The Quest for the Perfect 9mm Carbine

I have always liked the idea of a pistol caliber carbine or PCC as they are referred to by the gun press.

The history of the PCC dates back to 1855 when Colt introduced their revolving cylinder rifle chambered in both .36 & .44 calibers (matching their pistol calibers). These were muzzle loading guns shooting round lead balls. 

The year was 1877, after cartridges came along Colt decided to chamber their revolvers in .44 Winchester Center Fire (aka the 44-40, aka Winchester 1873). This allowed a frontier cowboy to carry a Colt pistol on his hip and a Winchester rifle in his scabbard and only one type of cartridge on his belt.

I happen to own several rifles and carbines that are chambered in pistol calibers including a few in .44 Magnum and .45 Colt.....and then of course there are all the .22 LR models....

A modern semi-auto rifle shooting a rimless cartridge, fed from a pistol magazine is a different animal. If you have a rifle and pistol that use not only the same cartridges, but also the same magazines, you eliminate the need for different mags, mag holders etc.

I, like many Glock owners, had long hoped that Glock would create a lightweight 9mm carbine that was as reliable and functional as their pistols....that hope has long since died. Instead I sought out the 9mm carbines that were available.

When writing the title of this post I probably should have refrained from using the word "perfect" there is no perfect 9mm Carbine, they all compromise in some fashion. I suppose this is true of every gun.

Vince Lombardi is famous for having said, "perfection is unattainable, but in its pursuit you will discover excellence".  

At any rate I decided to document the 9mm carbines that I have owned and talk briefly about my experience with them.

The Hi-Point 995 Carbine

The first 9mm PCC that I purchased was the Hi-Point 995 9mm carbine. I bought it used at a gun store for $180, it was my birthday....for years my Wife has allowed me to buy my own birthday/father's day gift (the dates are just a couple weeks apart). 

I did not own a Hi-Point pistol at the time, and to this day have never owned one, but the single stack Hi-Point magazines were plentiful and inexpensive.

This gun and even the newer ones with the more tactical looking stock are not going to win any beauty contests...no two ways about it, they are ugly. I would give it a 1 out of 10 in the looks department.

The beauty of the gun, not withstanding, the Hi-Point only failed to function once, due to a broken firing pin.

I called the company to order one and they sent one out post haste and free of charge. Hi-Point gets high marks for customer service (something I have heard from other Hi-Point owners as well).

When disassembling the gun to replace the firing pin, I was faced with what looked like a junior high shop project.

That may be a little harsh. The point is that this was not a finely crafted piece of machinery, it was a gun made as cheap as possible and the innards definitely looked that way, but again the gun worked....what more do you want for $180?

It came with a BSA red dot scope, which was a nice addition, but un necessary in my opinion. My biggest complaint was that the carbine used a single stack magazine. Ten rounders that came with the gun and I had one 15 rounder that was a factory option.

So I sold the carbine, for what I paid for it. And bought a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 carbine. 

Pros:

• Affordable
• Comfortable to shoot
• Good warranty support

Cons:

• Low capacity single stack magazines
• Not compatible with any of my pistols magazines
• Ugly
• No threaded barrel

The Kel-Tec Sub 2000

I bought this Kel-Tec Sub 2000 Carbine new from a gun dealer. I think I paid around $250 for it.

This one used the full size Glock 17 magazines. Which as anyone into firearms knows, are plentiful, and getting cheaper. I did and still do own a Glock, so I could use the same magazine for both.

I added a picatinny rail, cheap laser, Hogue grip sleeve and then I bought a FAB Defense floor plate with a picatinny rail for the 10 round G17 mag that came with the rifle. This allowed the magazine to be inverted and used as both a fore grip and an emergency back up magazine.

One downside to the rifle is that in order to mount a scope you had to give up the ability to fold the gun in half, which I didn't want to give up. Although not having a scope didn't bother me, this is not a long distance rifle and I prefer open sights on these types of guns anyway.

The rifle never failed me and I don't remember it being picky on ammo. It was well built, affordable and simple. I was very happy with this rifle, but I ended up buying another 9mm carbine and didn't need two of them, so I sold it. 

There is now a solution that allows the use of a scope and some great aftermarket options for this gun. Check out Kel-Tec's website here

I would recommend this carbine to anyone.

Pros:

• Uses Glock mags
• Affordable
• Take-down/folding for compact carry or storage

Cons:

• Cannot use an optic without losing take-down option or using adapter
• No threaded barrel

The Beretta CX-4 Storm

I bought this Beretta CX4 Storm on a lark, I didn't need it, but the price was too good to pass up ($325, if I remember correctly) . It had a lot of advantages, one of which it used Beretta 92F/M9 magazines, which are plentiful and cheap (I once bought three of them for $9 at a gun show). 

As before, I did not own a Beretta 92, so the advantage of having one magazine fit both was again not going to be an advantage for me.

I did add a few accoutrements to this rifle. I added an MFI Battle Star Galactica barrel shroud and a factory tri-rail kit with folding vertical grip. I also had a TruGlo red dot scope mounted to this rifle for a while, I was able to co-witness the factory sights, a nice option should the battery die on the scope. After using the scope I found my preference for open sights still persisted and removed the scope.

The gun had excellent ergonomics, an 8 out of 10, also the controls were 100% ambidextrous, great for left handed or left eye dominant shooters (which I am neither).

I did find that this gun was picky on ammo and would not function with my lightweight reloads, probably due to the very large mass of the bolt.

I decided that I didn't need or want a semi-auto that was picky on ammo, so I sold the gun and bought a Ruger PC-9.

Pros:

• Ambidextrous 
• Uses easy to acquire and cheap high cap mags
• Excellent build quality
• Good sights, with the ability to fold down or co-witness
• 21st Century - Buck Roger's style
• Bull-pup compact configuration

Cons:

• Picky on ammo
• High price
• No threaded barrel

The Ruger PC-9

Any devoted readers to my blog will know that I am a big Ruger fan, I have yet to be disappointed by any of the Ruger firearms that I have owned, nor have I ever been left wanting by their customer service.

I will go as far to say that I have never dealt with any company (gun company or otherwise) that has better customer service than Strum, Ruger & Co.

I bought my Ruger PC-9 from a local gun forum member, it had been fired, but not a lot. This is the newer take-down model with a fluted and threaded barrel. The gun came with the Glock magazine adapter and will take both G17 and G19 mags as well as any of the extended capacity mags....yay!

These guns also use the same trigger mechanism (not the housing, but some of the internal parts) as the venerable 10/22. That means that many of the trigger upgrades, of which there are many, available for the 10/22 may also become available for the PC-9. There is already quite a few companies making aftermarket components for the PC-9.

The first time I fired this gun I was impressed with the sights and its precision. Firing off hand at 50 feet I was able to put all the shots in the black of the 50ft pistol target I was using.

I did have some failures to feed, but that could have been a magazine issue as I was using trying out different magazines including a couple of aftermarket mags. I have yet to hash that out.

Pros:

• It's a Ruger, so warranty and factory support are top notch
• Take-down ability
• Does not seem to be picky on ammo
• Can use Glock mags
• Great sights
• Threaded barrel
• Mucho aftermarket support
• Possible trigger upgrades via 10/22 parts

Cons:

• Often sold out

So there you have it, my take on four of the most popular 9mm carbines. I am happy with my latest acquisition and look forward to spending some time shooting it.