Rifle barrel lengths and applications: 16" AR15

The Barrel length that pays its bills, has a stable job and will text you back.
😅😅

POF beetch

Brother this is off topic but wish scope mount would you recommend between the Badger Ordnance or Scarlarworks? Thanks

The MILF that does everything you could ever want or need. The older I get the more true that is.

What is a good short profile muzzle device?

May upgrade to a mid length upper (16") here soon.. but very very few off the shelf high tier (midlength gas) come in 1/8 twist.. which is my go to twist.. carbines while not ideal they will run and run and run.. slap a h2/h3 buffer in and they work great.. ive looked at ddm4v7/bcm/lwrc/geissele/kac/lmt etc none are in a 1/8 twist

I made the minimum!

I’m all about delivering a quality load

Why is the intro so long, geez got bored before it started

I have a 16inch BA Hanson complete upper, I haven't shot it yet since I'm debating on optics. I have a spare holosun 503 laying around. I'm going to just use this (once I find a BCM BCG in stock) for the time being, but in your opinion would you recommend a 3x/5x magnifier or an LPVO (Vortex PST Gen II 1-6 or SwampFox Arrowhead 1-6, Midwest or ADM mount)? Or, 3x/5x prism with canted holosun 503? I'm not against upgrading the 503 to an Eotech XPS3, but I have no real reason to other than I prefer the mailbox aesthetic and don't own one yet lmao.

The closest range to me is only 100 yards but I do have another range not terribly far with further distances to shoot at. I definitely don't need magnification at 100 yards, but would prefer it anyway. This rifle isn't my first choice for home defense, so I'm not concerned with throwing magnification onto it. FWIW I am planning to take classes and possibly enter 2 gun matches in neighboring cities with this rifle, but the majority of time this gun will be used 100 yards or less, and intending to zero this rifle at 50 yards.

I enjoy videos like this, your content is always high quality.

Ahhh the barrel length discussion. It never gets old. Always a good conversation with the fellas. The 9 vs 45 discussion gets a little tiring but fun lol. Always the odd man out smh. I think effectiveness with skill is always going to be the best way to go about it. Either way, train always. Stay frosty brother.

My two rifles are a 14.5" BCM SOCOM that I chopped off the FSP to use an LVPO comfortably, and a 16" Saiga. My wife, who's 5' 2", uses a 20" BCM A4gery with an A1 stock. 16" is fine, and I will build one at some point, but I would never go shorter than 14.5", just because I live in the city, and I've been around the shorty ARs and AKs in INDOOR RANGES.

Concussiveness really is something that needs to be experienced first-hand to lose any love for AR and AK pistols.

On the topic of weight, it’s interesting the places you can gain weight in the rifle and not expect it.

For example a Vickers sling with QD attachment at both ends with a MLok QD socket on the rail is 8oz heavier than a Proctor sling woven through the stock and a Blue Force U loop to attach to the rail.

Highly underrated channel and great video. I constantly battle with myself with the 14.5 P&w vs 16. Put them next to each other and it's only an inch difference if that….it's so negligible. I hate that if you want to change the muzzle device on the p&w it's a pain but can be done. I just feel that the 14.5 p&w can look more aesthetically pleasing and feel better in the hand with that 13 inch rail vs the long look of the 15inch rail. Sometimes because of that you can save some front end weight. However you give up that 1.5 of velocity. I do feel the best of all worlds can be a true 14.5 without the p&w. I run a SOLGW 13.7 p&w and bcm 14.5 p&w mostly but have a few 16 inch guns.

I cannot stand the dudes who say you can't do cqb with a 16inch. My answer to them is no you don't know what you are doing in cqb then.

I got all fuzzy feeling when you basically described my rifle. dat validation from some rando dude on the internet is priceless.

“My PSA is just as good bro.” I try to shit on mine but it keeps proving itself.

I really like a pinweld oal 16" midlegth gas. I guess its more so the shortest barrel that works reliably on a midlength gas system. 16" barrels on carbine systems I dislike like my M&P sport. Later moved to a PSA 16" midlength gas that was far more pleasant – and the stock M&P has a pretty heavy barrel, and the PSA was a pencil (faxon pencil barrel is significantly lighter though in comparison).

Currently really digging my OAL 16" faxon pencil barrel with a ctn warcomp. Its really light and shoots great so far! Really only need to manage recoil horizontally. Have a aero adjustable gasblock and have it set at 9 out of 15 for maxxtech steel if thats any point of measure. Will say my PSA I feel shot softer than my new faxon barrel build, but the difference is negligible recoil management wise.

Personally feel 16" barrel (not oal) is a little longer than I'd like in manuverability. But going to a OAL of 16" with a warcomp or surefire 3prong/4prong flash hider feels just about right. Haha if ATF regulations weren't a thing I think going to even a 15"oal may make me happier, but that'll have to wait till a new build with a sbr tax stamp I can afford.

7:10 Shout out for the poors: PSA!!! For “The just as guud guys” 😝

Let’s go BRANDON 😎👍

almost all my rifles are spr’s, my only 16 inch rifle is an LMT and its a damn good rifle almost a jack of all trades

"It gets ignored like a dedicated spouse."
Pure gold.

Magazine grip… From the bench… Yikes

I agree with a lot of what you said. When you brought up your 20" old school build, I mentioned that I wasn't really in love with shorties. I did, however, end up building a 10.5" 300 BO and a 12.5" .223 wylde. It's really nice. I definitely noticed the weight savings, but man, even when I'm stretching it out to 200 yds, you notice how much you have to elevate. My 16" and 18" rifles shoot pretty flat out 250 yds. Hitting 300 yds doesn't even require a ton of elevation either. It really made me wonder why people love the shorties so much. Like who among us is gonna be running and gunning in an urban ops environment?

As far as barrels go, I finally bought a Criterion barrel. I'm in love. It's legit all I wanna buy now. Not overgassed and pretty good accuracy.

Also, fuck TriArc and their bullshit. How the fuck does it take 2 months to get a barrel that was in stock???

LOL You said Quality Load.

My brother is back, outstanding video

Urx 4 baby! SR15 fo life!

I think dots are fine on 16" AR15's if you also run a magnifier. I've got LPVO's and dot+mag and really there isn't much difference assuming you know your hold over with the dot which really just comes down to building a decent dope card. I keep a little dope card in my pistol grip or stock depending on the gun.

But hey, I just got a G17 on friday partly because your video about the G17 being the best Glock and partly because I already wanted one. I already had a G45 and I don't really want a G19 because I have a 43x and that's fine for concealed carry. I will say though the trigger on my G17 is quite a bit heavier than the trigger on my G45. I'm not sure if it's just due to my G45 being more broken in or something else. It almost seems like my G45 has a minus connector or something but I've never checked because the trigger out of the box was so good that I haven't felt the need to change it in any way. I might swap the G45 trigger into the G17 and see if it's as smooth in my G17 or I might buy a minus connector. I'm definitely gonna shoot it some more, I put almost 100 rounds through it today(90 to be exact, cuz I only brought 90 to the range today, I gotta go buy more 9mm fmj ammo lol). The trigger does feel a little bit better now that I've put some rounds through it.

I dunno what I'll do about the trigger if anything at all, I am making hits and getting decent groups. An OEM minus connector couldn't hurt though, I could always switch it back. But what I DO want to do is put a red dot on it however this Glock is not an MOS. It's just a standard G17 cuz I can't find a G17 MOS anywhere around where I live. How would you go about mounting an optic(either a Holosun 507c or a Trijicon RMR) on a standard G17? I know you're not big on pistol red dots, but how would you do it? Is there any particular company you'd recommend to mill the slide that won't shatter my bank account? I know a lot of folks suggest Jager Werks and they are located in Kalamazoo which is pretty damn close to where I live but I don't think that would help me get my slide back any faster and they are kinda expensive. I guess this probably isn't the kinda thing you want done cheaply, but still, I know there are some companies that do quality work and charge a little bit less. What are your thoughts?

My 16 inch Hanson is being sent back for leaking gas around the gas block. I was having problems with it not locking back on the last round. There's carbon everywhere around the gas block. Hopefully you have better luck with your ballistic advantage barrel.

I’ve got a URGI but didn’t Geissele cheap out on the barrel finish recently?

20" is better

I'm the guy that gave this video the thumbs up that moved it from 69 to 70 likes. Sorry.

I’m still a fan of 16in rifles. Yes I have a 10.3, 10.5, almost done with a 12.5 and I’ve been running an 11.5 at work but for actual use a 16 is great. Considering most people don’t do anything besides shoot off a bench or at a flat range so I don’t see the point of the super short guns. The point about vibe checks is a great point, and the dude getting hits at 500 with his 8in gun is hilarious. Just because it pinged steel doesn’t mean it was much better than hitting it with a rock energy wise

Butt mah irun sites

Excellent content and I enjoyed it, capitally. Very informative – thanks much for this. 👍

But muh CQB. Because clearing rooms in SHTF is suuuch a great idea.

Would you say this is strictly speaking to direct impingement versus a piston system when referring to less stress and wear and tear on the components?

Oh shit!!!!!!
you put BCM in the entry level category??
You just wait till the reddit Chads with maxed out credit cards show up..
I’ve heard/seen them say BCM is manufacturing and machining all of KAC receivers and parts and just brand labeling it.
BCM = Savior of mankind
May god have mercy on your soul ….

WHEN IS TJE NAVY MAN GONNA PUT A SILENCER ON HIS HK PISTOL? NAVY MAN! NAVY MAN! NAVY MAN!!!!

Really debating on what 11.5 to get to run suppressed. I have a 16 inch DD V7 with a SIG 556 can and it’s kinda gassy. I’d like to run a surefire 556 or KAC qdc can and not have a ton of gas in the face, would you recommend geissele or KAC for a suppressed 11.5?

Never had issues room clearing with a 20….that round performs a LOT better out of a 20 as well. .. carbines are a copout….

For me it's all about use I got a 11.5 for home and 14.5 with a scope for making long shots at ranch

I think putting dots on a 16 is just a waist you will never get the potential out of it , its really hard to pick a length unless you know exactly what you're getting into that particular day . After shooting a 18 with a rifle length gas system it throws another wrench into it because if you need a 16 a 18 with a rifle gas system is so sweet to shoot it's not that much heavier but such a joy to joy to shoot. If you're doing most of your shooting 200 yards and in 11.5 all day long for me , so many choices and not many people will agree on what's best .

just like everything else, it’s all about using right tool for the job. 12 years in 3/75, 95% of the time we ran heavy ass 14.5 colt socom barrels, RIS2 rails and full kits with lights lasers optics. Those were 14lb rifles and we cleared entire neighborhoods for 6 straight hours. Im an old man now and after far too many surgeries and a medical retirement I run a Triarc 12.5 with a Leupold mk6 or a SOLGW 13.7 with a vortex 1-10. Barrel length conversations remind me of the legendary conversation between the great BB King and the Legendary Billy F Gibbons, BB found out Billy was using heavy 12 gauge strings and asked him “hey man, why you work so hard” Billy switched to the far lighter 8 gauge and eventually 7s. barrel length is the same thing, no need carrying a 13 lb rifle when a 9-10 will do everything you need as a civilian and still be effective out to 500.

It use to be a man’s wealth was based on car. Now it’s how much ammo he can burn at the range. Lol

Great video, 100% concur. I think a lot of guys get enamored of the short bois because they spend more time swinging their guns around in their bedrooms than banging gongs at 300+ yards.

Two of my favorite 16" uppers both came from PSA, in the era when you could get a FN sourced chrome lined barrel from PSA if you ordered the right thing. One of them has a pencil barrel 16" and a Midwest keymod rail and it's a honey. Completely deflated any desire I had for a SBR.

I think the mock dissipator with the cutdown tower at midlength and a ungassed sight tower at rifle length is the way to go over dinking around with a rifle length gas port. I have a Faxon pencil barrel 16" upper set up like that and it's just *wopkiss*.

Absolutely the best thing to come out of the 16" category is the mid/intermediate length gas system. The continued existence of M4 profile carbine gas 16" barrels with M203 cuts is an affront to God and decency.