I went with a 7.5" BA Hanson barrel for my build. Before the 7.5 is worthless and will not even penetrate air crowd chimes in, I also have a 8.3" 300blk SBR as well. My go to rifle is a 16" mid length with BA Hanson barrel   .

This will be truck, range, fun gun. Range report to follow.

RANGE REPORT (added 8 Aug)

I built this 7.5” upper on Sunday and was able to test fire it yesterday. After running over 140 rds of 5.56 and .223, I am happy to report that there was not one single issue. The gun ran 100% and was pretty accurate to boot with just the Aimpoint Micro. This is my 100yds and in gun. With 62 gr Federal Fusion or  62gr Speer Gold Dot, I feel well armed with the 7.5” barrel.

Ammo used:
Federal Fusion MSR 62gr
Speer Gold Dot 62gr
American Eagle 55gr 223
Winchester 55gr 5.56
Remington 45gr JHP
Hornady Frontier 55gr JHP

The gun:

RRA SBR Lower w Larue MBT trigger
MFT Stock
Aero Precision upper
Ballistic Advantage 7.5” Hanson barrel
Aero Precision Atlas 7” rail
Aimpoint Micro H1 on Larue mount
Kak Micro can
Diamond Head BUIS

 

 

62gr Speer Gold Dot 50yds:
 

62gr Speer Gold Dot 25yds
 

62gr Federal MSR 100yds
 

Look at how tiny those holes are compared to regular holes made by 16" uppers.. oh wait that's right there's no velocity behind them.. durr..

I don’t see any problem with a 7.5” as long as you’re using ammo that’ll work at the velocities it’ll achieve, and expected shots are within that range envelope. The muzzle blast may be a bit much. I’ve never gone under 10.3” and find that to be excessive enough.

Ballistic Advantage makes a good barrel for the money, your results don’t surprise me. Also short barrels can be every bit as accurate as long barrels, at least mechanically, environmental factors aside. My 10.5” Rainier Ultramatch is neck and neck with my 16” LaRue Stealth.

ETA: I’d be curious to see how well it’d do with a proper scope and bags, just for fun.

My 7" is a backpacking/range gun and it's a riot. The nay sayers that claim they're unreliable and don't shoot well aren't doing it right.

That said my 10.5" shoots and handles much like a carbine, but because of that is a bit less exciting.