11.5" barrels

[cgrubb1]

Hello,
I am new to the forum and ar world. I have gotten the itch to own an ar and have been looking to "assemble" one myself to try to save some money. Not going to say build because I will probably buy complete uppers and lowers. I have been looking mostly at 16" barrels but have seen some decent deals with 11.5". Does this length affect the accuracy of the gun? It is a bcm with a 1:7 twist . Also curious about legalality of it. Sorry if these are dumb questions.

[bkb0000]

11.5" barrels are legal, but you need to register a lower with the ATF as an "SBR" before you can attach upper and lower. some people will say "constructive intent" prohibits even owning the upper till the lower is registered, but c'mon.

11.5s from good manufacturers will be just as accurate as any other barrel from good manufacturers.. the difference is with velocity. the shorter the barrel, the less velocity, the higher the ballistic arch, the shorter the effective range.

welcome to the board.

[rifleman2000]

Shorter barrels are also louder and have more of a muzzle flash. This is because more unburned powder exits the muzzle that would have burned in a longer barrel.

They are very noticeably louder than more conventional lengthed barrels. Even a 16 inch barrel is louder than a 20 inch.