Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 16" or 20" for calling rifle?

I plan on purchasing an AR that will primarily be used for calling coyotes and possibly cougar should one present itself. It will also serve a secondary purpose if SHTF. What does everyone prefer?

16" if if will serve as a SHTF!

I dearly love 16's but use a 20 for calling. The longer forearm tube works better on the sticks

I like my 20" just fine for calling. Its a bull barrel, shoots pretty well off hand because the weight balances it.

I prefer 16's but have an 18 as well. The 18 might make a good compromise...

You guys running the 20" rigs are they varminter style or more of the standard A4? I think I wanna go with a Rock River Standard A4 and replace the front handguard with a quad rail or something just because I like the looks of it. I am sure I will tweak it more in the future but this will be my first black gun.

My favorite is an original M16 pencil barrel 1-12 0n an A3 flat top with a float tube

I like 18's and 20's myself.


Terry

I have been using a Bushmaster 16" M4 ORC for several years now. It has become my favorite calling rifle. However recently I did modify it a bit.



I replaced the Aluminum Carbine Length Free Float Tube with a Rifle Length Carbon Fiber Free Float Tube (actually I shortened it 3/4" from the original rifle length). In using this length Free Float Tube I covered up the Bushmaster pinned on gas block and the M203 Cutout in the M4 Barrel. This to me provides a cleaner look and also will allow me to place my shooting sticks farther forward when calling Coyotes. In the process I replaced the A2 Flash Hider with a Black River Tactical Covert Comp, which actually seemed to have lessened Muzzle Blast to the Shooter. I also recently added a MagPul CTR Buttstock which I also really like.

I have had a couple 20" Bull Barrel AR's over the years and this particular 16" Bushmaster gives up less than 100 FPS to the 20"ers I have had. With a 1.5x4.5x32mm Bushnell Elite 3200 Firefly it'll print 3/4" groups with amazingly regularity.

I have found I really don't need anything more. For the record this one tips the scales at 8 1/4 pounds as pictured with 15 rounds in the 20 round magazine.

Larry

I like the 16" myself. I find a lightweight, compact carbine handy when spending a lot of time in the field.

I built what I considered a general purpose, practical, LW hunting carbine with long hikes in mind. It meets my needs perfectly. The more I use it, the more I enjoy it.

The attributes that make it really work are a super skinny profile WOA barrel, carbon fiber front tube, LW gas block, ACE skeleton stock and an ACOG that is much lighter than many conventional scopes. I had intended to do a couple different flash hider/comps, but in weighing them, the standard A2 was much lighter, so the fancy ones went back into my parts drawers.

The regulars here have seen pics of it many times, but here it is:





This was the first hunting test run with the upper being used on a different lower. I had never fired a single round through the newly built lower. Fortunately it went bang when this dog came straight in:




Overall it has proven to be a great hunting rifle.

I have both a 16" and a 20"...both work good. One's lighter and easier to tote, the other sits well....so, either will work.

Elwood

I'm running an old bushmaster v match with a 20" fluted barrel. Best calling rifle I've used and have been running it about 15 years now.

I prefer light weight 16 in Ars for moving about and calling, however if you're going to be sniping yotes on the plains of North Dakota you might want the ballistic advantage of the 20 bbl dispite the weight penalty.

Yep 16" is the way to go IMHO.

You don't really give anything up at all and gain some manuverability and ligher weight. That 4" isn't anything that a yote within cappin' distance is going to care about...

I like both but given the choice i will take the 16 inch