FAXON MATCH-X SERIES TARGET PROFILE 22" RIFLE-LENGTH 22 ARC AR15 BARREL

What “Honed & Lapped” Actually Means

A barrel bore starts as a drilled and reamed hole. Reaming leaves a surface finish around 32 Ra, which is good enough for a duty barrel and is where most stainless match barrels stop before the rifling button goes through. On a MATCH-X barrel the reamed bore is honed to 8 Ra, a fourfold improvement, before it is button rifled. The point of honing first is the button: it forms the lands and grooves by displacing steel rather than cutting it, and it can only produce a surface as clean as the one it starts from. A profilometer checks the honed finish and a borescope checks for tool marks before the barrel moves on.

Rifling roughens that surface again, and so does everything that follows. The button cold-works the bore at very high pressure, raising the grain along every land edge; the 1150°F stress relief lets the steel relax and leaves a thin surface oxide; and contouring and chambering release more stress and move the bore by a few ten-thousandths. So after all of that machining is done, the bore is lapped back to 16 Ra, polishing lands and grooves together so the bullet sees one uniform surface from throat to crown. For scale, 16 Ra is the finish class of a ground crankshaft journal or a hydraulic valve spool, and it is smoother than the brushed stainless on a refrigerator door, which runs 25 to 40 Ra.

Why it matters: the smoother the bore, the less copper and carbon it holds, the more uniform the friction on every bullet, and the more consistent the velocity from shot to shot. That shows up as tighter vertical dispersion at distance, a shorter break-in, and a barrel that cleans in a fraction of the passes. Faxon then button-rifles the honed bore with 5R geometry, five lands with sloped sides instead of the sharp corners of conventional rifling, which deforms the jacket less and fouls less again.

The other MATCH-X difference is the outside. Match Series barrels are nitrided; MATCH-X barrels are left as bare 416-R stainless, blasted with S110 media for a uniform matte finish. The bore is plugged and the extension, muzzle threads, and gas port are masked during blasting, so the media only ever touches the exterior. Nothing is added to the steel, so nothing can affect the bore, and the matte stainless surface is thermally stable and easy to keep clean. The trade is that bare stainless wants a wipe of oil after wet or humid use, the same as any stainless match barrel.

What’s Included

How It’s Built and Inspected

1. 416-R stainless bar is gun-drilled and pull-reamed from the chamber end, then honed to 8 Ra. Bore diameter is checked with go/no-go pins, finish with a profilometer, and the surface with a borescope.

2. The bore is button-rifled with a 5R, 1:7 right-hand twist (.2240–.2255″ groove), then stress relieved at 1150°F for a minimum of four hours. Bore and groove diameters are air-gauged at three points along the length.

3. The blank is chopped, re-centered, and profiled between centers: Target contour, .750″ gas journal held to .0007″, 1/2x28 muzzle threads, and the recessed crown.

4. The 22 ARC chamber is cut and verified on a CMM and borescoped for an even lead. The rifled, chambered bore is then lapped to a 16 Ra finish, bringing lands and grooves to one uniform surface from throat to crown. Every barrel is magnetic-particle inspected.

5. The nickel-Teflon M4 extension is torqued to 150 ft-lb, the gas port is drilled and reamed to .081″, the extension is pinned, and headspace is checked with a 22 ARC go/no-go gauge. Finally the exterior is blasted with S110 media for the uniform matte finish, with the barrel plugged and the extension, muzzle threads, and gas port masked so the media never touches a sealing or bearing surface.

MATCH-X 22″ Target 22 ARC FAQs

What is the difference between MATCH-X and Match Series?

Both are 416-R stainless with 5R button rifling, a nickel-Teflon extension, and a recessed target crown. MATCH-X adds a bore that is honed to an 8 Ra finish before rifling and brush-lapped to 16 Ra after machining, and leaves the exterior as uncoated, S110-blasted stainless instead of nitride. Match Series is the nitrided, harder-wearing choice; MATCH-X is the smoother-bore, maximum-consistency choice.

What bolt and magazines does 22 ARC use?

22 ARC is the 6.5 Grendel case necked down to .224, so it uses a 6.5 Grendel-pattern bolt with a .136″ bolt face and 6.5 Grendel magazines. A standard 5.56 bolt will not headspace and must not be used. The carrier, upper receiver, and buffer are standard AR-15. This barrel is headspaced with a 22 ARC go/no-go gauge before it ships.

Why a 1:7 twist for 22 ARC?

22 ARC exists to push long, heavy .224 bullets, 75 to 90 gr, at velocities a .223 cannot reach, and those bullets need a fast twist to stabilize. 1:7 handles the 80, 88, and 90 gr match bullets that make the cartridge competitive past 1,000 yards, and it still shoots 62 to 75 gr loads fine. This barrel is not for 40 and 50 gr varmint bullets.

Why 22 inches?

Velocity. 22 ARC gains meaningfully from every inch of barrel, and 22″ is the length where the 80 to 90 gr bullets reach the speeds the cartridge is advertised at while the rifle-length gas system keeps the impulse soft. It is the length for a precision or long-range rifle; if you want a lighter carbine, this is not that barrel.

What is the Target profile, and what does it weigh?

3.43 pounds. The Target profile is .900″ from the chamber to the gas block and .730″ from the gas block to the muzzle, the stiffest and heaviest contour in the MATCH-X line. Stiffness is what keeps groups together as the barrel heats through a string, so it is the right choice for a rifle shot from a bipod or bench.

Do I need an adjustable gas block?

Faxon recommends one for 22 ARC. Factory loads range from light varmint bullets to 90 gr match loads, and suppressor use is common on this cartridge, so being able to meter the .081″ port to your load is worth having. The Faxon .750″ adjustable block fits the journal and never puts a screw in the gas path.

Do I need to break in a honed and lapped barrel, and how do I care for it?

Less break-in than a conventional barrel; the honed and lapped 16 Ra bore has already smoothed the tool marks that break-in normally shoots out. Clean after the first range session, then shoot it. Because the exterior is uncoated 416-R stainless, wipe it with a lightly oiled cloth after wet or humid use and run an oiled patch through the bore before storage.

Is the barrel extension installed and headspaced?

Yes. The nickel-Teflon M4 extension is torqued to 150 ft-lb, pinned, and the assembly is checked with a 22 ARC go/no-go gauge before it ships. Install it in a mil-spec upper with a standard barrel nut and a 6.5 Grendel-pattern bolt; checking headspace with your own bolt is always good practice.

Faxon Lifetime Guarantee. Covers manufacturing and material defects to the original purchaser. Excludes damage from misuse, neglect, improper installation, non-standard ammunition, or modifications. Bore erosion and finish wear from normal use are not defects. Register your product at faxonfirearms.com/product-registration to expedite service. Full terms: faxonfirearms.com/warranty-privacy-terms.

Dimensions and tolerances are nominal from Faxon engineering drawings. Gas block, gas tube, barrel nut, and muzzle device not included. Barrels are firearm components; verify function and headspace with your bolt before firing, and confirm reliable cycling with your ammunition and gas block setting. Teflon® is a registered trademark of The Chemours Company FC, LLC.

For questions, contact customerservice@faxonfirearms.com.