In this video by my friend Ivan, he looks at carbine barrels from 13.7″ to 16″ to determine the best barrel length. Specifically, he examines what is gained or lost by deviating from the non-NFA 16″ barrel length.
Learn more at kitbadger.com/13-7-to-16-the-best-barrel-length.
I’m still a consistent fan of 12.5” due to its shorter length and still having a decent return on velocity. Also makes and excellent suppressor host. That said this is ignoring NFA restrictions and looking specifically at the length itself. 13.5 or 13.7 is also quite nice but again, for me I’m a 12.5 guy.
Wow, must be nice to get free guns from SOLGW to “proof” a question literally no one has asked.
Your comment comes off like a jealous girl at the prom wondering why she wasn’t invited by the team captain to be his date.
Ivan has been asking this question for a while along with others. I’ve been privy to the conversations.
I do not have the money for that SBR tax male bovine fecal matter so like most of us I run the 16inch. A 16inch pipe with 64grain bonded tip federal LE ammo is a great performer!
Makes little sense to buy a short barrel then pin and weld a device to make it 16”. Why not just use a 16” barrel with the velocity gain? You can find a lot of short muzzle devices. 16” shorty/pin&weld vs a 16” barrel with a 1-1.5” device. I’ll take the extra velocity any day.
The velocity drops from 16in to 12.5 is minimal, especially given the effective range of a 5.59mm round.
It makes absolute sense to pin and weld- a 14.7 with a2 or 14.5 with extended is still an inch and a half shorter than a 16/16.1/16.25 with an a2. A 13.7/13.9 was specifically to get the minimum non-nfa length for use with suppressor mounts like the surefires.
I did a chrono-by-the-inch article a few years back. Going from 16″ to 14.5″ might lose you as much as 50 fps. You can have more of a change in velocity just by changing brands.