Lightweight PCC on a budget?

[olstyn]

If you are using a blow back design as opposed to something like the MPX, they also recoil a lot more than 5.56 carbines when using full power commercial 9mm ammo. Most everyone competitive in USPSA with a blow back AR is loading lower power ammo.

An MPX sounds ideal for what I want, but $1500+ for the gun alone is more than I can justify, especially with the stories you've told about SIG's attitude about customer service/warranty issues. I do load my own 9mm as it is, so developing a light load that still makes 130+ PF out of a 16" barrel would definitely be part of the plan for any PCC, but especially a blowback gun.

Even leaving aside the ballistic advantage of rifle cartridges, I would take 5.56 or .300 BLK over a semi-auto 9mm carbine every day for defense, based purely on reliability.

No disagreement there; the purpose of a PCC for us would be competition and fun.

[Odin Bravo One]

You need to get in good with someone at Sig. I’m at the same price for the MPX as I am into the PCP.

[GJM]

When they run, the MPX is a joy to shoot. The gas system,however, requires frequent cleaning, and depending on individual gun, small parts can be an issue, as Sig fiddles with the inners. Sig announced a competition model a few months back, but it hasn’t hit the market yet.

[olstyn]

You need to get in good with someone at Sig. I’m at the same price for the MPX as I am into the PCP.

That's probably easier said than done, given that I'm a plain old civilian who doesn't work in the gun industry. Nice that you were able to get a good deal on yours, though.

[Jim Watson]

A guy here has a PCC with a trick barrel; 5 inches of real rifled barrel, a foot of thin wall "bloop tube" permanently attached to form a legal "barrel."
This has two advantages.
First, same velocity as from a pistol, no need to load PCC ammo separate from his PCP ammo so as to just make Minor power factor.
Second, lots less weight up front, which will gratify your wife.
I think he used the TACCOM barrel and a bunch of commodity parts, maybe PSA who sells the TACCOM barrel. Unfortunately, the PSA Glock magazine lower does not have a last round bolt stop, their Colt magazine action does.

His is kind of ugly with a bilious green receiver, but he sure doesn't have any trouble picking it out of a rack of black and camel dung brown guns at a match.

There is a good deal of lore in DIY PCC, you have to get the right barrel - TACCOM has ramped and plain - the right bolt, the right buffer, the right springs, etc. DIY generates a lot of castoff parts unless you can copy one that somebody else has already sorted out.


https://taccom3g.com/product-categor...d-accessories/
https://palmettostatearmory.com/tacc...amped-204.html

[olstyn]

A guy here has a PCC with a trick barrel; 5 inches of real rifled barrel, a foot of thin wall "bloop tube" permanently attached to form a legal "barrel."
This has two advantages.
First, same velocity as from a pistol, no need to load PCC ammo separate from his PCP ammo so as to just make Minor power factor.

I'm not sure I view that part as an advantage; I'm honestly kind of looking forward to experimenting with loads. 130 PF out of a 16" barrel with 124-grain coated bullets has to be a mouse fart load. I'm also wondering if there's any efficacy to running 100-grain .380 bullets at 1300 FPS in order to get flatter trajectory at medium/long range.

Second, lots less weight up front, which will gratify your wife.

That part certainly has appeal. I wonder if there's anybody local to us who has one set up that way - it would at least be interesting to try out.

If it wasn't for stupid NFA rules, I feel like an 8- or 10-inch barrel would be a really nice balance - you'd shave weight vs a full 16" barrel, but still gain significant velocity/charge weight reduction vs a 4- or 5-inch pistol. As it is, the $200, the wait, and all the hassle surrounding NFA items makes that solution pretty unappealing.

[DpdG]

I’ve got a good working 16” Glock pattern AR9 using a New Frontier lower and complete PSA upper, including their hybrid BCG. No last round bolt hold open, but the only custom part was a 7.8oz buffer, plus loctiting the removable ejector. The upper came with a 13” keymod handguard and I think I have around $700 into the gun including Magpul furniture but not including optic. Recoil is still somewhat significant and weird feeling compared to a normal DI gun.

The SB pistol braces have since gotten good enough that if the competition rules allow, I would do a “pistol” with a 8-10” barrel and a SBA3 brace.

[olstyn]

The SB pistol braces have since gotten good enough that if the competition rules allow, I would do a “pistol” with a 8-10” barrel and a SBA3 brace.

Appendix D8, rule #6 specifically calls out braces as not allowed. You must have a legitimate stock in order to shoot PCC, which means either a 16"+ barrel or a tax stamp for a SBR. Further, you can't shoot one in Open because 5.1.10 says you can't have a handgun with a foregrip or stock, so presuming I understand the rules correctly, there is no place for a "pistol" PCC in USPSA at present.

[GuanoLoco]

I’ve got a good working 16” Glock pattern AR9 using a New Frontier lower and complete PSA upper, including their hybrid BCG. No last round bolt hold open, but the only custom part was a 7.8oz buffer, plus loctiting the removable ejector. The upper came with a 13” keymod handguard and I think I have around $700 into the gun including Magpul furniture but not including optic. Recoil is still somewhat significant and weird feeling compared to a normal DI gun.

The SB pistol braces have since gotten good enough that if the competition rules allow, I would do a “pistol” with a 8-10” barrel and a SBA3 brace.

I have an aR-9 made from an NFA Glock lower too and a lot of rando on-sale piece parts. The only lower I could never get to work right was from PSA but I think they have been through multiple design generations.

A barrel with an external feed ramp plug grinding some metal off the ramped bolt and it ran like a boss. The other mode I like was an aftermarket “silent” captured buffer. This required a signifiacant amount of polishing to remove the buffer tool marks that made it anything but silent but the price was much cheaper than the JP.

The other thing to consider is getting a barrel with a deep cut chamber. Many of the 9mm barrel chambers are cut was too shallow and you need to load short or use “pointy” 9mm bullets.

Manufacturers don’t come to mind readily. I can try to dig them up if tht would be useful.

[ranger]

I took my PSA based "AR9" kit out on Saturday and Sunday. Colt mag style adapter block in a cheap Anderson lower. Old Tasco PDP3 red dot. Eats everything I feed it - specifically likes steel cased 115 FMJ.