The Best Barrel Length for 5.56/.223 (With Ballistic Data)

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jul 23rd 2025

The .223 Remington and 5.56 NATO cartridges are based on the .222 Remington, an old varmint hunting round designed to be fired from a bolt-action rifle. That rifle was the Remington Model 721, to be exact, which had a 24" barrel. In other words, the 5.56 and .223 cartridges we all chamber in our AR- …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.

All About AR-15 Gas Port Sizes

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jul 22nd 2025

The importance of the AR-15's gas port is often overlooked. When there's talk about gas systems and tuning a rifle, the conversation usually focuses on gas blocks, buffers, and gas tubes. There's little mention of gas port size. Maybe you're building an AR-15, and need to verify you've got the right …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.

The Ultimate AR-15 Cleaning Guide

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jul 9th 2025

There are a lot of guides on the internet that tell you how to clean the AR-15. Most of those guides are miss important steps. Some are just wrong. This writer was once an armorer's assistant in the U.S. Army. I spent nearly a decade cleaning M4 rifles, and I spent many hours stopping angry uniforms …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.

Which AR-15 Twist Rate is Best?

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jun 30th 2025

This guide covers all the important aspects of the AR-15 barrel: Rifling, forging, and barrel steel, treatments and coatings, and the best barrel lengths and twist rates for the most popular cartridges. What is a "Twist Rate," Exactly? A barrel's twist rate describes how tightly a gun barrel's rifli …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.

Nitride vs. Chrome Lining: Which AR-15 Barrel Finish is Best?

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jun 27th 2025

Whether you build or buy a rifle, picking out a barrel is arguably the most important thing you'll do. After all, the barrel determines how your rifle performs; everything else comes second. In addition to choosing between carbon and stainless steel, and your barrel's type of rifling, you've got to …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.

Which Type of Barrel Rifling is Best? A Comparison

Posted by 80-Lower.com on Jun 27th 2025

Every shooter wants the most accurate and reliable barrel. If you're building a new AR-15 or just buying a rifle off the shelf, you're probably deciding between different types of rifling: Cold-hammer forged (CHF), cut rifling, and button rifling. Which one's the best? Is one the best? Each type of …

DISCLAIMER: If you are new to the world of DIY gun building, you likely have a lot of questions and rightfully so. It’s an area that has a lot of questions that, without the correct answers, could have some serious implications. At GunBuilders.com, we are by no means providing this content on our website to serve as legal advice or legal counsel. We encourage each and every builder to perform their own research around their respective State laws as well as educating themselves on the Federal laws. When performing your own research, please be sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source.