Carbines for Home Defense

First off, a carbine is basically just a short, light rifle that's usually chambered in an intermediate cartridge such as 5.56x45 or 7.62x39. An “intermediate cartridge” is one that's more powerful than typical handgun cartridges (9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP, etc.), but less powerful than full-sized rifle cartridges (7.62x51, .30-06, 7.62x54, etc.). Modern civilian-legal carbines, at least those most suited for defensive purposes, are all semi-automatic. By far, the two most common modern carbines are AR15s and AK47s*.

* Note that these carbines are often misrepresented by politicians and those in the media as “assault rifles”. Given that they are semi-automatic only, they are by definition not assault rifles.

When the topic of guns for home defense (HD) comes up, a great many people automatically think of shotguns and handguns. In years past, when most people thought of rifles they maybe thought of their bolt action deer rifle or some older style military rifle like an M1 Garand. Even the more modern M16 originally had a 20in barrel, a fixed stock, and a peep sight with a very high offset – all of which made it very inappropriate for close quarters HD.

Things have changed however, and they have changed quite dramatically. Modern carbines are short, lightweight, and much more maneuverable than full-sized rifles so they are very much deserving of consideration as HD weapons.

Here are some pros of carbines for HD:

• Being a long gun, carbines provide four points of contact - both hands, the cheek, and shoulder. Many people therefore find them easier to handle than handguns.

• Carbines usually have a normal capacity of 30 rounds and reloads can be very simple and fast.

• Carbines have much greater range than shotguns or handguns, and this can sometimes be valuable - especially in rural environments. Eyeball-level accuracy is also much easier with a carbine than with shotguns or handguns.

• The terminal ballistics of proper defensive loads is quite definitive. Basically, a proper carbine round is almost as effective as a shotgun, and far beyond most handguns.

Here are some cons of carbines for HD:

• Being a long gun, carbines can be difficult to maneuver in tight spaces.

• The muzzle blast of a carbine indoors is significant to say the least. While some people claim auditory exclusion can negate this, the fact remains that firing a carbine in a confined space like a hallway can have a similar effect on the shooter as a flash-bang grenade going off. Electronic hearing protection (or a suppressor, which increases the length of the carbine) is strongly recommended.

• While AK47s are fairly simple and require little maintenance, setting up a carbine for HD can be somewhat complicated. For example, some sort of rail system and red-dot sight are needed to maximize their effectiveness. There are a bewildering number of options and configurations, and this can overwhelm many people. Routine maintenance, especially for AR15s, is also somewhat complex for someone without much experience.

• There is a very wide array of ammunition choices available for carbines, and this presents a problem. Much of the ammunition is highly specialized, while much of it is just designed to be cheap. Given the heated arguments between semi-knowledgeable people on the internet, I can perfectly well understand how a novice would get totally confused.
  
  

In short, the pros for carbines in the HD role are precision, terminal effect, capacity, and to a lesser extent, range. The cons are limited maneuverability, muzzle blast, and complexity.

Now that I’ve written a short overview of handguns, shotguns, and carbines for HD, I will write a summary about how all these factors combine. I'll conclude with what my experience tells me is “the best gun for HD” - not necessarily the gun you should use, but the gun with the greatest capability in the HD role.