The Urban Truck Gun: A Study in Compromise

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Modern Sporting Pistols, such as this BR4 Attache from Battle Rifle Company, are changing the way mobile Americans think about self-defense.

» ALL FIREARMS, INCLUDING CLASSES OF GUN TYPES, are niche weapons. It might be a very broad niche, but it is still a niche. There is no “Master of All Trades” weapon. There will always be a necessary balancing of priorities, needs, wants and wishes with any choice of a weapon for carry and potential use. We cannot fill every niche with one gun.
Consider the “truck gun” in this light. (Substitute your vehicle type for “truck.”) This is a dedicated weapon, usually a rifle or shotgun, assigned more or less permanently to a vehicle or vehicles as a higher-capability backup to a carry pistol. It might be kept constantly in the vehicle, taken in and out as you go, or put in only when you see a potential need for something to back up your carry weapon.
My truck gun was previously a Glock 34 loaded with +P+ ammunition in a G18 magazine. It filled four requirements for me — better performance over longer ranges, fire sustainability, ability to carry concealed outside the vehicle (useful if I had to leave the truck in a threat environment) and “instant-on” capability, which some states don’t allow with rifles because you’re not allowed to keep them loaded in your vehicle. It has since been replaced in this role by either an AR or AK pistol. Either of these is better with filling some of the four requirements — better performance over range and larger (more than 32-round) magazine capacity — but are worse at another one — harder to carry concealed outside the vehicle.
Trade offs.
Understand that every gun I own has a defined role. Every gun I buy or think about buying is intended to fill a role. The requirements and priorities of those tasks are subject to rearrangement, change and modification at any time based mainly on changes in mission environment, observed events and developments in firearms technology and manufacture.
Ferguson, Missouri, for example. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and it’s not going to be the last time we see the kind of chaos that took hold there. But it pushed me to move faster on a separation of the truck gun role into interstate, rural, open and urban/closed categories. The AR pistol specifically could fit the urban role but would be harder to conceal outside of the vehicle unless I was willing to compromise the ballistics of the .556/.223 round more than I already had by use of an even shorter barrel than mine (7.5 inches). There would also be the need for separate magazines and ammunition for that weapon, and I’d already be carrying around enough if I was on foot or had to get that way. But pistol rounds are not rifle rounds, even when those rifle rounds are fired from a short barrel.
Trade offs.
What I want is a backup to the carry pistol that would increase my chances of breaking contact with any violent people I could not avoid and, in extreme cases, increase my chances of surviving a direct engagement against a group of attackers in an environment of large-scale, large-area violence. I want that increased chance to come in a package that is as easy to maneuver with and use in and around small spaces (vehicles and buildings) as possible. If it is in a package that is easier to conceal and carry outside of the vehicle than most rifle-caliber pistols or short-barreled rifles and shotguns, so much the better.
Since by this time I had (mostly) settled on 9mm as the preferred caliber for my urban truck gun (UTG), any candidate that used the same magazines as my primary carry pistol — a Glock 19 — would definitely move up on the consideration list. And while a bigger pistol might be helpful, something I could get three or more points of contact on and mount larger optics to would make a much better adjunct and add combat power, while another pistol might at best add simple firepower.
I considered pistol-caliber carbines, stocked pistols and kits that turned pistols into carbines and rejected them for various reasons. (I did try and quickly rejected one PCC because, in reality, it was a range-only gun.) AR pistols are available in 9mm, but I could not find one that used Glock magazines. It began to look like there would be more trade offs with this than I wanted.
Then I discovered TNW Firearms, Inc. and their Aero Survival Pistol.
I had two questions for Shawn at TNW Firearms when I called to place my order: Is the ASP rated for +P+ ammunition, and can I get the 6.5-inch barrel as advertised on their website? No problem with +P+, she answered, which means that if I choose to, I can use a round only a little below .357 SIG caliber in ballistic properties. The short barrel was another issue — not that I couldn’t get one, but a 6.5-inch barrel turned out to be a little too short. So they cut a standard barrel to 7 inches for me and shipped it that very same day.
Until you notice the charging handle on the right side, you might think it was an AR pistol. But though it does use some AR components — the pistol grip and buffer tube are the most obvious — the receiver and upper are not built the same because the ASP uses a blowback action instead of direct impingement like an AR.
The weapon is well-constructed and solid, and the controls are simple. The magazine release is a button on the left just in front of the magazine well. The safety is push-button style and located just above the trigger well. Controls cannot be switched, although extraction can be changed from right to left if desired. Learning to operate the pistol is easy.
Feel and handling are pretty standard for AR-form pistols such as this. The buffer tube is thinly padded and allows for a cheek weld or — once the quick-detach sling mount is removed — a shoulder mount (though without some sort of additional cover over the end of the tube, I do not recommend doing that). The front of the magazine well is curved and the edges are rounded specifically to allow for a magazine-well hold as desired.
The grip that comes on the ASP is not what I’m accustomed to seeing on stock ARs and is my only quibble with the stock setup — it’s a little too big for my hand and so has been replaced. It is evident that care was taken in the design of the gun and in the manufacturing of the major parts — all edges are rounded and smoothed. The only sharp edges on the gun are on Picatinny rails, one running the full length of the upper and the other included for attachment at the base of the fore-end. There is very little here that will scrape or cut you without some effort on your part.
The gun comes with the previously-mentioned QD sling mount at the end of the buffer tube and a set of no-name back-up iron sights (BUIS) that look and operate much like Magpuls of the same type except for the way you pop them up. No optic is included, unlike with the rifle.
One characteristic that I plan to eventually take advantage of is that the barrel of the ASP can be removed without tools. By changing the barrel and bolt-carrier, you can change calibers. The ASP can be changed this way from 9mm to .40 S&W and back without any other alterations, but to move to .45 ACP, you will also need a different receiver because of the difference in magazine size of the .45. All variants take standard Glock magazines from G19/G23/G30 size up.
Operation is as simple as the control set. Either lock the bolt back or load on a closed bolt (more effort than loading with an open bolt), release or run the bolt. There is an audible click on mag lock, but I suggest a light tug to make sure of seating as I did have it fall out once or twice at the range. There is some wiggle in the mag when it’s inserted. Press the safety (if it is engaged) from right to left to show the red ring around the button, and the weapon is ready to fire.
Trigger pull distance on the ASP is shorter than I’m used to on any AR form-factor weapon, and there is almost no slack. You’re going to have less than a quarter inch of travel before the shot breaks. This was a bit of a surprise to me at first, but I adjusted quickly. The trigger guard will not allow much room for heavy winter gloves either. I ran the pistol fine with standard Mechanix gloves, but anything much thicker than that might present a challenge.
Fired with a SIG Sauer arm brace attached, the pistol is balanced enough that it does not feel as heavy as it is (5.5 pounds, which is on par with many AR-pattern pistols) and is easy to fire from an extended position, either with the brace on the arm or using a standard two-hand extended hold. I still would not want to hold it that way for long, so I worked with a cheek weld next. The cheek weld gives me both a steadier hold from the extra point of contact and allows for far less fatigue when firing long strings of shots. It will likely be my preferred position for use of the pistol from now on. (I have since removed the SIG arm brace and substituted a riser on the buffer cover that provides a consistent index for contact when shooting.)
The shorter length of the buffer tube did earn me a couple of “bites” on the nose from the rear BUIS until I got the contact point set right. And the length of pull and overall shorter length of the pistol meant a more compressed shooting position than I assume with most other rifles or rifle-caliber pistols. Some shooters might be uncomfortable with that, but I believe most people will easily adapt to any differences between the ASP and other similar pistols and rifles.
Running a mix of 124-grain +P HP, 135-grain +P HP, and 130-grain and 124-grain FMJ out of factory Glock magazines in my initial function tests, I did run into problems with feeding approximately one in 30 rounds. The round was not stripped normally and was caught in the case by the bolt head and jammed nose-high, requiring magazine release and pulling back on the bolt to clear. This was cleared up by installing Wolff extra-power springs in magazines that will be used in the Aero and was the only malfunction I experienced with this weapon. There is no last-round bolt hold-open; it is like any AK and not an insurmountable obstacle to operating the gun.
Minute-of-angle statistics are of academic interest to me. What I need to know about a gun’s accuracy is: Can I hit where I need to, and how far out can I do that? With a Lucid M7 red-dot on the Aero sighted at 25 yards, I could get consistent center-body-line (1/3 width of body centered on spine) hits to at least 100 yards and was light-switch (head, specifically the area of the amygdala) accurate out to almost 20 yards from an unsupported standing position in initial testing. (I’m still pulling left too much, though.) As I get a better read on point-of-aim and sight offset with experience, I expect both of those range figures to improve. The gun is accurate enough for me to pick up and fight with. I believe it will be as accurate for most of you.
I entertain no illusions about being the lone hero standing firm in the face of a hostile mob or determined group of criminals or anarchists. You can do that if you want. What I want is to have the best chance of breaking contact, discouraging pursuit and, if necessary, successfully dealing with anyone who does pursue me. That’s what I want an urban truck gun to help me do.
While the Aero Survival Pistol doesn’t do everything I’d like a weapon to do in this role, it still provides a significant addition to my carry pistol and a welcome enhancement to my ability to make it home through the chaos I might not be able to avoid. It’s a niche weapon that involves trade offs like they all do, but I think it will do the job for me or for you.

The Arm Brace: Legal Questions Nag the MSP Stabilizer

The Arm Brace

The origin of these devices is definite. Their future is not.
Originally designed by a disabled veteran to aid in stabilizing one-handed firing of modern sporting pistols, their intended purpose was to allow the shooter to slide his hand and forearm through the apparatus and then make fast the Velcro strap around the whole unit, thus attaching the brace to the top of the arm and transferring the weight from just the wrist to the entire limb. When employed in such a fashion, one-handed operation of the pistol becomes significantly easier.
But who only shoots a pistol one-handed?
For many shooters — myself included — this pistol reacts to two hands the way almost every other handgun on this planet reacts to two hands: A two-handed grip on the pistol makes for steadier shots and improved accuracy. I usually fire them from a position of one hand on the pistol grip and one hand on the front of the magazine, similar to how I fire a traditional AK-pattern rifle.
To my knowledge, there is no legal issue with holding the pistol in such a way, just as there is no legal issue with holding a TEC-9-pattern pistol by the grip and the magazine well or holding a Glock 17 by the grip and extending the off-hand thumb up onto the slide.
However, one recent letter from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) cast doubt upon the legality of using an arm brace as an improvised shoulder stock. Written by Max M. Kingery, Acting Chief of the Firearms Technology Criminal Branch, it was made public on Jan. 16, 2015, and stated that:
The pistol stabilizing brace was neither “designed” nor approved to be used as a shoulder stock, and therefore use as a shoulder stock constitutes a “redesign” of the device because a possessor has changed the very function of the item. Any person who intends to use a handgun stabilizing brace as a shoulder stock on a pistol (having a rifled barrel under 16 inches in length or a smooth bore firearm with a barrel under 18 inches in length) must first file an ATF Form 1 and pay the applicable tax because the resulting firearm will be subject to all provisions of the NFA.
However, a letter from March 5, 2014, penned by Earl Griffith, Chief of the Firearms Technology Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, stated that:
…we have determined that firing a pistol from the shoulder would not cause the pistol to be reclassified as an SBR (ED: short-barreled rifle).
All of this is complicated by the fact that this republic is comprised of 50 individual states, all of which have their own constitutions and enact their own laws. If you are interested in acquiring one of these braces, I would encourage you to do the following:

• Contact a firearms attorney and ask them what the current case law is. I don’t mean an attorney who will answer questions even though they involve guns; I mean an attorney who specializes in firearms case law.
• Follow the directions on the products you buy. Don’t try to make those silly mercury-tipped bullets you saw in a movie. Don’t pour Coleman fuel into your truck’s gas tank. And don’t shoulder a pistol fitted with an arm brace. Like the other two examples, the stakes are just too high for that kind of behavior.

Me? I’ll continue firing modern sporting pistols as intended: two-handed out-of-the-box, and one-handed if they’re fitted with a brace.
–ED COMBS, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ACCESSORIES

Thordsen Customs Enhanced Buffer Tube Cover: The cover provides a way to attach such items as a CAA Side-Saddle or CAA Riser to the buffer tube to give you something besides bare metal and a little padding to make contact with. The Enhanced Cover also provides two quick-detach sling mounts.
Magpul MOE AR Grip: The grip is narrower and a bit smaller overall than the SAW grip that came on the ASP. It has a good “tacky” surface without being too sticky. There is storage space for small items in the grip. I did have to trim the tongue from the grip to get a good FIt on the gun. This would not be necessary on an AR pistol or rifle.
Magpul Angled Foregrip: The foregrip provides a hand stop, a comfortable angle for my normal fore-end grip and hand placement, and on the rare occasions when I use a ‘C-Clamp’ grip on the fore-end, a reference point for that. I have one on almost everything I can potentially mount to the shoulder. This foregrip is legal to mount on AR- and AK-pattern pistols (whereas a vertical foregrip requires registration with ATF).
Magpul MS4 Dual Quick-Detach Multi-Mission Sling: The sling provides the ability to rapidly reconfigure from two-point to single-point by use of the QD attachments.
Lucid M7 Red-Dot Sight: This mid-range-priced sight offers a number of advantages over similarly priced offerings. Advantages include Circle-in-dot (2MOA dot), use of common AAA batteries, automatic-power-off and automatic brightness adjustment. Reports indicate that it is robust and has good water resistance. Use of a mid-level (about 3/4-inch) riser allows for lower 1/3 co-witness of the BUIS.

SOURCES

TNW Firearms: tnwfirearms.com
Wolff Gunsprings: gunsprings.com