 Hey everyone Dylan Schumacher Citadel Defense, and this is a public service announcement It's somewhat ironic that I have to make this video and that you're watching this video because chances are if you're watching this video You already know what I'm about to tell you and you probably even agree with me However, I've noticed this semi-weird trend recently where people seem to be buying short rifles for their first rifle and I'm just not really sure why and so I wanted to take a minute to explain this Maybe it's because of Instagram or people have been watching too much t-rex arms or something I don't know. I mean, I like to watch a lot of t-rex arms But this short gun trend is just weird And I'm not entirely sure people understand the purpose of short guns So let's just understand how the air 15 works and why right the air 15 Fires the 223 cartridge the 223 cartridge is velocity dependent. It's a velocity dependent round What does that mean? Well, what that means is is that the bullet itself is very small It's a 22 caliber bullet. I mean it's 55 grains Maybe if you're shooting like mil mil spec, you know, you're like at 62 grains Maybe you're gonna shoot some of the heavier 70 maybe even like I think can push up to 80 grain stuff But in general most of us, right? We're buying 55 grain Bulk as cheap as we can get it Bullets and a 55 grain round again, not that small. It's a 22 your nine millimeter for comparison is probably, you know 115 maybe a hundred and twenty four if you're real fancy, maybe it's a hundred and forty two grain But it's at least half maybe pushing a third the size of your handgun bullet So it's not that big of a bullet. What makes a rifle round so incredibly effective is not bullet size It's velocity. It's go that bullet is going so fast that when it hits It just does so much Carnage and that's that's how the air 15 round works specifically as compared to say like an AK round Which is over a hundred grains and those things are moving a little slower usually moving around like 2300 feet a second, right? 22 compared to like an air 15, which is moving like 3000 feet a second and the velocity is what makes it so much more effective Okay, you need to understand that now. What gives the bullet velocity what gives the bullet velocity is a longer barrel I'll put a screen overlay here somewhere when I'm talking right now and that's going to show you that a out of a 20 inch barrel, which is typically the longest barrel that we're going to use these days I mean that sucker is cooking like it's moving a 20 inch AR is the creme de creme of thump city Okay, that thing is going to move and most of us will come in around the 16 inch mark, right? And after a 16 inch barrel the velocity start dropping Significantly and so when you get down to that 10 5 11 5 whatever you are giving up a lot of Velocity and a lot of performance out of the round Listen, let's be clear short guns have killed lots of people in the world. Okay, it's not that they're not deadly It's that you are purposely Undercutting the full potential of the round now you might say well, why would anyone ever do that? There are reasons to have short guns and I don't even think it's it's CQB stuff I mean that's kind of the main go-to that people have right along to be inside a structure So I want a short build a short barrel around cars and structures whatever I honestly I don't think it makes that big of a difference What I do think Short guns shine is when you start needing to put a bunch of stuff on the gun Right when you're talking about a suppressor and a light and a laser That stuff gets heavy and not only is it heavy the further it is away from your body, right? If I have a longer rifle the further it is away. It's a third-class lever It's gonna be heavier because I got to support that weight all the way out here from my body Versus a shorter gun not only do I lose the weight of the extended rifle? But when I start putting all those doodads on the gun the gun itself is closer to me And so it's easier to hold so that I think is where short guns really shine Because if you're doing a short gun properly. Yes, you're saying listen, I understand I'm giving up some full potential performance of the round However in my mission set I run night vision a lot So therefore I need a laser and the laser that I have it's just too heavy to have on a big gun Right and I like to run a really big can because I like decent sound suppression And that's just too big to put on a normal 16 inch gun So I chop it down to you know 13 7 or 11 5 or whatever I put a honking can on it I put a laser on it. I put a nice light on it And now I can still move and walk and hold that gun for a long time without tiring as quickly And so that's why we typically go to short guns I didn't start going to short guns until I started running night vision Before then even you know I had a K cam and I put on a 16 inch gun and I'd be like let's just go right because whatever I still got a light on it But it's not that bad once I put that laser out there because I have a d-ball d2 That's what kind of chipped me over the edge because that thing is a chalk monster and it was just too heavy So that's when I started moving to shorter guns to accommodate all that stuff But before all of that I definitely preferred the 16 inch gun because it has thump power Right it's sending that round out faster I was on the range the other day with my buddy and he was zero one of his short guns And I was zero in one of my 16 inch guns and then at the end we were just shooting so a little bit of steel for fun and He even mentioned it He said you know you can really tell the difference when it hits that steel between my gun and your gun Because that extra you know four or five inches of length in the barrel makes a big difference So you get what I'm saying here that that matters and having the shorty short gun isn't necessarily Better if you're not getting those other trade-ins for it right again. It's a trade-off We have to understand that and when you're making the trades because yes, I want a can and I want a light I want a laser and want all this other stuff that hey, I get it that makes sense But if you're just buying a shorty gun because you think it's cool I mean, okay, well look it's America you can do whatever you want You can own whatever gun you want But I want you to understand what you're giving up there And if you're just giving up the velocity, but you're not putting all the other stuff on it Then I would say hey What are you doing? Just buy a full 16 inch gun because that's gonna be better for you as far as getting the full potential out of that round If you're playing I'm using that gun to save your life someday I would just like to say to listen if if the whole world falls apart I'm probably grabbing a shorter gun But that's only because I plan on running night vision if the whole world falls apart and I don't have night vision I'm probably grabbing the biggest gun with the longest barrel I can because I want the most boom-boom pow that I can get out of that rifle Anyways, I hope this is helpful I hope this gives you some understanding and context for why we would run a shorter gun versus a bigger gun And it helps you better define your mission set and what it is you're trying to accomplish with that gun Do brave deeds and endure