With the advent of pistol braces, the whole notion of a short barreled rifle with a $200 tax stamp (and 6-9 month wait) is ludicrous.
Heck, some pistol “arm braces” are nicer stocks than the bottom-of-the-line Magpul MOE stock I have on my rifle.
That’s not a pistol in the picture.
Since the 556 loses quite a bit of capability from bbls shorter than about 14-16”, I do not like AR pistols with really short bbls.
The capability losses are magnified with increased flash, blast and generally over-gassed operation parameters ( gas port pressure in the 30k + PSI range which makes for reliability concerns etc).
While a 14.5 “ M4 is an SBR, add 1.5” and you have a legal ifle. Which will provide CQB and combat range capability with good terminal ballistics out to 200m with proper ammunition (heavy for caliber 75-77s and perhaps monumental bullets of the expanding variety loaded at 556 Nato pressures ( which is really 223 rem pressures just measured a t a different location in the test gun chamber 55K PSI/50K CUP/SAAMI or 63500PSI CIP/NATO pressures, but that is a long story in itself with much misunderstanding).
As it is, the short bbl AR pistol ( “SBARP” if you will), loses way too much and only gain s a few inches of “portability/concealability”, to me that is not a good trade.
The 16” carbine with 77 IMI razor core goes at 2740 from my carbine, while it only runs at 2200 from my 10” SBARP, that’s a loss of fragmentation range from about 90-10m to zero ( which is why the SBARP supposedly penetrates more than the carbine length- it does not expand or yaw at high enough velocity ( about 2400fps) to fragment, which basically defeats the unique characteristic of the 556 round from jump street.
If you need a 556 caliber gun for concealment, you probably need a fire team and an OW element too. May as well carry a concealed fighting pistol and have the rifle of preference nearby, and fight to it when the chips fall badly....
Now, with medium weight bullets ( 40-50 varmint or monometal) you can reach 2500 or more fps which brings you back into decent terminal performance and still be able to penetrate NIJ TL3A soft armor.
Even with the full up 556 or even the 30/06 162 grn AP ( the test standard for SAPI plates) you won’t, except with near same hole multiple hits) defeat TL4 plate.
Aim for the sides, bottom and top of anyone you suspect to be hard armored with any rifle, aim higher or lower still more and farther from the center with common handguns on anyone suspected of being soft armored- as the standard today is NIJ TL3. Bad guys may be bad, but they ain’t stupid. That’s the facts.
NO, you idiot,, the minimum length for a shotgun barrel is 18 inches, not 16!!!!
I can't for the life of me understand why so many Freepers are so slavishly devoted to carrying ASJ's water when those morons know less about firearms than my hedgehog.
And it's not just a typo because dear old Paul Pawela -- should I call him PP? It seems apropos for some perverse reason -- makes the same mistake repeatedly through the article.