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LOOKING TO BUILD A PISTOL WHAT CALIBER ?

2K views 54 replies 16 participants last post by  gatorboy 
#1 ·
Like to build a pistol in 9mm, 40sw .45acp,or 10 mm.
For a range and personal defence .
Don't need 5.56 or 300 blackout.
 
#2 ·
10mm!
 
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#6 ·
joe' nailed it. There is no reason for anything but 9mm. Cheap to shoot, effective in defensive loads, and works well in blowback carbines. Most of them are 9mm, at least partially due to the issue of bolt mass. Consider AR based ones, or the CZ Scorpion, which can be fitted with a 'brace' or an OEM stock as an SBR.
Pistol Caliber Carbines are a thing worth having.
Moon
 
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#8 ·
If I build one in 10mm can I shoot 40sw in same barrel .
You might be able to 'shoot' it, if the .40 headspaces on the extractor, but I seriously doubt it would feed or work as a semi-auto. The short answer is no.
Why do you want so much throweight?
Moon
 
#11 ·
...What is throweight ?
The weight of the projectile; .40 anythings are heavier than 9mm anythings.
If you want the ability to shoot it a lot, and cheaply, then 9mm is the answer. If you are going to be hunting or otherwise need something heavier, then perhaps a .40 makes sense. It gets tough to run a blowback gun (no locked breech) in anything heavier than .40S&W.
If you really need a hammer in a pistol caliber carbine, consider a .44 Mag levergun. I've taken a bunch of deer with mine.
Moon
 
#15 ·
+another for 458 socom - definitely my next stop. I'm not a fan of PC AR's. Kind of pointless IMO - a lot of receiver for a pistol caliber. For competition use, I totally get it - just not my thing. I'd rather get some sort of mp5/clone, or other type of civilian legal "sub-gun" if I wanted a "large" pistol in 9mm/.40/etc. But with AR-15's 11.5" or longer -5.56 all day. And 10" or shorter - 300blk.
 
#18 ·
If you are stuck with 16" to put a stock on it, then I concur, 5.56" makes more sense. But with our current ability to put a 'brace' on a pistol, keeping it short and handy makes sense too.
9mm blowback probably isn't absolute max for that concept, but the bolt weight starts to get a little out of hand. Personal experience, blowback 9s work all the time; my MPX did not. That is a sample of 1, so take it for what it is worth.
Moon
 
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#21 ·
Don't own a AR . Had all the KEL TEC 'S .
Worked their from 1996 to 2016 .
Retired
Had a original sub 9 .sub 2000 and the latest sub 2000 .
They didn't work for me .
Perhaps you need to do a lot of research on AR pistols. Go to U-Tube type AR PISTOLS there's a lot of information there. I didn't know that when I started.
 
#20 ·
I've had two Sub2000s, and both ran okay. Like almost anything KelTec, I'm not sure they were meant to have the whee shot out of them, but they worked just fine.
In any case, don't judge all 9mm carbines by that standard.
Moon
 
#27 ·
I have to ask, do you reload? If so, cost is less of an issue between those choices. If you don't reload, does the ammo price difference not matter to you, either because you're loaded or because you don't plan to shoot it much?

I don't see anything wrong with a 9mm for the range or for defense against 2-legged critters, and I reload primarily for 9mm, so that's the route I went. My rather light 115gr loads in 9mm were reaching almost 1400 FPS out of my 8.3" barrel, so I would say the boost of velocity with another 3-5 inches of barrel is nothing to sneeze at.
 
#35 ·
This thread inspired me to take my AR9 pistol out this afternoon with my 12yo son. Thanks, OP! We didn't go through a lot of ammo - we took turns shooting between 4 and 6 rounds at IDPA targets, using a timer to introduce some pressure. We varied the distance, at times we were as far as 30-35 yards. For the longest "stage," we used a tree trunk to stabilize the gun, which made it super-easy to get zero-down hits, and fairly quickly. He wanted to shoot my carry gun for a couple of close-up stage, too. When we were all done, I asked him which he preferred and he said although the compact pistol was fun to shoot, the AR9 pistol was more fun, hands-down.
 
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