Barrel Depot's latest release is this fluted M242 25mm Barrel for M2A2 Bradley and later LAV25's.
The barrel consists of two parts, the aluminium barrel with six flutes the length of the barrel and a separate muzzle brake in formed brass. There are two rows of four lightening holes on each side of the hollow muzzle brake which is glued to the end of the barrel with a dab of cyanoacrylate.
There is no cleanup needed on either part before assembly with the machining of flutes done quite convincingly and the holes in the muzzle brake are cleanly depicted.
Fitting the barrel to the Trumpeter LAV25 kit is quite easy but the base of the aluminium barrel is slightly narrower than the Trumpeter barrel and will need a little 'padding' to fit snugly into the barrel collar. This can be done by wrapping masking tape around the barrel base and then using cyanoacrylate to fix the barrel in place.
The barrel fits perfectly into the mantlet on the Tamiya M2A2 Bradley kits without any modification making for an easy update here.
Photos also show different muzzle brakes on the fluted barrels, the original “long” type with eight gas holes seen with the unfluted barrel and a shorter type with four gas holes, but there are also three rows of holes as opposed to the two rows on this and the Trumpeter barrel.
Assembled barrel with the Trumpeter kit barrel
Image of later fluted barrel and muzzle brake with three rows of gas holes
Image courtesy of David Harper
A nicely machined and detailed barrel that fits easily to the Trumpeter LAV25 with minimal modification or straight into the Tamiya Bradley kits with the only query being the two rows of gas holes in the muzzle brake.
Recommended
Thanks to my Credit Card and the guys at Hobby Easy.