Gil Horman writing for American Rifleman gives us eight reasons to invest in a 9 mm pistol caliber carbine.  It’s an interesting article that ends with this.

Whenever possible, it makes sense to invest in firearms that can fill multiple roles instead of just one. The 9 mm PCCs fall into this category. These platforms are ideal for informal plinking, target shooting, home defense or riding along as a trunk gun. I’ve heard that a good sized part of what is driving the new interest in these guns are the new divisions in 3-Gun and other competitions that allow the use of 9 mm carbines. Imagine spending a day honing your shooting skills at a match, getting home, giving your carbine a quick cleaning and then staging the gun you know inside and out to defend your home in case of an emergency. That’s about as flexible as a carbine gets.

Now here’s one gigantic reason not to.  I don’t shoot 9 mm.  For those of you who do, I would certainly consider investing in a 9 mm carbine, but when all the pistol rounds in your safe are .45 ACP, .357 Magnum or .38 Special, it makes no sense to invest in 9 mm.  Another way of saying it is that I’ve tried to begin minimizing the number of calibers in my safe while maximizing the total count.  I think this will pay dividends in the future.  Actually, I lied.  I also have 5.7 mm, but that’s my special vice, something to which I treat myself, sort of like a little bit of “Maker’s Mark” on rare occasion.

Now, if you want to talk about a .45 ACP carbine, that’s another story.  I’ve got my eye on one, but at the moment it’s too pricey.

I’m still not convinced about the necessity of the PDW (I carry handguns for PDW), but as I’ve said before, I’m still interested (I haven’t taken the plunge and bought one yet) in a pistol caliber carbine.  But I am not a fan of the 9mm.  I shoot .45 ACP, .38 Special and .357 magnum (I also have a new FN Five-seveN which shoots 5.7x28mm).  But thus far I’m unhappy with the PDWs and pistol caliber carbines I see.  There are few in .45 ACP that I’ve been able to find.

This SHOT show has been big in these weapons.  SIG Sauer announced their new MPX 9, which looks very cool and very sleek.  It isn’t an SBR, it’s a carbine.

If the Kalashnikov is more your style, they have a new 9mm.

Not to be outdone, TNW Firearms has a new 10mm rifle in the AR style.

I’m not too big on 10mm either, but what do you know, they have a .45 ACP version that looks nice (it sells as a pistol rather than a carbine, with no stock).

Rifle Shooter has a piece up comparing and contrasting pistol caliber carbines.

James Tarr compares the Colt AR6951, Rock River Arms LAR-9, Lone Wolf Distributors G-9 and JR Carbine.  He finds pros and cons with each, but to me Colt is dead until they move to a free state.  The JR Carbine had forend components come loose under recoil.  Of course, this is fatal in my opinion.

I would select the RRA carbine for lack of any other test, but that’s probably because I have a RRA 5.56 mm rifle and like it.  I have two carbines (5.56 mm AR-15 and M1 Carbine), but no pistol caliber carbine.  I have shot a Colt fully automatic carbine.

At the present I’m not convinced enough in the utility of a pistol caliber carbine to spend a great deal of money on one.  I can see the utility of a SBR in pistol caliber in the AR platform so that one could attach a tactical light and reflex sight for close quarters home defense, but this can also be accomplished with hand guns.  My have polymer frame semi-automatics and perhaps the best CQB weapon ever invented by mankind, a S&W .357 magnum revolver.

Why do I need a pistol caliber carbine?  Perhaps for my wife to shoot to avoid any recoil?  What would other aspects of utility be for the pistol caliber carbine?  Readers can weigh in on this question.

UPDATE: I should have added that I do not and will not have a SBR because I will never register a firearm with the ATF.