LEB,
"if Canadian law limits barrel length to 18.5", how is it you have an 11.5" SBR?"
Canadian law limits
CUTTING a rifle barrel to less than 18.5".
Installing a
FACTORY MADE barrel less than 18.5" is quite acceptable.
Here in Canada, the AR 15 is already a restricted item, same as a pistol, and barrel length is irrelevant to the paper chase. We Canucks can also add a butt stock to our pistols with no hassles. Like the "Glock Carbine Kit" below.
This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.
I have built up a few CANADIAN LEGAL AR 15 SBRs using 7" pistol gas block configured barrels, but with 5.56/.223 these SBRs are pretty ridiculous. More flame and muzzle blast than velocity, and the standard deviation goes to heck as most of the powder is burned OUTSIDE the barrel. A few months ago I traded my 10.5" AR 15 .223 barrel for an 11.5" RRA 5.56 barrel, and that extra 1" DOES make a BIG difference. I also installed a modified LeVang "?comp?" on the 11.5" barrel, which does nothing to reduce muzzle flip or recoil, but which does direct ALL the gases to the front, and burns them more efficiently.
I think the .300 Blackout might be ideal for an SBR, and they seem to be marketing this caliber as ideal for a 9" barrel with suppressor. .300 Blackout might just be my next project ... but not till I see the ammo here first. BTDT with the 6.8 SPC, and don't want to get any more rude surprises. Up here my local gun shop was selling the virgin brass for near a dollar each ... OUCH!!! I sort of regret selling off my two .300 Whisper rigs, with the 1000 rds of prepped brass and loading dies. But reloading for the standard calibers already eats up too much of my valuable free time, and I don't really enjoy it any more. So no more wildcat cartridges for me. Buying ammo off the shelf is better, but best of all is trading my gunsmiting skills for "FREE AMMO".
I regret selling my last AR 15 build in 5.56, which had a 14.5" barrel. 14.5" seems to me to be the best all around compromise between portability and ballistic ability in the poodle popper caliber. BUT, since I retired last Dec, and plan to spend more time in the US in the near future, I can see the need developing for a US Street Legal 16" barrel on my next AR 15 build.
Not trying to hijack the thread
BACK to the M14 VS AR 10,
but it seems the only rifles I have at the moment that would be "street legal" in the US, are my Remington AR 10 HUNTING RIFLES!!! My M14 builds are almost always created on a Chinese NORINCO M14 clone receiver, so these can't go South with me. And my AR 15s are usually shorter than 16", so no luck there either.
And the funniest part of this story???
IN CANUCKISTAN I CAN'T LEGALLY HUNT NO MORE WITH MY AR 10 RIFLES ...
at least not since the Canucklehead laws changed in 1992.
Strange world we live in, eh what?
A few pics just to remind us what an M14 looks like:
This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.
and what an SBR AR 15 looks like next to an AR 10:
This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.
And of an M14 trying to look like an AR 10:
This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.
I am currently involved in a project to create the perfect M14 Munimula stock ... which ... surprise, surprise ...
will make it look and handle as much like an AR 10 as possible.
Just can't beat the ergonomics of the AR 10 family ....
although I DO like the bullpup concept. The Galil I tried out was very nice indeed.
Now think Galil in .300 Blackout,
HMmmmmmmm?