Ballistic Advantage 9mm AR15 Barrels | 9mm AR 15 Barrel
Ballistic Adavantage 9mm AR15 Barrels
CMMG M4 LE 9MM AR15 UPPER RECEIVER
This complete CMMG AR-15 M4 LE Upper Assembly features a chrome-moly steel barrel with a WASP Melonite treated bore and exterior. The upper makes use of a ramped, 9mm specific bolt that enables the use of a standard AR-15 hammer (dedicated 9mm hammers are not compatible), and comes complete with a shortened ejection port/ejection port cover and large polymer brass deflector. Upper must be installed on a lower receiver compatible with, or modified to accept, Colt-Style 9mm Luger box magazines.
Why Would I Want a 9MM AR-15?
There are several key reasons to want to own a 9mm AR-15.
- Duty Sidearm Compatibility – There is a great benefit to having a long gun share the same ammunition as you duty sidearm or everyday carry weapon (ECW).
- Inexpensive 9mm Ammunition – Typically 9MM ammunition is substantially cheaper than it’s centerfire rifle equivalent.
- Reduced Penetration – 9MM ammunition can be a better choice than .223/5.56 centerfire where over penetration is a concern.
- Sound Suppression – 9MM subsonic ammunition is still a formidable round when compared to a subsonic .223/5.56 centerfire cartridge. Think about it. .223/5.56 centerfire at subsonic speeds is a subsonic .22.
- Low Recoil – 9MM in any AR format whether carbine or pistol is easier to shoot than .223/5.56 centerfire in the same gun. 9MM in any AR format is easier to shoot than the same 9mm ammunition in your Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson M&P, Beretta or Springfield XD. Easier to shoot equates to accuracy and control. This in turn leads to more rounds on target.
- Light Weight – In most cases a 9MM AR will be lighter than the .223/5.56 centerfire AR. The barrel will be lighter because of the larger bore required for the 9MM bullet. Some of the weight might savings might be negated by the type of 9MM AR lower used. A magazine full of 32 9mm rounds is lighter than 30 rounds of .223/5.56 centerfire. They also take up a lot less space
- Fewer Parts – The 9mm AR-15 is blowback design. This is similar to most .22 semiautomatics, semiautomatic handguns and other 9MM cambered semiautomatic rifles. A 9MM AR15 does not use a rotating bolt and the gas system utilized by the .223/5.56 centerfire counterpart.
- Magazine Capacity – The standard magazines are the 32 round Colts based on the UZI SMG magazines. They hold a lot of rounds in a slim package. The Glock based 9MM AR-15 magazines can be had in many capacities with 17 and 32 being typical. It should be noted that due to local laws shooters may be limited to lower capacities like 5 round and 10 round. Both Colt and Glock magazines can be purchased in those capacities. The capacity benefit diminishes though in this case.
9MM AR-15 Technical Considerations
9MM AR-15 Lower Receiver Wear and Tear
There is a misconception that firing a centerfire pistol caliber cartridge like 9MM Parabellum with the AR-15 platform is somehow “easier on the gun”. This is completely false. The AR-15 by design is meant to use the.223/5.56 cartridges ignited and expending gasses to cycle the action. This gas system combined with the locked rotating bolt do a magnificent job of absorbing the explosive energy of the .223/5.56 cartridge. The 9MM version of the AR-15 being blow-back operation does not use the gas system. This is offset by a heavy recoil buffer. There are many pictures on the internet where poor quality inconsistent 9mm ammunition caused catastrophic failure of the weapon. USE ONLY QUALITY AMMUNITION IN YOUR FIREARMS.
9MM AR-15 History
Colt 9mm Submachine Gun R0635 aka Colt 9mm SMG
The 9mm AR15 might seem like a relatively new AR-15 variant to many newer shooters but nothing could be further from the truth. The 9mm AR15 roots date back to the early 1980’s with the Colt 9mm SMG R0635. The Colt SMG 9mm is a variation of the M-16 rifle that is blowback operated and fires from a closed bolt. It features a Safe/Semi/Full Auto Select Fire Trigger Group. The Colt 9mm SMG R0635 utilized a magwell adapter to accept UZI 9mm magazines. The UZI magazines were modified with a groove to allow the bolt to lock open after the last round.
Colt 9MM SMG R0635
I read elsewhere that Colt never promoted the 9mm Carbines as they didn’t want the weapons to compete with their own 5.56/.223 Remington versions. This did not prevent law enforcement agencies from adopting the Colt 9MM Carbine.
9MM AR-15 Today
Today modern shooters have made the AR-15 Modern Sporting Rifle the most popular rifle in America. Shooters also tend to never be satisfied with what they have. Once exhausted of typical AR-15 hardware upgrades we tend to look to alternative AR calibers like .22 long rifle, .308 Winchester and pistol calibers. This page is devoted to the 9mm Parabellum version of the latter.
9MM AR-15 Links
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