Compactness

I love running through shoot houses or practicing CQB. Truthfully, it is the battleground my strengths shine. In all the years of being responsible for this mission and then training others for the same mission I’m convinced it is the superior platform. You get the same configuration, only shorter. Meaning, chambered in 5.56mm, 30-round standard magazine, a flat-top and various mounting options for mission critical gear. Running with a short barrel rifle being 4-6 inches shorter really makes a difference. Plus, it allows me to run suppressed; which when indoors is almost necessary. In the tight spaces of an internal structure I have blind spots and danger zones I’m always prosecuting so the shorter overall length gives me a tactical advantage to exploit.

Lightweight

Cutting 4-6 inches off the barrel length not only cuts weight of the barrel, but the fore-end as well. This reduces the overall weight; which is always a good thing. The magic number is 8 pounds or less, but there is a catch. That’s equipped with a suppressor. You see, the real advantage of having the shorter barrel is being able to run with a suppressor and still keep it to about 14.5 inches overall. Running this short barrel rifle configuration indoors is HUGE. All it takes is for you to run through a concrete shoot house with all the sound abatement and you realize the disruptive nature from over-pressurization. Yes, ear safe conditions are nice, but it is the over-pressurization that is the real problem. Every time that rifle goes off, whether your’s or a team member the shockwave is similar to the blast wave propagation from an explosion…albeit a much smaller one. It’s the cumulative effect that produces long term medical issues.

Running Suppressed

From a home defense rifle condition, having a compact and lightweight rifle equipped with a suppressor is the ideal setup. If you are responding to a home invasion, chances you will grab hearing protection are virtually zero. But, grabbing your suppressed SBR and now we have a party. Aside from being ear safe for you, the rest of your family benefits from this condition. The flash reduction will also aide in night time conditions and I’ve found the larger surface area of a suppressor produces an improved response from a weapon strike for those are skilled in that department.

Travel & Discretion

Any short barrel rifle must come with permission from the government. A real pain and hopefully something for repeal consideration. SBR’s are cost prohibitive for many, not to mention the tax stamp for Uncle Sam. Since the purchase of any firearm by a prohibited possessor is well…prohibited it seems an unnecessary infringement. That’s my opinion. I feel there is plenty of room to debate this subject and look forward to making that opportunity. In the meantime, traveling with an SBR comes with additional headache. First, they are not legal in every state. Make sure to do your own research in advance of any travel outside the state the SBR is registered. Second, there is more paperwork necessary to legally travel outside the registered state. Once, you’ve obtained the paperwork then traveling is pretty straightforward. The big advantage is I can shove them into smaller, more discrete bags other than the traditional rifle cases. Moving in an out of hotels or other public spaces is less of an attention getter when there is little to draw someone’s attention. For porting once at my travel destination I use smaller, less obvious bags. I’ve even used a messenger bag where I dissembled the upper from lower receiver.

The Downside

There is no free lunch and in this case, the shorter barrel means we need to ensure we are running at peak reliability. There are three things to consider here. The gas port size, buffer weight and maintenance interval. Running a shorter barrel length will typically mean you need to have a larger or more forgiving gas port. Most rifle manufactures already favor the oversized gas port due to the wide variety of ammunition available. This will allow enough gas to cycle the action when most of the gas is exiting the barrel. Then, because of the shorter overall action the bolt cycling needs to be slowed down a bit with a heavier buffer and buffer spring. The heavier buffer & buffer spring will slow the bolt’s cycling so it doesn’t out run the magazine spring when feeding. If you run it suppressed the amount of carbon built up is a lot more and this can strain the reliability at the higher round counts. I’ve run this setup hard with thousands of rounds suppressed as well as seeing hundreds of students doing the same. But, we pay a heavy price when it comes to cleaning. Keeping the rifle adequately lubricated durning training and after will help eliminate stoppages due to fouling.

Closing

If you are asking me, I believe every American should at the very least know how to safely use a rifle if not own one personally. The more rifles in the hands of competent armed citizens, the safer our country. Plus, owning a rifle is a reminder of our freedoms. Our forefathers fought for our freedoms with rifles. In today’s evolving world, threats to our well being and safety abound. Defending one’s home is complex problem to solve. One of the solutions is a short-barreled rifle. The short barrel rifle gives us a compact, maneuverable shoulder fired firearm. Easy to carry, shoulder and shoot. Due to their smaller size, they are lighter. Being lighter has a direct relationship with being more accurate. The shorter nature of the rifle allows me to run suppressed with a much smaller footprint. Granted, I’m extended the length and weight, but because I’ve cut down the barrel it has a balancing feel. Travel can be a pain, but with planning and preparation it makes for a discrete option while on the road. Reliability is one of the bigger downsides. Some simple steps can greatly increase the reliability and ensure the rifle runs and runs hard. If you are in the market for a new rifle in the New Year, maybe consider adding an SBR to your inventory.

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Brave New World

Back when things were normal, you would return home from your daily activities and secure your firearm load out. Most states have laws restricting unauthorized access to firearms whether loaded or not. The intention of these laws is to prevent tragic accidents, such as children accidentally shooting themselves or others. The states have taken a hard line on this subject and as the adult you are expected to do the right thing when nobody is watching. With our new landscape and the understanding of unauthorized access how do you go about ensuring a high security posture if you cannot leave firearms accessible.

Proper & Secure Storage

There are plenty of secure storage options. These options typically reside in the master bedrooms. Relegated to night time access when we are asleep in our beds they may not be convenient for our daily activities. There are other cleaver hiding places, but again the states have pretty strict rules about hiding and unauthorized access. There is always the personal choice of talking with your family and children to ensure they understand the consequences. While I strongly encourage you do this in an age appropriate manner the states don’t care. If you left a loaded firearm accessible to a child you broke the law. Granted, I doubt the law is going to be going door to door to enforce this law. It will be something to manage after the incident.

It’s Down To Two Options

In the end, you are pretty much left with two options. Improvised weapons strategically staged throughout your home. Or, you can carry on body. Truthfully, I encourage you to do both. Most of the time, the improvised weapons already are in place, you haven’t looked at them in this manner before. They are benign objects. Now is the time to consider how they may be used in a deadly force incident within your home. These can be just about anything, use your imagination. The fact you have worked through some scenarios might be all you do, but it would be nice to have a plan in place just in case.

Casual Home Carry

When it comes to carrying on body in your home it is often not your primary carry. Your primary carry is typically larger and heavier, especially in this current situation. Instead, your on body choices are smaller, lighter firearms that promote the carrying in “real” casual wear. Let’s face it, most of us are in gym attire, maybe even pajamas these days. Not the most ideal support carry system. Carrying something even 10-15 ounces can get old real quick. However, there is a lot to be said about any type of blaster you have on body to deal with an emerging threat at your door or worse, inside your home.

I doubt anyone will be citing ballistic theories or pointing to Instagram likes at that moment. Instead, you will just be glad you had an option, thought it out and even practiced for such contingency.

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First time Gun Owner

I worked with a student, an engineer by trade who wanted to improve her ability to protect herself and loved one. We started the class with the typical array of subjects. One subject I find important is Conditions of Readiness. Usually when I get to Condition Three, empty chamber with loaded magazine inserted a few will nod their heads in agreement. I will go on to explain the value of this condition, but not without explaining the risk. For some, they are new to owning a firearm and to ensure unauthorized access will secure the firearm in a storage locker or vault. Typically these are equipped with quick access features to help the new firearm owner and give the intrepid consumer a warm and fuzzy.

To Each Their Own

However, they may take it a step further by storing the defensive firearm in condition three. I have had several families weigh the risks versus rewards who come to the same conclusion. While a home invasion or robber is possible, it is not probable. They have a higher risk of an unauthorized person gaining access, mostly children or young adults. I respect this concern. My belief is each family must conduct similar analysis to determine what is in their best interest giving all the variables. Create their own system, but periodically evaluate it for relevancy and effectiveness.

And Halt…

However, all that stops when you decide to carry the defensive pistol on your body. The justification you may have created for home defense does not carry the same merit when you carry concealed. The biggest concern for this belief is safety. The justification stems from a higher level of safety created in their homes when securing firearms. However, the mistake is believing you will have the time, ability or space to charge the weapon. It is all but wishful thinking and most of the time once I am able to explain the difference between these two situations there is a greater understanding. Most acknowledge the different situations require different systems and techniques. There is no single or simple answer to solve all the problems.

Face Your Fears

There is another reason some will resort to this method of carry. There is a safety concern with a chambered round while on the body, typically inside the waistband. What is often overlooked is the why. Why does this fear exist in the first place. To me, understanding the why is is at the heart of the matter. Rather than ridicule and potentially ostracize a new shooter, we should take a more mentoring approach. What may seem second nature to us, did not materialize overnight. It took time, practice, but most important knowledge. The key to managing this fear is in education. New shooters must be educated on why their anxiety exists. Honestly, it is not unreasonable to have this safety concern as a new shooter. It may also be a signal to the new shooter they need more training, practice and experience.

It is important to emphasize carrying an empty chambered defensive pistol is dangerous. It’s not even a really good hammer.

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Safety for all

This is a lot harder to answer than you may think. The first thing you have to consider is the household frequented by small children or teenagers? If it is, even if they are not yours, so think of grandparents, then you will have to take security steps to ensure that inappropriate access is never granted. Not only do you have a moral obligation to ensure a safe environment, you have a legal one in many locations. It is not an easy decision, many folks have a defensive firearm at their home for safety, but the last thing you want is for that to be the cause of a terrible accident or tragedy because of unsafe habits or conditions.

Worse case scenario

Putting aside the “how” for now, let’s talk more about the “where”. Most people will tell me a bedroom for their defensive firearm, but the real question is what are you preparing for? I think a large percentage of incidents families are preparing for is a home invasion. Different from a burglary in that the owners in a burglary are typically not home. A home invasion is conducted specifically because the owners are home. When doing a quick look at some home invasions it is difficult to determine an accurate time for committing this crime, but one thing I did notice is a fair amount happen early to late evening when the family is still up and doing things.

One of one is none

So, will you have time to response to an attempted home invasion with a defensive firearm if it is all the way in the bedroom. Probably not, hell you may not even have time if it were right there by the door in a closet, but it does beg the question about location. One thing to consider is multiple locations for the safe storage of a defensive firearm. Perhaps, a bedroom and front door area location. If you have a split level type home you may also need consider placing one in an upstairs location. The thought of being upstairs when a home invasion occurs and not having access to any tools can be quite scary so think that through.

Defensive firearm defined

The real question is what is the condition of the defensive firearm in the locked storage container? Again, there are so many variables to consider, but one thing you need to realize is if you need to retrieve your defensive firearm it will take some time to defeat the lock. After all, that is why you are using a locked container, to deny access to unwanted individuals. On average it takes me 2-3 seconds to defeat the lock on mine so that needs to be factored in to your thought process. Now, the big question is do you store the defensive firearm with a round chambered and a loaded magazine or an empty chamber and a loaded magazine. Separating the magazine from the firearm in a locked container to me completely defeats the purpose. If you notice in the article I used the term “defensive firearm” if you decide to store the magazine separate, even in the same locked container it is just a firearm. Truthfully when the kids were younger to add a degree of safety we compromised a degree of readiness by going with an empty chamber.

There are no easy answers and you will have to give it some deep thought as to what are your intentions and do your actions best support your intentions. The last thing you want is to try and figure out when it counts.

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