What's the opinion on it? Is it worth it to get a pistol caliber rifle?  Do ballistics or accuracy or anything change? I saw a lever action .38special/357mag and thought that would be cool to have and would match a revolver in the same caliber.

Semi-auto pistol caliber carbines are loads of fun for rapid-fire plinking, but if you only shoot at KHSC, I don't see much point to them. But .357 magnum can really take advantage of a longer barrel to get a lot more velocity, so magnum pistol caliber carbines are popular for deer hunting on the mainland.

I've asked about pistol caliber rifles at the silhouette range and the answer is always no.  The only accepted cartridges in rifles are 22 caliber and smaller rimfire rounds. 

Saw a lever gun in 357?  At the gun show?  It might have been my marlin stainless 1894.

That being said 357 gains a bit out of a rifle length barrel,  looking at 1500 to 1700 fps depending on bullet weight.  44 mag gains are much less dramatic.

What's the opinion on it? Is it worth it to get a pistol caliber rifle?  Do ballistics or accuracy or anything change? I saw a lever action .38special/357mag and thought that would be cool to have and would match a revolver in the same caliber.

depends on what you consider pistol caliber rifle.  I saw a few Circuit Judge made by Rossi USA at sports authority just the other day and you can shoot 45LC out of it as well as .410 shotshells.

right now I'd say the price of many pistol calibers (especially for .38special/357mag) are the same as rifle calibers and you would be wasting your time as the performance and accuracy wouldn't be as good at longer ranger distances. 

No pistol caliber rifles allowed because rifles tear up the targets, but a .223 pistol is fine on the silhouette side...go figure.  My UMP conversion wouldve been a blast on those little metal targets if they wouldve allowed it.

lever action rifles are sweet. love my 1894 marlin .44mag     raining 300 grains at 250 yard gongs all day, or until my wallet starts sobbing. i really want a custom alaskan style takedown now.


imho for modern pistol carbines unless you have a pistol-rifle system that shares calibers and preferably the same magazine(something like the keltec sub2000 or a beretta cx4) then i think they arent that useful in hawaii outside of home defense.
dedicated pistol carbines are kind of lame here because you cant suppress them(advantage of subsonic pistol rounds), or shoot them at the silhouette side, and anything they can do at the rifle target range a small caliber rifle can do better. i almost bought one then realized id only be able to shoot it when im shooting my other larger rifles and it would kind of get overshadowed.
5.45,7.62x39 and 7.62x54r surplus is about the same price as 9mm and .40sw.. besides convenience of using pistol ammo you have on hand i dont see a point. the just right carbine, aero survival rifle,hi point, all the little masterpiece arms carbines and pretty much all of the other lightweight carbines get overall poor reviews. unless you reload i think its more of a novelty.


one carbine that has my interest is the s&w mpx. cant wait to see that thing in person with a 14.5" barrel and pinned comp. might be a poor mans mp5 if it becomes popular and they produce a lot of them.

haha in the 5 or so minutes it took me to type that 3 people responded

Love 'em! My fav in my Winchester Trapper in .357. I can share ammo with my revolvers, and it is devastating at bowling pin matches. Plus I can tear people new holes at dueling trees.

Buy one, then get involved in a club that uses them. I bring mine to the LIFE funshoots and instructor competitions, and regularly school young bucks with their MSRs.  Love it!

.45 colt is a sweet round in a lever carbine good for light hunt duty or all around farm use

What's the opinion on it? Is it worth it to get a pistol caliber rifle?  Do ballistics or accuracy or anything change? I saw a lever action .38special/357mag and thought that would be cool to have and would match a revolver in the same caliber.

I think this depends what you want it for.  If you want to do cowboy action, then it can help to consolidate calibers.  If you are thinking SD to lower some energy while still retaining capacity it's nice also but eliminates things like the KRISS, Beretta, USC (unless you do a UMP conversion), etc. because they share mags with pistols (or are lower capacity outright).

If you are talking plinking, then no IMHO it sucks.  I had a USC before and my front blade was full width of my target frame at 50 yards.  Kinda defeats the purpose of aiming.

No pistol caliber rifles allowed because rifles tear up the targets, but a .223 pistol is fine on the silhouette side...go figure.  My UMP conversion wouldve been a blast on those little metal targets if they wouldve allowed it.

Yeah that's so BS and there are guns with a lot more oomf than 223.  I understand the concept and reasoning, but the application is not there.

No pistol caliber rifles allowed because rifles tear up the targets, but a .223 pistol is fine on the silhouette side...go figure.  My UMP conversion wouldve been a blast on those little metal targets if they wouldve allowed it.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the sillouette range. Shoot there pretty regular. A 357 lever rifle can't be any harder on targets than a 7mm mag or equivalent in a TC hand cannon.
A 223 is on the light side of some of the stuff I have seen shot there.
I kinda think that maybe pistol caliber rifles and maybe even .30 carbine oughta be OK on the sillouette range. Might even raise more revenue for the club.
Just thoughts
Gordy

I recently picked up a beretta cx4 in 9mm from another member.  That thing is awesome.  It's super light, compact and amazingly accurate at 50 yards.  It's a blast to shoot and my son loves it.  I kept reading about pistol caliber carbines on the internet and everybody was saying there's no point in getting one, why would you get one when you could get.......etc, etc, etc.  I got one because I got 9mm handguns, the ammo is cheap and I WANTED one.  It took me a while to pull the trigger on getting one.  Now that I got it, it's one of my favorite guns.  If you want a pistol caliber carbine and got the money get it.  To each his own.  Aloha!   

There's a guy that shoots a .30-06 bolt pistol another shoots a .308.  I've seen them knock the swinging target clean off the frame.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the sillouette range. Shoot there pretty regular. A 357 lever rifle can't be any harder on targets than a 7mm mag or equivalent in a TC hand cannon.
A 223 is on the light side of some of the stuff I have seen shot there.
I kinda think that maybe pistol caliber rifles and maybe even .30 carbine oughta be OK on the sillouette range. Might even raise more revenue for the club.
Just thoughts
Gordy

This pops up every so often, and I always wonder where it comes from. I've spoken to several of the guys who run the silhouette range, and never once have they cited target damage as a reason for not allowing longarms. What they point out is that their club is a pistol club   It exists for pistol and rimfire competitions. Allowing poeple to shoot additional types of guns there would take availability away from people doing the intended practicing.

After all, you wouldn't complain that the skeet club needs to allow handguns, right?

Caliber consolidation?

Get the Sub2k because it folds and ultra portable, that's enough reason. 

The UZI carbine to follow man law Thou Shalt Have UZI (regardless the silly barrel for here).  It also breaks down in seconds and has a folding stock - bonus points IMO.  An iconic firearm.

I would think its more about velocity rather than caliber. But if they did allow pistol caliber rifles I'd definitely build a 9mm ar

This pops up every so often, and I always wonder where it comes from. I've spoken to several of the guys who run the silhouette range, and never once have they cited target damage as a reason for not allowing longarms. What they point out is that their club is a pistol club   It exists for pistol and rimfire competitions. Allowing poeple to shoot additional types of guns there would take availability away from people doing the intended practicing.

After all, you wouldn't complain that the skeet club needs to allow handguns, right?

Good point Tom, I concede

Thank you everyone for all the input.  i just used the 357 as an example but i know there are many, 9mm ARs, marlin camp 45s, etc, etc, seems something to look into for a cheap plinker or maybe if i ever have enough space/land i can pick up an 357 lever.


Oh also tom, you said that a club set up the silhouette range.  How did they go about this?  Perhaps this could be a method to use to fix or possibly expand the range.  More clubs could set up ranges as well.  Of course it would depend on the agreement, who handles insurance, etc, etc, but possibly something to look into.

This pops up every so often, and I always wonder where it comes from. I've spoken to several of the guys who run the silhouette range, and never once have they cited target damage as a reason for not allowing longarms. What they point out is that their club is a pistol club   It exists for pistol and rimfire competitions. Allowing poeple to shoot additional types of guns there would take availability away from people doing the intended practicing.

After all, you wouldn't complain that the skeet club needs to allow handguns, right?

I disagree, personally I think it's a revenue generating issue.  Think about all the years of collecting money and not replacing targets...............it can't all be going towards paying the RSO and insurance.

Oh also tom, you said that a club set up the silhouette range.  How did they go about this?  Perhaps this could be a method to use to fix or possibly expand the range.  More clubs could set up ranges as well.  Of course it would depend on the agreement, who handles insurance, etc, etc, but possibly something to look into.

The silhouette range, trap range, and skeet range are all operated by private organizations.  I'm not sure how those three got picked, but I strongly suspect it was one of those "they were there when it happened" deals.  People have bandied the idea for years about another club trying to do the same thing, maybe carve out a new bay, but there never seems to be any headway.  Don't know why.

Although, now that I think about it, the new archery range may be the result of activism by a club, or association of clubs.