PracTac007 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I'm fairly new to shooting and have purchased a Mini 14 Ranch rifle in .223. I'm also looking at AR-15s. The AR's at Colt for example come in a rifle and a carbine version with no discernable difference. Anyone here care to help a newb understand the differnce between rifle and carbine? Also, lets take it one further. Which would you recommend for a 3-Gun shooter? Any particular length barrel and caliber? Thanks in advance for you assistance all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihatepickles Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 A carbine is a short rifle. I don't think there's a hard and fast barrel length that makes a rifle a carbine, but generally when I hear "carbine" I think of a short and lightweight rifle. They're quicker to throw about from target to target but the shooter is feels more recoil as the rifle gets lighter and lighter. Many carbines are chambered in pistol cartridges to allow the long sight radius of a rifle without the recoil of a full power cartridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pdoyle Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Has to do with the relationship on the distance of the front sight on the barrel..Sounds dumb...but thats what Colt sells in its armoror schools..dont know the exact specs though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 old school thing was that an army had regular -foot solders and Cavalry = the cavalry got a shorter barrel of the same gun. Now it seams like the norm is that the manufacturer would have a long and short setup for the gun. =it only relates to how long the barrel is. But with slow burn rate on most rilfe calibers the carbine would have a lower power factor But I may not know nothing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryeg7 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 i'm no authority on the subject, but 20" seems to be the divider between carbine and rifle. frye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Also, this is one of those "right now" things. What it means changes with time. The Mauser K98k (23" barrel), the mainstay of WWII german rifles was a carbine by contrast with the much longer M98 before it. By today standards it is a rifle. The 20" AR barrels would have been considered carbines by anyone's standard 40 or 50 years ago, the M1 was 24", the M14 was 22", the M1 carbine was 18". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinistralRifleman Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The standard production version = rifle Whatever they make shorter than that = carbine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The Mini 14 Ranch is a fine rifle and is pretty dependable as long as you feed it U.S. brass cased ammo. and out of the box would trust it much more than any AR on the market, however if there is any on the clock reloading going on the AR guys are gonna eat you alive. Course you may make it up when their latest addon gizmo causes a malfunction and they do. The mini 14 just doesnt lend itself to speedy reloading because of its catch the stud and tilt design. I would look pretty hard at the COF you shoot. I have never seen a + 100yard engagement I am sure they are out there somewhere. I would look pretty hard at some of the pistol caliber carbines from Ruger or Beretta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastshooter03 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 If you do get an AR, Stick with a Mid-Length or Rifle(Standard) length gas system. The 16" Carbine gas block location has too much pressure. My personal choice for Open class is to cut back a standard 20" upper to have a 16-17" barrel. I've also seen rifles that way for other classes just not as often. I haven't had any cycling problems in two years of 3-gun. Worked good enough to win the long rifle stage at the 2006 DPMS Tri-Gun. Fastshooter03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbrowndog Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 (edited) Soooooooooooooo, Sinistral, buddy. what does that make the standard M1 30carbine? were they refering to the M1 garand when they called it that, or were they refering to the designer "Carbine" Wlliams? Never mind!!!!! I should have read his Bio, before posting....................Doh!! Trapr Edited February 1, 2007 by bigbrowndog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthyBlagga Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Many of the above explanations give good workable definitons for a carbine. As for what to get, I recommend you start out with a plain vanilla 20" flat top AR15 rifle. A barrel with a chrome lined bore would be harder wearing, and you can choose from either a "heavy barrel" or a "Government/light barrel", depending on your weight preferences. Shoot it as is (with iron or optic sights of your choice) and have fun with this sport. After getting some experience under your belt, conside the following mods, all of which are pretty inexpensive: 1) Match trigger ($125 for a JP) 2) Muzzle brake ($50 for a Miculek) 3) Aluminum free-float handguard ($50 from most any parts vendor) After this, lots of practice is what will really help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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