rifle length gas tube on 16" bad idea?

Patrick Bateman · Oct 19, 2012

I thought about cutting down my 20" and making it a 16" but have the existing rifle length gas tube. I have read this may be a problem is cold weather. Has anyone done this? I think it may be better to just buy a middy upper

wyop · Oct 20, 2012

If you just cut down the length of the barrel out beyond the gas port, you'd have to increase the diameter of the gas port to compensate for the loss of duration of gas pressure to cycle the action. This isn't difficult, but it would require setup in a mill, drilling/reaming a slightly wider gas port hole, re-assembly of the rifle, testing for cycling and possibly going back to the mill - possibly several times - to get the gas pressure correct.

moaprecision · Oct 24, 2012

Read Patrick Sweeny's first Gun Digest AR15 book. He has a whole chapter on cutting down surplus M16A2 barrels for police departments. He cuts them at 16.5 inches as I recall and stated that he has NEVER had any reliability issues, even with the factory port size. I shoot a rifle length gas system on my 3GUN rifle with an 18 inch barrel and there is a noticeable reduction in recovery time between doubletaps versus a short gas system. Really reduces the abrupt "slammy" feeling of the action. Most ARs are overgassed anyway, so most of the "recoil" that you feel is the buffer whacking the end of the buffer tube.

Tom

panaceabeachbum · Oct 25, 2012

I have cut quite a few ar bbls with rifle length gas systems to 16.5 with no problem at all

Cole2534 · Oct 28, 2012

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Please let us know the results of your cutting. I'm betting it to be a very soft shooter.

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rifle length gas tube on 16" bad idea?

Patrick Bateman

Plastic

wyop

Cast Iron

moaprecision

Aluminum

panaceabeachbum

Plastic

Cole2534

Diamond

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