14.5" vs 16" upper

[Hopalong]

My first AR Upper was a 16" Heavy Barrel Medium Profile Barrel model from PSA. I love this upper, it shoots really well, but it's a bit on the heavy side so I'm considering alternatives.

Intended purpose: general purpose, non-free-floated barrel, 100-ish yards max max range. It's something I'd like to keep light and mobile.

Alternative 1: Lighter weight 16" barrel.

Alternative 2: 14.5" heavy barrel with pinned/welded flash hider.

Alternative 3: 14.5" light barrel with pinned/welded flash hider.

I can think of some pros and cons for each. For my intended use, I don't think the loss of velocity from going with the shorter barrel will be a major factor. So, I have some questions:

1. Is muzzle flash/concussion much worse with a 14.5" barrel?
2. At the ranges I'm looking at, will lightweight barrels with regular handguards be detrimental to accuracy?
3. How noticeable is the weight difference between heavy and light barrels?
4. Carbine or Mid length gas system on the 14.5"? I really like the Mid length on my current setup. Any reason to switch to Carbine length for a 14.5"?

At this point, I'm somewhat leaning towards a light 14.5" to minimize weight and maximize mobility. BCM has one available for about $600 (with the welded flash hider, no BCG).

Thoughts? Is this a good option for what I'm looking for, or is there something that I'm missing?

 

[aquaman]

1. Depends on what you are using, I have a pws fsc 556 on a 14.5inch colt socom upper and people complain. With a flash hider I doubt it would be any different than a 16" barrel
2.--
3.very noticeable
4. I would stick with carbine for 14.5 because it's standard. I have read mid is better for 16" because with a carbine length gas system the rifle is over-gassed

 

[DZ]

1. Is muzzle flash/concussion much worse with a 14.5" barrel?
In my experience, no.
2. At the ranges I'm looking at, will lightweight barrels with regular handguards be detrimental to accuracy?
Depends on what level of accuracy you deem acceptable. For a lightweight, practical carbine, I would say that a lightweight barrel with standard handguards will be acceptable.
3. How noticeable is the weight difference between heavy and light barrels?
Unsure, have not handled both.
4. Carbine or Mid length gas system on the 14.5"? I really like the Mid length on my current setup. Any reason to switch to Carbine length for a 14.5"?
Mid-length. I have a 14.5" mid-length, standard profile BFH barrel with a pinned BattleComp. It has been a reliable, soft shooting set up. You are welcome to demo.

 

[OLM-Medic]

1. Is muzzle flash/concussion much worse with a 14.5" barrel?
In my experience, no.
2. At the ranges I'm looking at, will lightweight barrels with regular handguards be detrimental to accuracy?
Depends on what level of accuracy you deem acceptable. For a lightweight, practical carbine, I would say that a lightweight barrel with standard handguards will be acceptable.
3. How noticeable is the weight difference between heavy and light barrels?
Unsure, have not handled both.
4. Carbine or Mid length gas system on the 14.5"? I really like the Mid length on my current setup. Any reason to switch to Carbine length for a 14.5"?
Mid-length. I have a 14.5" mid-length, standard profile BFH barrel with a pinned BattleComp. It has been a reliable, soft shooting set up. You are welcome to demo.

What he said...with a few additions:

The weight is very noticeable. You don't think it is, but after being in ready positions you will see a difference.

Get midlength. Carbine has more muzzle rise when compared side by side.

I would recommend 16" over the 14.5" only because you might want to suppress it someday. OTOH, they make adapters that go over the flash hider anyway...so you can still do it. I have the 14.5" LW by BCM And love it.

 

[Terphunter]

No ar expert...however I just picked up my BCM 14.5" pinned regular profile chf barrel and it's sweet! Much lighter and points way better than my friends standard 16" Rock River....the Troy Vtac rail is nice because you don't have extra metal rails all over...but they give you three small ad on rails for whatever...equals very light!

Good luck with your choice...

 

[TheBulge]

I have gone over the 14.5" vs 16" for a while. I finally decided on 16".
I really like the idea of a shorter OAL but the extra inch gives me the ability to change muzzle device, gas block and hand guards without taking the upper to a gunsmith. If you can get everything the way you want the first time this not a factor.

A light weight barrel will save you about 12oz or so over a heavy maybe more or less depending on manufacture. Is it significant? I think so, but I don't lift.
Accuracy should be similar for the same quality barrels until they heat up enough to start favoring the heavy profile.

 

[Hopalong]

2. At the ranges I'm looking at, will lightweight barrels with regular handguards be detrimental to accuracy?
Depends on what level of accuracy you deem acceptable. For a lightweight, practical carbine, I would say that a lightweight barrel with standard handguards will be acceptable.

For this build, acceptable accuracy would be hitting the torso of a man-sized target at 100 yards, which this sounds like it should provide. I'll save the higher accuracy for, well, a higher accuracy build. I'm thinking I want to do an 18" SPR build at some point.

I would recommend 16" over the 14.5" only because you might want to suppress it someday. OTOH, they make adapters that go over the flash hider anyway...so you can still do it. I have the 14.5" LW by BCM And love it.

That's an interesting point that I hadn't considered, but if I go suppressed, I'd likely do it on a 300BLK SBR build so I'm not to worried.

EDIT:

I really like the idea of a shorter OAL but the extra inch gives me the ability to change muzzle device, gas block and hand guards without taking the upper to a gunsmith. If you can get everything the way you want the first time this not a factor.

I'm not that much of a tinkerer (yet), so likely the only thing I'd be changing are the non-free-floated handguards. A good thought though, and something else I hadn't considered.


Thanks folks.

 

[jimbobborg]

For this build, acceptable accuracy would be hitting the torso of a man-sized target at 100 yards, which this sounds like it should provide. I'll save the higher accuracy for, well, a higher accuracy build. I'm thinking I want to do an 18" SPR build at some point.

If that's the accuracy you want, find a used Mini-14.

 

[Hopalong]

If that's the accuracy you want, find a used Mini-14.

I've got a Mini-30, and love it, even though it's kinda heavy. Just don't stand to my right while I'm shooting....

But to your point, yes, I realize that pretty much any AR will provide at least the kind of accuracy I'm looking for, if not better. I'm just not looking for a sub-MOA shooter in this build either.

 

[Blu Falcon]

KAC SR15E3 IWS MOD 1. Arguably the best factory built fighting carbine out there. 16" lightweight profile barrel, durable, ambidextrous, modular, excellent 2 stage trigger, intermediate length gas system and an E3 bolt that will most likely outlive your great grandkids. Add a good FH of the 3 or 4 prong variety and you're GTG. Get one and call it a day. I'm Blu Falcon and I approve this message.

 

[ObsceneJesster]

You probably won't notice the difference in accuracy between the standard profile and the light weight profile based one what you want out of it.

I'd say get a Mid system in either length you go with. Especially if you get it from BCM. They've mastered the gas port size on 14.5" mid-lengths. It will shoot noticeably softer than the carbine.

16" vs 14.5" pinned? They both of their pros/cons and others have covered them.

The weight difference between a light-weight and an HBAR is very noticeable. Especially when a lot of that weight is hanging out in front.

If you go with the pinned 14.5", make sure it is set up the way you want. It's a pain to swap out barrel parts if not.

 

[dreadpirate]

What he said...with a few additions:

The weight is very noticeable. You don't think it is, but after being in ready positions you will see a difference.

Get midlength. Carbine has more muzzle rise when compared side by side.

I would recommend 16" over the 14.5" only because you might want to suppress it someday. OTOH, they make adapters that go over the flash hider anyway...so you can still do it. I have the 14.5" LW by BCM And love it.

+1

 

[mopar92]

14.5" carbine gas or 16" midlength.
Why cause if ya confuse the two you Can't mount a bayonet.
And what good is a rifle with no bayonet?

 

[-Z/28-]

I like my 14.5" carbine length. It's handy and light. The recoil is plenty mild with a T2 buffer. Plus I wanted as close to an M4 as I could get.

 

[Boom Boom]

A light weight barrel will save you about 12oz or so over a heavy maybe more or less depending on manufacture. Is it significant? I think so, but I don't lift.

There's more to it than dead weight. Much of the weight is towards the front of the barrel, meaning that leverage magnifies the effort required to point the rifle. The longer the barrel, the worse it gets.

 

[OLM-Medic]

You may think you don't want to suppress it now, but you will. I thought the same thing. Even if you get a 300BLK, you could have a threaded system that uses ONE suppressor for both calibers.

 

[ObsceneJesster]

14.5" carbine gas or 16" midlength.
Why cause if ya confuse the two you Can't mount a bayonet.
And what good is a rifle with no bayonet?

Don't forget about those M203 grenade launchers that make an AR useless if you can't mount one.

Sent with a Gen 2 Nexus 7

 

[photoracer]

So far I have done an 18" for 3-gun, a 14.5" for HD and urban warfare and a 20" in 6.8mm for long range tactical shooting. Even with a lot of lightweight CF parts on my 18" AR the weight of the 14.5" is way lighter. I made it so I could change out everything on the barrel except the pinned PSA Pigsticker comp after pinning it. YHM clamp on gasblock/flipup front sight combo and Samson Evo 7" FF railed HG. Ace Entry short skeleton stock, vertical Umbrella Corp pistol grip, Mako forward vertical grip. Now that it is finished I plan on shooting it in the next NRA NDM match instead of my heavier 3-gun rifle.

 

[Deepwoods]

I have a 14.5" full-length from bcm with pinned battlecomp and I love it. If I were to do it again, I'd get the lightweight version to save some ounces.

If it were my only rifle, I'd get a 16" barrel so I could change muzzle items, and for the slight bump in velocity. And I don't find a huge difference between the 14.5 and the 16" SS (also bcg) in usability.

But it is slightly more maneuverable, balances nicely, and runs well in classes. And I used it to hit consistently with 1x he's out to 700 yards (credit to my spotter).

 

[Hopalong]

I found an interesting spreadsheet online that lists the weights of a bunch of AR components. So when I got home, I took out my AR and actually measured the barrel, and guess what? It's not an HBAR. It's a medium profile (.75") barrel.

I went back and checked the order, and sure enough, it says medium profile barrel.

Man, my memory is for shit lately.

Oh well, back to the spreadsheet. A 16" medium profile barrel weighs in at roughly 30 oz (compared to a 16" HBAR, weighing in at 37 oz.). An M4 profile 14.5" barrel comes in at 25oz. 5 oz. is a difference to be sure, especially with the difference in length, but not as much of one as I thought (i.e. 12oz between 14.5" and 16" HBAR).

Then it dawned on me that I have an upper with, roughly, a 14.5" M4 profile barrel: my .22 upper. So I did a quasi-scientific comparison by holding each one in a ready stance for a few minutes to see how much difference in muscle fatigue there was. It was noticeable, but not as noticeable as I was expecting (probably because I was expecting my 16" upper to be 7 oz. heaver than it really is).

Bottom line: I'll probably end up with a 14.5" upper at some point, but without more of a reduction in weight I don't see the need to spring for it right now so it's going down the priority pile.

Thanks again for all the inputs folks. You guys weren't kidding when you said that customizing ARs is addictive.