[Ranly]

16"-14.5"

Would going from 16"to a 14.5" greatly affect range or accuracy? Also a 14.5" barrel with a permanently attached muzzle devise qualifies as legal 16" right?

 

[Martens]

Re: 16"-14.5"

As long as the overall barrel length including muzzle attachment is 16 inches you are good to go. The biggest thing you loose is velocity. As to how much difference that makes, it will be up to you to decide on how you use the gun. I have not noticed any practical difference in hitting silhouette targets out to 250 yards with my 14.5 barrel. My group size hasn't changed, although the red dot was off 1 inch after the cut.

 

[MickeyC]

Re: 16"-14.5"

Yes, you loose velocity and performance. For target shooting or close range self defence it doesn't really matter that much.

 

[Ranly]

Re: 16"-14.5"

I know your going to lose velocity and performance, Im just wondering by how much if any one knows, significant or no so much...

 

[Sloan441]

Re: 16"-14.5"

General rule of thumb is about 50-75fps per inch. Lots of things can effect this, of course, not the least of which is chamber dimensions and even the barrel's internal finish. Some ammunition performs better than others in short barrels. I've always been surprised that the Mk. 262 ammo performs as well as it does from 14" barrels.

Having said that, I don't like barrels shorter than 16" on a .223. You do give up quite a bit and 16" gives up about as much as I can stand when compared to 20". I guess it depends on what you can live with. I don't much care for seeing .223 running at 2500fps. Individual guns can vary a lot, though, so if you don't chrono it maybe it won't bother you. ;D