I know what you're thinking. "An AR-15 pistol as a carry weapon? Ridiculous!" The truth is, a couple of weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I would have told you that ARs, AKs, and all other rifles, hacked into those gigantic "pistols" were completely stupid and absolutely useless. Recently though, I've had a change of heart. I started seeing more and more about how these pistols could be used very similarly to a fullsized rifle, even to the point of shouldering them while still remaining legal in the eyes of "The Man."
The more time that I put in on the range with my EDC handguns, the more I realize that outside of very close range conflicts, I cannot rely on my ability to put rounds where I want them to go with a handgun. I'm not a terrible shot, but just average, and I am butting up against the real limitations of the handgun platform for an average shooter like me. The thing that is becoming clearer and clearer to me is that I can put tighter groups on paper at 50 yards with one of my AR-15s than I can do with any of my handguns at 10 yards. Having realized the inadequacies of myself and the handgun, I started searching for a practical rifle setup that I could make somewhat mobile, while not drawing the attention of having an "Evil Black Rifle" slung around my back. The attention I get from regularly open carrying my P229 is plenty for me! The solution came to me in the form of these "silly" AR-15 pistols. I now realize that these guns offer me 80% of the ergos and functionality of a rifle, in a package that can be made small enough to fit in a messenger bag or backpack. Because I am an electronics technician who is expected to have a laptop and such, this type of weapon setup is perfect for me!
I am planning to build my pistol over the coming months, as well as train with the system to determine if I can deploy it effectively. The pistol will be an 8" 300BLK barrel on a basic forged M4 upper/lower, a LAW Tactical Gen III side folding buffer tube adapter with a padded rifle length buffer tube (stock screw threads removed to make the ATF happy) and a CAA side saddle for enhanced cheek weld. I intend to run a micro red dot optic, possibly an Aimpoint T-1 if budget permits, but more likely something like a Vortex SPARC.
I'm hoping to get feedback on this concept. I am really curious if anyone else uses one of these pistols in a similar fashion.
Edit: To be clear I still fully intend to carry an easily accessible handgun, just as I always have. The backpacked AR will serve as backup in case of an unforeseen scenario in which I would need to deploy a more effective weapon at range. For example, an active shooter scenario where I have eyes on the shooter, but am at too great a range to safely deploy a handgun against him. In this case I would not be the singular focus of the aggressor and therefore would have more time to deploy an AR pistol from a backpack. It may sound silly or paranoid, but nobody, including the victims of these scenarios, expect that such a thing will ever happen to them, yet they still happen. I don't expect to be in a situation where I am stopping an active shooter any more than I expect to be mugged, but I still prepare for the mugging, why not the prepare for other credible threats as well?
The more time that I put in on the range with my EDC handguns, the more I realize that outside of very close range conflicts, I cannot rely on my ability to put rounds where I want them to go with a handgun. I'm not a terrible shot, but just average, and I am butting up against the real limitations of the handgun platform for an average shooter like me. The thing that is becoming clearer and clearer to me is that I can put tighter groups on paper at 50 yards with one of my AR-15s than I can do with any of my handguns at 10 yards. Having realized the inadequacies of myself and the handgun, I started searching for a practical rifle setup that I could make somewhat mobile, while not drawing the attention of having an "Evil Black Rifle" slung around my back. The attention I get from regularly open carrying my P229 is plenty for me! The solution came to me in the form of these "silly" AR-15 pistols. I now realize that these guns offer me 80% of the ergos and functionality of a rifle, in a package that can be made small enough to fit in a messenger bag or backpack. Because I am an electronics technician who is expected to have a laptop and such, this type of weapon setup is perfect for me!
I am planning to build my pistol over the coming months, as well as train with the system to determine if I can deploy it effectively. The pistol will be an 8" 300BLK barrel on a basic forged M4 upper/lower, a LAW Tactical Gen III side folding buffer tube adapter with a padded rifle length buffer tube (stock screw threads removed to make the ATF happy) and a CAA side saddle for enhanced cheek weld. I intend to run a micro red dot optic, possibly an Aimpoint T-1 if budget permits, but more likely something like a Vortex SPARC.
I'm hoping to get feedback on this concept. I am really curious if anyone else uses one of these pistols in a similar fashion.
Edit: To be clear I still fully intend to carry an easily accessible handgun, just as I always have. The backpacked AR will serve as backup in case of an unforeseen scenario in which I would need to deploy a more effective weapon at range. For example, an active shooter scenario where I have eyes on the shooter, but am at too great a range to safely deploy a handgun against him. In this case I would not be the singular focus of the aggressor and therefore would have more time to deploy an AR pistol from a backpack. It may sound silly or paranoid, but nobody, including the victims of these scenarios, expect that such a thing will ever happen to them, yet they still happen. I don't expect to be in a situation where I am stopping an active shooter any more than I expect to be mugged, but I still prepare for the mugging, why not the prepare for other credible threats as well?
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