AR-15 or a 9mm carbine?

[ks123]

So as the title suggests, I'm torn between buying an ar-15 or a 9mm PCC.
The main uses would be home defense and a range toy, and to a much lesser extent, if SHTF and I had to bug out because of... zombies... or bed bugs, or killer bed bug riddled zombies
I will be the first to admit, I dont really know much about either of them. I do know AR-15's can get very expensive, very quickly and i'm assuming PCC's are a bit cheaper. Whichever weapon I get, I would most likely pay the tax stamp and SBR it, because it's much easier to maneuver around the house with a smaller weapon, and that would be 75% of the reason I would buy it. Furthermore, I like to shoot... infact, I love to shoot, and the other big reason im looking at PCC's is because 9mm ammo is dirt cheap, cheaper ammo means more ammo and more ammo means more fun lol. Finally, I think that not having to worry about tons of different calibers and different mag's is amazingly convenient, from what I understand, most PCC's use glock mags, and I already have a glock 17 and quite a few mags, plus, you can get the 30rd mags too, having the same mags/ammo/everything for your long gun and side arm seem extremely convenient to me, especially in a SHTF zombie and bed bug apocalypse.
I've also looked at this... thing... I cant remember the name of it but basically you put your glock 17 inside of it and it turns your pistol into a little mini carbine and since it's technically still a pistol it doesnt require a tax stamp or anything, It looks pretty handy. I've thought about buying one of those and just buying another pistol to replace the glock.
So what do you guys think?? Should I go ar-15 or PCC and which one should I go with? I really dont want to spend over $1000 on this and if I wind up going over budget I can always do the SBR later.
Any helpful hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tcruse]

There are AR-15's chambered in 9mm. A good off gun flashlight and laser on your G17 is probably as good a home defense weapon as any.

 

[Charlie]

So as the title suggests, I'm torn between buying an ar-15 or a 9mm PCC.
The main uses would be home defense and a range toy, and to a much lesser extent, if SHTF and I had to bug out because of... zombies... or bed bugs, or killer bed bug riddled zombies
I will be the first to admit, I dont really know much about either of them. I do know AR-15's can get very expensive, very quickly and i'm assuming PCC's are a bit cheaper. Whichever weapon I get, I would most likely pay the tax stamp and SBR it, because it's much easier to maneuver around the house with a smaller weapon, and that would be 75% of the reason I would buy it. Furthermore, I like to shoot... infact, I love to shoot, and the other big reason im looking at PCC's is because 9mm ammo is dirt cheap, cheaper ammo means more ammo and more ammo means more fun lol. Finally, I think that not having to worry about tons of different calibers and different mag's is amazingly convenient, from what I understand, most PCC's use glock mags, and I already have a glock 17 and quite a few mags, plus, you can get the 30rd mags too, having the same mags/ammo/everything for your long gun and side arm seem extremely convenient to me, especially in a SHTF zombie and bed bug apocalypse.
I've also looked at this... thing... I cant remember the name of it but basically you put your glock 17 inside of it and it turns your pistol into a little mini carbine and since it's technically still a pistol it doesnt require a tax stamp or anything, It looks pretty handy. I've thought about buying one of those and just buying another pistol to replace the glock.
So what do you guys think?? Should I go ar-15 or PCC and which one should I go with? I really dont want to spend over $1000 on this and if I wind up going over budget I can always do the SBR later.
Any helpful hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Like Tcruse said, a good flashlight (on or off gun, I prefer on), and a laser on a reliable pistol is all you really need for home protection. You're likely not going to be shooting over 20 ft. or so. That should be well under $1000. As far as the AR goes, if you're using a G17, I'd go with a 9mm AR. Just my two bits.

 

[vmax]

I spent more on my Beretta 9my carbine than I can buy an AR for right now
Most pistol carbines are going to be higher than a plain vanilla AR

I don't want to discourage you from getting your first AR but having a carbine with a good sidearm of the same caliber is not a bad plan to have

 

[Texas42]

Rifle cartridges are much more effective than pistol cartridges in general. A plane Jane AR doesn't need much. A light, a sling, and magpul handguards. Cheaper than most 9mm carbines.

A 9mm carbine is more of a toy to me.

 

[Thegomezclan]

I just bought a PSA 9mm AR that takes Glock mags for $640 out the door from my FFL. Fit and finish is great and will be shooting it soon.

 

[Dawico]

MEC carbine conversion is the carbine system you are thinking of OP.

 

[Younggun]

I have 2 9mm carbines and 2 ARs (.223 and 300BO).

For distances in my home any one of them would work just fine. I personally don't think the caliber choice will have much relevance to the bad guy at those distances.

I lean away from .223 just for the sake of my ears (the BO and one 9mm carbine are suppressed). Guns in confined spaces are LOUD.

Narrowing the choice further is a matter of which can be best suited to my purpose. An Uzi has crap sights and doesn't lend itself to mounting a light. AR platform can easily accept a reflex or red dot sight as well as a light.



For SHTF fantasies, .223 wins out due to longer effective range.



9mm carbines are much more fun at the range, IMO.


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[Bozz10mm]

I just bought a PSA 9mm AR that takes Glock mags for $640 out the door from my FFL. Fit and finish is great and will be shooting it soon.

Nice. I kinda want one.

 

[Moonpie]

Big fan of 9mm carbines.

I have a Beretta Storm 9mm carbine set up to use M92 magazines. Can use the mags in both carbine and handgun.
It's a ton of economical fun to shoot. Loaded out with quality +P ammo it isn't a slouch for self defense purposes at realistic ranges.
It's been a great little gun. Untold thousands of rounds thru it. Never chokes. Still accurate.

Also have another 9mm carbine known as a Sterling Carbine Type II. This is a non-NFA semi-auto replica of the British Sterling sub-gun of WW2 fame.
Has a 16inch barrel. Many here on the board have fired this gun. It too is a lot of fun to shoot.
You can shoot these all day because of low recoil and ammo cost.

Short barrel AR's are pretty intense to fire. The muzzle blast and noise can become tiresome quickly.

 

[A.Texas.Yankee]

9mm is way cheaper than 5.56 to shoot.

Sent from some where out there.

 

[gll]

What we all really want is a shoulder stock for our 9mm pistol...

I have a Model A Uzi, for no other reason than I had $500 one day in 1988 when I saw it. It's always struck me as a very heavy and awkward, very long barrel, 9mm handgun only made slightly more serviceable by it's shoulder stock. A bayonet lug picatinny mount makes for a pretty good laser mount point. A barrel nut barrel shroud has a 1" diameter and allows another mount point using one of the scope ring picatinny rails. There are also picatinny rail top covers. Regardless, IMO, nothing could make an Uzi carbine really useful except a short barrel and full auto...

If I didn't already have the Uzi carbine and really wanted a 9mm carbine, a dedicated 9mm AR might interest me, but only if I already had an AR in 5.56mm.

That said, 9mm is both way cheaper and easier to reload than 5.56mm.

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[Younggun]

Cutting an Uzi barrel down to the original length makes all the difference in the world. It is the AK of pistol caliber carbines.


Add a suppressor and it's a real winner. It will never be a super accurate gun simply because of the crudeness of the factory sights and inherent issues with the options available for mounting an optic.


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[IXLR8]

I love PCC's. IMHO an
SBR AR15 is not its optimal configuration. The buffer tube is not a good feature. I prefer a folding stock or stock that slides flush with the rear of the receiver. The $1k budget pretty much eliminates most of the usual selections. An AK underfolder may be an option.
Good luck!

 

[vmax]

What we all really want is a shoulder stock for our 9mm pistol...

I dont

 

[DangitDon]

A 9mm is great for home protection. Fairly cheap to shoot for fun and practice. (anything is cheap if you reload) The 223s and 300BO or the 308 are good for shooting through cars, behind walls etc. For a bug out I have a Ruger 10/22 take down and two 22 pistols in the back pack with 4 25 round mags and a 50 round drum. If you are good with them you can take down anything that walks on the North American continent, the ones with 2 legs are no problem Also you can carry 500 rounds on your person if you had to without having to have a wagon. JMHO

 

[gll]

I dont

Sorry for making an "all" inclusive statement...

Are you saying that you don't want a shoulder stock for your pistol because they are illegal, or, are you saying that if shoulder stocks for pistols were legal, you wouldn't have one?

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[Younggun]

Sorry for making an "all" inclusive statement...

Are you saying that you don't want a shoulder stock for your pistol because they are illegal, or, are you saying that if shoulder stocks for pistols were legal, you wouldn't have one?

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A dedicated carbine is much more functional than simply adding a shoulder stock to a pistol.

If they were legal, it wouldn't interest me much, much rather have an actual short barrel carbine (which I imagine wouldn't require jumping through any hoops in a situation where stocked pistols are legal)

 

[gll]

I think I would like both...

We seem to agree that we would like to see the NFA rules on short barreled rifles repealed.

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[diesel1959]

I'm with IXLR8 on this--I like me a nice PCC.

I've got a pair of heavily modified MKE 9mm clone rifles made into the "HK34" carbine that HK never made. They have the sight radius and forend of an HK93, a 16" barrel length, and the absolute utility of using 9mm HK MP5 mags, which I've got in 10, 15, and 30rd sizes. The first of these carbines wears a J.Downey maple buttstock, a shortened G3 forend, and a wood pistol grip. Beautiful piece. The other uses more traditional furniture and has a threaded barrel for suppressor use. A nice accessory for it is a German Army Hensoldt-Wetzlar Z24 scope set up from the factory with the BDC for 9mm NATO ammo.

I've also got an old California DOJ HK94 9mm carbine that stays pretty much as-is. I don't shoot it nearly as often as the other two.