With this kind of data, you can make an educated decision about which barrel length is right for you. Wolf Polyformance 55 Grain (Steel Cased)Ĭomplete tables show the velocity, extreme spread, SD, and the actual shot string data for each barrel length.14.5″ BCH BFH “Barrel – Hammer Forged” (Mid Gas) with SilencerCo Omega suppressor.12.5″ BCM Standard (Carbine gas) with SilencerCo Omega suppressor.11.5″ Faxon “Big Gunner” (Mid Gas) with SilencerCo Omega suppressor.10.5″ Noveske SwitchBlock with SilencerCo Omega suppressor.You can see all of Eagle_19er’s work on : Suppressed 5.56 SBR Velocity Tests–41 Factory Loads from 10.5″, 11.5″, 12.5″ & 14.5″ ALL DONE

It’s by no means an exhaustive list of everything available in 5.56, but these loads cover many of the popular “off the shelf” (and a few more obscure) loads that many of us shoot at the range and/or depend on for self defense, hunting or duty. They run the gamut from 55gr Wolf Polyformance steel case to a few flavors of heavy OTM loads. Over the last year or so, Eagle_19er posting on has gathered forty-one different factory loads and tested 10 rounds of each in a 10.5″, 11.5″, 12.5″ and 14.5″ barreles to establish a baseline velocities. AR pistols have brought shorter barrels to the common man. It makes sense that a shorter barrel will produce lower velocity, but how much less? Since the Army rolled out the 14.5 inch barrelled M-4 in 1992, there have been a lot of people shooting shorter barrels. There is much confusion about the effects of these short barrels on velocity.

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