Wanting my first ar pistol

[MistWolf]

I’m going to buy an ar pistol. Not sure if I should go 300blackout or just keep it streamlined and get a 556. Mainly for fun but want to have it reliable enough to keep next to the bed.

Either caliber will work. 5.56 is cheaper to shoot, but the 300 will let you go shorter reliably. If you decide on the 5.56, go with an 11.5" barrel or longer. If you decide on the 300, go shorter. A 300 BLK with a barrel about 7.5" or so is right handy. If you don't suppress your shortie, the BRT Covert Comp is your friend as it does a good job pushing the sound and muzzle blast down range.

[Clint]

What barrel length?

11.5" in 5.56 is a good combination and has good terminal performance with most loads.

You can go down to 9" in 5.56 , but good thermal performance is limited to a few select loads and it's quite loud.

300BLK ammo costs twice as much, but allows good performance with barrels down to 6"

Buying quality is always a good plan.

I’m going to buy an ar pistol. Not sure if I should go 300blackout or just keep it streamlined and get a 556. Mainly for fun but want to have it reliable enough to keep next to the bed. I have read through threads and have seen some have had good luck with psa, some haven’t. I’m not sure if I should settle for a complete psa, or just bite the bullet and buy bcm. Unless their is an in between option? Any suggestions are appreciated

Thanks

[Th3Revreant]

I'd go 300 blackout personally. I have a 7.5" 300 pistol and have it tuned so that it runs subsonics without a suppressor. It shoots pretty damn quiet and chance of penetration is pretty low with the 220 grain subsonic. I won't go back to 5.56mm for a pistol or SBR after shooting 300 just make sure you invest in the parts and don't skimp so it's reliable.

[uffdaphil]

Until recently I was an apostle for the 5.56 shortie for HD. But with relatively affordable expanding subs like the Hornady 190 SUB-X I am now a convert to the canned 300BLK. Less risk of over penetration and much quieter.

[turnburglar]

I have a 10.5" 556 pistol with SBa3 brace. Had it over a year and 1k rounds now. Reliability has been great with the only stoppage being a stuck steel case in the chamber. Needed a cleaning rod to push it out. I can't blame the system on crap ammo. I have also stopped mixing steel and brass in my guns without cleaning the chambers between ammo switch.

Personally I am not a fan of 300BLK in subsonic or supersonic loadings. I don't want to get into it in this thread, I just feel that a 10.5" 556 gun is easy to feed, proven reliable, and can put in the work. The 10.5 has become my primary HD and camping gun, loaded with 64gr Gold dots. GD's are known to expand at low velocity making them an excellent projectile for short barreled 556. And they are still cheaper than any 300BLK loadings.

[Clint]

Start a new thread. Let's talk about it.

Personally I am not a fan of 300BLK in subsonic or supersonic loadings. I don't want to get into it in this thread, I just feel that a 10.5" 556 gun is easy to feed, proven reliable, and can put in the work.

[AndyLate]

Until recently I was an apostle for the 5.56 shortie for HD. But with relatively affordable expanding subs like the Hornady 190 SUB-X I am now a convert to the canned 300BLK. Less risk of over penetration and much quieter.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say a heavy subsonic .30 caliber bullet will out penetrate a .223 caliber bullet travelling at 2400 fps or more.

[flenna]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say a heavy subsonic .30 caliber bullet will out penetrate a .223 caliber bullet travelling at 2400 fps or more.

Probably right. Subsonic 300 blk, which is normally a 220 grain bullet, is ballistically similar to .45acp.

[AndyLate]

To the OP - my 11.3" 5.56 pistol has been very reliable, certainly as much so as my longer barreled ARs.

I built mine to be reasonably light, used decent (if not top-shelf) components, and am very happy with the pistol.

Saving some money is tempting if it will be mainly a "range toy". I would expect a PSA pistol (for example) to be fine, but there is a noticeable difference in quality between my PSA Premium and BCM upper receiver groups. I felt the "need" to upgrade the PSA, but the BCM upper remains as it left the factory, so cost of ownership between them is kind of a wash.

For what it's worth, I would recommend an 11.3/11.5" barrel over a 10.5".

Andy

[Alpha-17]

I built my first AR pistol several years ago off an Anderson lower and a DD Mk 18 upper in 5.56. It's been great, and the only problems I've had with it were my own damn fault when building it, and they were easily corrected. Since then, it's been completely reliable and has made a great Jeep gun.