Need some help with a patrol rifle

jwkite

Newbie
I work for a small department and we have to buy our own rifles if we wish to carry one. This being the case, my plan is to go with an AR pistol utilizing the SBA3 adjustable brace. Since I'm buying my own rifle, I prefer to do a pistol so I don't have to deal with the hassle of making it an SBR and all that comes with that. My question is, is there any reason that simply the fact that it is a pistol make it unsuitable for duty use? I will be using my 11.5 complete upper from BCM.
 

Ryan St.Jean

Regular Member
Functionally no, an 11.5in AR would work just fine. Department policy stuff IDK. Personally I would get it in writing that I am authorized to carry/ use that specific weapon for CYA. Probably a good idea to make sure the setup you want is ok with whoever the approval authority is before buying it also. If they aren’t a gun person I would bring a picture.
 

Dpvaz56

Member
Matt Landfair would be the SME on this. There’s a thread out there in these forums on it I believe.
 

Stobocor

Newbie
Honestly, there isn't a lot of hassle required to form 1 a pistol to sbr. Other good option is go with a 14.5 pinned. I ran that for a bit while my sbr was in the NFA process.
 

SmElly

Regular Member
Perhaps I’m misguided here, but my first choice would be a 16 or a 14.5 pinned.

If you ever have to smoke someone indoors with the unsupressed 11.5 it’s gonna be tinnitus town for anybody in the room, innocents included.
 

SmElly

Regular Member
Granted, any time you touch rifle rounds off indoors it’s going to be an unpleasant auditory experience
 

Ryan St.Jean

Regular Member
Perhaps I’m misguided here, but my first choice would be a 16 or a 14.5 pinned.

If you ever have to smoke someone indoors with the unsupressed 11.5 it’s gonna be tinnitus town for anybody in the room, innocents included.


If I read this correctly he already has an 11.5 in upper.

That said I agree with you. The difference in overall length for going to a ‘pistol’ is negligible. Some years back I built an 11.5 in. Not surprisingly it is only 3” shorter than my 14.5 in rifle.

The gain for a ‘pistol’ with a funky buttstock is pretty negligible.
 

MojoNixon

Established
If I read this correctly he already has an 11.5 in upper.

That said I agree with you. The difference in overall length for going to a ‘pistol’ is negligible. Some years back I built an 11.5 in. Not surprisingly it is only 3” shorter than my 14.5 in rifle.

The gain for a ‘pistol’ with a funky buttstock is pretty negligible.
But the gain is not just a product of a 3” shorter barrel. It’s also the funky buttstock. OAL is shorter by what 10 to 12”. Depending on what position you run your normal stock on a 14.5” barreled gun. Pretty significant I think if you can make it work for you.
 

Ryan St.Jean

Regular Member
But the gain is not just a product of a 3” shorter barrel. It’s also the funky buttstock. OAL is shorter by what 10 to 12”. Depending on what position you run your normal stock on a 14.5” barreled gun. Pretty significant I think if you can make it work for you.

Somehow I’m not picking up what you are laying down. I measured my standard AR with the butt collapsed. The total length from the end of the receiver to the end of the butt was a shade under 7.5 inches.

So to get to the 10-12 inch length cut you mention (figuring 3” comes from the barrel) it would have to not have a buffer at all. No buffer would get you to 10.5 inches. No buffer and no muzzle device on an 11.5 in barrel would get you to 11.5-12 in.

The shortest AR pistol buffer I found in a quick search was 4.75”. That would shave 7” off of a standard 14.5 in AR.

You seem like a smart guy so maybe somehow we aren’t communicating effectively.
 

MojoNixon

Established
Somehow I’m not picking up what you are laying down. I measured my standard AR with the butt collapsed. The total length from the end of the receiver to the end of the butt was a shade under 7.5 inches.

So to get to the 10-12 inch length cut you mention (figuring 3” comes from the barrel) it would have to not have a buffer at all. No buffer would get you to 10.5 inches. No buffer and no muzzle device on an 11.5 in barrel would get you to 11.5-12 in.

The shortest AR pistol buffer I found in a quick search was 4.75”. That would shave 7” off of a standard 14.5 in AR.

You seem like a smart guy so maybe somehow we aren’t communicating effectively.
I’m just going by how long a gun is say in the middle stock position. I think mine is about 36” OAL And what I’ve seen for 10.5/11.5” pistols with an SB Brace. I’ve seen OAL’s of about 26”. I’ve been accused of worse things than being smart but it is entirely possible I’ve misread something. I have had 2 strokes so there is some missing grey matter in my brain housing unit. ;)
 

MojoNixon

Established
I’m just going by how long a gun is say in the middle stock position. I think mine is about 36” OAL And what I’ve seen for 10.5/11.5” pistols with an SB Brace. I’ve seen OAL’s of about 26”. I’ve been accused of worse things than being smart but it is entirely possible I’ve misread something or transposed numbers from a different platform. I have had 2 strokes so there is some missing grey matter in my brain housing unit. ;)
 

Ryan St.Jean

Regular Member
I’m just going by how long a gun is say in the middle stock position. I think mine is about 36” OAL And what I’ve seen for 10.5/11.5” pistols with an SB Brace. I’ve seen OAL’s of about 26”. I’ve been accused of worse things than being smart but it is entirely possible I’ve misread something. I have had 2 strokes so there is some missing grey matter in my brain housing unit. ;)

So the numbers you gave were for the stock extended. I see where our little discrepancy is.
 
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