14.5 inch or 16.5 inch ???? Size matters and advice needed.

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Helipilot69

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A friend of mine who is a new shooter is determined to buy a high end AR and asked my input about which barrel length to order.

BUT . . . I'm a CAS shooter and have never owned an AR! I did my best and gave him the conventional wisdom about the trade offs between muzzle blast, ease of handling and accuracy past the 100m mark.

But now I need help from you guys who have owned and used ARs to provide a more informed answer.

Thanks in advance!!
 
Go 16"+. Better all around gun. Good for plinking, target work, CQB and 3 gun. Also allows portability to the US.
If purely for target work, 18+" is even better.
14.5" is neither here nor there unless your friend wants to start an AR collection with multiple barrel lengths.
 
If your friend ever has the faintest thoughts about wanting to take it down state side to hunt or do carbine classes then i'd go with the 16.5"

If he's absolutely certain he never wants to take it down south then it really depends what he wants to do with it. The 16.5" is better all around as a range toy or competition gun. The 14.5 might have a slight edge in CQB but that's about it.

I would personally go with the 16.5" and then later on down the road do a real short AR build with a 10.5" or 11.5" barrel if he wants something shorter. That way you get the best of both worlds.
 
11.5" or 16" should be the question. The velocity drop from 11.5" to 14.5" is almost nothing compared to the gain from 14.5" to 16".
 
sky52 said:
16" midlength gas, softest shooting AR in a carbine setup.
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Agreed. If you're going 16" (which is, in my opinion, the most useful AR barrel length) then go with a mid-length gas system--that provides lower operating pressures for the action.

The 14.5" seems to me to be too long to be as handy as 12.5" or shorter rifle, while not providing any benefit over a 16" rifle.
 
"handiness" depends on your body size. A 11.5" gun to a 5'2" girl is not the same to some guy who is 6' tall 190 lb.

There is no real performance difference between 14.5 and 16 in velocity. The difference in velocity is like 70 fps or so and it is purely academic. That amount of velocity goes out of the window in less than 30m from the muzzle right out of the gate. If you can't hit something with 14.5" at 500 yards , you won't be able to hit it with 16" either. The talk on "better velocity performance" has little bearing on practicality, in the difference between 16 and 14.5..

The choice is more like the gas system - both 14.5" and 16" are available in mid-length gas system and carbine gas system. You can also get push rod systems like HK, SIG, PWS and some others. There are no denial mid-length gas system is the smoothest shooting system, but most off the shelf rifles are based on the carbine system.

Buy whatever that pleases your friend's eyes.
 
If he's never planning on cross border competition I'd opt for the shorter bbl. Under 300M there's no practical difference in performance from the shooters perspective. While the mid-length gas system is more gentle than the carbine, it's a purely civilian invention. For novice shooters and AR newbies, sticking with your standard mil-spec carbine system might make more sense given the widespread availability of spare parts and long established reliability of the latter's gas system. Then again, I'm partial to shorter bbl ARs.
 
The gold standard is a 16" barrel. A 20" barrel offers almost zero gain over a 16" barrel and only adds weight and length. At one time or another I have had 10.5", 11.5", 14.5", 16" barrelled carbine gas system guns, and I've also had 14.5" and 16" mid length gas system guns. Like Greentips has said the mid length guns are the smoothest shooting. I'm also a fan of thin/pencil barrels. A lightweight barrel makes a world of difference in how the rifle balances which makes the rifle much easier to carry and swing.
 
I know the question is 14 or 16.

Consider 18" barrel with rifle length gas system. Very smooth shooting. Slower heat build up. Less wear on parts.

In states they call them SPRs. Colt has new offering in 18.6" (they thought ARs can go unrestricted, ha-ha). Daniel Defense has one too. Plenty of choices south of the border.

And you can get a piston 10" upper later for your blasting pleasures.
 
Kidd X said:
The gold standard is a 16" barrel. A 20" barrel offers almost zero gain over a 16" barrel and only adds weight and length. At one time or another I have had 10.5", 11.5", 14.5", 16" barrelled carbine gas system guns, and I've also had 14.5" and 16" mid length gas system guns. Like Greentips has said the mid length guns are the smoothest shooting. I'm also a fan of thin/pencil barrels. A lightweight barrel makes a world of difference in how the rifle balances which makes the rifle much easier to carry and swing.
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The difference between 14.5" and 20" is 50m according to the US army, using M855. M855 is fast and the trajectory is relatively flat, so all is good.

With rounds like 77 SMK, a 18 to 20" rifle can be used out to 600m. Since 77SMK is slow to start with, it is better to have more MV to start with. Otherwise, it will shoot like a rainbow and become a 200m weapon for all practicality. Essentially, it behaves like shooting 17Xgr out of a short barrelled 308.
 
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