Who needs a pistol caliber carbine? You! You need a pistol caliber carbine. Granted, the pistol caliber carbine isn’t at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s at the bottom, right where it belongs, under “safety.” A pistol caliber carbine can help keep you, your family and your community safe. But that’s not all! Here are the top three reason you need a pistol caliber carbine . . .
1. Fun!
“The brain’s mesolimbic dopamine system, its reward pathway, is stimulated by all types of reinforcing stimuli,” drugabuse.gov reminds us, “such as food, sex, and many drugs of abuse, including cocaine.”
Eat too much food and you’ll have chronic health problems. Have too much sex, the wrong kind of sex and/or sex with the wrong person, and you’ll be buying your divorce lawyer a new Porsche. Snort too much Bolivian marching powder and you won’t be able to experience any pleasure without coke. And you’ll be broke.
So forget food, sex and drugs. Stimulate your mesolimbic dopamine system by shooting a pistol caliber carbine!
Where’s the downside? None! There is no downside! There aren’t any dangerous or unpleasant side effects.
Other than possible starvation and marital discord. Your relationship may be imperiled by arguments over the “correct” number of pistol caliber carbine range trips per month and the amount of money spent on ammunition, at any time, for any reason.
But remember: there’s no chance that shooting a pistol caliber carbine will trigger any other dangerous or unpleasant side effects in the immediate, short or long-term.
OK, sure, you could have a negligent discharge. And yes, a single misplaced round could cause tremendous mental, physical, emotional, financial and spiritual damage; in the immediate, short and long-term. To both you and some innocent bystander. Party pooper!
Anyway, if you’re wondering what all this pistol caliber carbine fuss is about (never mind why I took so long to get to the point), their low recoil and rifle or rifle-like ergonomics make shooting them an unalloyed joy. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
That said, as Alfred Korzybski famously pronounced, the map is not the territory! There’s only way you can get the full dope on — or dopamine from — a pistol caliber carbine. Shoot one!
[Note: Mr. Korzybski didn’t say that last bit about the need to go hands-on with a pistol caliber carbine to fully appreciate the fun factor, and died before we could ask his opinion of the platform.]
Is there anything [we can write about on a gun blog] that’s more fun than pinging multiple steel targets with a pistol caliber carbine while moving in full accordance with all applicable safety rules? Slap a red dot on that pistol caliber carbine’s spine, slip a suppressor on its snout, and the fun quotient increases exponentially.
In fact, there isn’t a commonly available opiod that can kill the pistol caliber carbine’s fun-generating capability. [Note: The Joyce Foundation denied our research funding request and all opiods are commonly available in certain locations.] Nor can you kill a pistol caliber carbine with a stick. A statement which, while not technically true and a terrible cliche, remains an accurate reflection of pistol caliber carbines’ mechanical durability. IMHO. FWIW. YMMV.
2. You can share mags with carry pistol!
Holstering a pistol in the same caliber as your pistol caliber carbine is more than half the fun. Or . . . at least half. Ehhh, call it a third. Which is still a significant slice of the total fun pie. Just ask a prepper!
The pre-post-apocalyptic set love mono-caliber, magazine-based interoperability. As preppers will tell you (repeatedly), pistol caliber ammo will be the most easily available ammunition after an EMP, national economic meltdown or alien invasion (extraterrestrial or earthbound). And ammo availability is a big deal when you’re ammo shopping at a Wal-Mart staffed by genetic mutants. I mean new kinds of genetic mutants.
Operators operating operationally also give a [silent] thumbs-up to the One Caliber And a Whole Sh*tload of Mags to Rule Them All Rifle – Pistol Combo. Well, the operators who know that simplicity is the mother of not-doing-something-stupid-and-dying-under-pressure. And that most engagements (if not marriages) with hostiles occur well within the pistol-caliber carbine’s effective range.
The mag swap combo’s popularity is most closely tied to the fact that most people are lazy bastards. Are you one of those shooter who likes to spend as little time and mental energy as possible buying, storing and schlepping various flavors of ammo; buying, loading and sorting mags; stocking your range bag? I bet you are!
Running a pistol caliber carbine with a pistol that takes the same mags is stupid simple; the shooting equivalent of having a low maintenance wife. Make that a pair of low maintenance wives. Make that sister wives. Who could both be sexy little numbers. Nudge nudge, wink wink. Know what I mean? Say no more.
3. The pistol caliber carbine is an extremely versatile platform
Plinking? Oh yes, plinking. Lots of plinking. Decent distance plinking. Relatively inexpensive plinking. Good solid blow-up-a-pumpkin plinking. In short, pistol caliber carbine plinking rocks! [Note: this blog does not condone shooting actual rocks. Or rock lobsters.]
Home defense? A pistol caliber carbine shoots all those funky flavors of cool-looking self-defense pistol ammunition. (Helpful hint: make sure yours does.) Home defenders wielding pistol caliber carbines get all that low-recoil-enabled accuracy and way more muzzle energy than a pistol and less over-penetration than firing a “proper” rifle cartridge (excluding frangible ammo and a bunch of other caveats).
Hunting? Our resident war hero turned deer slayer Jon Wayne Taylor recently aimed his .45-caliber Quarter Circle 10 GLF Nighthawk at a whitetail at 45 yards. Pulling the trigger on the QC10, Jon helped Bambi shuffle off this mortal coil in short order. For close-range hunting thin-skinned game (see: home defense), the pistol caliber carbine’s got JWT’s Seal of Approval.
So, which pistol caliber carbine do you need? As I’m one of those lazy bastards I mentioned above, you tell me.
That thing is as ugly as home made sin! Yet, it is growing on me. Kinda like an ugly woman that can cook. This will go onto the ‘for further consideration’ list.
Kel-Tec P2000 in .40 S&W with KCI 31 round stick mag at Botach for $9.95 ea. for orders of > 6 .
https://www.botach.com/kci-glock-magazine/
I absolutely agree — my old 9mm Wilkinson Arms Linda Carbine is just plain fun to ‘plink’ with!!!!
And since they are being mfgr’d again parts and support (if needed) are readily available.
1 out of 5 actually written in 2017
Child safety is incredibly important. However, it is only too fair for those parents who have kids in schools PAY every year that kid is in school for more, MORE security. It’s the only way. I have no kids in school, why do I pay? You have kids, YOU pay. Don’t give me any harebrained scheme why I should pay, either. YOU pay, not me.
There you go, stroking my CZ Scorpion lust again.
Oh Lord, and I called The Range who has one to rent and shoot.
I am doomed.
So I read the review, and thought what the hell lets buy one. At the price its something you can take a chance on, and if you don’t like it just put it on a gun you never shoot. I currently have it on a AR-15 build with a 7.62×39 upper, because 556 just gets boring over time, and you need to experience other things. I’d agree with the reviewer that this glass is average, and to define average I mean its between a Sig Tango 4 (high end ~$600), and a Hi-Lux CMR (low end ~$300). Clarity is ok, but the retical diamond in the center is huge, and blocks out a lot of space, without bringing much additional value. Additionally at 17 degrees F, its cold here, the magnification level gets even rougher than the reviewer states above. It’s not “bad”, but it’s definitely not a scope that is a 100 dollars more. Additionally, while the turrets do have a both an audible click and a felt click, they are difficult to operate with gloves. This is definitely a warm weather scope, and not something you are going to be dialing in a 3gun match. Set it and forget it. I will say for the money this isn’t a bad scope, its just not a 600 dollar scope hiding in a 400 dollar body. If you have more than 400 then there are better scopes for you, if you only have 400 then this scope or others in its range are just fine.
I’m going to go ahead and claim full responsibility for this, ( even though I had nothing to do with it), because this is just what I asked for in my ‘Dear Ruger’ post below the last TTAG article on Ruger’s quarterly earnings.
Math is hard.
Mmmm…pass.
Don’t get me wrong, the fun factor can’t be ignored but PCCs try to split the baby and don’t do anything particularly well.
“But remember: there’s no chance that shooting a pistol caliber carbine will trigger any other dangerous or unpleasant side effects in the immediate, short or long-term.”
Well, you will eventually go broke. Just a bit slower than shooting 5.56 (but not by much nowadays). 🙂
I don’t know Sarah. But any woman who shoots is good for guns.
Honestly the hi-point carbine is about the most fun you can have for a couple hundred bucks. Kinda like a scooter or a fat chick, your friends will judge you but you’ll be having too much of a good time to care. If only they took Glock mags…
Blame the AML consultants. They’re still advising their clients to shy away from the industry. They approach it from the perspective of why take the risk? The guidance was issued, and even though it was walked back, that doesn’t really change things. If a bank gets caught with a customer laundering money through firearms sales the regulators are going to crucify them. So that’s why their is still discrimination. Blame the consultants.
They say they can go 35,000 rounds before a failure, wow. I did 300,000 in two years with a Glock and did not replace any parts, that is any parts including the recoil spring.
I’d much rather shoot a Donkey than an Elephant or even a RINO.
Unless I’m forced to hunt for survival, I don’t harm anything that isn’t trying to harm me.
I’m not against hunting, but I would not want to have an animal suffer because of my bad marksmanship.
I have a friend that used to hunt but stopped because his eyes are no longer good enough to get a clean kill.
Could I? Yes. Would I want to? No.
Like many I just don’t get a kick out of trophy hunting, though I would if it were a “primitive” style hunt, ie no guns or modern equipment. Some like it, and that’s fine too. The main conditions I’ll kill things: 1) Food 2) Its a danger to me/others 3) It’s sick/hurt.
Having said that, I would consider going spear hunting for lion. Would most likely end up getting me hurt, but that’s definitely something that gives ya bragging rights. Alas, I could never afford such a thing.
pcc were cool when sub2000’s had a street price of $350 and AR’s were outlawed, but they were not available then. Now that you can regularly get them the price has gone to the same price as a budget factory AR and more than I can build one myself. Most pistol magazines are relatively expensive compared to good AR mags and the ballistics don’t justify the cost. I spent years trying to get a good pcc to take Glock 17 or Ruger p-series mags at an affordable price, never happened and I’ve moved on.
“Scott Hawksworth writes for TacticalPay.com, a merchant services company that specializes in providing credit card processing for gun dealers and other businesses in the firearms industry.”
Well, how about some wealthy conservative types creating a firearm-specific finance operation?
If BoA wants to be assholes, found the ‘Bank of Caliber’ or whatever…
I think the left should be careful on the case of the wedding cakes. An enterprising attorney may make a connection using those precedents but involving the first and second amendment or the financial services sector and the first amendment they do not like.
First, this is a Marlin Camp Carbine killer! If Marlin had any thought of bringing back the Camp Carbine they just thru all of it in the trash.
Second, If they get around to making one in 45 Acp I will buy one maybe two.
I have been kicking around the idea of a pistol caliber carbine like forever. Narrowed it down to a Marlin Camp Carbine in 45 acp and a Keltec Sub2000 in 9mm. The MCC is too expensive and somewhat fragile, the Sub2000 is 9mm only and has some issues.
“… some of us want to enjoy where we live, raise our kids and have grown up.” – Corrections Officer David LaPell
This is another example where someone elevates altruism above all. The sad REALITY of our world is that forces of chaos and evil will kill us if we cling to our altruistic visions.
Imagine that you had a modest, beautiful home and yard with lush grass and fruit trees — a home that you and your family love and have owned for generations. When you learn that an unstoppable lava flow is heading to your home and will consume it, will you stubbornly insist on staying at your home because you should never have to leave your home behind against your will?
We have all seen unstoppable lava flows, avalanches, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes bear down on beautiful homes that no family should ever have to abandon — and yet those families abandon their homes to survive. Sometimes the unstoppable destruction that approaches your home is a mob of nasty people and you either abandon your home for greener pastures or stubbornly stay behind and parish. Just ask all the Jewish families and their descendants that lived in Germany in 1940 — if you can find any of them that actually survived.
We’ve also seen idiots build those houses in the clear path of disaster & express shock & suprise when it inevitably happens.
Pistol cal carbines and shotguns for me. I love to go against the grain and immerse myself in anything that that the cult of the AR shrieks against on the internet.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to ban the AR or anything, but it’s fun to troll AR fanboys a bit (which is honestly as easy as suggesting that the platform isn’t the be all and end all of firearms).
Why the Fvck does she call on CNN in the news briefings?
Freeze them out for 6 months if not 6years.
I’ve got a blocky, not really that small Glock 27. To my thinking it’s too big for backup.
Yeah I get tired of the constant anti-Illinois barrage from the gunTARDS. It’s quite a bit better than even 7 years ago when I first got into guns…real shall issue,no mag limits and no neutered guns.
I didn’t vote for the democrat scum and in Illinois most republicans are barely better. I live a scant mile from Indiana where I buy ALL gun and gun related crap since 2012. We ain’t California,NYC or Maryland. There’s a hoard of politically active gun owners,hunters and shooters here…
I heard that! I hesitate as well and I am not black. I meet black guys who carry and even deer hunt and we all worry about Police reactions.
The local Chief says the man did NOT have an arsenal, his guns were legal (he was attending the gun show), he was not a Las Vegas style threat and no gun charges will be brought against him.
But he was intoxicated and apparently offered to engage in fisticuffs with the officers.
I have a NAA Black Widow w/2 inch barrel and I have a very nice 10 oz S&W M351pd ( with exposed hammer, Chief Special like) 7 shot 22mag that I really like. I carry it a lot when I am home or out in very hot weather. and also as a back up . yes it does have a “22 trigger” but I got used to it. I like the CCI ammo and use that in it. recoil is like nothing. and I have the old style skinny grips on it. I like the gun a lot, just wish they made speed loaders for it.
So, I’mna guessing ‘Jeb Stuart and the Haunted Tank’, ‘Johnny Cloud’ and ‘Sgt Rock’ are just right out? Only comics I ever read or really gave a hard dump about. The rest are ponces in bathing suits. Give me THOSE movies and I might actually go to a theater. Make it in “3d” and I stay away in droves. You have been warned.
The guy at rifleshooter.com has a lot of articles on barrels, chambers and receiver tuning since he builds custom rifles. Well worth a look to see how it’s done.