Question on 16" AR barrels ?

[solman]

I was wondering if the 16 inch length barrel needs a flash hider or compensator due to its length? Can you just go 16 inch and leave it at that. I see this on the longer bull barrels but not on the shorter barrels usually. Being in a ban compliance state (NJ) I thought to avoid the whole weld and pin of a compensator on a threaded barrel and just cut away the threads on a lathe. This makes future changes easy buy not leaving gas block captured on the barrel.

[oneshot onekill]

You should still be able to get a barrel without a flash hider. It may have a different profile from the "M4" profile. I wouldn't remove a flash hider and cut the threads off a barrel because that may make it shorter than the legal length of 16". FWIW...

[rjrivero]

If you're buying a 16" barrel, it will be 16" to the end of the threads. Cutting the threads off will bring you down to 15.4" and thus illegal (unless you go to an NFA SBR.)

Instead of chopping the threads, get a thread protector and put it on the end of the barrel. Same net effect.

[amd6547]

I shoot a 16" "post ban" HBAR upper I got cheap. Even in daylight, it sometimes produces a baseball sized white muzzle flash.

[solman]

Oops, let me clarify. I was not intending to shorten the barrel. the threads would be cut off the diameter of the barrel leaving a smooth unthreaded section on the tip of the barrel.

[eastbank]

my factory colt post ban light weight target match ar is done that way, just smooth to the end of the barrel. eastbank.

[customaquatics]

why not buy a barrel with no threads to begin with? brownells has em.

[Technosavant]

the threads would be cut off the diameter of the barrel leaving a smooth unthreaded section on the tip of the barrel.

There's nothing wrong with doing that, but if you use a parkerized barrel you'll then need to refinish it.

So long as the total overall length remains the same the law doesn't care about the contour.

[solman]

I forgot about the refinish part, thats a good point.
I thought that buying a complete upper ,pulling the barrel to modify, and then putting it all back together would be much cheaper and easier than finding all the parts piecemeal. Lots of good complete uppers available right now.