[Sopater]

Never bring a pistol to a rifle fight... ;-)

[cripplecreek]

I prefer long guns. They are within my comfort zone.

[US Navy Vet]

M-1 Garand in Springfield 30-06, accept NO Substitutes!

[Hodar]

Why, then, does the civilian populace have it backwards? Leaving aside the practicality of carrying a rifle around, a pistol for defense purposes is inferior in every way to a rifle.

It's always a matter of using the right tool, for the right job.

If home owner steps outside of his house, and fires a "range" weapon, he's going to have some explaining to do. However, inside his own home the homeowner's primary concern is maneuverability in a confined (and very familiar) space. I can swing my 9mm around my house - faster than a stranger can swing around a carbine. My 9mm will kill the intruder, without going through the walls, penetrating the exterior walls of my neighbor and injuring/killing them. This is by design. Totally different mission - and for the homeowner, the proper tool.

Whereas, many of the fire-fights our troops are engaged in are at ranges greater than 25 ft.

[ozzymandus]

Much as I’d love to carry my FAL into the 7/11, it might be a bit inconvenient. I find the author’s reference to “armchair warriors” more than a little ironic. Is his whole point that a rifle is better than a pistol?

[yarddog]

I don’t think there is a great chance that I would ever need a defensive rifle. Just not likely in my area tho I would never dismiss it as impossible.

I did have an incident happen a few months ago which made me realize a high capacity shotgun or pistol could happen.

I had driven out to the nearest town which is about 12 miles away. As I approached home I noticed a van parked in my rural driveway.

I thought about getting my pistol ready but decided to just play it by ear. It turned out they were friendly and didn’t act at all hostile. They had almost lost a tire and had no spare. The bad one had metal showing. I knew a guy who would help them out and he lived near enough that I told them to go ahead and creep to his house which was only a short distance to go. I phoned him to warn him.

After they were gone, I did check a tire and wheel I had in my driveway and they had definitely checked it out before I got there. Maybe just something they would have offered to buy but maybe to steal. Anyway it was the wrong size.

[MHGinTN]

One perhaps oblique ancillary: I have just recently converted my ARs to piston driven guns. The reduction in heat in the firing chamber and bolt carrier, as well as the reduction in carbon fouling is very significant for more than five or six rounds fired in a fire fight. I reccommend one of three best systems because of functionality to the level of three hundred rounds in less than an hour.

[driftdiver]

The real question for me is .40 cal or .45 acp :)

[Born to Conserve]

Advice from my neighbor, who was going on a business trip, to his wife, who was staying home: “if someone breaks in to the house, point this gun (300 Weatherby Magnum) at that wall (solid cinder block) and pull the trigger — they’ll leave.”

[Yosemitest]

And only the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN CHIF would arm U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry with “less than lethal” beanbag rounds.
Read Did flawed US policies play role in death of a border patrol agent?

The Dec. 14 shootout in Peck Canyon, near Nogales, Ariz., occurred after border patrol agents halted a group of armed border bandits and fired at them with bean bag guns.
The bandits then opened fire with live bullets from AK-47 submachine guns, killing Mr. Terry.

Critics of US border patrol procedures, including Terry's family, say that
Terry, a former Marine, was operating under specific Department of Homeland Security (DHS) orders that required agents encountering suspected illegal immigrants on US soil to fire nonlethal bean bags before using live ammunition.

Also read Brian Terry’s Killers Were “Hunting” Border Patrol Agents

You might be interested in the book below.



Fast and Furious:
Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up
by Katie Pavlich and Emily Durante

Overview

Two hundred and rising. That's the death tally for the Obama administration's "Operation Fast & Furious."
The program was supposedly designed to "win the drug war" by deliberately walking more than two thousand guns across the border to Mexico.
But instead of catching drug lords, "Operation Fast & Furious."Despite the protests of gun store owners and ATF whistle-blowers,
federal agents deliberately violated federal law -and common sense-
and wound up placing American weapons into the hands of Mexico's most violent criminals.
And when the guns started showing up at crime scenes-
including the murder scene of a U.S. border patrol agent
-the cover-up began.
So reveals Townhall editor Katie Pavlich in her news-breaking exposé Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal.
While the White House has claimed ignorance of the program, Pavlich debunks their lies, denials and excuses
by demonstrating incontestable proof
that President Obama and Attorney General Holder did willfully and knowingly sanction the program
in order to advance their anti-second amendment agenda.
A horrifying look at one of the bloodiest scandals in the history of the American presidency, Fast and Furious is this season's sensational, must-listen book that will rock America-and the Obama administration-to its core.

[SampleMan]

Carbines and rifles are obviously superior to a pistol beyond close range. A shotgun can be depending.

However, nothing is more handy than a pistol, or easier to use in a confined space.

Just to be safe, have a long gun to fall back to.

[Kartographer]

I am sure my AK 74 (5.45X39) would penetrate several walls. I was at the range and a guy came over and asked me what I was shooting and I told him that it was a bulge AK 74. He said what threw him off was he could see it had hardly any recoil and yet I was sending rounds through my target and raising dust on the backstop berm. ;-)

[MeganC]

My husband’s affinity for his reproduction Civil War era Gatling gun doesn’t seem so weird when I read things like this.

[Sawdring]

Do marines use ear protection on a daily basis when they are on patrol?

[wtc911]

I live in the burbs and although I appreciate all the classic WW2 battle rifles I am much more of a carbine guy. I've got the Saiga .223 and I just picked up a Ruger PC9.

I was looking for a good PC9 at a reasonable price for years. I already have two P89 automatics that take 15 rd mags. The PC 9 takes the same mag.

I would really like to find a .45 ACP Camp Carbine but they are ridiculously rare since November 2008. They use a standard M1911 mag and I can't think of a better carbine/pistol combo. My Ruger combo is fine but it's not .45 ACP.