Quote:
Originally Posted by BattleRifleG3  My personal FAL carbine preference would be to have the long gas system for commonality and more space to hold, with the 18" barrel + any attachment. Part of the science of full power battle rifles is that 18" is the minimum reasonable length for a 7.62 NATO before your blast goes way up and your ballistics go down.
If I were going all out and getting a DSA I'd probably go for stainless too. |
heres the facts
Here you go...
Temp 72
Alt 5200
.................DSA SA58 16" bbl..........FN PBR XP 20" bbl
American Eagle .308Win 150gr FMJBT #AE308D
...........................2538................... ........2669
...........................2537................... ........2681
...........................2506................... ........2703
...........................2538................... ........2635
.....................Avg 2543.....................Avg 2663
....................SD......32.23................S D.......32.81
120ft/sec difference
Federal .308Win 150gr Soft Point #308A
...........................2588................... ........2724
...........................2594................... ........2741
...........................2595................... ........2729
...........................2582................... ........2736
...........................2605................... ........2726
.....................Avg 2593.....................Avg 2731
....................SD........8.54................ SD........7.07
138ft/sec difference
Barnaul .308Win 168gr FMJBT
...........................2424................... ........2554
...........................2388................... ........2515
...........................2455................... ........2507
...........................2379................... ........2505
...........................2399................... ........2518
.....................Avg 2409......................Avg 2520
....................SD......30.74................S D......19.92
111ft/sec difference
This means even that even budget .308 American Eagle FMJ is hypersonic past 700 yards from a 16" bbl FAL.
The shorter barrel really wont make that much of a difference at ranges you can hit at with a FAL.
Here is some more argument for a 16.25" medium contour fully fluted bbl.
Are Shorter Barrels More Accurate?
As a general rule, the answer is yes. A shorter barrel will be stiffer, pound for pound, since you can run a thicker contour (diameter) with the same weight. As you increase diameter, barrel rigidity rises to the 4th power of the increase. But if you lengthen a barrel, stiffness declines in proportion to the cube of the length. So a barrel that is just a few inches longer and a bit thinner can be half as rigid....
Source
Barrel FAQ -- Barrel Velocities, Lengths, Twist Rate, Contours, Cleaning, Accuracy and Ballistics for Benchrest, Hunting, Precision Shooting