A Carbine. What Caliber?

What flavor of Carbine?

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The Tavor will have a 5.56 / 9mm conversion kit for it.

I think 10mm carbine are impossible to find, it would be easier to get a 44 magnum like one of the old Rugers.

9mm seems to be the most common caliber for a handgun cartridge carbine.
 
The 10mm will gain the most from extra barrel, and is also far and away the most potent of those listed.

However, if you're just wanting a plinker, 9mm has the obvious cost benefit.

I've had 2 9mm carbines, sold both. Still have my Marlin Camp 45, but don't use it much. PCCs are mostly just kinda useless, IMO. The only one I own that really has utility is the Marlin 1894 .44 mag, which puts down power on par with .30-30 Win from the 16" barrel.
 
A carbine is a short rifle, I like rifle calibers in shorter barrels much better than pistol calibers in long barrels. Magnum rounds such as 357 and 44 are possible exceptions. Make mine an AR in 223.
 
Based on autoloader pistol ammo I have on hand:
.45 ACP (AutoOrdnance 1911A1 clone pistol, TM1 carbine)
.40 S&W (H&K USP)
7x62x25mm (CZ 52)

The use I forsee for a pistol caliber carbine is the scenario of me on the mountain, hanging around after everyone else has gone, to plink out to 65 yards, maybe needing protection from medium size feral or rabid animal. .45 ACP is adequate and economical.
 
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Marlin Camp 9
HiPoint 4595
Marlin 1894 .357

Choice? The Marlin 1894c in 38/357

My Camp 9 has suffered from erratic reliability and is with my gunsmith now. The Hp4595 is totally reliable, but the Marlin in 357 mag gains the most umph in the longer barrel (1900fps with a 158 gr hand load). It's the most accurate and carries the best as well.
 
I voted 9mm for two reasons ... I already own one, and I have a solid supply of 9mm to make sure I don't run out ... recoil is mild and I love the reach-out-and-touch-it accuracy out to about 100 yrds ...
 
Have you considered a .30 carbine? It's still one of the best platforms of all time IMO.
 
None of the above! "Everything" is a broad task; no autoloading pistol cartridge meets that goal. My Browning BLRs, chambered in .308 Winchester, are pretty good carbines for "everything."

Why did you post this in the Handguns-Autoloaders section? A carbine is a type of rifle.
 
Carbine simply means short rifle. It doesn't have to be chambered in a pistol cartridge. This really should be in the rifle section but oh well, I'll put in my two cents anyways.

I'd go with 9mm. It is usually the cheapest and easiest to find (unless there's a panic going on).

It also has a wide variety of loadings available which makes it suitable for lots of uses. The rifle length barrel helps with velocity too so the 9mm is more impressive from a carbine length gun than your average pistol.
 
Torian said:
Carbine = uses pistol calibers.
Rifle = uses rifle calibers.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately this is incorrect. A carbine is a shortened version of same caliber long arm

A sub machine gun is a pistol caliber while a machine gun is a rifle caliber.

I like my KT Sub2000 in 9mm. With the 16" barrel it is close to. 357mag performance.
 
Ruger Mini 14 (Mini 10) type carbine in 10mm that takes Glock 20 magazines would be perfect. Too bad Ruger or anyone else will never make one.
 
Carbine = uses pistol calibers.
Rifle = uses rifle calibers
Click to expand...

Nope. Carbine simply means short rifle. To denote that it is chambered in a pistol cartridge, one says pistol caliber carbine, or PCC in these groups.

Conversely, a long arm chambered in a pistol cartridge isn't necessarily a carbine. But that would be subjective. Of course, it would be rather silly to have a long barreled firearm chambered in a cartridge that maxxes out with considerably less tube. Rimfires seem exempt from this logic, though...

There is no hard and fast rule on barrel length for the definition, but generally in modern terms, < 20" is carbine, > 20" is rifle.
 
I've got ARs...and when I wanted a pistol-caliber carbine, I went with a 9mm. Cheap to shoot, low recoil, and I've got ammo cans (plural) in the garage.
 
Carbine has a lot of definition overlap. The rifle forum would have complained for exactly the same reason, but I'm posting here because of the auto loading pistol calibers. If we were talking a carbine in 5.56, then I'd be over there :D

Surprised not many fans of 40sw, tho.
 
You know, I am going to move this to rifles. I see the thought process of putting it here, but it just makes more sense over there. As a side note, carbine does mean short rifle, but the definition of short rifle is subjective. One of my Swedish Mausers was a rifle, the other a carbine. The carbine is longer than most "normal" rifles, and the rifle was really long. Go figure, but relative to the rifle, it was a carbine.

sent from my Galaxy Note II.
 
Torian said:
Carbine = uses pistol calibers.
Rifle = uses rifle calibers.
Click to expand...
I had no idea 7.62x54r, as used in the Mosin Nagant M-44 was a pistol cartridge, or the 5.56x45 in the M-4 carbine I was issued in Iraq was a pistol cartridge.

Crazy.

Previously, I owned a 9mm PCC, but my tastes in the PCC have changed, and I would prefer an 1894c in .38/.357.

Nothing says classy more than a nice revolver and matching caliber lever gun. I need some class.
 
I'd prefer .357 mag or .44 mag to those calibers. If I had to choose, 10mm, though I don't see many carbines chambered in that.
 
One of my Swedish Mausers was a rifle, the other a carbine. The carbine is longer than most "normal" rifles, and the rifle was really long.
Click to expand...


The Swedish m/94 carbine (6.5x55mm) has a 17 inch barrel. and is around 37 inches in total length. So how is it longer than most rifles??

The m/38 rifle has a 23.5 inch barrel

and the m/96 Rifles have a 29 inch barrel.


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In some (most) cases a CARBINE is actually just a shortened version of a longer full powered rifle.
For example my 45-70 chambered Browning 1886 saddle ring carbine in short and handy to carry through brush.
And I regularly use it to hunt moose or wounded bears. With fairly warm 45-70 hand-loads.


A short bolt action carbine in a caliber / cartridge that uses it's powder efficiently would be pretty neat.
A 450 socom chambered in a CZ-452 or mini Mauser....
Maybe a short barreled model 7 Remington in 358 Win or 338 Federal.

I cannot see wasting time making a 10mm or 45 ACP carbine which must have a certain minimum legal size, when you could chamber a short AR carbine for 450 socom or 50 Beowulf ( well I guess 6.8mm SPC for that matter) and really have a weapon that gives a thumping to the target.

Pistol caliber sub-guns became practically extinct because they weigh as much as a rifle, while only having the power of a pistol.
 
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