Barrel Heavy or Not?

[blackwater]

So to start off with I was at a gun show today and came across this 14.5 inch barrel with a 1.5 inch suppressor on it to make it legal and got one heck of a deal on it. The guy selling the barrel said that he would sell me the barrel for 200 bucks and install it on my AR right then and there. So being a compulsive gun purchaser I took him up on the offer and when ahead and paid the gun on got it put on. But the concern that I have now is that the old barrel I had on my AR was a 16 inch Heavy barrel made my Rock River Arms and was wondering if I should get the 16 inch barrel put back on or keep the light 14.5 inch barrel on there. Oh yeah BTW the shorter barrel came with a Trijicon front night sight that my other barrel did not have. I use this rifle to plink, shoot, and hunt. Any input, suggestions, or questions would be appreciated.

 

[MR Redneck]

You shouldnt have any issue's with the 14.5 inch barrel Vs. the 16. The only thing I see happening is if the 14.5 doesnt have a mid length gas block. Put both barrels side by side and you'll see.
Also, MAKE DAMN SURE THE SUPPRESSOR IS WELDED ON OR PINNED! If not, It Is Not Legal Rifle Length!
BTW, I you were the one buying the complete upper from the guy on the North Line about midway down, I was standing right behind you.hnoes:
If the barrel aint pinned or welded, you can bring it over here and i'll tack it for ya.

 

[craigntx]

heavy bbl for extended firing accuracy, flexing less.
carrying in the field hunting i might go with the pencil bbl

 

[blackwater]

You shouldnt have any issue's with the 14.5 inch barrel Vs. the 16. The only thing I see happening is if the 14.5 doesnt have a mid length gas block. Put both barrels side by side and you'll see.
Also, MAKE DAMN SURE THE SUPPRESSOR IS WELDED ON OR PINNED! If not, It Is Not Legal Rifle Length!
BTW, I you were the one buying the complete upper from the guy on the North Line about midway down, I was standing right behind you.hnoes:
If the barrel aint pinned or welded, you can bring it over here and i'll tack it for ya.

It's pinned and welded pretty nice too can hardly see it, I did buy it from the guy on the North Line about midway down but it was just the barrel not the complete upper, I'm not sure when you were there but when I was walking in with my rifle I could see people just staring at it which makes me feel good because I guess it means I have a nice looking rifle or an extremely ugly looking rifle lol what time were you there today?

 

[M. Sage]

For something I'm going to carry a lot and not dump mag after mag through? Light barrel, please.

You shouldnt have any issue's with the 14.5 inch barrel Vs. the 16. The only thing I see happening is if the 14.5 doesnt have a mid length gas block. Put both barrels side by side and you'll see.
Also, MAKE DAMN SURE THE SUPPRESSOR IS WELDED ON OR PINNED! If not, It Is Not Legal Rifle Length!
BTW, I you were the one buying the complete upper from the guy on the North Line about midway down, I was standing right behind you.hnoes:
If the barrel aint pinned or welded, you can bring it over here and i'll tack it for ya.

Blind pins are considered permanent IIRC, so it depends on how it's pinned.

 

[blackwater]

Alright I took some pictures of it the one with the blue background (bed) is the 16 inch barrel and the one on the brown background (carpet)
I also attached some pics of the pins welded so let me know. Its pinned and welded twice so IDK if that makes a difference?

 

[M. Sage]

View attachment 6978 View attachment 6977 View attachment 6976 View attachment 6975


Alright I took some pictures of it the one with the blue background (bed) is the 16 inch barrel and the one on the brown background (carpet)
I also attached some pics of the pins welded so let me know. Its pinned and welded twice so IDK if that makes a difference?

Nope. So long as it requires cutting to remove, it's considered permanent.

 

[MR Redneck]

It's pinned and welded pretty nice too can hardly see it, I did buy it from the guy on the North Line about midway down but it was just the barrel not the complete upper, I'm not sure when you were there but when I was walking in with my rifle I could see people just staring at it which makes me feel good because I guess it means I have a nice looking rifle or an extremely ugly looking rifle lol what time were you there today?

I was there off and on all weekend. I bought a bunch of the NRA tickets and the Fire Department tickets. One hell of a good drawing on those Fire department tickets. 50 guns and 50 chances to win.

 

[AusTex]

Not sure what everyone else said.. but I can tell you I would never worry about it.. if you use it for hunting and plinking you are talking 100 yard shooting.. I was shooting my 11" sbr yesterday and for fun went for a few shots at 700 yards open sights... I hit within 10 feet of the target 4x out of a total of 10 rounds... I mostly flew the target with the other shots and hit a 100 feet low at least twice... Now this was open sights though and my eye could hardly make out the 16" steel plate.... Point is though that we are talking 700 yards with 11" 1/9 twist barrel and monarch academy ammo.... I don't listen to much of what I read on the net unless I am using a gun or a round that is to protect my own life..Then I will pay attention to ballistic/knock down power, accuracy. I have built a few 14.5" guns that I can shoot 1moa open sights at 100 yards. I would rather have a light weight gun than get what a 1/4" or less more accurate 3+ shot group gun?

*edit* before someone rips me about how 10feet form the target is soo terrible take a video of what you can do open sights on a 16" target and get back to me. Now I might have to put a scope on my gun, shoot some black hills, and try those shots again and then tell yall how things go.

 

[M. Sage]

Barrel length has little to do with accuracy. More barrel means more velocity, and that's about it.

 

[blackwater]

Not sure what everyone else said.. but I can tell you I would never worry about it.. if you use it for hunting and plinking you are talking 100 yard shooting.. I was shooting my 11" sbr yesterday and for fun went for a few shots at 700 yards open sights... I hit within 10 feet of the target 4x out of a total of 10 rounds... I mostly flew the target with the other shots and hit a 100 feet low at least twice... Now this was open sights though and my eye could hardly make out the 16" steel plate.... Point is though that we are talking 700 yards with 11" 1/9 twist barrel and monarch academy ammo.... I don't listen to much of what I read on the net unless I am using a gun or a round that is to protect my own life..Then I will pay attention to ballistic/knock down power, accuracy. I have built a few 14.5" guns that I can shoot 1moa open sights at 100 yards. I would rather have a light weight gun than get what a 1/4" or less more accurate 3+ shot group gun?

*edit* before someone rips me about how 10feet form the target is soo terrible take a video of what you can do open sights on a 16" target and get back to me. Now I might have to put a scope on my gun, shoot some black hills, and try those shots again and then tell yall how things go.

I agree and you must be a good shot to get that close, the max range I expect to shoot this rifle is 450 yards if that as far as dumping mags I might let a mag or two loose every now and then but not repeated or for long periods of time. I think the only question I have now is what should I do with my 16 heavy barrel? Thinking about starting another build with one of those bump fire stocks (ssar 15) to play around with. I'm happy with what I have after feeling the weight difference

 

[blackwater]

I was there off and on all weekend. I bought a bunch of the NRA tickets and the Fire Department tickets. One hell of a good drawing on those Fire department tickets. 50 guns and 50 chances to win.

What!?! I never once saw the Fire Department tickets for sale, are they still selling the tickets? I showed up sunday around 2 and stayed til around 5 in a red shirt with another guy that was wearing a red shirt, we were the two tall guys (brothers) there. IDK you might have seen us?

 

[ROGER4314]

I was bitten by the Black Rifle pretty badly so I had a chance to experiment with them. If I felt that the 16" and 14.5" were both desirable, I'd have two complete uppers and swap them when I felt like it. It's like having two rifles in one.

I prefer 20" and have some in 16" all heavy barrels.

Flash

 

[M. Sage]

Yeah, just swapping uppers around is one of the strong points of the AR platform. Nothing like going from .22 LR to a single-shot .50 BMG in about ten seconds.

 

[ROGER4314]

My personal rule is to have a bolt and carrier group for each upper and to NOT swap those. It's more expensive but safer as each barrel/upper has a bolt worn specifically to its own locking lugs. I know folks who swap bolts but it's not smart to go cheap on that.

Flash

 

[balloo93]

Not to be picky, but what you have welded/pinned is a Flash Hider and not a suppressor.

I have a mid-length gas 14.5" and I love that configuration.

I also have a 16" carbine (M4 style, profile govt) and I like it, but I'm in the process of turning it into a dissapator and am already liking the hold of a rifle length hand guard on a carbine!

I had a RRA with a heavy barrel and it was okay, until I started doing more drills with it. The added weight gave no real bonuses with a close quarters semi-auto rifle.

 

[Bithabus]

Not to be picky, but what you have welded/pinned is a Flash Hider and not a suppressor.

Flash suppressor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[M. Sage]

Not to be picky, but what you have welded/pinned is a Flash Hider and not a suppressor.

I have a mid-length gas 14.5" and I love that configuration.

I also have a 16" carbine (M4 style, profile govt) and I like it, but I'm in the process of turning it into a dissapator and am already liking the hold of a rifle length hand guard on a carbine!

I had a RRA with a heavy barrel and it was okay, until I started doing more drills with it. The added weight gave no real bonuses with a close quarters semi-auto rifle.

Dissipators can get picky about ammo. Low dwell time.

 

[blackwater]

Flash suppressor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks

 

[balloo93]

Dissipators can get picky about ammo. Low dwell time.

It's a carbine under the handguard. I had read about how picky the cycling can be so i wanted either carbine or Mid-length.