Thread: ARs barrell length and suppressors

OK toying with the idea of getting one of those ARs from Digit, good price, and I bet they are well made. I would want to put a suppressor on and as it would be my only light calibre rifle I would want it to be accurate as far out as possible. So, if I drop from a 20" barrell to 18" or 14" how much accuracy will I lose at say 200-300m ??
Optimum combination for 200-300m ?

14" barrels are nice to point, and thats about it.
They are a SHITLOAD louder than 16" let alone 20"
I just sold my spare 14.5 M4 and will be pulling my other one and fitting a 16 or 18 to it.
- Just see you'll be running a can - then shouldnt make too much difference noise wise, but speed will be around <400fps slower than a 20"

I'd buy a 18 or 20, and turn the 1" section under the handguards right down, will probably end up with a lighter gun than a non turned 14" (unless its a M4 cut barrel inwhich its a heap lighter to start for)
You'll learn over time that quad rail handguards suck, milspec triggers feel like rubbing to pieces of wood together, and if you;'re a leftie, everyone will just laugh at you

I love my 14,5" with short can, it's shorter than my 18" benelli m2 and balances/points great

You can still get ~2700 fps with a 77gr bullet from a 14.5, and with an appropriate contour barrel it'd be super light (I have a stupid fat m4a1 contour which I need to get turned down at some stage)

The longer barrels start getting very front heavy depending on contour, and just plain heavy as well

Quad rails are sort of useless for most people, a quality plain free float tube like the Troy Trx or whatever is equally light and slimmer and simpler.

You can go much lighter with magpul MOE hand guards or the m4 clamshell hand guards but then you have no freefloat

Yeah the quad rail is a bit of a put off, encorages people to bolt on heaps of shit that they don't really need. I spent 10 yrs using a A2 for a job, so weight isn't an issue for me.
Leaning to the 20" with a can.

Also 14.5" is loud as hell unsuppressed, you're sort of limited re: cutting barrels shorter once you have it, due to the gas system, and suppressors add back pressure which makes your rifle run dirtier, is harder on the bolt etc and blows gas in your face through the charging handle, so you may want to get a gas buster charging handle or do the DIY mod

Also milspec triggers are The Worst, and you can't simply clean them up or file bits off to improve them as the parts are only case hardened, and my timney cost $460

Bbl length really depends what you want it for. 14.5" can be just as accurate, just a bit less speed

Originally Posted by gimp

and with an appropriate contour barrel it'd be super light (I have a stupid fat m4a1 contour which I need to get turned down at some stage)

The longer barrels start getting very front heavy depending on contour, and just plain heavy as well

I'll post pics and weights of a few different barrels later on today.
I have out and spare at the mo; all 223
14.5" M4 (not A1)
16" H-Bar
16" Govt
20" H-Bar

There is a HUGE difference in weights

Yeah but a skinny 14.5" barrel is always going to be lighter and stiffer than an equally stiff 20"


I'd love an M16A4 clone actually but A2 stocks are too long for me and NOISE. Adding a supppressor to a 20" would just make it ridiculous

Originally Posted by gimp

Adding a supppressor to a 20" would just make it ridiculous

Weight distribution? or just too long?

Both. Might just be my preferences though, it's really up to you. The short rifles just handle so well

From top to bottom

14.5" M4 (not A1) 727gms
16" Govt 874gms (including brake - est brake at 70 gms)
16" H-Bar 1118 gms
20" H-Bar 1529gms

Balance points of barrels alone
14.5" 150mm from torque shoulder
16" Govt 140mm
16" HBar 170mm
20" 190mm

As a moment
14.5" 0.109
16" Govt 0.148
16" HBar 0.156
20" 0.29

Thats enough, as any more will just confuse

Thanks for that guys, rifle not intended for Urban warfare (except as a Zombie back up) , reasonable accuracy at medium ranges would be desirable.

Get the NEA 18" DMR rifle then. If you want a better trigger for a better price than a Timney or Giessele, you can get reduced power springs from Jard or wait till Brownells has the RRA 2 stage NM triggers on sale for $US99 again. The NEA rifles have slab sided fore ends - meaning they only have a top and bottom rail and a small picatinny section on each side for mounting a torch or sling loop. All their rifles have 1:7 twist so if you want to go long you can stabilize all but the heaviest of .224 pills (the sierra catalogue has some requiring a 1:6.5 twist but you could probably get away with it). I'm off to pick mine up from the courier depot soon.

Got a Bushmaster Varmint special, HEAVY 24 inch stainless 1 in 9 with Gunworks Maximus suppressor, Had the barrel fluted, fitted a Gun city stock, Its got a Bushnell 6500 4.5- 30 x50 shoots 1/4 inch when I do my bit. I don't carry it far as I shoot over gullies and deer fences so not a problem. Pushes 36gn Varmint grenades out at 3700 fps with no trouble.It is Heavy but I like the way it shoots.

Cool, yeah there are a lot of cats and a few wallabies that I will use it on. Will be a daily carry rifle. Awesome rig Mel, yeah weight isn't an issue after lugging SLRs and GPMGs around the show. Would like to get a reasonably heavy barrel.
Cheers C