Which would you prefer?

[JHoward]

Thanks. It was a 14.5" BFH with the DD Omega and the pinned BC. I had to sell the upper to pay for my wife's last semester of college.

[rob_s]

I honestly never felt a big difference between mid and carbine systems in a 14.5" barrel, but that's just me.

If your talking about building the most general purpose AR you possibly can, a carbine length gas system will cycle/ and or lock back with a wider range of ammunition more reliably... But at that point you are talking about cycling 98% of ammunition versus 96%

why are you looking at 14.7" and not 14.5"?

I have, but it's very subjective as there are so many other variable (buffer, spring, muzzle device, barrel weight, ammo, etc.) I don't know of anyone that has tested two otherwise identical guns.

I agree on 14.5" and not 14.7", as the 14.5 will give you more barrel choices as more people make them.

Frankly, however, I am a huge un-fan of all this pinning nonsense.

[Pyzik]

Since I've had both, if I were getting another, I would go 14.5(.7, whatever) midlength.
My 14.5 middy was noticeably smoother shooting than my now 14.5 carbine is.
Some of it may have been the different brakes (FSC556 vs Battlecomp) but I think the majority was the gas system.

Go middy. I had no issues with reliability outside of a couple rounds of .223 PMC bronze short stroking, but that load is known to be weak.

EDIT to say that all that was changed for me other than gas system was the barrel brand and comp (pinned). Buffer and spring were the same, barrel length stayed the same.

[FortTom]

I have, but it's very subjective as there are so many other variable (buffer, spring, muzzle device, barrel weight, ammo, etc.) I don't know of anyone that has tested two otherwise identical guns.

I agree on 14.5" and not 14.7", as the 14.5 will give you more barrel choices as more people make them.

Frankly, however, I am a huge un-fan of all this pinning nonsense.

Just curious, why? A couple of mine aren't pinned, and I don't worry for a second, but just curious as to your reasoning.

[Computalotapus]

Just curious, why? A couple of mine aren't pinned, and I don't worry for a second, but just curious as to your reasoning.

Anything under a 16" barrel needs the muzzle device permanently attached to get it to 16" or it needs to be registered as an SBR

[FortTom]

Anything under a 16" barrel needs the muzzle device permanently attached to get it to 16" or it needs to be registered as an SBR

I knew that, Comp. I thought he was referring to pinning the gas block... guess I need to read a little more carefully. On that subject though, I'm not a big fan of being married to a particular muzzle device forever, and just live with the additional inch and a half or so using a 16" barrel.

FT

[Computalotapus]

I knew that, Comp. I thought he was referring to pinning the gas block... guess I need to read a little more carefully. On that subject though, I'm not a big fan of being married to a particular muzzle device forever, and just live with the additional inch and a half or so using a 16" barrel.

FT

I have built one 14.5 middy and she is a finicky lil brat about ammo. Then again it was the first rifle I put together and just maybe I don't have the GB lined up to the port all the way /shrug who knows. I just know that I personally would stick to the 16" just so I don't have to worry about the headache of pinning anything especially now days when barrel nuts are so specific to the rail. Not only are you marred to the muzzle device but most of the time that marries you to the GB and the rail at the same time.

But I think everyone travels that road at least once I have and I don't regret it cause I learned a lot from that build. I have another 14.5" build in the books but not for me, my brother wants a M4 clone so he is getting a M4 clone.

[Uffdaphil]

BCM recommends the H buffer in their 14.5" middy. I bought two, but will probably choose 16" in future. The pinned comp is fine on the ELW-F/KMR since I know I will never change the rail. But trying to shave the FSB in situ on the second led to a mess I prefer to avoid from now on.

[JGifford]

So having built roughly 4 ARS already (with 2 more on hold) I started to think about something. Something more in line of extreme abuse type rifle, one that I would have no problem taking it everywhere, a do it all type weapon and also the one that's not in my inventory.

So far all my ARS are 16+ inches middys in barrel length with one being a 10.5 carbine, I was missing the medium length, the 14.7. Having to stay within legal length a pinned 14.7.

Personally I think the 14.7 is the perfect compromise between a 16 and 10 in terms of a do-it-all type scenario. However there's a problem, The gas system option of carbine or midlength.

Can any of you chime in with anything to contribute on either gas system for a 14.7?

Ultimately, I want it to be reliable and never fail in the firing system. I can't decide which route to go.

14.5-14.7 with a mid-length and 0.076-0.082 gas port should do great. Depends on which end of the spectrum you want to live. Want to use an H2 buffer for 5.56? Go 0.082 or so. Want to run an H-buffer with 5.56? Go with 0.076.

That said, I'm done with 14.5-7's. I like M600U's, and I like them at the end of my rail, and I like my 13-14" rails, and I don't like the light hanging out in the muzzle blast. Also, being married to a rail and muzzle device flat out sucks and is not worth the minute shift in balance, which, yes, I can feel, but it's just not worth the "cost".

I have no use for a 10.3-5" SBR in 5.56. I owned a Noveske 10.5, sent it back, they are rebuilding it for me, I kindof don't know what I'll do with it when I get it back. Probably will be my hard-use carbine course gun and just run a can on it 100% of the time.

[UWone77]

Just out of curiosity UWone, why do you think that 14.5's with pinned (or welded) muzzle devices suck? Granted, it's a pain to change one if you decide you want a different one. I'm curious because I've been thinking about doing a .300 Blackout with a 14.5 barrel.

You asked and answered the questions.

The whole pin and weld/un-pin and weld for 1.5" in length seems silly to me. Don't get me wrong, I have a ton of 14.5" uppers, but the first time, I had to un-pin something, it was a pain, cost a lot, and that's when I thought it wasn't worth it. If you have a safe full of guns/uppers, then sure go for it. However, if you only have 1 rifle, or a new shooter, I would highly recommend the 16", because there are so many muzzle devices out there, what you may want 100% today could change tomorrow, and that's expensive.

[WHSmithIV]

The whole pin and weld/un-pin and weld for 1.5" in length seems silly to me.

I certainly do agree with that.

[Soisauss]

Good golly the plethora of info I received in this thread is pure goldmine!

Thank you all!!