14in barrel P&W

[FloridaGunMan101]

So I got ahold of DSA the other day to ask them if they have ever chopped a barrel down to 14in for a pin and weld job. This is on a full length gas system, NOT the mid length. They suggested to not attempt it due to reliability. My goal of chopping the barrel to 14in is so I can get to the lugs on the barrel where the sling swivel is retained. I want to face the lug so I can have a shoulder to index a muzzle break, rather then relying on the crown to zero a flash hider. This is all in preparation for suppressing the rifle. Installing a muzzle brake will save some life of the can and a shorter barrel adds to the tacticool aesthetics.

Have any of yall ever played around with a 14inch barrel on the full length gas system? What are your experiences with reliability? I will be running a suppressor gas plug. Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[gevarm96]

I have a 15.6” p/w barrel on full length gas. Gas port is .125” & its on the ragged edge of being reliable. I have the gas port pretty much closed.

Taking another inch & a half off can only make it worse.

BUT adding a suppressor might put enough gas back to make it reliable.

Personally I wouldn’t want a rifle that relies on a silencer to make it reliable.

Only one way to find out though.. if ya do it, make sure to show us!

 

[FloridaGunMan101]

Thank you Gevarm96 for the comment! I agree, I’d rather not rely on a can to make the gun properly operate. I want to gather others input before continuing down this path. Thanks again
The barrel is currently 16in and runs flawless, gas settings are normal.

 

[W.E.G.]

DSA sells a 16” barrel with a short-length gas port location.

You can sleeve an area of the barrel as needed to serve as a support-point for your specified purpose. The sleeve can be welded or silver soldered.

 

[FloridaGunMan101]

I have read somewhere before about the sleeving idea. Not a bad compromise.

 

[FloridaGunMan101]

Did a para conversion on my lower receiver this morning. Now I have to order the para bolt and dust cover.

Any one else have some insight to shortening the barrel length? DSA said they would sell me a 18” medium contour fluted barrel threaded 5/8-24 so that solves my muzzle break dilemma but I’m craving to find out about this 14inch barrel configuration

 

[Armsdad]

Bolts are the same. Carrier is different .I got some stuff. You need the Para spring set, a top cover and spring/guide rod as well. And a Para stock if ya don't already have that. I just built a Franken fal with the fluted 18" medium contour barrel. Haven't shot it yet. Maybe today.

 

[tac-40]

Not reliable. Not enough pressure past the gas port to work the piston correctly. OEM para barrels were 17" and some change. I cut a barrel to 16" and it took a combination of a multi chamber muzzle brake and a huge gas port to get enough back pressure to cycle reliably.

If you are fixated on the shorter barrel, get yourself a DSA short gas barrel. I built one and it is totally reliable when I use good mags. That barrel is currently MOA or less off the bench.

 

[FloridaGunMan101]

Bolts are the same. Carrier is different .I got some stuff. You need the Para spring set, a top cover and spring/guide rod as well. And a Para stock if ya don't already have that. I just built a Franken fal with the fluted 18" medium contour barrel. Haven't shot it yet. Maybe today.

Nice build you have there Armsdad. Please keep me informed how you like the performance of that barrel. Thanks for your comment!

 

[FloridaGunMan101]

Not reliable. Not enough pressure past the gas port to work the piston correctly. OEM para barrels were 17" and some change. I cut a barrel to 16" and it took a combination of a multi chamber muzzle brake and a huge gas port to get enough back pressure to cycle reliably.

If you are fixated on the shorter barrel, get yourself a DSA short gas barrel. I built one and it is totally reliable when I use good mags. That barrel is currently MOA or less off the bench.

Tac-40, DSA said the same thing over the phone. The shorter the barrel on a rifle length gas system the greater chance of reliability issues. I think you can get away with a 16" barrel, just assuming because DSA sells 16" PARA's. I found a guy on Reddit who has a 14.5" rifle length gas system set up, operating on the full stock (not a PARA) and he runs reliably, although he had to lighten the piston, and bolt carrier while modifying the recoil springs. He also tampered with the gas block.

I already scribbled lines on my bolt carrier and got dimensions for where I can lighten it. Using a free program online, looks like I will get a 20% decrease in weight for the bolt carrier and a 34% decrease in weight for the piston. I assume I will have the remove the gas block and drill out the port to a slightly larger size, but this will be done after some testing. I also am in a bit of a pinch figuring out the recoil springs. Only time will tell.

NOTE:
I will be running a DeadAir Sandman S on my build. Ill be changing out my standard gas plug for DSA's adjustable suppressor plug. It would be nice to be able to have the rifle function properly, without having to be reliant on the suppressor for its back pressure

Link to the 14.5 build:
https://www.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/s7sdx1
Thanks all for your comments! Keep em coming

 

[tac-40]

With a can installed, then you effectively lengthened the barrel beyond 14 in. This will increase the back pressure so operation of the gas system should be normal. It is well documented that Fals often need a modification to the gas plug to REDUCE the gas to the piston when running the on full length barrels. In your case, you could install a 14 in barrel, leave everything else the same, install the can and test fire it to look for cycling issues. The make you alterations based upon these results, not from inner web engineers. Of course, operation without a can installed may be questionable.

 

[Armsdad]

Just FYI, I just went n test ran the 18" dsa medium.contour fluted barrel. Don't know what it was before hand but had to open gas port to .112 to get it to cycle at all on full gas. Im gonna go ahead and drill it to .114 ish and run it some ..break it in some and it should be fine. Don't know about groups yet since I was just Makin it run for now. But definately had a few holes touching. But again I'm adjusting gas and sights the whole time. Your results may vary. I'm using a crap Cai receiver also that I've had to work on to get this far.

 

[ByronF]

I wonder of a sleeve would hold up. Certainly the medium contour adds shoulder. Would be cool of DSA to turn all but the first 1/2" of the OD back down to standard profile. Or make a 16" barrel a catalog item just for suppressor use.