Pro & Con to 12.5" Barrel

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A.T.R.

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Looking at maybe swapping out a barrel on one of my ARs.

I do primarily CQB style shooting, and a future AR purchase will fill the need for a longer barreled platform.

So Im looking at a 12.5" barrel.

Anyone shooting with this length, any pros or cons?

It's just not a length you hear too much about.
 
12.5 is the best of both worlds. Great ballistics for a short barrel, and short enough for CQB. 14.5 gets my all round barrel vote, but 12.5 SBR's are the sweet spot as Misanthropist commented.
 
Also agree, 12.5 hits a sweet balance between looks and function. It just looks right. Even a 14.5 looks a TAD bit too long in the barrel...a 10.5 looks a TAD bit short. 12.5 really does pleasing things for the eyes.

As for loudness....well I put a troy crusader brake on mine and its louder than 12 gauge magnum slugs. But I don't find slugs to be terrible anyways.
 
I'm coming from the 20" and the 16" middy lengths and right now I'm really warming up to the 12.5" for CQB purposes. Really enjoyable!

Now it's time to also play with an incoming 14.5" really soon!

Enjoy the addiction!

BArney
 
i run a 12.5" barrel on a 12" railed upper and a 10.5"barrel on a 9" railed upper. the 12.5" is much heavier but i would put most the weight to the rail and optics.
the 12.5" has no problem staying on target @ 100 and truthfully i dont think ive shot my 10.5 out to 100 before. i keep the 12.5 zeroed @ 100 and 10.5@ 50.
if you want to give them a try drop me a pm.
 
Donster 125 said:
Out of curiosity, have you considered an 11.5"?
Click to expand...

+1

I'm kind of going back and forth between the two right now and couldn’t find hard numbers, but I also didn’t find anything to show that the performance/function between an 11.5” barrel compared to a 12.5” barrel was anywhere near as big a deal as it is between a 10.5” barrel and 11.5”.

From what I gathered, the 12.5” barrel will obviously have longer dwell time and will develop more velocity then an 11.5” barrel (prob not a substatial amount?), I'm pretty sure the driving force behind the 12.5” barrel length is suppressor compatibility. Apparently the majority of reflex suppressors in the US require a barrel length of at least 12-12.5” to fit properly.
 
GD45 said:
+1

I'm kind of going back and forth between the two right now and couldn’t find hard numbers, but I also didn’t find anything to show that the performance/function between an 11.5” barrel compared to a 12.5” barrel was anywhere near as big a deal as it is between a 10.5” barrel and 11.5”.

From what I gathered, the 12.5” barrel will obviously have longer dwell time and will develop more velocity then an 11.5” barrel (prob not a substatial amount?), I'm pretty sure the driving force behind the 12.5” barrel length is suppressor compatibility. Apparently the majority of reflex suppressors in the US require a barrel length of at least 12-12.5” to fit properly.
Click to expand...

Not exactly what you're looking for, but might be worth a look:

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=509733
 
And here's why BCM went 11.5 (over 10.5)...

"The 11.5" carbine is approximately 4% longer weapon than its' 10.5" counterpart, but this extra inch gives the barrel a 40% increase in length for dwell time. IMHO, this is an excellent trade off. This additional dwell time (all other things being equal) will allow the carbine to be more forgiving to different ammo types, extremes in air temperature, weak or worn extractor springs, worn extractors, buffer weights, etc." (taken from ARFCOM)

That being said...not sure how a 12.5 would play out over the 11.5...
 
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