556 AR pistol, or 9mm?

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bfh_auto

Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
6,519
I'm thinking about an AR pistol with a brace for killing pop cans and other assorted things inside 100 yards.
I've shot and SBR in 556 and 300 BO and they were fun, but extremely loud.
Would a 9mm be a better option for this? I already run multiple 9mm's and 223s so it's not like I would be adding a cartridge.
Another option would be 40 S&W I already reload for it.
 
A Nine should be quieter than a Blackout, but even without a can my Blackout is a soft as a rimfire, very pleasant. With Subsonic Remingtons.

But a Nine will be cheaper for having fun with. Much cheaper...
I don’t like blow back Nines much though.
 
Last edited:
Demi-human said:
A Nine should be quieter than a Blackout, but even without a can my Blackout is a soft as a rimfire, very pleasant. With Subsonic Remingtons.

But a Nine will be cheaper for having fun with. Much cheaper...
I don’t like blow back Nines much though.
Click to expand...
My tech9 is blow back. It runs flawlessly with Federal aluminum case. Everything else turns it into a dumpster fire.
Blow back does open a hole can of worms for me on the reloading side.
 
PSA AK-V in 9mm, cheap PSA 32rd magazines $12-15 depending on if they are on sale or not.

I would go with something in 9mm before 556.
 
I have had good luck with my ar pistols in 5.56, but they are loud. I decided to add the KAK can, the medium one to help direct the blast forward, and it does help but not as much as shooting in 9mm. I think a 9mm will be my next build after I finish up the two I am working on.
 
I should post-face my comment, that my 300B is a ten inch pistol and I haven’t actually used a nine carbine. My pistol sounds the same as my rimfire pistols. Through my muffs anyway!:D
All firearms have their quirks, I chose the ones that come with mine because I didn’t like the ones I read about with a blow back.
You can’t beat the price of Nine for just fun plinking...
 
For close range plinking in an AR platform, 9mm is second only to rimfire for economy, and more fun. It's also a good candidate for suppressed use in the AR platform, since you can tinker with bolt & buffer weight to slow the cycling down.

.300 blk gives you more flexibility than the 9mm, can be equally quiet subsonic & suppressed but a lot more potent in supersonic loadings. It is, of course, much more expensive.

If defensive use is one of the intended purposes, 5.56 is a no-brainer, and not much more expensive than 9mm for plinking. I get Speer Lawman 147 gr. 9mm subs for $180/case and AE 5.56 for $262/case. Personally, I enjoy shooting 5.56 more from an AR platform, even though it's still fairly loud suppressed. I shoot a lot of suppressed 9mm, but almost entirely from handguns.
 
Demi-human said:
I should post-face my comment, that my 300B is a ten inch pistol and I haven’t actually used a nine carbine. My pistol sounds the same as my rimfire pistols. Through my muffs anyway!:D
All firearms have their quirks, I chose the ones that come with mine because I didn’t like the ones I read about with a blow back.
You can’t beat the price of Nine for just fun plinking...
Click to expand...
Would a 7.62x39 have similar muzzle blast to the 300? I'm really not a fan of blow back actions. I've seen a lot of brass that has a beer gut from 9mm carbines.
I'm already set for 7.62x39 reloading.
 
Bfh_auto said:
Would a 7.62x39 have similar muzzle blast to the 300? I'm really not a fan of blow back actions. I've seen a lot of brass that has a beer gut from 9mm carbines.
I'm already set for 7.62x39 reloading.
Click to expand...

It will be very similar to supersonic .300 blk. Subsonic .300 blk is a whole different animal. Loading subsonic for x39 can be done, but the bullet selection in .311" diameter is far more limited, as are factory subsonic loadings. If that concerns you.

As for blowbacks bulging brass, again, you can play with the reciprocating mass weight in an AR to eliminate that-something that's not easily done with any other blowback design. There are, of course, gas operated and delayed blowback AR pattern 9mm carbines as well.
 
Bfh_auto said:
I think that would be the way to go.
Couldn't a person hypothetically get that money back by running their mag conversion and using an existing standard lower?
Click to expand...

The economics of that are going to depend on how many mags your going to buy. The conversion magazines are quite expensive compared to glock or colt magazines.

https://cmmginc.com/product/magazine-9-ar-conversion-30rd/

I built mine with a complete PSA colt style dedicated lower which was like $150. If I were doing it over again I may have done a standard lower with a couple of the conversion magazines since I now want to build a 300 blackout pistol upper to use as well.

C52028-C1-8260-4-ECB-8-F8-B-77937-C88-D3-E1.jpg
 
someguy2800 said:
The economics of that are going to depend on how many mags your going to buy. The conversion magazines are quite expensive compared to glock or colt magazines.

https://cmmginc.com/product/magazine-9-ar-conversion-30rd/

I built mine with a complete PSA colt style dedicated lower which was like $150. If I were doing it over again I may have done a standard lower with a couple of the conversion magazines since I now want to build a 300 blackout pistol upper to use as well.

View attachment 878599
Click to expand...
3 inserts are 80 dollars.
 
Bfh_auto said:
3 inserts are 80 dollars.
Click to expand...

Plus you have to sacrifice 3 30 round P mags so your in it probably $120 for 3 mags. The colt style mags I buy for mine are $15 each. I don't need to have a million magazines so either way would have worked fine economically for me, but if a person wants to have 20 magazines as some do that is going to get expensive! At the time I didn't have a pistol lower so I was going to have build a new lower either way I don't have any glock mags either so the colt mags made the most sense to me at the time. The endomags were not on the market when I built mine, otherwise I may have gone that route.

Digging a little deeper into the options, if you look at the designs for each type one thing I will say is that if I had to place a bet I would guess that the glock mag lowers are probably going to be the most reliable. The glock mags are notoriously reliable and they position the rounds really well to get in the chamber on the AR. With the colt mags lowers there is a pretty big jump that the round has to make to get in the chamber. Mine will not feed reliably with certain really really blunt bullets, but has been totally reliable with round nose bullets.
 
someguy2800 said:
Plus you have to sacrifice 3 30 round P mags so your in it probably $120 for 3 mags. The colt style mags I buy for mine are $15 each. I don't need to have a million magazines so either way would have worked fine economically for me, but if a person wants to have 20 magazines as some do that is going to get expensive! At the time I didn't have a pistol lower so I was going to have build a new lower either way I don't have any glock mags either so the colt mags made the most sense to me at the time. The endomags were not on the market when I built mine, otherwise I may have gone that route.

Digging a little deeper into the options, if you look at the designs for each type one thing I will say is that if I had to place a bet I would guess that the glock mag lowers are probably going to be the most reliable. The glock mags are notoriously reliable and they position the rounds really well to get in the chamber on the AR. With the colt mags lowers there is a pretty big jump that the round has to make to get in the chamber. Mine will not feed reliably with certain really really blunt bullets, but has been totally reliable with round nose bullets.
Click to expand...
I guess I'll have to do a pros and cons list along with a price list on each. This is going to be a build after I pare down my assortment of firearms to ones I use and ones my boys might like.
All the true oddballs are going nowhere. But some of the ones that fell short are going to the next gun show.
 
someguy2800 said:
How bad is the zero change from 223 to 22lr?
Click to expand...
I found it insignificant at 35yds. To be honest, I havent checked it beyond that.
My reflex is sighted at 35yds, the pistol actually shoots slightly high at 50yds, and close to zero at 100yds with 5.56mm ammo.
At 35yds with .22lr, I didnt feel like it was worth making an adjustment.
 
Armored farmer said:
I found it insignificant at 35yds. To be honest, I havent checked it beyond that.
My reflex is sighted at 35yds, the pistol actually shoots slightly high at 50yds, and close to zero at 100yds with 5.56mm ammo.
At 35yds with .22lr, I didnt feel like it was worth making an adjustment.
Click to expand...

Neat, I’ve been thinking about giving one a try, that makes it much more appealing.
 
A 9mm AR pistol is on my short list. I like it as a fun gun and a good home defense option for my wife who is a little intimidated by my shotgun and handguns (though capable of using them), and the muzzle blast of the AR (it doesn't help that my AR has a Strike Industries J-Comp on it, makes it seem a smidge louder). I'd probably toss a Sig Romeo 5 on top and call it a day. Maybe upgrade the trigger with a Hiperfire or the like, but not a target trigger or anything like that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Olympus
  • Locked
AR Build: Pistol to SBR. What caliber and what barrel length?
Replies
17
Views
4K
dogmush
D
S
  • Locked
  • Poll
9mm PCC, braced AR pistol, AR rifle, or Ruger PCC-9?
2
Replies
26
Views
3K
shotgunjoel
S
Gtscotty
  • Locked
First AR pistol "build" tips and ideas
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
someguy2800
someguy2800
B
  • Locked
Muzzle blast difference between AR pistol 556 v. 9mm
2
Replies
35
Views
4K
fireside44
F
D
  • Locked
9mm AR build questons
Replies
2
Views
343
Captain33036
C
Back
Top