Short and Long Barrels

[Keef]

My thinking is a 11or12" grendel can handle the majority of the hunting/shooting that my 16" does. Then I would build a 24" for max velocity when target shooting or when I feel like hunting the big field.

If I have 12" for hunting and fun and a 24" for long range, then there is no point to having a 16" and 18" middle ground guns.

I'll reply inline below to try to clear this up.

Boy... some confusion here it looks like. Let me see if I got this...

If I follow, you like your 16" grendel and plan to leave it alone. Agree. Wise.
My 16" shoots good, but it is a BCA barrel so I figure the resale value is very low(not worth the trouble of selling). Every barrel I've chopped and crowned myself has shot as good or better than before the chop.

You also have a 12" in x39 commie which handles a little better. Right? Agree again. 12"-12.5" is my favorite AR barrel length and I have 3: grendel, blackout, and 5.56. Love em.
Yes. I have 7.62x39 ar pistol. It shoots good and its crazy how easier it is to carry, but I'm really liking the Grendel round. Also this gun would be used for foxes and opossums trying to get at my chickens. All of the 7.62 ammo I have is not fragging and will go thru a suprising ammount of animal/pine/other trees without stopping. So I would feel "safer" taking them out with a Grendel varmit round.

18" grendel you have is only the barrel. Yet to be built. Right? If you don't plan to build it, sell it off. Agree with you that is not a good candidate to chop.
Yes. I have a 18" fluted barrel I got for a great deal on black friday. I am not interested in chopping it because even chopped it probably weights more that a contour 16" barrel. I want my pistol to be as light as possible.

Regarding a 24" to cut down. Uh, how... won't you lose the gas port completely? Why not simply get a new 16" carbine gas barrel and cut that down? BCA can be had for around $80-100 via Classic Firearms
No. The 24" would be purchased and used as a long range target/deer/course/ground hog gun.

That said, I would not be chopping any off the shelf barrel. Why bother.
I might because said barrel has very little resale and I've had good results cutting em in the past.

The best option on the market right now is Ballistic Advantage brand 12.5" grendel barrel in their hanson profile. Not quite a pencil but nice and light. A REALLY nice barrel from a well respected company.
I have been looking at them too.

Another option might be to try Deadshot Barrels. They do custom work to any length. My 12" grendel was from them via gunbroker for $199 with NiB bolt. Not bad .
Cool. I haven't looked at them before, thanks!

After all that typing I'll probably end up with a 11 or 12", a 16", a 18" and a 24". Why fight it huh....