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When did AR pistols get so popular?

Well, I keep a rifle under the back seat with mags next to it but I need to load mag and charge for the gun to work.

My 300blk 10” ‘pistol’ I can leave locked and loaded in a vehicle, legally, ready to roll ASAP. The 10” barrel is plenty accurate at 100 or less yards. Way easier to be accurate out to 100 yards with an AR pistol than the 4.25” barrel I carry around every day. WAY more accurate! And again, legally chambered and ready to rock in a motor vehicle!!
 
AR pistols in 5.56 are pretty awful to shoot. Loud as F, blast, huge velocity drop, harsh recoil and wear on parts due to short dwell time. My 10.5” build never comes to range. Even with suppressor it’s loud And the shorter barrel leads to quicker baffle erosion. I don’t bother with anything under 14.5”. to me the charm of an AR is in the mid length and rifle gas systems....shorter gas systems just plain suck.

Now a 300 blk pistol makes some sense depending on the purpose.
 
92G said:
AR pistols in 5.56 are pretty awful to shoot. Loud as F, blast, huge velocity drop, harsh recoil and wear on parts due to short dwell time. My 10.5” build never comes to range. Even with suppressor it’s loud And the shorter barrel leads to quicker baffle erosion. I don’t bother with anything under 14.5”. to me the charm of an AR is in the mid length and rifle gas systems....shorter gas systems just plain suck.

Now a 300 blk pistol makes some sense depending on the purpose.
Click to expand...
I never shot an AR pistol. But I have shot .223 from single shot handguns and I found it very pleasant to shoot.

Is there something about the design that makes it so you feel the recoil more?
 
Broccoli Iglesias said:
I never shot an AR pistol. But I have shot .223 from single shot handguns and I found it very pleasant to shoot.

Is there something about the design that makes it so you feel the recoil more?
Click to expand...

dwell time -> earlier bolt unlocking and higher bolt velocity. further, the benefit from suppressor is less due to incomplete powder burn and more port pop

once I stopped calling barrel a barrel and recognized it as a “pressure vessel” it dawned on me why I actually don’t want to shorten them.
 
92G said:
AR pistols in 5.56 are pretty awful to shoot. Loud as F, blast, huge velocity drop, harsh recoil and wear on parts due to short dwell time. My 10.5” build never comes to range. Even with suppressor it’s loud And the shorter barrel leads to quicker baffle erosion. I don’t bother with anything under 14.5”. to me the charm of an AR is in the mid length and rifle gas systems....shorter gas systems just plain suck.

Now a 300 blk pistol makes some sense depending on the purpose.
Click to expand...
www.nydailynews.com

What is it like to fire an AR-15? It’s horrifying, menacing and very very loud

It felt to me like a bazooka — and sounded like a cannon. One day after 49 people were killed in the Orlando shooting, I traveled to Philadelphia to better understand the firepower of militar…
www.nydailynews.com www.nydailynews.com
 

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I never said a short .223 won't work. I know it will work because that's how my M16 came. What I said was a short .223 is loud and inefficient.. If you're not a dealer you can forget about suppressors in Ma.
 
92G said:
AR pistols in 5.56 are pretty awful to shoot. Loud as F, blast, huge velocity drop, harsh recoil and wear on parts due to short dwell time. My 10.5” build never comes to range. Even with suppressor it’s loud And the shorter barrel leads to quicker baffle erosion. I don’t bother with anything under 14.5”. to me the charm of an AR is in the mid length and rifle gas systems....shorter gas systems just plain suck.

Now a 300 blk pistol makes some sense depending on the purpose.
Click to expand...

I've got a couple of AR's; their barrel lengths range from 14.5 to 20 inches.

I've also got two AR pistols. The AR pistols can be carried in my truck loaded and can cross (some) state lines without paperwork.
For all intents and purposes, they're short-barreled rifles, but legally they're pistols.

The one I have with 7.5" barrel isn't as pleasant to shoot as my rifles, but that's not its purpose. Its purpose is to give me a legally carried "almost" rifle in the event of emergency.
 
92G said:
AR pistols in 5.56 are pretty awful to shoot. Loud as F, blast, huge velocity drop, harsh recoil and wear on parts due to short dwell time. My 10.5” build never comes to range. Even with suppressor it’s loud And the shorter barrel leads to quicker baffle erosion. I don’t bother with anything under 14.5”. to me the charm of an AR is in the mid length and rifle gas systems....shorter gas systems just plain suck.

Now a 300 blk pistol makes some sense depending on the purpose.
Click to expand...
Me thinks you enjoy exaggerating for dramatic effect.

No 5.56 should ever be described as “harsh recoil”. I did bold that for dramatic effect, but it’s no exaggeration. Is a 20” smoother than a 14.5”-16” midlength, which is smoother than a 10.5”-12.5” carbine gas gun? Sure, but the differences are truly minimal overall. Sure, a competition shooter trying to eek out every last fraction of a second of performance will care, but the differences are minute.

Velocity drop is only relevant if it limits your use case. And 10.5”-13.7” 5.56 velocities are good enough for the vast majority of users who shoot ARs, even for duty use.

Only sub 11.5” barrels really see some early parts wear, and it’s not that much in the grand scheme of things even with the 10.3s.

As for noise, they’re noticeably louder at an indoor range, but it’s more like “oh, that gun has a bit more pop”. Then you continue doing what you’re doing. They’re no louder than a 308 rifle.

Let me guess, do you ever wish you’d never picked up an AR because it is as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving?

1440F878-595C-4CBB-BB6D-13AA34C35FF1.jpeg
 
i had done plenty of shooting with an aks74-u which was with, i think, about of 8 inches barrel, and now shooting a bullpup x95 that is quite comparable in total length - it handles soo much better. it is heavier, but, is way better. pity it is not a full auto, but, it is what it is.
 
10.5 .556 is just to be loud and make fireballs. Which is fun and still ring steel 100yrds. But pointless for home defense, you'll be blind and deaf real fast.

9mm is a nice option, mag availability cheap ammo compared to rifle. Better for home defense.

300blk is cool but expensive, but has tactical sub options that are worth owning one for home defense..

And the #1 reason theres pistol ar's is because u can only have so many 16" + .556 rifles before u get bored
 
I personally think it would make a lot more sense in free states where you can take that reduced barrel length, tax stamp free, and then put a can on the end and still have a nimble rifle. Also makes more sense for the proverbial "truck gun". But given that I'm in MA where cans are retardedly not allowed and "truck guns" could potentially run afoul of storage/transport laws if not done correctly, I'm not sure how much sense they make for me outside of LARP'ing as operator sweeping rooms in your own home. The shorter length is nice for maneuverability, but how much more real-world useful for the trade of a much more concussive (or just loud) rifle and slightly reduced ballistics? It could go either way.

That said, I have SBR'd an AR9 to an 8.5" barrel, so I guess I'm guilty of LARP'ing as well.
 
JRRC said:
10.5 .556 is just to be loud and make fireballs. Which is fun and still ring steel 100yrds. But pointless for home defense, you'll be blind and deaf real fast.
Click to expand...

You make it sound as though popping off a 16" carbine in your house is some kind of an improvement. [rofl] The bar is simply going from "really bad' to "horrendous"

Honestly none of this matters, people jerk off about "long guns for home defense" but 999/1000 times its unrealistic anyways unless you literally can leave them sprinkled all over your
house. The home defense gun that gets used is going to be the gun you have nearby or in your hand. If you look at the stats, the overwhelming majority of bad guys breaking into houses get plugged by handguns. There's a reason for that. It's because the good guy had it close to them or on them when they were alerted to the danger.
 
SpeedOften said:
I'm about to put together a spikes ar9 with an 8.5"barrel... going to keep it in "pistol" form.

How do you like yours?
Click to expand...

To be honest, I've been spoiled by roller lock delay in another gun. While 9mm out of a carbine isn't unpleasant to shoot, simple blowback can't hold a candle to any type of delayed blowback. Shots are rough with my AR9 and follow ups are a tricky in comparison. But manual of arms and ease of operation are a big plus for this platform. LRBHO (once I got it working) is ideal. Plus the integrated top rail, MLOK, and glock mag compatibility makes it worth working on.

I had a 2 stage buffer that smoothed things out, but then my LRBHO didn't work. So I stopped using that buffer system, as the whole point of building my AR9 was for better manual of arms over my other PCC 9mm. I may try to get either a Banshee radial delayed upper or one of the new Angstadt MDP-9 roller delayed uppers (if they ever drop), but that's serious coin to consider for a PCC build.
 
IMO they are popular for 3 reasons:

Manufacturers and the public being comfortable about the legality of braces.

The desire for shorter better handling weapons.

The proliferation of ARs to the point where something new was needed - ie many of us own 10 carbines and have little reason to keep stocking up on more. AR pistols are even cheaper to produce.

IMO putting a suppressor on a pistol is silly, may as well SBR the thing at that point.

I have a couple with < 10 inch barrels in 9mm, to me they make some sense. But IMO for rifle calibers if you just assemble a light carbine via light rail & a pin/weld or integral 16 inch light barrel, there is nearly no notable difference between that and a 12 inch barrel SBR - except the laws involved. So myself, its no thank you to say a 12 inch barrel 5.56 pistol.
 
teamRR said:
The proliferation of ARs to the point where something new was needed - ie many of us own 10 carbines and have little reason to keep stocking up on more. AR pistols are even cheaper to produce.
Click to expand...
I think that right there is probably the biggest factor... everyone loves getting the shiny new toy. (Me included, although the guns I'm interested in these days
are antique Winchester rifles and m1 carbines)
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
To be honest, I've been spoiled by roller lock delay in another gun. While 9mm out of a carbine isn't unpleasant to shoot, simple blowback can't hold a candle to any type of delayed blowback. Shots are rough with my AR9 and follow ups are a tricky in comparison. But manual of arms and ease of operation are a big plus for this platform. LRBHO (once I got it working) is ideal. Plus the integrated top rail, MLOK, and glock mag compatibility makes it worth working on.

I had a 2 stage buffer that smoothed things out, but then my LRBHO didn't work. So I stopped using that buffer system, as the whole point of building my AR9 was for better manual of arms over my other PCC 9mm. I may try to get either a Banshee radial delayed upper or one of the new Angstadt MDP-9 roller delayed uppers (if they ever drop), but that's serious coin to consider for a PCC build.
Click to expand...
welp, I put mine together but I'm having an issue with the trigger not resetting. I used an Angstad 5.2 oz buffer with the Spikes "enhanced" bcg. Seems like it's short stroking. I'm going to play with a different buffer and see how it runs. Otherwise, recoil wasn't bad at all.


1618243965395.png
 
SpeedOften said:
welp, I put mine together but I'm having an issue with the trigger not resetting. I used an Angstad 5.2 oz buffer with the Spikes "enhanced" bcg. Seems like it's short stroking. I'm going to play with a different buffer and see how it runs. Otherwise, recoil wasn't bad at all.


View attachment 471532
Click to expand...

Does it not reset when manually charging as well, or just when you shoot? I think I have a 5.4oz buffer in mine. Seems to work so far. What type of trigger? If adjustable, you'll want to check that set screws aren't rubbing or getting in the way of the hammer travel.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
Does it not reset when manually charging as well, or just when you shoot? I think I have a 5.4oz buffer in mine. Seems to work so far. What type of trigger? If adjustable, you'll want to check that set screws aren't rubbing or getting in the way of the hammer travel.
Click to expand...
It will operate fine manually charging it. Trigger is a spikes mil spec, non-adjustable. I was thinking that it might have something to do with the Spikes BCG with the angstad buffer. I think the spikes bcg has some heft to it, but I could be mistaken.
 
SpeedOften said:
welp, I put mine together but I'm having an issue with the trigger not resetting. I used an Angstad 5.2 oz buffer with the Spikes "enhanced" bcg. Seems like it's short stroking. I'm going to play with a different buffer and see how it runs. Otherwise, recoil wasn't bad at all.


View attachment 471532
Click to expand...
From the Angstadt site. Buffers & buffer springs - Angstadt Arms Knowledge Base & Support | Angstadt Arms

Buffers & buffer springs​


The following are recommended guidelines for different pistol calibers AR-15 builds.



9mm
In our UDP-9 firearms we recommend using either a 5.4oz 9mm buffer kit which includes a standard length 5.4oz 9mm buffer, AR-15 carbine length buffer spring and buffer spacer OR a 6oz 9mm stainless steel buffer kit which includes a extended length 6oz stainless steel buffer and polished stainless steel carbine spring. If you are shooting suppressed or using hotter ammunition you can try using an 8oz or 10oz buffer with no spacer. If you are using a Law Tactical folding stock adapter you will need to make up the weight difference in the buffer from removing the weight in the bcg. We recommend using our 8oz heavy buffer kit.
 
mac1911 said:
I agree there are so many more pistol choices money wise than a fixed mag AR.
Fine you got expendable cash go for it but
Click to expand...
$125 upper + reasonably priced brace + parts pile makes a cheap option. Mean Arms loaders are very quick too.
 
SpeedOften said:
It will operate fine manually charging it. Trigger is a spikes mil spec, non-adjustable. I was thinking that it might have something to do with the Spikes BCG with the angstad buffer. I think the spikes bcg has some heft to it, but I could be mistaken.
Click to expand...

Mixed parts can be tricky to dial in. However, I don't know if you'd be short stroking a 9mm bolt with a tungsten insert. To me, that sounds like it would be more likely to over travel and bounce than short stroke. What type of spring are you using? The one that came with the buffer?

Although, again, we're pretty similar. I'm using a complete FM upper that includes a weighted bolt.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
Mixed parts can be tricky to dial in. However, I don't know if you'd be short stroking a 9mm bolt with a tungsten insert. To me, that sounds like it would be more likely to over travel and bounce than short stroke. What type of spring are you using? The one that came with the buffer?

Although, again, we're pretty similar. I'm using a complete FM upper that includes a weighted bolt.
Click to expand...
yes, Angstad spring. I was off on the weight of the buffer, it's 5.4 not 5.2.
 

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