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Video: How Much Does Bullet Velocity Matter?

I hope 10.5" is enough for the AR platform. That's the length I used for my pistol build. It is primarily a home defense gun and range toy, so I feel confident that 10.5" will get the job done.
 
Here's a question I'm tossing out there for anyone to answer ..... I've never been a big fan of the black military looking guns (primarily the AR's) so don't know a lot about them...... more especially about building them for yourself. So, my question is this: When you're talking about bbl length, do you buy bbl blanks of a certain length and then cut them to your final length preference, or are they supplied and bought in several stock lengths?

Now, know this is not to say I disagree with their availability, or functionality as a modern sporting gun, or anything of the sort. I just prefer the deep, rich blued steel, and the fine line checkering found on the nice walnut and/or similar wood pieces. I have a reasonably good idea of how the uppers work, how the lowers work, how the 80%'s receivers work, Mil spec, the actual functionality of the rifle, etc. I've just never thought too much about the varying bbl lengths.
 
I doubt many " Builders" are cutting down their barrels. They're mostly buying uppers in whatever barrel length they want. As far as the ATF is concerned, a flash hider that's pinned and welded counts as barrel length so a lot of 16" barrels are actually 14.5" barrels with a muzzle device permanently attached to it.
 
But even a 14 1/2" bbl on a rifle is legal, right? I understand there is some debate about what constitutes the real difference between a SBR and a pistol, so is this the basis for some of the confusion between a SBR and a rifle caliber pistol?
 
But even a 14 1/2" bbl on a rifle is legal, right? I understand there is some debate about what constitutes the real difference between a SBR and a pistol, so is this the basis for some of the confusion between a SBR and a rifle caliber pistol?

It's only legal as a un-pinned SBR, or with a pinned (perm attachment) muzzle device to bring the overall barrel length to 16.1".

An AR pistol has to fit other criteria.
 
So if I'm understanding it correctly, most if not all bbl's are already at a given length when you buy it, and you order it accordingly. It's not something you would typically 'cut to length' from a longer stock length to do your build????
 
So if I'm understanding it correctly, most if not all bbl's are already at a given length when you buy it, and you order it accordingly. It's not something you would typically 'cut to length' from a longer stock length to do your build????

Correct.

However, if you found a barrel that had some desirable features but was too long you could have an AR barrel shortened by a gunsmith to a length providing it was compatible with the exising gas-system length and legal requirements.
 
I doubt many " Builders" are cutting down their barrels. They're mostly buying uppers in whatever barrel length they want. As far as the ATF is concerned, a flash hider that's pinned and welded counts as barrel length so a lot of 16" barrels are actually 14.5" barrels with a muzzle device permanently attached to it.

I fall squarely into this category. I have only "built" a few AR's, but the process involved the entire upper assemblies being purchased as one finished piece. I typically also buy a complete lower, but may change out some of the individual components. Aside from adding sights or optics, 90% of my "build" process is just fastening the upper to the lower with two pins.
 
I fall squarely into this category. I have only "built" a few AR's, but the process involved the entire upper assemblies being purchased as one finished piece. I typically also buy a complete lower, but may change out some of the individual components. Aside from adding sights or optics, 90% of my "build" process is just fastening the upper to the lower with two pins.

I think 95% of the people “ Building” ARs are doing it this way. It really is assembling ARs.
 
Good video. What I don't really understand is with the fairly recent increase in popularity of the AR pistol, why more ammo manufacturers haven't come up with more selections of ammo for AR pistols or SBRs. I know there are a couple of loads out there for this, but they are pretty expensive and aren't readily available. I've never seen them on the shelves of retail stores.

I'm no expert, but seems to me that designing a round that maybe has a faster, more explosive burn rate that will propel a bullet to it's full potential out of an SBR or AR pistol could be a lucrative product. Maybe there just aren't enough SBR/Pistols out there to justify it, but I'm pretty sure that pistol sales have increased exponentially with the introduction of the "brace". I'd love to see both defensive rounds as well as practice rounds developed in .223 or 5.56 that are designed for SBR/Pistols. Even if they were designed for a 10.5" barrel, they'd probably be much more effective in something like a 7.5" barrel than the current rounds designed for a 20" barrel. Hell, I'm sure there are WAY more people out there shooting SBRs and Pistols than there are guys out there shooting rifles with a 20" barrel. I'm not sure, but my guess would be that even the military isn't using an AR platform rifle with a 20" barrel these days. Am I wrong?
 
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