Carbine vs handgun

[David S.]

It seems pretty self-evident that a person (presumably not on-duty LEO, non-MIL) would be more effective with a carbine, and (b) unlikely to have access to a carbine during a terrorist attack.

As someone who has a fair amount (very modest by P-F standards) of formal pistol training and is aware of the inadequacy of his purely informal carbine training, I'd take a carbine all day long. Not sure why this is even a question....

I'm curious, where are you going with this?

[45dotACP]

I was just watching Ben Stoeger's Podcast with new USPSA president Foley and they discussed a USPSA pistol caliber carbine division. I'm quite interested in it to say the least.

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[GJM]

I should have said this in my initial post -- this wasn't so much which you would pick, since that is obviously a long gun to me, but rather how would a trained good guy do with a pistol against the bad guy with long gun. Also, are there things you could do to improve your odds with a pistol against a rifle, an example being to close with the shooter to take away some of the distance advantage of the long gun.

[Chuck Haggard]

The Miami/FBI fight is an example of bringing a carbine to a pistol fight.

Bringing a carbine or shotgun to a pistol fight is often like bringing a chainsaw to a knife fight. It's orders of magnitude more effective. It's probably good that guys like Alvin York didn't let that fact dissuade them though.

[Erick Gelhaus]

An interesting point regarding Paris, the 3 Colombian Cartel guys that were hanging out in a cafe that was hosed down with AK fire returned fire and killed the shooters with their pistols.

Can you point me to a source for that info? I would appreciate it.

I'll echo those who agree that a carbine would be more effective, but that since you aren't likely to have it on you it is going to be a pistol problem.

[LSP552]

I should have said this in my initial post -- this wasn't so much which you would pick, since that is obviously a long gun to me, but rather how would a trained good guy do with a pistol against the bad guy with long gun. Also, are there things you could do to improve your odds with a pistol against a rifle, an example being to close with the shooter to take away some of the distance advantage of the long gun.

Someone who keeps a cool head, and can shoot, can certainly surprise the shit out of someone who isn't expecting trouble. You increase your odds by being aware of what's happening around you. The environment, number of attackers and distance will all impact your tactics.

[Malamute]

I should have said this in my initial post -- this wasn't so much which you would pick, since that is obviously a long gun to me, but rather how would a trained good guy do with a pistol against the bad guy with long gun. Also, are there things you could do to improve your odds with a pistol against a rifle, an example being to close with the shooter to take away some of the distance advantage of the long gun.

Those that focus on the immediate problem, and dont let themselves get psyched out about it seem to do OK in general.

Doing more distance practice is probably a useful step to reduce the perceived advantage of the long gun. Another thing I think people can psych themselves out about.

[Malamute]

Someone who keeps a cool head, and can shoot, can certainly surprise the shit out of someone who isn't expecting trouble. You increase your odds by being aware of what's happening around you. The environment, number of attackers and distance will all impact your tactics.

This seems to be important.

[JSGlock34]

The Miami/FBI fight is an example of bringing a carbine to a pistol fight.

North Hollywood is another.

Bringing a carbine or shotgun to a pistol fight is often like bringing a chainsaw to a knife fight. It's orders of magnitude more effective. It's probably good that guys like Alvin York didn't let that fact dissuade them though.

Well, the reason those Germans started their bayonet charge was because York had been successfully picking them off with his M1917...

[BehindBlueI's]

I should have said this in my initial post -- this wasn't so much which you would pick, since that is obviously a long gun to me, but rather how would a trained good guy do with a pistol against the bad guy with long gun. Also, are there things you could do to improve your odds with a pistol against a rifle, an example being to close with the shooter to take away some of the distance advantage of the long gun.

Surprise, effective use of cover, use of distraction and numbers, etc. There's plenty of examples of pistol packing LEOs and others taking down someone armed with a long gun. I've been trying to work in some 75y+ pistol shooting into each range session now. I have a carbine in my trunk, but sometimes the trunk might as well be a million miles away.