Why an AR?
By MARJ LAW
“The next on my bucket list is an AR,” says Patty.
What? The queen of Glock wants an AR? The woman who has won so many Glock competitions wants an AR? Oh, no! She’s going to the dark side!
“I plan to build it myself!” she adds.
Joe is all excited. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll help you!”
He means it. If he isn’t getting a new gun for himself, he’s almost as happy helping someone else find what they want.
Me, I like my handguns. ARs look like something from the Terminator movies.
But okay. I’m going to figure out some of the fascination of long guns.
“Don’t be afraid,” says Joe. “We’re looking at carbines. Carbines are sort of halfway between pistols and long guns.”
I get on the computer and look up information on the AR. Alice Jones, on AMMOTOGO.com wrote a clear and basic article on the AR carbines.
“The short answer is: a carbine is a compact, short-barreled rifle,” she says. “But like most things in the world of firearms, the designation can be slightly more complicated.
The general consensus is a modern carbine is a semi-automatic rifle with a barrel under 20 inches long that carries up to 30 rounds in a magazine.”
She goes on to say: “Many carbines are simply shortened versions of longer rifles. The lighter weight and compact size of these carbines makes them more maneuverable and usually easier to handle, especially in tight quarters.”
Alice sums up her article: “Although there is no hard criteria for defining a carbine, they are basically short-barreled rifles. This means that all carbines are rifles, but not all rifles are carbines.
The shorter barrel of the carbine may decrease accuracy and effective range, but there are still plenty of practical applications for the modern carbine. These applications include hunting, home defense, and introducing newbies to shooting. Plus, they are just plain fun to shoot, which certainly counts for something.”
I read this aloud to Joe.
“But what about that Windham that shoots 9mm rounds? Is that an AR too?”
“The AR 9 is an AR carbine. You can use the same rounds for your 9mm Glock as in your AR 9, but the AR has a magazine that holds 30 rounds. The guns that we are going to shoot on Sunday are the 300 Blackout and the 556. These are both ARs as well. However, they shoot rounds that are different from your handgun rounds.”
So, Joe is taking me out to shoot the 300 Blackout and the 556. Both have 16” barrels and are light and maneuverable. Joe says they have little recoil (yay!). This 300 uses a 150-grain full metal jacket, soft point or hollow point round. It is best at shooting less than 200 yards and is good for hunting small game, deer and even boar.
I look at the 300 and the 556 rounds. The 300 round has a much heavier looking bullet, but is about the same length as the 556 and has the same diameter casing. The projectile of the 556 we’ll be shooting is 55 grains, while the 300 round has a 150-grain bullet.
“Yes, the 300’s projectile is much heavier than you see in the 556. The 556 shoots at greater distances, but I wouldn’t try to shoot deer with it because it has so much less power. I want a humane shot hunting, and the heavier bullet of the 300 is better for deer. I’d use the 556 for varmint control at up to 300-350 yards. It’s good for plinking, too.”
We take the 300 and the 556 to the range with our friend Nick. I wonder if we’ll all come to similar conclusions about these carbines.
Nick shoots the 556 first. Boom! It’s loud! Good thing I have stick it in the ear protection as well as the ear muffs. It looks like Nick is surrounded by a gray fog. The projectile flies out, and at 50 yards, he has no trouble hitting the target.
“Good trigger,” he comments. “While it may seem heavy for an older person, it sure is accurate and there’s hardly any recoil.”
Joe and I shoot the 556 next. We both agree the kick is negligible; probably mostly due to the mass of the carbine. It’s accurate, and that’s always fun. But it’s heavy. I would not want to lug it around.
Next is the 300 Blackout. If we think the 556 is loud, the 300 is also loud and deeper in tone. Even though this particular carbine has a scope which adds to its weight which may help to absorb the kick, I find the recoil is noticeably heavier. The guys think there is just a little more recoil than the 556. Again, like the 556, the 300 is nicely accurate.
You can purchase a 300 Blackout or a 556, but there are many iterations of these carbines. Why is there not just one 300 Blackout or one 556? Part of the reason for this is you can buy them already assembled, or you can put them together yourself if you know what you’re doing. The 300 we shot was put together with parts from 3 different gun shops.
How is your carbine configured? How long is your barrel? What kind of grip do you have? What kind of stock? Is the gun primarily metal, or does it have a lot of composite materials? Does it have a wood stock and foregrip? How many rounds does your magazine hold? Have you added a scope or a red dot sight?
Yes, I find both the 556 and the 300 have little recoil. Their longer-than-pistol length barrels make them more accurate than handguns.
If you’re out to go plinking, to get rid of varmints or, in the case of the 300, looking to bag a deer, these carbines can be fun to shoot. If you’re a mature person looking for a lightweight carbine that has little recoil and can use the 9mm rounds you have for your existing handgun, you might want a 9mm AR carbine.
I’ll talk about the 9mm Windham and the 9mm Kel Tec next week. They’re fun, too!
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.
