14.5 inch barrel: carbine or middy?

[Stickman]

Mark- That is what you get for buying left over reject parts at the gun show....

On a more serious note, that is the first time I've heard of a gas tube being too thin.

[markm]

Mark- That is what you get for buying left over reject parts at the gun show....

On a more serious note, that is the first time I've heard of a gas tube being too thin.

I'm watching the new tube for any odd wear. I haven't figured out if the tube was never right, or if the key wore it down. Sometimes tubes will get a flat spot on one side or another. But this thing is smooth all the way around.

[Curlyburns5]

Sample size of one. But I have a BCM 14.5" lw middy I've put ~7500 rounds through. Of that, 90% has been cheap steel cased tulammo, bear, and wolf. As long as I keep the bolt wet I don't have a hiccup. With a battlecomp and an H buffer there's basically no recoil.

[FortTom]

I recently bought a Daniel Defense 16" LW midlength "build your own" upper and added MOE handguards. Really like this configuration/balance and can't see much penalty going with the extra inch+ and avoiding pinning. Of course apples to oranges because of MOE vs. long rail - and we all have different preferences.

Hope your new rifle turns out well!

I'm glad you brought this up. This debate comes and goes around with the "locals" here quite often. I just don't see any real advantage to a 14.5, then have to permanently afix your flash detector. My most recently acquired LMT is a 16 in., no worries about removing or changing flash suppresors. Also, and you can take this with a grain of salt, but at the time I read it, it seemed to make perfect sense, a pretty in depth look at the traditional gas system (DI) seems to work best with a 16 in barrel. I wish I would have saved the link, but wasn't thinking, but the author really seemed to have done his research, and the math to prove his assertion. So I can't prove any of that, but it was interesting. But I'm not sure if you're planning on a piston or a DI gas system, so all of that might be irrelevant anyway, if you're using a piston system.

Let us know how things work out for you.

FT

[Bob Reed]

Hello,

I would stay with the carbine length gas system for the simple reason of being able to use a high quality, Genuine COLT Gas Tube.

[Stickman]

I'm watching the new tube for any odd wear. I haven't figured out if the tube was never right, or if the key wore it down. Sometimes tubes will get a flat spot on one side or another. But this thing is smooth all the way around.

I've seen a bunch of gas tubes worn on one side, but you can usually see the gas tube is slightly off center.

[uniform 64]

So does a 16" Mid not have those short stroking issues?

[Stickman]

Hello,

I would stay with the carbine length gas system for the simple reason of being able to use a high quality, Genuine COLT Gas Tube.

Chunks coming off Colt receivers from poor anodizing, and unstaked Colt carriers are recent examples showing that no company is perfect, including Colt. It would appear they are cutting some of their QC for the commercial market.

[Stickman]

So does a 16" Mid not have those short stroking issues?

Yes, and no. There is more to it than simply barrel length. It is going to depend on the company and the gas port size they are using.

[Bob Reed]

Chunks coming off Colt receivers from poor anodizing, and unstaked Colt carriers are recent examples showing that no company is perfect, including Colt. It would appear they are cutting some of their QC for the commercial market.

Hello Stick,

That's sad to hear. Was it an entire run or just a few that had these problems?

I don't doubt you at all - but is there a thread or an article somewhere regarding this?

Other than buying older COLT A2 Style Rifles that come along - I've been buying Specialized Armament SA M4A1's, and the quality of SA's Weapons is simply outstanding!