Up until recently I never really gave AR pistols much of a chance.
I looked on them as sort of strictly a toy part of the AR family. Sort of in the same category as a Desert Eagle or a Tec-9 only in AR form. Something to have fun popping cans, bottles and whatnot with, but certainly not anything to really be relied on for any sort of defensive use. That's because when I was first exposed to them in the 90's they weren't really all that reliable. From the couple people I knew that had them here and there (they were really, really rare back then instead of just being a little uncommon like now) it seemed like they had to practice some serious voodoo to get them to work right.
Since I traded for this 10.5 inch 1/7 AR pistol at the end of May I've put around 13 to 1,400 rds through it. Somewhere between 100 to 200 rds a range trip and I usually go to the range at least 3 x's a month. Not exactly a whole lot of rds, but enough to form some basic impressions.
This is it on the right.
FunFirst off this thing is fun. I mean seriously fun. I've forgotten when the last time was that I've had this much fun. Shooting this thing is almost as much fun as being a teenager again minus the backyard keggers and hoochies.
Okay...so maybe not quite as good as that, but still a blast.
Reliability-As far as reliability goes I guess the days of them being finicky are over. I've fed it everything from shit Tula and Wolf to Hornady, Federal Fusion and SSA and not a single malfunction. Not even a hint of a malfunction. Haven't even really cleaned it all that often either, just added a little more SLiP2000 EWL.
GBM knows how to build an AR. The thing works.
BCM might have found that with high round counts that the 11.5 inch AR uppers are slightly more reliable over the long term, but I haven't run into any issues at all as far as reliability goes. 0 malfunctions is still zero malfunctions. The ejection arc on the Tula and Wolf changes a bit and isn't quite as forceful as the M-193 and hunting loads, but it's not just dribbling out either. If you're worried about it get one of those 11.5 in BCM uppers.
Accuracy-With just the buffer tube it's accuracy for me was just so-so (keep in mind that when I was using just the buffer tube I could only get a very poor somewhat wobbly cheek weld because I was sitting down and basically married to the bench - that particular range's rules and they wouldn't let me shoot on the pistol section and the way the bench hoods are you can't stand up or kneel). Accuracy with the wobbly tube cheek-weld and inability to use the tube against my shoulder (2-3 inch gap) was about paper plate sized groups without the ruffles of those dollar store plates being touched.
Fast forward to getting a Sig SB-15 brace and MI buffer tube and getting on a range where I could shoot offhand or kneeling or however I fucking wanted to and it helped a lot. Looking at fist sized 28 rd groups at 100y now with that combo. That's about the farthest I've gone with it. With that brace and Midwest Industries tube to utilize an overused saying...it's a game changer.
It's really solid feeling, especially since that Midwest Industries buffer tube isn't letting it go anywhere. More so than I thought it would be. With that spacer being where it's at it's basically the perfect length.
For instance here's a video of me screwing around with the AR pistol and some steel plates.
So it is what it is. I'm not running it like a boss, but I am getting fairly consistent hits with it.
Concussive effect from short barrels-I read all the same stuff and it's way overblown. Seriously, much ado about nothing. Little louder, not bad. People are pussies and they want to make mountains out of molehills. I mean maybe if I stuck a PWS brake on it and then had someone else shoot it and then stood right next to it then it might be a problem, other than that not an issue.
Might be louder shooting it out of a vehicle cab or other enclosed area vs a pistol though. Haven't tried that yet.
Use as a car gun-I actually feel like it would be a very decent car/truck gun if I wasn't worried about it getting ripped off. I had a gun stolen out of my locked and alarmed truck a couple years ago while it was parked in an affluent neighborhood right outside the station and while the police did recover that gun months later and I did eventually get it back I don't really view a gun in a vehicle cab as being safely locked up anymore. If a longgun is in my truck and I'm not in it then it's in the lockbox and then chained to the lockbox. So to me the threat level here wouldn't be worth it to go hauling that thing in and out of the lockbox at every stop and then putting it back in again. YMMV on that.
Ballistics-I haven't used this AR pistol for any type of hunting period, so I have no idea if the shorter barrel length and missing 5.5 inches of barrel will affect the ballistics in being a worse game-getter than a 16 inch gun if I stick to about 60 to 75 yards or not. With hogs I'm usually dropping them at less that 100 yards anyway. At any rate I am going to try for hog with it at some point if I can ever break away and actually get down to the lease.
Negatives-Only one that comes to mind period is that the forearm is so short that activating the light using the momentary feature is a pain in the ass and there's not quite enough room. In order to activate the light I have to scrunch my arms up and it's difficult to keep them like that. GBM was nice enough to send me some rail segments, but I still might end up getting another IWC light mount to extend it out a little further. That will extend the tail of the light out a little further and might help a bit.
These are just basic impressions - I have a lot more shooting to do-I still have some more testing to do with this, but I can see the advantages of using one of these as a car or a house gun for defensive use. It's short, it's handy, it's light and in and around a vehicle those are pretty good qualities. You also aren't having to deal with tax stamps or the NFA.
While the ballistics on paper aren't quite as good as in a 16 in or even a 14.5 inch barrel w/a perm attached muzzle device for most defensive ranges where usually it's measured in feet rather than yards I don't honestly think it would matter all that much just so long as you were using decent ammo. I'll have to check the average fragmentation range again on 10.5 and 11.5 inch barrels, but if I recall correctly M193 had a really short range (25 yards or so) and with something like a Hornady TAP2 or Barnes TSX that they have a fragmentation range to either 75 or 100 yards. If someone wants to correct me with a link or something that's cool, that's just the numbers I remember reading.
Edit :
Pistol Pete's - Effective Range of Your (10.5 or 11.5 inch) 223 or 5.56 Rifle (*Click*)
www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_16/363223_.htmlFor your specific purpose I think it would work out well, I'd sure miss my AR rifles though. With the MI buffer tube/SB-15 so far this is minute of douchebag/hog/steel plate at 100 yards. With my favorite 20 in BCM/Noveske free floated over scoped rifle I'm getting cloverleafs at twice that.
Wow, this ended up being way longer than I intended. Anyway in my mind it would make a great vehicle gun due to it's weight, size and okay concealability with the right case if you wanted a rifle-sized caliber car gun. In my opinion you're more likely to be able to access it if you needed to defend yourself in and around vehicles and you're more likely to take it with than a full size AR. It's not as easy to use inside the tight confines of a car or truck as a true pistol, but certainly better than a 16 inch AR. Whatever gun you actually have with you is better than having a safe full of AR's at home. Plus with the right ammo shorty AR's/Commando's apparently are effective in stopping violent behavior in both Iraq with Personal Security Details and the CONUS in the hands of Swat teams (those two instances are the only time I really ever hear about shorty use). So I can see why you're drawn to it. Obviously theirs aren't going to have Sig SB-15 braces on them and theirs are going to just be SBR'ed, these are just for us peons trying to comply with the law.
I wasn't kidding in Homer's thread awhile back when I was saying that I didn't have much interest in AR pistols. I was playing Devils Advocate a little just to give a contrasting opinion, but I seriously didn't. If it wasn't for Homer and Gingerbread I'd still be thinking the same way.
