racegunner,
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A 20" barrel is still a carbine size weapon.
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An FAL with a 20" barrel is about 40" long (with MB, 'bout 42").
An FAL with an 18" barrel is about 38" long.
An AR-15 with a 16" barrel is about 34.5" long.
A 40" long rifle is hardly a carbine!
The DSA Lightweight carbine has short handguards and thus a shorter sight radius than the standard 16" carbine, which has standard handguards. The DSA LW's gas system
may be more robust than the regular 16" carbine's system because the LW has more distance between the gas port and the muzzle.
The muzzle brakes only add an inch or inch and a half to the end of the barrel. The original Austrian flash-hider, though it looks huge, only adds about 1" to the OAL.
One last thing to consider about the muzzle brake is that it can protect the muzzle crown.
The FAL is a pretty long design. I wish it were made in a more compact package. FAL bull-pup anyone?
regards
-z