Cali-legal semi-auto?

[PirateJoe]

Christmas is coming up, and, of course, my sights are turned toward another gun. i'm basically looking for a lightweight, semi-auto, all around fun gun, in a pistol caliber or intermediate caliber cartridge. keep in mind, i live in california. i already have an sks too.

i've been musing over:

kel-tec su16
m1-carbine
maybe (big maybe) ruger mini-14.

have i missed any?

btw, does anybody know the legality of saigas in CA? i haven't heard difinitive word one way or another.

 

[Shawn 357]

There is also the Bushmaster Cal legal AR that you have to break in half and load the rounds through the top
I don't know how much fun an AR would be if you had to go through that though...
A lot of people swear by the SU16's, not my cup of tea, but everyone likes what they like.
I can't really think of any others off the top of my head that you haven't listed.

 

[spencerhut]

Depends on what you consider intermediate. .308 is between .22 and .50BMG. Right?
Springfield M1A or you could also get a Garand. My wife loves hers.

 

[Warren]

DSA makes a Cal Fal that loads from the top. It is around 1500 bucks IIRC.

 

[No_Brakes23]

I like my SU-16CA, and now that I live in a free state I don't feel sorry for buying it. Still makes a good stow gun.

There's no way in hell I would buy the sell-out Ruger Mini. There's not one good reason it should be legal while the Saiga is banned.

It seems wrong to have an M-1 carbine and not be able to put full clips in it.

 

[Number 6]

If you want a pistol caliber rifle you should also look at the Ruger PC9 and PC40, or the Marlin Camp 9 and Camp 45.

 

[Ed Ames]

What do you consider fun?

Personally, I'm not too impressed with the Mini-14 as a fun gun... it doesn't have super accuracy or really super anything else. There are lots of accessories available... but the availability of folding stocks is kinda irrelevant if you live in CA. It's a nice enough gun, but what is it good for?

Your other two choices are both interesting, depending on what you consider fun.... personally, I like the kel-tec but I'm not too interested in a .223... I really like the M1 Carbine but it isn't very practical.


You should look up "off list lower" before you spend any big money. You can put together an AR-type rifle for only a bit more than the kel-tec... and there are people working on interesting "accessories" that make them semi-practical. E.g.:
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=42322

Not my thing (I'd rather have the M1 Carbine) but it's worth a thought.

 

[10-Ring]

I"ve had ALOT of fun w/ my M1a that I got last year and this year...last summer actually...I completed my RRA middy that has been beyond my expectations...and yes, you do get used to popping it open to load it even though you feel like a big dork the entire time :banghead:

 

[crazed_ss]

M1A for the win.

 

[EvisceratorSrB]

FN-49 anyone? I hear they are ridiculously fun.

Yeah the SU is great. I wish I bought the CA model though. :banghead:

 

[trbon8r]

Buy yourself an AR-15 type "off list" lower. Basically you get a top loading AR-15 rifle with a fixed 10 round magazine. This rifle can be converted back to a fully functional AR in 5 minutes for Arizona or Nevada shooting fun.

I just moved from CA to Maryland. Calfornia makes Maryland gun laws look downright friendly by comparison.

Go to www.calguns.net and read up on the off list lowers. I think you will find what you want there.

 

[Spencer]

Mini-14

 

[ArfinGreebly]

You Did Say "Pistol Calibre"

That lets the SU-16 out (although I like mine).

The Beretta CX4 is, unhappily, restricted to military/police use in California.

Let's see, that leaves the Ruger PC series and the Hi Point series, available in 9mm and .40 cal (and possibly .45 cal). Hi Point also has an after-market (ATI) stock available that turns it into an "evil" rifle looking like a CX4 Storm. You would want to check local regs before doing an upgrade like that.

Another alternative (not truly a pistol calibre) is the M1 Carbine, in current production from Auto Ordnance (available with CA legal 10 round mag). The ammo is in production from something like a dozen companies and is pretty reasonably priced. Handles and shoots well. Much fun.

Oh, and Kel-tec does make a couple of Sub 2000 folding rifles in both 9mm and .40 cal, compatible with a variety of magazines (see www.kel-tec.com for details).

If you can actually FIND one, the (discontinued) Marlin Model 9 and Model 45 are really nice. Well-balanced, clean-shooting, kind of like a grown-up 10/22. Mine (Model 9) has built-in "intuition" and knows what I'm trying to hit almost without being told. Sweet.

Oh, and doesn't Bushmaster or somebody make an AR-15 clone that shoots 9mm?

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Ed Ames]

"pistol or intermediate caliber" ... I took that, combined with two .223s in his example list, to mean "low recoil" more than anything else.

If we're swinging to pistol calibers I'd almost look at the ruger .44 or similar... or one of the lever action .44mag/.357mag types though that's not semi-auto.

 

[Otherguy Overby]

Pistol caliber carbine???

Sheesh, I know you weren't thinking of something like this, but if ya want a really fun carbine, do consider a Marlin 1894 in either .44 Mag or .357. They really are fun guns.

Just do a search for 1894 right here on THR to see how many people here have them and really like them.

 

[silverlance]

severalt hings

Pistol Caliber:

CX4: banned
Hipoint: banned
SUB2000: banned
AR15 9mm: banned
FN PS90: BANNED
PC9: ok (very nice)
PC40: ok (very very nice)
lever action: not semiauto, think of them as shotguns for all intents and purposes... you will not be able to do a quick reload with those things. fun yes, expensive yes, practical - somewhat.

Rifles:
su16ca
sks (i prefer the norinco paratrooper)
mini-14 /30
fn-49 someone help me get mine working please lol

refer tomy other thread about cal rifles.

 

[ArmedBear]

Ruger Deerfield Carbine is a nice little .44 Magnum, but I don't think any 10-round magazines are available.

Lever actions are not expensive, unless you want a fancy "cowboy" model.

.357 Marlin 1894 at Big 5 is $340 ("on sale", but "sale" is recurring).

 

[de]

I think I would save my money until I had enough to relocate to a free country, and then buy anything I wanted as far as a rifle goes. I have lived in North Central Texas all my life (56 years) and when I used to go to Chicago twice a week (for 6 years) it was depressing to realize some states have such repressive laws, that supersede the Constitution. I know it's off topic, it's just sad to read such dialogue in America where one has to search for a firearm that has state approval. :banghead:

 

[PirateJoe]

thank you all for the replies!

Ed Ames: yeah, you are right. i really like my m39, but its rather heavy, and not that easy on the shoulder. i'm looking for a pretty low recoiling gun here

dont get me wrong, fn-49 and the m1a are fine guns, but are rather heavy, don't "point" that well, and aint that easy on the shoulder.

the offlist AR reciever looks tempting, but all the cali-legal ar-15 conversions look ugly as sin, and don't look too ergonomic.

i'll definitley give the pc9 a look-see.

 

[Number 6]

the offlist AR reciever looks tempting, but all the cali-legal ar-15 conversions look ugly as sin, and don't look too ergonomic.

You might want to wait for this to come out next year.

http://blackstararms.com/punbb/

 

[Ed Ames]

BTW: The standard OLL AR-15 looks just like any other AR-15... pistol grip and all. The only trick is that the magazine is non-removable so you've got to break the upper off the lower, feed 10 rounds in, reassemble, and so on. I've never done it so I'm probably describing it wrong, but that's the gist. The "weird" ones (like the stocks in that link I posted, or the non-standard lower/stock from Black Star) are to allow removable magazines by getting rid of the pistol grip.

 

[silverlance]

or this

There's also this possibility. About $700 for everything you see on gun (including sling, not shown).

 

[PirateJoe]

Silverlance: thats the Kel-tec su16, right? how are the iron sights on that?

 

[ryoushi]

You can also build up and AR using an off list lower with no evil features and have a removable magazine. Just remember no collapsable stock, no flash hider and no pistol grip.

AR15 and AK with monsterman grips

 

[silverlance]

no OLL AR15 for me

I do not want to have to have break open my gun just to reload or clear a magazine jam. Can you imagine having to defend yourself and being stuck with that? Sure, you can alway sconvert it back (except for the poor fools who bought the welded receivers), but will you alway shave enough time to do so?

I'd rather have my SKS. The magazine can always be popped open and the gun rapidly reloaded using stripper clips.

Still, the Kel-Tec my favorite out of all the CAL guns. Its iron sights are very good (my very first time out, I put all 20 out of 20 rounds within 3" at 50 yards, 1 shot per second, using wolf .223 I bought in 1998), and the rails do come in handy. The top rail features a barska 4x23 rangefinding scope, the bottom rail has a 65lumen led light ($30 at cdnn), a levang whisper compensator at the front (makes the gun quite quieter for the shooter, but louder for everything you're pointing at - and if the zombies come i'm putting a flash suppresor on instead), a sling, and it's even got a spare 20 round magazine in teh buttstock. Plus, it can be folded up and put in my backpack. no one will even know i'm armed until i want thme to.

the SU16 is not a battle rifle. But it will handle combat admirably.