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I'm thinking about putting together a 9mm carbine AR.
Other than the magazine types, what are the pros and cons of each format?
And is there any benefit of one over the other in a long barrel versus a short barrel - for instance if I decide to convert it to SBR down the road.
Can you even find 15 round 9mm Colt style mags? Asking based on current laws and not presuming you have a stockpile of either the Colt or Glock style carbine length magazines.
I've owned a 9mm AR carbine and pistol that were both built off of a CMMG dedicated 9mm AR lower and currently have a 9mm AR pistol built off of a CQ10 9mm lower. All three use the 32 round Colt stick magazines. There are 10 round Colt clone magazines available and the three I have seem to work reliably. My current one is running a 8.5" barrel and have no issues with reliability running factory and reman 9mm ammo. It is a great platform but be prepared to run through a lot of ammo. Biggest pain is loading the Colt magazines. If you go that route, plan on a purchasing a Lula loader. I've had mixed results running modified Uzi magazines and stick with Colt or Metalform for reliability.
My brother has built a few 9mm AR that use the Glock magazine and my experience is they are quality builds as well. Just as reliable as mine and I don't see an inherent advantage of one over the other. Outside of the magazine and mag well dimensions, there is little difference between them.
As my fellow Marine stated, it really boils down to magazines. Glock platform definitely gets the edge on magazine availability and you can at least get the 15 rounds magazines just about anywhere in CO. 10 round Colt pattern magazines are strictly a mail order option in my experience.
Thanks Marine24. I appreciate the input.
I have a bunch of stockpiled Glock magazines from before the laws changed so that was obviously the way I would lean all other things being equal. I just wanted to make sure all other things were indeed equal.
You should be set going the Glock route and you can always use the 33rd Glock magazines in your Glock 17 or 19. Still trying to figure out how to use my Colt mags in my 9mm 1911.
I have a Hahn mag block in my M-16. Runs 100% on full auto. Not so on semi. At least one malfunction per magazine.
I stopped fighting it and bought a MPX.
I have a 9mm AR pistol, with a Glock mag lower, works great, not had any issues with FTE or FTF
Brownells has 10, 20, and 32 round Colt style SMG magazines available and all them work perfectly in my rifles. I have two rifles set up for Glock magazines and I have trouble with both of them.