LethalDose said:

Totally correct, my applogies, I was thinking DH-17, but that CDEF stuck in my memory must have been all those hours crafting in SWG. I also checked my books once I got home from work. 

Yoshiyahu said:

Yes. So they are actually much the same sort of size:-

I would say a carbine really needs a stock, and the only reason I might consider classing this as one, is that the only Rebel Trooper miniatures made by West End Games are these:-

And even modern insurgents tend to have at least an AK-47 rather than just a pistol.

If I ran the world, all sci-fi longarms would have shoulder stocks (because they look cool, and let you pose with one in cooler ways!), but I don't, it isn't as if the Stormtroopers ever actually USE the stock on theirs, and it isn't as uncommon as it should be for a laser/ray/blaster rifle prop not to have a stock:-

And this video of a Star Wars mod for Call of Duty might show how one could justify it being something more than a pistol:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGwEuBkBBso#t=6m04s

And Uzi has to be that sort of size, and no one in movies ever fires one of those with the stock.

(Okay, so that second one isn't a movie (it is a secret service agent during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan), and I think he does actually have the stock unfolded under his arm. But still.)

You can act all cool and fire two M16's rifles at once, one-handed, one in each hand. I've done it. But, you never do such a thing when actually trying to accurately shoot at something, you instead shoot two-handed with a stock. Being able to shoot it one-handed doesn't classify it as a pistol, it's still a rifle.

This is a rifle (or carbine):

This is a pistol:

Size doesn't always classify weapons. Stocks don't always classfiy weapons either. You can put a stock on a pistol and remove the stock from a rifle. You still have a pistol and rifle with or without an "attachment".

PS: Still can't figure out what I'm doing wrong with posting images.

ErikB said:

There's a reason these weapons resemble each other so much. They were both created using the Sterling SMG as a basis.