I plan on buying an AR-15 at some point, at the moment I am just doing research trying to figgure out what the best configuration would be. I am wondering about barrel length. I know there are 14.5" barrels, which have permanently attached compensators that bring them up to 16". That idea seems rather pointless to me, why not just get the 16" barrel? Then there are also 24" and 26" barrels, but that just seems so long and unwieldly.
Basically my decision boils down to 16" vs 20" and I would like to know if one is considered more of an appropriate barrel than the other, as far as accuracy and velocity. Is the 16" significantly less accurate than the 20"? Does the higher velocity achieved by the longer barrel significantly affect performance?
Thanks