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Pistol caliber carbine

4K views 26 replies 16 participants last post by  Alpo 
#1 ·
First let me say I have no long gun experience since basic training in 1972. I'm thinking about adding a long gun for home defense/zombie hunting. I'm thinking a pistol caliber that I already reload would make sense ie. 40S&W 9mm luger.
What do I need to consider??
 
#6 ·
I'll second that. It's a fun, satisfying gun to shoot. Mine's a .38/357.

We had a competition a while back, one guy had a .44 mag and was using factory ammunition, full loads. He would shoot a few rounds, then have to shake the numbness out of his hands.

I reload, use .38 powder loads in .357 cases. It's an easy, accurate load to shoot, with good precision, and I can shoot it all day.
 
#11 ·
I bought one of these in .45 acp a couple years ago. I thought for the price it would be OK. My expectations were low, but I must admit that I've been pleasantly surprised. I've only had one failure to eject in about 1500 rounds, and that's probably because I ran about 250 rounds of some real dirty Tulammo through it without cleaning it, and put it up for a month before firing it again.

They definitely aren't an Armalite, Bushmaster, or Colt, but if you just want to have some fun shooting they are great.
 
#8 ·
My Beretta CX4 is proving to be an accurate, reliable little carbine. Mine is 9mm, takes Beretta 92 magazines so 30 round magazines are an option and uses the same ammo as my CZ pistols. Can also be had in .40 S&W or .45 ACP.
Dang that's my gun!! Same site and strap!

I love mine also. This gun is a pleasure to shoot. The Sub 2000 Keltec..not so much.

The steel bolt in the stock of the Keltec runs in the stock right where your cheek weld is.
Mine jarred my teeth loose. Now, the Keltec is a simple, reliable and incredibly accurate gun. It just not for me.

When I bought the Beretta it was love at firs sight. It is a heavy, rugged firearm.
Years ago, I had a Marlin Camp 9 Carbine, now that was great gun, but stupid me, I traded it off.

Before I bought the Beretta, I looked at the JR Carbines also, which have a basic AR platform design but are not full standard AR guns with normal BCGs
I kept reading bad things about them and their service and I lost interest in them.
The plus is you can move the controls from the left to right side, but they look like a bear to break down and clean
 
#15 ·
Fast bet on those is the auction sites, and you will pay a premium if in that kind of hurry.
Reason being, The Ilion, NY move FAILED miserably. The workers sucked.
The state of NY sucked even more, so now they're loosing the whole shebang to Alabama.
And Pre-2005 Marlins are also selling at a premium due to the "No More" factor...

Kentucky, on the other hand, is doing so well they can't keep up with demand...
too bad they didn't have more lines in that site...really needs more space & lines.

If not in a hurry, watch your pawn shops regularly. Same for your regular LGS's.
Leave a biz card saying I Want one of THESE, and name/number.
If a shop has a "Wish List" book, be in it. Call/visit at least every other month.
And when you DO get one, make sure you update with the shops you left notes at...
they will REMEMBER that...then put your next WANT on the list :)

Third thing to do...get into your local SASS/Cowboy Shoot scene.
There are TONS of those carbines at shoots, get known, and get info.
A posted note on the group's webpage in their Want-ads works wonders.
"New shooter, has pistol, needs a carbine..."etc...

Hope that helps :)
 
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#12 ·
First let me say I have no long gun experience since basic training in 1972. I'm thinking about adding a long gun for home defense/zombie hunting. I'm thinking a pistol caliber that I already reload would make sense ie. 40S&W 9mm luger.
What do I need to consider??
For home defense you need to consider some training with the long gun, no matter what caliber you choose.
 
#14 ·
First let me say I have no long gun experience since basic training in 1972. I'm thinking about adding a long gun for home defense/zombie hunting. I'm thinking a pistol caliber that I already reload would make sense ie. 40S&W 9mm luger.
What do I need to consider??
One thing you need to consider is, do you have close neighbors or people in other rooms in the house ? If so, you may want to use a shotgun for home defense.
 
#21 ·
Astra 400 saw service from 1920-1950, so the newest astra400 is 65 yes old nearly, and we are making an apples to apples comparison to a modern gun with respect to a blowback / slide failure ? I'm just not sure that is a good example to infer use full data from?
 
#22 ·
I'm not directly making a comparison between the two arms, so I'll get to the point. I personally would not want ANY semi-auto pistol or in this case a carbine firing a cartridge larger than the .380 that did not employ a locked breech, my opinion only with nothing else inferred or implied.
 
#25 ·
My MP40 is a blowback. Open bolt. No locked breech - just spring pressure and bolt weight. 9x19mm.

Now, I know he said "semi-auto", and the MP is full, but really, what does that matter in the discussion? It's still an unlocked breech. Still perfectly safe.

And disassembles quite easily. :p
 
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#27 ·
Nope. MP40s are/were full only. Selective-fire would have cost more, and taken a few extra minutes to make. 'Course, the rate-of-fire is slow enough that if you're good you can get off single shots. I've done it. Occasionally.
 
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