quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Does anyone here ever change the barrel from one twist rate to another, for one distance, I guess you would change the bullet weight as well.

bbl # 1 for out to 250 yards and
bbl # 2 for 250 to 400 yards ?
vid:

Mongo like cleavage....and that's a serious trophy wife ring.

One barrel for everything, unless you want another full rifle or maybe a different upper. If I had a barrel that was only good to a given distance (say 250 yards), then that's a barrel I don't want.

My most accurate AR-15 has a 20" heavy profile 1/7.7 twist barrel and a 3.5-15x scope. With match ammo its groups can rival bolt guns at 100 yards. In calm conditions and match ammo it shoots quite accurately at 600-700 yards. With 55 grain FMJ ammo and close distances, it doesn't shoot much differently than a value-priced 16" AR. But close quarter drills isn't what a precision rifle is designed for.

I have 14.5" barrel 1/7 twist upper that shoots match ammo noticeably better than 55 FMJ. But it's not a long distance match carbine. Built a different purpose, it sports a light weight 1-4x scope. This is a great tool for shorter distance carbine courses or competitions. Probably will consume more 55 grain ammo than anything else -- FMJ for paper targets out to 100-ish yards, VMax for longer distances or where more accuracy is required.

My 18" barrel 1/7 twist has done well in competitions, it also sports a 3.5-15x scope. I used 75 grain HPBT Hornady out to 600 yards in one match. Used 69 grain FGMM out to 450 yards in another -- it all depended on my ammo inventory, not on which one was better than the other. For a few stages in these matches where I had generous paper targets and distances within 50 and shot a lot of rounds, I used 55 grain FMJ -- accuracy wasn't a concern, I had plenty of time to reload mags between stages, and the cheap FMJ ammo saved me money. I could have used the match ammo for the close target stages, but I there's no way I would have used inaccurate FMJ at distant targets.

However, I was taking a risk that I didn't have the right balance of cheap to match ammo. Fortunately, our cars were close to these stages and I could get more ammo at any time. If this weren't the case, I would have shot match ammo at all targets. But I sure as hell didn't need FGMM to hit the A zone of a full-sized IPSC at 50 yards.

Bottom line -- I personally don't see the utility of the barrel system as you describe -- inside 250 yards vs. beyond 250 yards. The pneumatic brunette seems like a good idea...

thank you fritz

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Lewis machine offers what they call a Quick change barrel system.

Does anyone here ever change the barrel from one twist rate to another ,
for one distance ,
I guess you would change the bullet weight as well.

bbl # 1 for out to 250 yards and
bbl # 2 for 250 to 400 yards ?

vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKjO4QuiU38&t=1s

Quick change barrels in an AR-15 just don't add any real utility.

Add an expensive and complicated mechanism for quickly changing a barrel.

Now you have an optic that is not zeroed.

For less money you can have two complete uppers with optics that are properly zeroed.



More specifically to your question:

A quality barrel will be fine to 400 yards, even a short barrel like an 11.5 or 10.5 SBR will get you to 400 yards, you will just have more drop than a longer barrel with longer velocity.

I regularly shoot steel with an 11.5 AR pistol at 200-250 yards with just a red dot. If I had more optic on that rifle, I am confident I could get to 400 or even 600 without issue as long as the optic tracked properly.



For the guy who owns no ARs and wants to get his first AR:

16" mid-length or 14.5 with a pinned muzzle device.

Flat top, preferably with either a folding down or no front sight instead of a fixed front sight base.

In my opinion a higher quality optic and no iron sights is better than a cheap optic and BUIS that you will need when your cheap optic shits the bed.


Steiner P4Xi is a good option, IMHO.

As for the rifle itself, I build my own and will put them up against the expensive boutique guns, so I have a hard time justifying 1k plus guns in this market where we are flooded with AR products. Others will argue that home built guns are hobby grade only and you need to buy a Colt or Daniel Defense or BCM. I disagree with that assessment but there IS a customer service aspect with DD and BCM that is superior to that of the less expensive guns like Palmetto State Armory. The premium line of products from Palmetto are sourced from FN, so the manufacturing is top notch, but you may need a careful eye to guarantee assembly was done properly.



What is your price range?

+1 to IndianaBoy's comments.

I prefer a 16" barrel over a 14.5", due to options for muzzle devices. Primarily suppressors and brakes.

Definitely flat top. Buy a quality optic and ixnay the BUIS.