16" to 24" AR Barrel Effectiveness???

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Italian_Marksman94

New member
Hi, I was browsing the web looking at some cool cheap AR's that I could maybe get sometime in the future, well DPMS was recommended as the "best gun for the money" type gun by a friend, anyways they had barrels from 16 to 24 inches in their .223 AR's, now im kind of nervous about getting a 16 inch but it looks much more cool and is more versatile, so for target shooting and hunting and maybe just some plinking is there a much difference between the 16, 20, and 24 inch barrels and if there is what are they?
Thanks in advance.

PS- This is not about if the DPMS are good or what company I should get one from, I know some of you dont like the DPMS or whatever but this topic is about .223 AR barrel length.
 
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jon7400

New member
At 100 yards and less with the identical scope you'd have a very hard time telling the difference between a target shot by a 16" barrel 20" or 24".

When you start getting out to longer ranges, say 300+ the increase in velocity out of a 20" and 24" over a 16" will start to become noticeable in your groups.

Aside from that, it's all weight. The 24" is a hog, the 20" isn't too bad and the 16 is a breeze as far as carrying and manipulating in the field or at the range all things being equal otherwise (barrel contour and general rifle set-up).
 
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zoomie

New member
20" will have less blast than the 16". Might matter if you'll be on crowded ranges or you'll be shooting with family or friends.
 
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tINY

New member

Depending on what you hunt, a 20" barrel is the sensible minimum. You loose a lot of energy on short barrels with that cartridge...

On a < 500yard paper shoot, who cares?




-tINY

 
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rjrivero

New member
Short is sexy.....

I'm a short guy and that's what I keep telling myself. ;)

I have a 14" barreled AR with a silver soldered 2" birdcage on it to keep things legal. (Came that way from the factory)

I would rather go 10.5" with the tax stamp. Maybe even 7.5" :D

I read an article a while back on Noveske's 10" rifles and they were putting impressive groups together with them.

The difference is one of VELOCITY. If you plan on shooting 300+ yards with your .223, then go ahead and opt for the longest barrel you can handle. The longer barrel will get you much more velocity which equates to more energy on those long distance shots.

I shoot a lot of multi gun matches, and prefer the short manuverable carbine length. As I said, no "medium range" (200 or 300 yards) or long range (more than 300 yards) work for my rifle locally.

I don't plan on shooting any high power matches any time soon. That's just not the kind of shooting I enjoy doing.

If the big priority for your AR is for Varmint Hunting, then 20" would be the minimum. You'll probably want a 1:7 or 1:8 twist rate to stabilize those long range varmint crushers.

That's the beauty of these rifles. You can build it for any purpose you desire, and rebuild it again for another purpose later.
 
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Italian_Marksman94

New member
Well the max distance for the ranges within a reasonable distance around my area is 300 yards so that is good and I probally wont hunt with it for a while, I got a Marlin 336 for hunting so its not a huge deal so heres my plan, how about buying a 16" one now and in a while when I think I will go varmint hunting sometime I will pick up a 24" barrel since I wont be hunting varmints or coyote for a LONG time, is that a good plan?
 
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rjrivero

New member
It's as good as any other.

I want to caution you. Your post sounds like a man trying to justify buying an AR. You don't need to justify it. Just be aware that you'll end up with more than one.

I started with a Bushmaster XR15. I found a reason to build a dedicated .22LR (For my daughter.)

I'm now building another, and already have plans for my Pistol Caliber Carbine using Lone Wolf's Glock Magazine Fed Lowers.

It's a disease, and a damn fun one at that! :p

My caution to you is that you sound like a man who could easily be infected by this disease.......BEWARE.
 
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Italian_Marksman94

New member
Oh not its not that :), its just I prefer deer and Im only 16 so Coyote hunting and such wont be happening for a while, Ive been wanting one forever, its just hard to get money for put my grandpa might lend me some money since he is a gun fanatic, has several thousand dollar double rifles, tons of garands, couple ARs and AKs, etc.
 
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garryc

New member
It's as good as any other.

I want to caution you. Your post sounds like a man trying to justify buying an AR. You don't need to justify it. Just be aware that you'll end up with more than one.

I started with a Bushmaster XR15. I found a reason to build a dedicated .22LR (For my daughter.)

I'm now building another, and already have plans for my Pistol Caliber Carbine using Lone Wolf's Glock Magazine Fed Lowers.

It's a disease, and a damn fun one at that!

My caution to you is that you sound like a man who could easily be infected by this disease.......BEWARE.
Click to expand...



It's genetic. There has to be a gene that makes you have this disease. It's called excessive compulsive gun disorder. The test? Open a bottle of Hoppes, if it's the best smell you ever smelled, you have that disease.

I got it bad man. I put a cloth wet with Hoppes over the vents in my truck to make it smell good.


My wife ain't got it.
 
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Art Eatman

Staff in Memoriam
For all practical purposes, as near as I can tell, a 20" barrel is pretty good for all-around usage. There's not all that much velocity gain as you get longer than 20", and it's in no way too long for handiness.

I've traded into and out of ARs; I'm on my fifth one, right now. Dunno why I don't really care for them all that much. But, I've built up a 20" flat-top as a truck/varmint gun. Probably work out all right. It's not something that a bit of banging around will hurt the looks.
 
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80viking

New member
short barrel on an AR?, they say short and fat is more rigid and more accurate than long and slender, David Tubb built an AR target gun with a barrel that was shorter than the handguard, many bench rest guns have barrels that are so short and fat they are way out of proportion

long barrel on an AR?, I have an AR with a DPMS flat top and a 24'' ss bull barrel w/ 1-9 twist, it was so heavy out front I made a lead plug for the buttstock to balance it out, now it weighs 13LBS, but it can shoot
100yd best 5 shot group .49''
200yd best 5 shot group 7/8''
I haven't seen one AR shorty do that :)
 
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