Need help... caliber that can be used for both rifle and handguns

Back in the days of the old west, when cowboys went on long dives, it made sense to have a revolver and a saddle rifle in the same calibre. Today it does not however.

Having said that, a couple of calibres come to mind which actually do this rather well.

On the ultra-powerful end, the 45-70 is both a buffalo rifle and a bear killing revolver. This calibre and cartridge is the king of the hill for shots of 250 yds or less, but really hurts to shoot it. And you are going to be over-powered in both areas, the rifle area and the handgun area.

The 44 mag and the 357 mag are also available in many rifle and pistol combos. Whereas these handguns (they are available both as pistols and as revolvers) are excellent and accurate at what they do, self defense, and some close-in hunting, the rifles are under powered and function little more as accurate handguns, good only for about 100 yards or so.

What you should do is ask youself why do you need/want a handgun, then try out a few, and get the one that feels the best.

Then if you still need a rifle, ask yourself why, then try out a few different ones, and get the one that feels the best.

Most of us here have not done that however. We bought them, a bunch of them, and learned by trial and error which works best for each of us.

I have sold all the ones that I did not like, and now I am down to a handful which I really love.

Everyone is different, so no one thing is going to work for everybody.

 

Your options are basically endless. If you get a glock 9mm you can pick up an AR in the same caliber and use the same mags.

 

If you have a rifle , or find one you cant live without. The TC contender series pistol can be chambered in virtually any rifle round. Though it is a single shot. It depends on what you are going to be doing with the rifle and the pistol. Personally, I like the 357 mag revolver with the matching lever action as a combo. I think the cartridge is a good balance for both. But thats just me. Another one that comes to mind is 17hmr. I know Ruger makes a revolver chambered in this and there are more that a few rifles . Thatd be a good varmigeddon combo

 

my fave is .357/38. awesome combo for rifle and pistol imo. .357 is pretty nasty and 38 special has zero recoil and is fairly cheap.

lever and revolver in .357 is one sweet combo imo.

 

For a new shooter, the best multi purpose, multi gun, ammo would probably be .22lr. I shoot it in bolt rifles, semi-auto rifles, revolvers, semi-auto pistols. It is always plentiful and cheap.

 

first of all, in Texas 380 or above can be used for the CHL exam. so if you are really liking the XD compact in 9mm and the price is right, go ahead and buy it as you can carry it when you get your permit.

several of the AR makers have them in 9mm. so then you could have both pistol and rifle in the same caliber. RRA has complete AR's in the 9mm platform. or there is going the route of a 357/38 revolver, but usually most rifles in this caliber are lever actions. but there are many cartridges that are chambered in both rifles and pistols. 9mm, 38/357, 44mag./44spl., 45 acp, ect., ect.,,,,

 

My opinion is why gimp yourself with using pistol ammo in a rifle. Pistol are personal defense firearms and you dont need to carry a ton of ammo.

The xdm in 9mm holds 19+1 add in two spare mags at 19 each thats a decent ammo loadout. Then an ar15 chambered in 556/223 with 7 mags thats 210 roumds.

If you cant get it done with that load out no ammount of ammo is going to help you.

Using a pistol round in a rifle max range with even a 44mag is right at 100yds much less for 9mm or 45acp or 357mag

Same round for both doesnt make sense in a modern world. The reason the settlers liked it was cuz you could only get one or two types in most places.

 

Maybe you guys can help me remember the exact name, but Kel-Tec has a .223/.556 pistol that i believe uses AR mags. I wonder what the possiblity of rigging up a buttstock for that thing is.

 

I, for one, really like the idea of having 2 firearms for every round that I stock. In the handgun calibers, however, I have 2 handguns. In the rifle calibers I would like to have 2 rifles.

There are only two major rounds that seem to crossover: 22lr and .357mag

Both of those rounds actually started life as a rifle round! The .357 is the only handgun round that can gain 50% more velocity out of a rifle barrel. 9mm only gains about 20% more velocity out of a rifle barrel over a handgun barrel.

 

There are quite a few rifle/handgun calibers. Off the top of my head there are :
45Long Colt, 45ACP, 40S&W, 357 Magnum/38Special, 9MM, 22LR, 44 Magnum.
There are probably others. It all depends on what you want to do with the guns but there is a good selection out there.

 

It boils down to personal choices.

If I were you, I'd shoot 22LRs for a while, and study on it.

A good, up to date reloading manual has massive amounts

of caliber history and practical information beyond the scope

of reloading.

My choice in this area was .44 Remington Mag, but I hunt short

range, as the average .44 shooter is limited to less than

250 yards. It's not the ideal, or perfect for everybody,

just practical for my needs.


Rifle rounds in a pistol? Well, I hope you have a strong

grip, and a stronger HMO, because the muzzle blast and

recoil are epic fail bad. OK up close, but average shooter

accuracy drops like a rock after 25 yards, with one of these

behemoths.


9mm carbines are starting to come into their own now.

They also have their great points, and shortcomings.

Basically, you're looking at a small rifle with an

accurate and effective range of 150 yards.


Consider overall costs. A quality pistol/rifle combo

will run you 1200$ before ammo, easy. So the 35$

you will put into that reloading manual is money

well spent, to be well informed, before you make the

larger investment...

 

Do you live in the open country? Or are you dealing with a lot of

trees, broken terrain, and brush?

Most of the pistol caliber carbines make fine brush

guns...

 

I'd stick with 9mm for a while. All pistol calibers are about the same in effect, recoil however is different. Also with the price of 9mm being so much less, you are more likely to get out and practice more.

I agree with an above poster, no reason to limit yourself to a pistol caliber carbine for a defensive rifle. For a plinker, they are great, I'd check out a Keltec sub 2k, Hipoint carbine with the ATI stock, or ideally a Marlin Camp 9 if you can find a used one. I'n revolver calibers, you jump into lever guns that are great fun to shoot, but compared to modern semi auto carbines, it just isnt the same.

If you live down near the Austin area, I have a XD 45 compact you are welcome to try out, and a CZ full size sp01 tac 9mm.

 

While the lever gun / revolver was common, even most modern rifles that shoot pistol cal. rounds are underpowered.

Beretta CX4 Storm can be had in 9mm. 40S&W, and .45acp


Don't know how or where to get em, But some ar's can shoot 9mm

 

What about 10mm?

K10 - Pistol Cal 10mm


http://olyarms.net/index.php?page=s...n=com_virtuemart&Itemid=37&vmcchk=1&Itemid=37

G20


http://us.glock.com/products/model/g20

Odd, yet intriguing...

 

When you consider the great number of semi-auto versions of popular SMGs out there, and the 9mm uppers for the AR-15s, I would tend to believe that the 9mm is probably the most popular pistol/carbine round today.

Whether or not it's the "best" depends on your needs and wants.

 

I use to do the cowboy action shooting and these folks can make a single action revolver and lever gun sing (do a youtube) if you live in a restricted state a six shooter and lever gun doesn't make the anti's cringe as much as a HI-CAP Glock and and AR-15. I could give anyting that goes bump in the night a bad reception with 45colt combo, it sent many a man to their reward in the old west.

 

If you looking for the AR platform , I might suggest a 5.7 X 28 . The ammo is only made by FNH but its a real nice pistol and the AR platform has a upper that holds 50 rounds also , you also have the choice of the FNH PS90 . 50 rds in a box for around $23 I think .