Can you cut down a 16" 5.56 spear LT to 11.5 and still have a reliable rifle?

I ended up just getting the 11.5 barrel and swapping it out, but it looks like the gas block is in the same place on the barrel, so chopping should work.

What did you do about the handguard?

I also bought the 10” handguard. One thing nice about getting the barrel is that it doesn’t come with that SiG clutch lock muzzle device rocksetted on. It just has a loose thread protector, and it comes with the tapered shoulder adapter, so it was simple to just add my own muzzle device.