12" Handguard Research for SBR Barrels

[Dcommoncents]

Which means that a 12.7” barrel would be perfect under it with a Kak flashcan

If the plan is to use a flashcan with a 12" handguard I think you'd actually want a shorter barrel since you wouldn't need to have the crown extend to or beyond the handguard as with a traditional brake/comp/flashhider. I ran into this with the 12" faxon group buy build I just finished. I used a 12" handguard and a muzzle device very similar to a kak flashcan, except it also has a krink style brake that threads in. The device measures roughly 3.2" and as you can see extends about 2" past the 12" handguard. [ATTACH=CONFIG]10709[/ATTACH]

So instead of a longer barrel to fit under a 12" handguard, I would actually want a shorter barrel in the range of 10.5"-11" for use with a shrouded muzzle device that can go under the handguard. While I was going for shorter, another way to look at it that a 12.8" barrel and a pinned 3.2" muzzle device would put one at 16" and out of sbr/pistol land.