Courtesy of Tactical Life
Few things stand out more in my shooting life than the first time I ran an HK MP5. I was a patrol cop working for an urban department. I spent a lot of time training with my pistol and shotgun but had no designs on making the SWAT team. As a father and husband, the callouts and additional training were incompatible with my responsibilities at home.
Still, I had an opportunity to shoot with some of the SWAT officers and become familiar with the weapons they carried. The idea was that I might need to employ, or simply make safe, one of their guns on the scene of an incident. The SWAT sergeant who handed me his MP5 explained the basics of the gun and instructed me to “let ’er rip.” That was a fun day on the range.
Since that time, I’ve had a fascination with pistol-caliber carbines. Sure, there are drawbacks to a 9mm rifle when compared to a typical rifle cartridge like the 5.56mm NATO. However, a 9mm carbine can offer several improvements over both a handgun and a traditional rifle.
When compared to a handgun, a 9mm modern sporting rifle (MSR) offers three advantages: greater magazine capacity, increased bullet velocity and improved accuracy at longer ranges. Yet, when compared to something like an AR-15, a 9mm carbine can offer less report, recoil and muzzle flash. From a practice perspective, ammunition costs can also come into play. Consider this another advantage for the 9mm. While there is no way for me to know what your ideal home-defense gun is, I can say that a 9mm carbine is a good choice to consider.
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