Serious question:
Has anyone here ever had the experience of transitioning from a dead AR to their handgun?
I’m going to practice it, because it’s a thing to learn. But being practical…. How much real life value is there in it?
I trained a lot in transitioning from long gun to handgun when I was with the PD. Started years ago with my issued Ithaca 37 (no sling, which was a challenge) up to patrol rifle (with a sling). It was extremely practical then since I always had a handgun on my belt and it may end up coming to that due to malfunctioning/damaged long gun, one arm being injured, moving into confined spaces, etc…. I did it in real life a few times when moving into confined and crowded spaces, though, during searches. But honestly I haven’t trained in transitioning in a long time but the muscle memory is still there.
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A long time ago I used to help train police officers on long gun (AR) use, never been LE myself. At that time, 2008-2012, there was a lot of iffy doctrine in the LE world about transitioning. Dudes would come to training with the mindset of transitioning to the pistol for all kinds of “reasons”. It was trained into them.
Real world reasons do exist: long gun is INOP, out of ammo, to some extent tight quarters is a legit reason, etc. A lot of the reasoning these guys had been taught was crap though. Things like “I might need my hands free in a hurry”, umm the rifle has a sling that you just used. You gonna take the time to holster or are you just gonna drop the pistol? There was a laundry list of weird shit.
Now it is true that anything you don’t train for and practice is something you are going to suck at if the need arises. So there is that. Training and occasionally practicing transitions is a good thing.
Not a SME on the topic, but those are my thoughts.
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I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d have my AR and a pistol on me at the same time. I don’t even do this at the range anymore.
Combat romance left me years ago. Short of some crisis event, there’s almost no chance I’d need to do this. And there’s not much skill needed to let your AR hand and grab your sidearm.
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I’ve seen it done and talked to several people that have needed to do it.
Utahjeeper mentioned some of the reasons.
-Moving into confined space.
-Rifle goes down and the distance (and therefore time available) is short enough that the most expedient solution is to transition from rifle to pistol rather than fixing the rifle.
The second is the most common reason people will cite and has a lot of validity, particularly at CQB distances. Getting a working gun in hand as fast as possible is the goal. For people who carry a rifle, the pistol is an emergency tool.
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It is one of the skills/drills I practice regularly.
I think it’s a valuable skill to have. Another important drill is magazines changes with both the AR and pistol.
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I’m so lazy about that. I’m not terrible at clip changes on pistol, but I’m not great either.
I think if I worked patrol I’d take it a lot more seriously. The fact is, I rarely have a spare on me.
Pappabear shoots a lot of matches and he’s a mag changine freak.
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I think they’re important, like any aspect of fighting with a rifle.
It’s a skill included in some standardized drills, like Catalina Wine Mixer, The 3-2-1 Drill, just off top of my head.
I think last I checked my transitions were in the 2.5 second range. That’s with a 6280 SLS, not an ALS, which I’m faster with.
I always have a pistol on me, without exception (except in the shower or bed), that’s just how my life works out. So any time I pick up a rifle, I always have both.
I look at it this way: an “optimized” fighting kit for a rifle includes things like extra ammunition, a way to patch yourself up, a little water, armor, and a backup weapon.
They say once at an Eagle Tactical class, a dude on the line had rifle issues, went to a knee to fix it, and Pat Rogers sidled up, drew his sidearm, and commenced firing at dudes target, yelling “hey, THIS is what you should be doing”. Makes sense to me.
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It pops up at matches from time to time, PCSL nats ~2 years back had a stage or two that were rifle pistol rifle. At the end of the first rifle section there was a hard cover w/ a shotgun clay in it that was NPM at ~4 feet from the fault line. Procedure was to drop mag before you got to the target, shoot the clay to clear the gun, then sling. If the RO was unsatisfied for any reason they could call for you to show clear on the clock.
Didn’t see it in '24, not sure if stage designers didn’t think it was worth it, or if the host venue/insurance prohibited it.
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Do you all have your carbines set up so you can just let go of the rifle and it hangs? I.E. no additional action required other than letting it go?
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Absolutely.
While I prefer to push it out of the way a bit to the left, I can just drop it, draw sidearm, hands come together and present. I’m fastest that way.
2 point quick-adjust, sling points as far fore & aft as possible works for me, with all AR barrel lengths.
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Same here pretty much. I’m still running the IDF sling on almost everything but I do have a Proctor sling on my home D M4.
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You owe it to yourself to try to beat Papabear on it. 
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Yes Sir. I use two points quick-adjustable slings on my carbines.
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It seems to me that learning when to transition from a pistol to a rifle is just as important.
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Key part is to pull it down and to your side with your weak hand while you draw your pistol so the rifle and sling doesn’t get tangled up with your draw.
Proctor is gtg, got it on my HD carbine, too. It is simple and works.
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Hey man, we need your input here.
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I think he is busy contemplating whether he prefers Ron Jeremy or Rice Krispies.
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That’s a valid point. I mean, it’s really any time you NEED to keep shooting, right then, either during a malfunction or when primary runs dry.
Tight spaces, some say, but I have to be in a REALLY confined part of a structure to transition to a pistol.
With proper technique it’s possible to “shorten” your footprint with s long gun quite a bit.
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Train it a bit in dry-fire. Dont over think it. The reaction to DO IT is >>> the act itself. Strong hand immediatly goes to draw, weak hand directs rifle to the side and meets the draw as early as possible.
The biggest problem i see is guys roll the gun to inspect the ejection port when a target is there and the gun does down/dry. Ive caught myself and its embarrassing.
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