{"id":320,"date":"2014-01-08T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=320"},"modified":"2025-03-17T13:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T17:19:06","slug":"making-case-pistol-caliber-carbine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/making-case-pistol-caliber-carbine\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Case for Pistol Caliber Carbines"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this second post of our mini-series on pistol caliber carbines, I’ll try to explain my fascination with these guns; a class of rifle that seem to be kind of okay at a lot of things but not particularly great at anything. I mentioned briefly in the last post<\/a> that for me, one of the most attractive things about these rifles is how practical they are to own and shoot, both from a financial point of view and as a matter of convenience.<\/p>

Owning a rifle that doesn\u2019t carry the cost typically associated with feeding a rifle is a truly great\u00a0thing. Ammo prices regularly fluctuate, but the most affordable rifle ammo is often 20-40% more\u00a0costly than the most affordable centerfire pistol ammo. Even in the rare periods when rifle ammo\u00a0can be found cheaper than pistol ammo, there is still the convenience factor. Stock up on one\u00a0caliber for your handgun, and you automatically have ammo on hand to shoot in your rifle. I\u00a0personally shoot my handguns about 90% of the time I go to the range and long guns only about\u00a030%. As a result, it\u2019s easy for me to forget to re-stock on .223 or other rifle calibers. However,\u00a0I always keep plenty of 9mm and .38 special on hand, making it easy to grab either my 9mm\u00a0carbine or .357 lever action at the last minute when I\u2019m heading out for some trigger time with my\u00a0pistol or revolver. This convenience factor won\u2019t work out to be an advantage for everyone, but\u00a0for someone who primarily shoots handguns, but also tries to stay in practice with rifles, PCCs\u00a0offer a great solution.<\/p>

Let\u2019s not pretend these carbines are something they\u2019re not: shot for shot, a 9mm, or even .357\u00a0magnum or .45ACP fired from any barrel, rifle or pistol, simply cannot compete with the\u00a0effectiveness of any true rifle round when it comes to personal protection. No one should purchase a PCC thinking it\u2019s \u201cjust as good\u201d\u00a0as an AR or AK as a tool for personal protection. However, self-defense experts who know a\u00a0whole lot more than me about trading bullets with bad guys are often heard repeating the mantra\u00a0that \u201cshot placement is king\u201d or the similar variation, \u201conly hits count\u201d.<\/p>

If the convenience and lower cost of shooting handgun ammo in a PCC allows you significantly more time in practice and training versus what you\u2019d be able to manage if you were buying centerfire rifle ammo, then gaining that extra proficiency may very well be worth a lot more than the theoretical “stopping power” you lose with a weaker caliber. If you use that extra trigger time wisely to increase your level of competency with the rifle, you just might become an expert marksman with your PCC where you might only be able to train enough to become marginally adequate with your full power centerfire rifle.<\/p>

<\/p>

Some will argue that a true centerfire rifle paired with a .22 LR for practice is a better option than\u00a0a PCC, and still economical. Rimfire rifles are often very inexpensive, and the ammo is by far\u00a0the most affordable per round. But shooting pistol ammo instead, even in training, carries the\u00a0benefit of having some felt recoil where the .22 LR has almost none. This may not seem like an\u00a0advantage when working with a first time shooter who benefits the most from the lack of recoil in\u00a0the 22. But for more experienced shooters, the PCC offers enough of a kick that one still has to\u00a0learn the skill of recoil management, which is not possible on a 22. For pure marksmanship skill\u00a0building on a static range with no time restriction, it makes more sense to use the 22. Learning effective use of the rifle for self-defense, on the other hand, requires practicing with a gun that\u00a0barks back a little bit, and a PCC fits the bill just fine.<\/p>

One final note on the convenience factor, because someone is sure to point it out if I don\u2019t;\u00a0PCCs also sometimes carry the benefit of sharing magazines with a pistol you may already own.\u00a0Carbines that use Glock, Beretta, 1911, or older S&W autos are relatively easy to come by. It\u2019s\u00a0both convenient and frugal to buy a rifle when you already own a drawer full of mags to feed\u00a0it. However, this handy feature of PCCs is sometimes assumed to come with some kind of major\u00a0tactical benefit. Let\u2019s be honest; in what scenario would having common mags between rifle and pistol completely trump the\u00a0advantage of being armed with a significantly more capable rifle?<\/p>

In fact, there is no solitary factor that would make the PCC a better choice for someone choosing between a PCC and a full power semi-auto rifle. Like I said, they aren\u2019t great at any one thing, so there’s not a singular attribute makes them stand out. But the PCC as a concept has a few other perks that I have yet to mention, including a couple of the best ones. Come back tomorrow for details. For now, let us know in the comments if you’ve ever owned a pistol caliber carbine and what you think of it. Is it convenient and economical, or just taking up room in your safe and playing second fiddle to a “real” rifle that you shoot more often?<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this second post of our mini-series on pistol caliber carbines, I’ll try to explain my fascination with these guns; … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,44,46,60,58],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toolbox","tag-22-lr","tag-38-special","tag-9mm","tag-pistol-caliber-carbine","tag-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaking the Case for Pistol Caliber Carbines - Lucky Gunner Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris from the Lucky Gunner Lounge team explains his fascination with pistol caliber carbines.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/making-case-pistol-caliber-carbine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making the Case for Pistol Caliber Carbines - 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