Your thoughts on PCCs (pistol-caliber carbines)

I have two PCC's, a Hi Point 40S&W and an AR pistol in 9mm. The Hi Point was bought on a whim years ago when they were $180 new, it hasn't failed yet and is quite accurate. Since I suffer from BRD, I wanted a 9mm AR that looked like a Colt SMG so I built one. They are both fun and I shoot them quite often. Yes they are mostly range toys but I would not hesitate to grab either for HD/SD.

I built two AR 9’s. A carbine and a pistol. They are so much fun to shoot. My 13 year old grandson loves to shoot the pistol.
I find the AR 9’s to be very accurate. You can upgrade the triggers and other parts.
The Ruger carbine seems to be doing very good.

I enjoy the heck out of my Colt Pattern 9x19 PCC.
Easily Accurate to 100yds, inexpensive to shoot and considerably better recoil impulse compared to my 22LR AR. ( Training wise. )
AR triggers range from incredible to Mil-Spec... just remember not all of them are compatible with all the 9MM AR PCC designs. The tip of the Hammer ( typically ) needs to be a full Mil-spec profile for a lot of the designs to allow full, consistent cocking.

But if you can do the same with a 22LR AR.. then stick with it. 22LR is dirt cheap.

I've got 3 PCCs: Thompson M1 (Semi). 45ACP, Marlin 1894CB Cowboy in .45Colt, and a Colt AR6951 in 9mm.

The AR15 is the one I shoot the most as I use it in matches and for general defensive carbine practice. It is set up exactly like my HD carbine, to include Geiselle SSA-E trigger.

Big pluses; a couple hrs on my Dillon 650 generate a a lot of ammo, with less fuss than a bottleneck round. It doesn't screw up my AR500 targets at CQB distances. It actually recoils more than my AR, so it makes a great trainer. It's viable for an HD role, but is a fun gun to plink with. They can be used at indoor ranges that frown upon rifle cartridges.



Working the VTAC Barricade:

I have my Ruger PC Carbine purely for fun. I have .22s as well. I like the concept of having long guns that shoot the same cartridges as my handguns. I decided I wasn’t going to build an AR 9mm because I wanted reliability...or I should say, because I didn’t want to have to mess around getting reliability.

I didn’t buy my PCC because I “needed” one. I bought it because I wanted one. I wanted a carbine that used the same mags as my Glocks. I figured my Ruger 10/22 is the most reliable semiautomatic long gun I have ever owned so the PC Carbine should also be reliable. It is and I love shooting with it.

I did not buy it “prepping” for anything. I didn’t buy it for any other reason than a fun gun. Now that I have used it for a while it has become my favorite long gun. I can’t imagine not having one.

They are awesome fun for shooting steel plates and stuff. Mine are quite accurate out to 100 yards. Cheapest centerfire fun you can have. In my opinion PCC's are for shooting "stuff". Steel plates, water jugs, cans, whatever. A 22 is good fun for that too, but its fun to have something with some more oomph on target.

The best PCC is Ruger's 10/22 big brother, chambered in 44 Rem Mag!!
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/858045721

I have two P.C.C.’s. A 32-20 and a 45 Colt. Of course both of them are Uberti 1873 lever action carbine. I would like to have a 9mm P.C.C. that uses Beretta 92 magazines. (Kel-Tec does not impress me). It is a bit of a mystery to me that seeing how many years the M9 has been used by the military it is being ignored.

Stern Defense makes an AR mag adapter for the M9/92 magazine. Cost might be prohibitive for some at $187.
https://getstern.com/mag-adb92/

An old first generation Ruger PC 9, is my favorite and my go to Home defense rifle.

I shoot IDPA and USPSA, which have put in PCC divisions.
I see a lot of malfunctions and even breakage in low end 9mm ARs.
The Ruger is the most trouble free within a price factor of 2X or even 3X.

Gunsrfun1,
Here is an article I came across that you might find helpful. There are a couple of guns listed that fall right into your budget.
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/pistol-caliber-carbines/

Regarding building an AR PCC, one of the reasons I shied from that was reliability issues. I have heard that buying an AR PCC that was built to be a PCC will help with reliability. Everyone that I know that has built a PCC using budget parts usually spends a lot of time working out the bugs. The guys I have met that buy a fully assembled PCC from a reputable source have better luck with reliability. Since I have no hands on experience with this I will just say that my observations have been that building your own to save money may come with other costs, like reliability.

If you wish to build one I would definitely try to find someone that has had success and emulate what they did. I am sure someone here can steer you in the right direction.
Here is an interesting article regarding PCCs and reliability in competition.
https://www.arbuildjunkie.com/best-9mm-pcc-build-josh-froelich/

Played with them in the past, had an HK94 and a Calico, and shot many others. When not subguns: meh.

But... recently put together an upper for the SBR because IDPA opened the PCC class. So now I can have extra fun and get that little bit of training value from trying odd courses, angles, movements, etc. you get from action shooting with it. Worth it to me for that and I very deliberately did the upper (plus mag block) vs a whole other gun so it's as similar as possible to my 5.56 carbines.

Just traded out the upper receiver I had for an actual Colt SMG one so was test firing and re-zeroing it just yesterday, looking forward to using it at next weekends club match

Training gun so I haven't bothered with a sling loop or BUIS, yet? Also needs a handstop behind the WML, and... that's about it. Not getting lasers or anything, again for the domain in which it's used, it just emulates the 5.56 guns, but isn't one so close enough.

I've had a Ruger PCC for over 18 months and have thousands of rounds through it.

The trigger on mine, out of the box, was pretty good. Putting the M*Carbo spring kit in it https://www.mcarbo.com/ruger-pc-carbine-trigger-spring-kit.aspx made it damn good.

It's extremely accurate, fun as all get out, and cheaper for me to shoot than CCI Mini Mags.

I bought a Ruger PCC and put in the Glock adapter so that it can use the same magazines as my G26. I topped it with a Bushnell TRS-25 red dot and stuck it in a bug-out bag along with the G26 and a pile of magazines. Although it's highly unlikely that I will ever need to "bug out," I needed some way to justify another "fun gun."

And fun it is. When I took my girlfriend's teenage nephew to the range, we loaded it up with hollowpoints and blew up some plastic jugs full of colored water. Big fun!

I have a keltec in 9mm with glock pattern mags. And i love it. I want to get something else, because it feels like the rifle beats itself up during cycling. But i do not want to spend close to a grand for something. Been keeping a eye out for a beretta Cx4 as i already have 92 mags

I have a Ruger and love it. It has been trouble free and is very accurate. Although my wife is a good shot with my AR pattern rifles, she does not enjoy the manual of arms. The Ruger works just like our many 10/22's, so getting her and my children familiar with the carbine was a breeze. Now if I could just get help loading the magazines! We have fun with ours, but in reality the 10/22 is just about the same for shooting steel out to 50 yards or so. There is something distinctly more pleasant about whacking steel with the 9mm and the fact that my family would actually be able to use it for defense if needed is a big plus. We enjoy the Ruger so much, we might add a second one to the family arsenal.

No useful reason to own a PCC other than just having fun; and that's fine.

gunsrfun1 said:

Thank you all, and some very nice guns you have. I am looking at the $500 - $600 gun range, and as PatRiot noted, this is strictly for fun. (I'm not a prepper either, although every time Bernie wins a primary, I reconsider.)

I know about the Ruger carbine, and it's gotten very good reviews. Any other brands to consider at that price point ... or avoid? (Would love to build a AR carbine, but can't really afford that right now.) I have heard of a brand called ATI, but haven't found much reliable info on them.

Your opinions are welcome.

Thanks again

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I have a friend who has a couple of these. I’ve shot them and they are a ball to run, and pretty accurate:

https://www.extarusa.com/ep9.htm

anyone making a beretta 92 mag well for the ruger yet?

-kBob

gunsrfun1 said:

I've gotten an itch for a 9mm PCC, "just because." For use as a range gun, not home defense.
But when my brain (my real brain, not my gun brain) is in gear, I am having trouble justifying it.
I had a Marlin Camp 9. It was fun, and reasonably accurate. But the trigger was so bad, I sold it.
We're talking use at no more than 50 yards, for hitting clays, steel plates, etc. (Not interested in reaching out any further with this.)
My "conflict" is that I can do that with my .22 rifles. In fact, they are probably more accurate.
So ... for those of you who have both: a PCC and one or more .22 rifles: Any thoughts?
Waste of money? Or worth trying again?
Thanks

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I'm with you! I think the pistol caliber carbine would be a lot of fun, but eat a lot of ammo

Finding a firearm that you love to shoot leads to getting into reloading, reloading leads to more range time which leads to more reloading. It’s a viscous cycle