short barrel, how short?

BRIZ

BRIZ

New member
i was kicking around the idea of building a short barreled extreamly light weight and cheeper AR.

this rifle would be for calling and a truck rifle.
i find that most of the more remote locations that i call i caint get a shot off past 100 yards and running yotes with dogs they bring em by the road real close anyhow. so really if be happy with 2 or even 3 MOA out of this rifle. id put a red dot of some sort of it so thats taken care of.

im thinkning about useing a plumcrazy lower and getting a ...i hate to say it but a model 1 sales upper or some other upper that wont break the bank.

what would be the SHOREST barrel you would go with, right now just pulling numbers out of the air im thinking something like a 12 incher, a "commando" type i guess. going that short would a 223 or 6.8 spc be better?

just kicking around the area here guys..what ya think?
 
You do realize that anything shorter than a 16 inch barrel on a rifle is a NFA item, $200 tax stamp and right now a 5 month wait? That kinda takes the cheap out of it. A 16 inch barrel will work just fine.

Oh and I see you are in Iowa, one of our communist states. Good luck with that. You are not allowed to have one. LOL
 
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huh?? well that SUCKS!! i rembemer hearing something like that....them SOB's!! thats what i get for thinkning now dont it?? LOL

what if i regerster the lower as a pistol?? there has got to be a way around it!! LOL just too go of an idea!!
 
You have to look that up I think you can get away with a AR15 pistol but have not researched that.

Just do the 16 inch barrel its plenty short.
 
Briz, I would strongly suggest that you pull up the BATF website and review the various laws on this and related subjects,,,

When it comes to short barreled rifles/shotguns and rifle calibers that have been produced as pistols, it can get pretty technical and getting legal advice over the internet can land you in a different type hotel for a long stay...
 
16 in barrel with a collapsible stock and even with a FH you will still be right around three feet over all length. Should be able to do what you want

If you go shorter barrel, 6.8 gets my vote, it was designed to have maximum efficiency out of a 16 in barrel. Still has very good performance out of 10 and 12 in barrels as well, 16 still wins here though.
 
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this is from the ATF web site:
Q: What is the registered part of a Short Barreled Rifle (SBR) or Short Barreled Shotgun (SBS)?
While a receiver alone may be classified as a “firearm” under the Gun Control Act (GCA), SBRs and SBSs are classified in totality under the National Firearms Act (NFA). A firearm that meets the definition of a SBR consists of a rifle that has a barrel less than 16 inches in length. A SBS consists of a shotgun that has a barrel less than 18 inches in length. The serialized receiver is recorded for registration in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR).

along with alot of other stuff. i could do it with paying the SOT tax of $200 and it would be legit. however...MY STATE will not let me have one at all...it is a felony to even have in your possition a barrel shorter than 16 inchs on a rifle or 18 inches on a shotgun, along with silancers and other cool toys...the way i read it i would get in MORE trouble by the state of Iowa by haveing one of those items than i would haveing less than 2.2 grams of meth on my person or beating my wife with a ball bat!?!?!?!

what can i say? i would pay the 200 bucks just for the heck of it, so i could have one of those items, just cause its my choice and right as far as im concerned.

im not that bummed about it really i just think its bull that the feds say i CAN have one (with the tax paid) but my state says NO. i thought that states couldent impose a law that is more strict that what fed law is...am i wrong?
 
Originally Posted By: BRIZim not that bummed about it really i just think its bull that the feds say i CAN have one (with the tax paid) but my state says NO. i thought that states couldent impose a law that is more strict that what fed law is...am i wrong?

That's the beauty of federalism and the republican form of government. It's supposed to work that way; the fed. gov has very little real authority granted to it by the Constitution. The rest is resreved to the states. The framers' intention was that, if you didn't like Iowa's gun laws, you could go to a state who's laws were more agreeable.

What you're talking about in the part quoted is the supremacy clause. Only applies to things the fed. has jurisdiction over. We want that to be very little. Your city council, county commisioners, and state legislature are more responsive to what you and your neighbors want that those fools in D.C.

The NRA has tried "incorporation" arguments to expand the concept of 2nd Amendment supremacy to the states and failed. I'm a life member, but glad it didn't work out. Incorporation is a slippery slope that puts D.C. in exclusive control of everthing it's applied to.

In actuality, it should be sorta' the other way around. Iowa is free to legislate how it sees fit with regard to guns and stuff bcause the 2nd Amendment prohibits the federal government from doing anything. It's the ATF and the $200 tax that are wrong and shouldn't exist.
 
thats another way to look at it, i can see your points and they make sense.

guess i dident know, or look at it that way.

thanks for the insite hideandseekpro!!

i guess after spending so much time in the Army, my mind is that the fed's had total rule and the states have little control of such topics considering dealing with the ATF and all...makes sense with the whole design of the consitution being the way it is and why it was designed that way.

like you implied, if i dont like the laws in my state i can either move or it would be much easier to contact or organize a movement to influance a change in local laws rather than fed law.

thanks agian guys!!
 
16in with a short stock and a eotech on it is a great little gun to carry and with a magnifier on it I can hit the 9in gong 9 out of 10 times and 400yds. With out the mag on it I can hit the 9in gong 7 out of 10 times at 300yds. Too bad my youngest feel in love with it and I don't get to shoot it much.
 
I personally wouldn't go less then 16". 16" is plenty small to carry around calling and to get in and out of the truck with. Just my opinion
 
Originally Posted By: Kiloxja 14.5" w/pinned Fh 1/7 twist will ooy shootmost 20" 1/9 to 200 yrds and the total length is 16"

You forgot to say that its faster also. LOL
 
I am having two new uppers built in 17 Rem and 223. Both for special applications, close qrtrs and night handling for critters. Matching the twist w bullet selection and the ability for it to be stablized. Both barrels are 18 inches. I have shot 16, 18, 20, 24, and 27.5 barrels at distance so I picked a barrel length that would not limit me in distance, would serve for the intended target w intended projectile weight, will deliver expected group size at intended ranges but not be limited on moevement or handling. If this is going to be your primary calling rifle do go to short.
 
what id like to do is just have a cheaper AR that i wont feel so bad about beating around like my SD rifle.

i have a howa 22-250 that is dead nutz shooting for long range stuff. id just really like a relly short, really light AR for packing in a couple miles through the snow to get to some of my best honney holes that i love to call into.

so, with iowa being a state that does not let you have SBR'S i guess ill have to get with the NRA, the iowa firearms collalition and any other group that might be able to get the ball rolling on that issue of NFA items.

untill then i think ill start a 14.5 or 14.7 incher with a pinned linear comp (i have a KIES blastmaster on my SD rifle and LOVE it by the way) with a plumbcrazy lower....heck i handled a bushmaster carbon 15 at sportsmans the other day and i could get into that on for 650 i think and that was with a bushnell red dot on top..might be the way to go for now.
 
Briz,,,If you really want a lightweight, inexpensive truck rifle...Go the route that I did...My goal was to put together a really inexpensive AR as a 'beater'...

I bought a Plum Crazy lower ($139) a cheap upper through JSE Surplus on one of their specials ($335) and found a used 2.8-10x Simmons Aetec scope in a local pawn shop for $50...That totaled out to $524 and later added a Levang muzzle brake for another $30...It weighs right at 7# with the 16", 1/9 twist barrel and shoots almost a good as my DPMS competition AR..

PCAR2.jpg


A little camo paint and it looks almost like a real one..
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..and it's all legal..

PCAR.jpg
 
thats a good looking rig there turtle. i really like that snake skin pattern. for the money and sounds like the accuracy, it caint be beat.

yeah, im not sold eather way really. think ill have to wait untill momma aint looking and just dive into it. for the money and conveance the bushy dont sound bad...undecided still.

i guess i DO want to be on the long side of 16inchs...id hate to spend a couple years (already done that with a trip to Iraq) missing hunting season!!
 


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