[hatidua]

Can someone enlighten me as to why people chop a 16" AR barrel dow 2/4/6" and then have a longer flash hider permanently welded on to bring it back to the requisite 16"?

There seem to be an inordinate number of these chop-jobs for sale on what were formerly perfectly good uppers...

[Blitzer]

Tac-ta-cool!

[AKIOTY10]

I personally think it's a waste . If your upper is chrome lined and you have it chopped the chrome will eventually start to peel off . I would not buy a chop job unless it's not chromed and of course done by Adco .

[bjesse60]

Adco will inform you there is nothing negative about choping a chrome-lined barrel as for why, many people prefer the look, handling & weight of the 14.5 and many companies insist on selling more 16" variety. I personally say 14.5 for a carbine gas & 16 " for midlength looks the best !

[Narc1911]

A 14.5 with a permanently attached flashhider makes sense for some because it puts your total barrel just over 16" (usually 16.1"). Instead of a 16" plus a flashhider or comp, where you end up with a 17-18" barrel.

[1811guy]

14.5" pencil barrel middy with permanent FH (16" OAL):



Lightest AR I have. Not a chop job. I agree, chopping a 16" bbl and putting on a lng FH to bring it back to length is a waste. Chopping ANY bbl is a waste. Just sell it, and buy a new one at the length you want. A proper chop job (cutting, lathe work, threading, re-crowning, and finishing) is going to cost more than what you will lose on the sale of the used barrel.

[hatidua]

Thanks for all the answers.

[vafish]

Well if you have to have a bayonet on your M4 they don't fit right on the 16" barrel with the flash hider.

[lawman800]

Is there anyone that doesn't have a bayonet mounted on their AR, regardless of barrel length?

[Reb 56]

Originally Posted by Narc1911

A 14.5 with a permanently attached flashhider makes sense for some because it puts your total barrel just over 16" (usually 16.1"). Instead of a 16" plus a flashhider or comp, where you end up with a 17-18" barrel.

Don't you lose some velocity with 14.5" barrel ?

[1811guy]

Originally Posted by Reb 56

Don't you lose some velocity with 14.5" barrel ?

Not enough for it to matter.

[lawman800]

Yeah, I doubt you will shoot far enough for the loss of 100-150fps to matter.

[Mnukedude]

Originally Posted by Narc1911

A 14.5 with a permanently attached flashhider makes sense for some because it puts your total barrel just over 16" (usually 16.1"). Instead of a 16" plus a flashhider or comp, where you end up with a 17-18" barrel.

Yup. Especially if you pick a good one, like YHM's Phantom series. The other cases, where they cut down the bbl 5 inches or so and then put on a 5 inch flash hider--THAT I don't understand, because they sacrifice muzzle velocity that way for flash suppression, but it's simply unneccesary to cut down that far to achieved the desired effect, nless it's form over function they seek, which is a concept in weapons I don't understand well.

[GlockSupremacy]

Originally Posted by hatidua

http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=14510220Can someone enlighten me as to why people chop a 16" AR barrel dow 2/4/6" and then have a longer flash hider permanently welded on to bring it back to the requisite 16"?

There seem to be an inordinate number of these chop-jobs for sale on what were formerly perfectly good uppers...

Im going with you get a lighter weight rifle without the nfa paperwork.

[lawman800]

I would go to a 14.5" but I've seen some of the 11.5" jobbies with the 5.5" flash hider and it just looks ridiculous. Only suppressors are supposed to look that long.

[KalashniKEV]

1) I suppose it's a good way to get what-you-want while you wait for a stamp to clear and then have a "coming out party" for your new SBR when the stamp arrives. I did this with my AMD-65.

2) Does anybody really modify their existing barrel to get a shorter length? It sounds beyond cost prohibitive... just pull it and buy the one you want!

[Mnukedude]

Originally Posted by KalashniKEV

1) I suppose it's a good way to get what-you-want while you wait for a stamp to clear and then have a "coming out party" for your new SBR when the stamp arrives. I did this with my AMD-65.

2) Does anybody really modify their existing barrel to get a shorter length? It sounds beyond cost prohibitive... just pull it and buy the one you want!

Sometimes it's hard to get a bbl in the exact configuration you want. A few years ago I was looking for a 14.5 in pencil bbl I could attach a phantom flashhider to for a total bbl length of 16''. The bbl I sought also had to be chrome lined and feature a 1/9 twist. There was no such animal back then. Pencil bbl's can't be cut down if you want to add a flashhider because of the narrowness of the bbl, but if you wanted something different, I suppose buying a longer bbl and cutting it down might sometimes be the only way to get what you want.

[Bren]

Originally Posted by hatidua

Can someone enlighten me as to why people chop a 16" AR barrel dow 2/4/6" and then have a longer flash hider permanently welded on to bring it back to the requisite 16"?

There seem to be an inordinate number of these chop-jobs for sale on what were formerly perfectly good uppers...

Because they want that mall ninja look and havebn't been shooting long enough to know they could get the same look with a $30 slip-over long suppressor that would screw on with no mods to the gun and look exactly the same.

[Glockdude1]

Originally Posted by vafish

Well if you have to have a bayonet on your M4 they don't fit right on the 16" barrel with the flash hider.

The Bayo will fit correctly on a 16" barrel AR, with mid-length hand guards.