Anyone using a pistol caliber AR?

[Megastink]

I'm down here in the straight-wall area of PA. I want to start predator hunting at night and I'm trying to figure out the best rig for that task. It needs to be straight-wall. I want it to be an AR platform with a thermal, and suppressed. 350 Legend has too much power, rimfires are too limited for my needs. Someone on another forum suggested a pistol caliber AR. I have a 10mm pistol, having a 10mm AR might be perfect. Or maybe a 40 S&W to better suppress. Does anyone have any insight? I'd love to hear from you.

 

[RockAndSage]

A .40 S&W round will knock the $h*t out of a coyote. Then again, so does 9mm. Especially if you're using a good defensive round, like HST, Ranger, Critical Defense, etc. Coyote bodies are notably smaller than human dimensions, so it's not a challenge to those rounds. But we're still talking pistol rounds - in concept, they kill more by bleeding something out by poking holes, rather than shredding columns of tissue like rifle rounds tend to.

If you were to be considering going after deer, a 10mm might be a bit better, but .40 S&W is plenty. Especially if you're prudent in your ammo selection. AR pistol/carbine barrel lengths give great velocities, btw. Figure out a 9mm, .40, 10mm, or even .45 ACP setup, with a suppressor, that best fits your use ideas, and have fun. 9mm will be cheapest to shoot, easiest to set up for mags, suppressor, etc. But you genuinely won't see any difference in real-world outcomes, short of the very farthest margins of penetration, none of which are relevant to coyotes.

 

[Megastink]

A .40 S&W round will knock the $h*t out of a coyote. Then again, so does 9mm. Especially if you're using a good defensive round, like HST, Ranger, Critical Defense, etc. Coyote bodies are notably smaller than human dimensions, so it's not a challenge to those rounds. But we're still talking pistol rounds - in concept, they kill more by bleeding something out by poking holes, rather than shredding columns of tissue like rifle rounds tend to.

If you were to be considering going after deer, a 10mm might be a bit better, but .40 S&W is plenty. Especially if you're prudent in your ammo selection. AR pistol/carbine barrel lengths give great velocities, btw. Figure out a 9mm, .40, 10mm, or even .45 ACP setup, with a suppressor, that best fits your use ideas, and have fun. 9mm will be cheapest to shoot, easiest to set up for mags, suppressor, etc. But you genuinely won't see any difference in real-world outcomes, short of the very farthest margins of penetration, none of which are relevant to coyotes.

Which would be the quietest when suppressed?

 

[RockAndSage]

Which would be the quietest when suppressed?

That would depend mostly on the suppressor, and the load being fired. All told though, a heavy, subsonic 9mm would likely be the quietest. You're still going to get noise from the action though, as these are pretty much all blowback designs, excepting a rare few.

 

[WoodlandCritter]

Pistol caliber ARs can be finnicky even in the best of circumstances eg; with common ammo types and magazines like a 9mm AR that takes Glock mags. If budget allows, I would look more into a ground up PCC as opposed to a cludged rifle conversion. Ground Power offers their Stribog in a few calibers including 10mm and .45, which gets you a roller delayed gun with better mags (the Stribog mag appears to be a similar design to HK UMP mags) for around 1k$. I don't have any personal experience with the Stribog but I own a GP P40L that I carry in the woods and also use for bowling pin shoots with ~1k rounds of 10mm through it. It has been perfectly reliable and the workmanship seems very good.

 

[Megastink]

Update: I’ve acquired a Palmetto AR9 locally. It has a 16” barrel. I’ve also purchased a used AGM Rattler 25-384 v1. This will fit my needs for a straight walled varmint rifle. Now I only need a suppressor.

 

[LaHunter]

Why not just use a shotgun?

 

[Megastink]

Why not just use a shotgun?

I want to use a thermal at night.

 

[RockAndSage]

Update: I’ve acquired a Palmetto AR9 locally. It has a 16” barrel. I’ve also purchased a used AGM Rattler 25-384 v1. This will fit my needs for a straight walled varmint rifle. Now I only need a suppressor.

Palmettos can be hit or miss, sometimes really good, sometimes not. Key things are to buy the absolute highest quality mags you can, and to use the absolute best lubricant you can (go with a lightweight grease of some kind). That will usually solve about 95% of malfunctions with factory guns. That should be a really fun setup though, keep us updated on the project.

 

[IW17]

Why aren't you considering 350 legend? I get that it's overkill, but it's not like it's some magnum caliber, and there's several subsonic factory ammo options available. Uppers are cheap. Seems like a no brainer. And hunting ammo will cost about the same as 9mm hollow points, give or take a few bucks. If you just want a pcc then I get that. But if this will strictly be for hunting, I feel like the 350 is covering more bases.

 

[Megastink]

Why aren't you considering 350 legend? I get that it's overkill, but it's not like it's some magnum caliber, and there's several subsonic factory ammo options available. Uppers are cheap. Seems like a no brainer. And hunting ammo will cost about the same as 9mm hollow points, give or take a few bucks. If you just want a pcc then I get that. But if this will strictly be for hunting, I feel like the 350 is covering more bases.

You nailed it: overkill. Not what I want.