carbine Archives | Personal Defense Network

Pistol Caliber Carbines: the Rodney Dangerfield of defensive firearms

April 25, 2017 By Grant Cunningham & filed under Blog, Long Guns, Self Defense Firearms.

“I don’t get no respect, no respect at all!” — Rodney Dangerfield If there ever was a gun which “experts” delighted in ridiculing, it’s the pistol caliber carbine or PCC. “No use for them”; “inferior to a rifle”; “why bother?”; these are some of the predictable comments made by… Read More

Choosing an Optic for an AR-15-Type Carbine

September 12, 2012 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Equipment and Accessories, Personal Defense Equipment.

Detail of EOTech reticule. I recently helped someone navigate one of the most challenging aspects of modern defensive firearms ownership: choosing an optic for a general-purpose AR-type semi-automatic carbine. What makes this such a potential ordeal is the nearly limitless variety of options available. From… Read More

Carbine Malfunctions, Diagnosis and Remediation, Part 4

August 2, 2010 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Long Guns, Self Defense Firearms.

Complex Carbine Malfunctions In Part 3, I analyzed the first two complex carbine malfunctions: deep failure to eject and failure to extract. In this final part of the series, we’ll look at the other three complex malfunctions: double feed, triple feed and failure to unlock. Keep in mind… Read More

Carbine Malfunctions, Diagnosis and Remediation, Part 3

July 19, 2010 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Long Guns, Self Defense Firearms.

Complex Carbine Functions In part 3 of this series of articles/tutorials, I am going to demonstrate the more complex malfunctions on the AR-15 weapon platform. Keep in mind that the skills outlined are applicable across a broad spectrum of weapons. Whenever conducting any firearms-related training, it is important to… Read More

Carbine Malfunctions, Diagnosis and Remediation, Part 2

July 7, 2010 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Long Guns, Self Defense Firearms.

Common Carbine Malfunctions and Refunction Procedures I am going to reference each malfunction via a brief description of the malfunction. Labeling a malfunction as Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, etc in my opinion does nothing to aid the operator in determining what is wrong with the cycle of… Read More

Carbine Malfunctions, Diagnosis & Remediation: Part 1

June 21, 2010 By Grant Cunningham & filed under All Articles, Long Guns, Self Defense Firearms.

In this multi-part series of articles/tutorials, I am going to demonstrate the various malfunctions on the AR-15 weapon platform. It is important to note that the skills outlined are applicable across a broad spectrum of weapons. It is my hope that the student or instructor reading this will gain… Read More