as a prototype)
• Allen Engineering collar installed, custom made for Charlie's.
• Allen Engineering standard muzzle break with thread protector (thread protector not shown in photographs), properly timed and installed.

*front sight posts are nothing for an amateur to install.  Ours are installed by skilled barrel smiths either at Daniel Defense factory or sent to Compass Lake Engineering to do a perfect installation.

Note: Barrels are in critical short supply. All of the barrels we offer are great quality. If your first choice is out of stock, don't wait too long, pick another barrel.

For those who wish to extend the use of their AEM5, this barrel kit is a great option, especially if you have other hosts such as a Mk12.

Charlie's also offers the actual clone-correct Gordon AEM M4 suppressor and 14.5"barrel kit. The matched set is a bit more military-correct and is a limited edition. If you are building your own Gordon Carbine clone and want the real deal, get the Gordon Carbine Allen Engineering and Potomac Armory Suppressor and M4 14.5" Matched Set.

Suppressor is optional and not part of the package, but shown for illustrative purposes: AEM5 Suppressor

For further reading, check out Recoil Web's Guns of Black Hawk Down.

Photos courtesy of Potomac Armory, Recoil Web, and Columbia Pictures

9-Hole Reviews has an excellent video on the Gordon Carbine and the history behind it.