I understand that I'm part of the machine that pushes these things on people, but if your 16" mid-length is doing what it's supposed to for you I wouldn't worry about it. The improvement in the 14.5" mid-length is incremental at best IMHO.
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I understand that I'm part of the machine that pushes these things on people, but if your 16" mid-length is doing what it's supposed to for you I wouldn't worry about it. The improvement in the 14.5" mid-length is incremental at best IMHO.
I own a 14.5 pinned with the BC1.5; and although I do not feel disadvantaged as far as future customization goes, I do wish I would have considered the fouling that takes place on the under side of the FH that will not be able to be removed.
If it was my only gun, I would have def. gone with a 16" barrel.
Yeah went with a 14.5" carbine/pinned flash suppressor and of course that lead to having to put on a quad rail before hand. This was and is my first AR and overall I'm pretty happy with it. Just added some expense up front.
What I see in the future if I get the urge is to just buy another upper if I see the need or want. I've got sons that will need an AR down the road so another upper is definitely in the future. Would I go with a 14.5" upper again with pinned flash suppressor? No! I would definitely get an SBR and not worry about the pin/welding.
It's not like pinned muzzle devices can't be removed (by a competent gunsmith of course)...
Ummm, duh? :p
Very little short of death or vaporization is un-doable. The issue is the ease, and expense, involved in un-doing them. Few people are going to have the skills, tools, and nerve to remove a permanently-affixed muzzle device at home. Removing one that is simply threaded on, even when secured with loctite or other thread-locker is a relatively easy process provided the user clamps the barrel and not the upper. There was a thread on another forum not too long ago about damage to an upper that was CLEARLY caused by a person who had no idea about the AR system only to be sent to another person who in turn got blamed for the damage.
Changing parts at home is easy, a good skill to acquire, and is cheaper and less time consuming. In the amount of time, and for much less cash outlaid, that it would take for your upper to ARRIVE at the 'smith to remove the device you could have the correct tool(s) in hand and be done with the work. And you'd know how to do the work. And how to un-do it when you decide you don't like it.
I have a T&E 1.45" BCM upper with a PWS muzzle device. I received it from BCM just as the Battlecomp was coming online and suggested to Paul that he look into using them if for no other reason he'd be hearing the wagonwheels requesting them as they were getting a lot of chatter. If this was my personal gun I might even look into changing it out, but at $100 sacrificed for the PWS, another $150 for the BC (only to subsequently also be trashed later when the next great thing hits the internet) plus the cost of the work to un-pin and re-pin, plus the downtime of sending off the upper/barrel... I'd just stick with what I've got. 16" upper? Remove PWS in 5 minutes, install BC in 5 minutes, net cost $0. Sell PWS on internet to offset BC price, net cost maybe $100 tops?
and then there's the issue of sacrificing a part you're happy with just to change out another. If you want to go from a Daniel Defense FF rail to try a Larue, or you want to go from MOE handguards to a VTAC, you may have to destroy and replace that $150 Battlecomp just to change the handguard.
ETA:
These arguments are really stupid as I frankly don't care what someone does with their own money. But steering newbs towards the same bad choices someone else made goes against what this site should be about. As long as people understand that:
a) without any practical experience you have no idea what you want or need
and
b) the cost in dollars to change the part(s) can be as much as 3-4x as high
and
c) you may have to sacrifice and replace a part you're happy with just to change out a different part
then by all means, it's your dollars and your donuts, so pay your money and take your chances. But do it from an informed position and don't believe the one-sentence posts that aren't worth the time it takes to hit "submit".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...WRpYS8xODU.jpg
Why oh why did I ever buy this piece of shit?!
I kid. My BCM 14.5 w/ permanent A2X upper is a great carbine - I bought it to mimic my issue M4 and you're a BCM owner already, you know the drill. They are great.
That said, it handles practically identical to my similarly equipped 16" guns. So it's your call OP. Do yo thang.
The simple answer is it's your money and get what will make you happy. I like the 14.5 middy, and for me it's easier to have a pinned muzzle device than to pay $200 for a stamp. In fact the only 2
ARs I currently own are 14.5 LW Middys with pinned FHs, one of them started off as a 16" LW middy before going to ADCO. I prefer them for all the reasons listed in multiple threads on this site and others. I have no regrets over pinned muzzle devices, but I don't regularly change out my gear either.
The caveat, you have to know what you want (not sure the OP does from his post), before you "permanently" attach anything. I figured out what works for me after a couple of seasons of TPC matches and some training classes, as well as what worked for me at work (urban LE). I don't have the budget or desire to try out every new piece of gear that comes out, so once I figured out what worked for me I was GTG.
If you think that every time you read a review you will want to try out the newest and latest, then stick with the 16". If you decide in the future that you want/need the shortest barrel you can have without a stamp then you can send it off to ADCO and still have that 14.5 in the future.
Stay Safe,
Rob