16" or 18"

[robert]

Building an M4...just need the upper now.

STAG only has 16".

LaRue has 18".


Decisions, decisions...

[DanF.]

Larue is overpriced. I personally wouldn't spend the money on it. CMMG make a nice 18". My vote, though, would be with the Stag. Save your money for ammo.

[robert]

Good suggestion

[Cerberus1]

I'm always curious as why guys want to "build" an AR/M4 variant.
Most uppers alone are in the $500. range now. By the time you're done, wouldn't you have overspent a good deal ?
My little Bushmaster E2S ran $1200 new.

Could you please explain...

[NonConformist]

Id go w/ an 18" but not a LaRue, hes a world class ****



I'm always curious as why guys want to "build" an AR/M4 variant.
Most uppers alone are in the $500. range now. By the time you're done, wouldn't you have overspent a good deal ?
My little Bushmaster E2S ran $1200 new.

Could you please explain...

Sure, like you said the average AR will run, now especially, around 1K

You can build one for $800 or so easily, Ive built one for as low as $500 and a guy on Arfcom after doing some careful shopping and waiting did one for like $375 but that was him literally buying every component seperately then assembling the whole thing, as opposed to most build where the upper is together and just the lower is assembled and that was several years ago too

Mine used a Surplus upper of a De Milled M16A1, a Bushmaster lower i assembled-

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i205/NonC/100_0165.jpg

She isnt pretty, but she runs 100% and is very accurate

[Swattie]

You got to figure this. They have found that bullets will reach a terminal velocity in a 1:9 14 inch barrel. With that in mind you are gaining (I think) 100-200 feet per second every inch thereafter. A 10 inch barrel will give you 1200 feet per second so you can do the math from there. The higher the velocity the more puch at the end.

[NonConformist]

You got to figure this. They have found that bullets will reach a terminal velocity in a 1:9 14 inch barrel. With that in mind you are gaining (I think) 100-200 feet per second every inch thereafter. A 10 inch barrel will give you 1200 feet per second so you can do the math from there. The higher the velocity the more puch at the end.


And for the 5.56 round to perform on target, it must be doing at least 2700 FPS, a carbines round drops below that around 95 yards or so IIRC

This is with ball, now w/ some of these newer rounds like TAP and Ballistic tips or the SMY type HP rounds Im not sure how big an issue it is, but I have gotten away from my Carbine for that reason

[strikeforce629]

I'd say go 18 if you intend to get some good sights. If you already have a scope you wanted to throw on there, def go 18, but for a medium range, it's really dependent on how accurate you are and what you intend to use the rifle for.

I saw a .223 AR 15 for around 3k in american hunter magazine, 16 inch barrel, but that was complete with scope and was sub 1/2 MOA at 100 yards.

I was looking into getting a Remington R25 which is a new AR 10. Comes in .270, .308, and a few other sizes, but a hellofa rifle.
I prefer the longer barrel because I try to save on ammo by being more accurate when it comes to hunting.
Also, having a semi that runs a .270 or a .308 is a good thing to have especially in combination with an ammo press.

Bottom line is decide what type of shooter you are; do you like to spray rounds semi- accurately, or put a few rounds in dead center?