01-12-2021, 01:04 AM
laketrout Wrote:What would be wrong with just a 16" barrel rather than 14.7" pin and weld if you are never going to afford a suppressor?
Wouldn't the added velocity be worth it?
Steve
In most cases, pinning and welding a barrel is a lot of extra work to save 1.5"-2" off the overall length of a gun, and the benefit in handiness over a 16" with muzzle device is pretty minimal. In my case, I have shorter and longer rifles, but there's a 14.5-14.7" hole in my safe that's been bugging me for years. I'm in the process of rectifying that.
I decided I'd like to build the shortest rifle legally possible with a muzzle device, so a pinned and welded muzzle brake is the route I plan to go. A 14.7" was on sale on Black Friday and just happens to fill the gap between my 11.5" pistol and 18" SPR inspired rifle quite nicely. So I'm building one for the hell of it. The difference in muzzle velocity between 14.7 and 16" will be pretty negligible, and a 16" would be too similar to my 18" anyway.
I plan on running the 14.7" upper on my pistol lower for a while to make sure I like the muzzle brake (and the barrel shoots well) before I make it permanent -- but after handling it mocked up in my workspace, I think I'm really going to love it.