Footlong Training Analog

[1168]

Next up is this 9mm gun. 9mm ammo is a eff-pile cheaper than 5.56 and is natively subsonic. I started putting this together in 2019 and finished in 2020, IIRC.

70B0EB31-D55F-4102-ABD7-FD0C1474D831.jpeg

From front to rear:

Rex Silentium MG7k with Plan A XL. Quite effective.

Griffin .338 Tactical Comp mount that I reamed to 13/32. It works. Can doesn’t get stuck.

TLR VIR II. Gives me white light and IR illum/laser in one inexpensive unit. IR illum is what you would expect from a pistol light, but the laser has similar reach to a MAWL C1+.

Xcaliber 12” barrel. Nice profile, shoots straight. Tight chamber, though. Well, the throat, really. Getting a live round out can be problematic sometimes.

Midwest Ind front sight.

DDM4 rail. Very light; so quad. DD rail covers.

BFG VCAS Sling. On almost every gun I shoot.

Transverse battery EoTech with side buttons, NV mode, and BDC. Second dot is like 150yd. Its on a YHM riser that makes the height similar to the latest fad.

RRA 9mm upper. Simple.

FosTech 9mm bolt with modified* M16 extractor.

Magpul MBUS rear.

BCM GFH Mod3 charging handle. Bought 3 on clearance when a LGS was relocating. PRI Gasbuster is better, but this works fine.

PSA registered SBR lower**. Had to do a lot of filing to make it work.

Colt-type mag. Because I’m not a ****ing heathen.

Boonie Packer Redi-Catch. I like locking back with my mag release.

Triggertech AR Combat trigger. Its like a mouse click.

Colt ambi selector. Its familiar.

BCM Mod 2 grip. Same as most my rifles. It contains a hex key, some oil, and 5 peanut M&Ms.

PWS ratchet endplate. Because I’m lazy.

Vltor A5 RE.

Colt spring.

Wazoo buffer system that I may patent.

BCM Mod 0 stock. Same as most of my rifles.

*The stock extractor held onto the case too hard and had poor ejection with frequent stovepipes. Some careful Dremel/Kratex, file, and sandpaper work relieved the edges and allowed it to eject more vigorously. The center of the extractor hook is untouched, but the outer edges are massaged so as to not be in contact with the rim. Cold blue and oil applied.

**Feed ramps and the pinning hole were manufactured out of spec. To remedy this, PSA placed a rather thick L-shaped shim under it so they could just pin it higher. Morons. With a bolt installed, you cannot install an upper on this lower. This is a common problem in their Colt mag lowers. I lowered the height of the wings of the ramp quite a bit, and the ramp itself some, and did some polishing. I cold-blued this contraption, then applied oil. I also “tuned” the ejector with a crescent wrench.

[gaijin]

I'm a fan of the AR9.
Have a couple I've used for a few years. They 're great for training two gun drills.

As you said, ammo is cheaper than 5.56.
The manual of arms/controls are same as other/5.56 AR's, so its excellent practice.
Being Blowback guns I actually find my rate of fire is a bit slower than my properly gassed 5.56 guns. When running the 2/2/4/2/2 Drill it is particularly obvious shooting flat out.
This encourages paying attention to proper recoil control.

The range we do a lot of Handgun stuff on prohibits "Bottleneck" Rifle Cartridge firearms, so we use the AR9's (and similar) for two gun transition drills and "Field Courses".

[1168]

As you said, ammo is cheaper than 5.56.
The manual of arms/controls are same as other/5.56 AR's, so its excellent practice.
Being Blowback guns I actually find my rate of fire is a bit slower than my properly gassed 5.56 guns. When running the 2/2/4/2/2 Drill it is particularly obvious shooting flat out.
This encourages paying attention to proper recoil control.

Yeah, the recoil is definitely a bit different. Slower, and with more mass moving around, is how I perceive it. The dot will move excessively if one uses poor form.

I haven’t shot the 22422 drill, surprisingly enough. I usually do other conceptually similar drills on 3-target arrays. Such as 5 Pairs and 1-5. I’ll have to try that out.

Another cool thing about 9mm is its easy on steel targets.

[opngrnd]

What brands of Colt style mags have you found reliable? A 9mm AR style carbine is a wish list item of mine.

[1168]

What brands of Colt style mags have you found reliable? A 9mm AR style carbine is a wish list item of mine.

I’ve got a .50 can full of Metalform and ASC mags, and another 1/3 full, with the remainder Glock and M4. 32 and 20 rounders. They’re both roughly equally reliable. Some are PSA branded. When they were new some would frequently fail to lock back on the last round, brand independent. Only one out of that pile has continued to fail at that and its a Metalform. I don’t think I’ve had any mag related feeding stoppages that I can think of. The Metalform mags are blued and will rust more easily than the ASCs if you don’t oil them up preemtively.

Mostly I’ve shot round nose 147s through them, with a handful of hollowpoints and some flat point 147s, and however many rando rounds. I’ve got a pile of flat point 147s loaded to try out, and will soon work up some 160s.

Buy a Maglula, seriously.

[gaijin]

Yeah, the recoil is definitely a bit different. Slower, and with more mass moving around, is how I perceive it. The dot will move excessively if one uses poor form………………….

Yes. Absolutely this.

[opngrnd]

This may be the wrong thread, but you probably have good answers.

1- Is there a common brand of lower that accepts Colt style mags and comes good to go without adjusting?

2- Why did you choose Colt style instead of glock mag compatible? Seems like knowledgeable people recommend this, but I haven't seen why.

[1168]

This may be the wrong thread, but you probably have good answers.

1- Is there a common brand of lower that accepts Colt style mags and comes good to go without adjusting?

2- Why did you choose Colt style instead of glock mag compatible? Seems like knowledgeable people recommend this, but I haven't seen why.

1) my CMMG is fine, although it came with the wrong buffer. I’ve heard Spikes and QC10 are fine. They weren’t available when I bought this one.

2) A) I had Colt mags already from my CMMG. Poor argument, since I have like a hundred Glock mags, too.

2) B) the reload with Glock mags is super weird to me and I feel like the muscle memory doesn’t translate as well. People say that the big stick Glock mags suck in a PCC, but I dunno. They seem to work fine as far as I’ve seen, just awkward. Double feed mags are hypothetically superior, and are present in most successful submachineguns.

[Pappabear]

Congrats on your PCC. Keep us posted on your reliability as time goes on. I shoot with guys that shoot PCC every Wed. Been thinking about building / buy one. Good luck.

PB

[1168]

Congrats on your PCC. Keep us posted on your reliability as time goes on. I shoot with guys that shoot PCC every Wed. Been thinking about building / buy one. Good luck.

PB

Will do, brother. If you zoom in on the ejection port in the pic, the marking “9mm” will tell a tale. With a different rail, this was the upper that I managed to wreck a bolt in.