Pistol carbine, consider the military uses them
more accurate than a handgun (inherent accuracies of a rifle and longer barrel/sight radius)
great bridge between the 25M effectiveness of a handgun and the overkill of close in rifle, with out the bulkiness of a rifle.
OH and they are cheaper to run (only thing that beats 9mm is .22) than a rifle.
What pistol calibre carbine do they use? SEALs and such, they might use them. The military as whole doesn't at all.
The M4 is superior to just about any pistol carbine you can get. Fact. Overpenetration isn't much of an issue with an M4, especially with the right ammo, like XM193 and varmint loads, and it does a lot more damage. I understand the VMAX loads only penetrate 4-6 inches, but make a softball size wound just under the skin that liquifies tissue. Ouch. And an M4 can tap off a few of these in just a second --the Geissele 3gun trigger has been recorded and timed to accurately fire 12 5.56mm rounds in 1.9 seconds. Sure, you can do this with a pistol AR too, but the pistol round won't stop the intruder the same way a 5.56mm will, and at the range you can't shoot too far, not efficiently anyway. I do suppose a pistol calibre AR would be good if you only had access to an indoor range and couldn't fire 5.56 though.
Pistol calibre carbines might be fun, I considered getting a Glock AR lower, but then Oly stopped selling them stripped and only sells the rifle for $1000. Whereas I may get an Oly lower, particularly a special one like that that would use my Glock mags, I would never ever spend $1000 (or half that) on a complete Oly rifle. I wish I could find a good Glock AR lower stripped and built by a better maker than Oly --just having "Oly" on the side of a receiver can lower the value of the weapon.
Pistol carbines were more popular after WWII, that was their heyday. The Israelis even equipped soldiers with UZI's. But then things shifted to 5.56, now we have PDW rounds --and if I had to carry something smaller than an M4, I'd go with a PDW before I'd go pistol carbine.
I'm actually waiting for PDW rounds to make their way into handguns... The 5.7 is one, but it is far from ideal. I'd love a .224BOZ in a G20, but not an AR... May as well use an M4 instead. But I think having a handgun I can shoot well on the rifle ranges would be fun, that is why I'd want it. My tactical days are over, my only use for tactical gear now is for fun at the range and, God forbid, if an unfortunate event befell the country.
You can also mod a Glock, either AOW or SBR, and put a small reflex sight and extended barrel on a 17L with 33rd. mag. That would be better in my opinon than a pistol carbine.
On the other hand, consider the integrally suppressed rifles. In this case, the pistol calibre tends to be wise due to the need for subsonic rounds that are heavy to make up for the reduced velocity. Here I think the pistol carbine excelled... Until the .300BLK came out. It can fire 110gr. supersonic loads and 240gr. subsonics... That is heavier with a greater cross sectional density than the .45 lending greater penetration. With this as an option for an AR, why would you want a pistol calibre?
I've toyed with the idea for years, but could never bring myself to it. I know they are fun range toys, I see folks with them all the time and they are having a blast. But that is about all they are good for if you ask me, and I have other things on my list --I like to shoot long range, so pistol calibres are less appealing to me in general. I suppose they would be fine for HD or whatever, but I still think an M4 to be superior. Unless suppressed, I don't see much practical value in them anymore, there are just better tools out there.
But this is America. Get whatever floats you boat. These are just my ponderings. I'm ambivalent about it all really, but I think a reality check needs to be provided to those that think pistol calibres have something great to offer in multiple tactical scenarios, because they don't --anymore. Like I said, there are better tools now.
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