Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Ruger PC9

Been thinking about getting one. Can anyone who's spent some time with one relay their experiences?

From what I've read or watched videos about it, it seems pretty much small game accurate, maybe a little heavy but not terribly so.

I guess the main question is reliability. To those who have one, would you stake your life on it?

I prefer not to stake my life on any mechanical object.

If you are asking whether Ruger's are pretty reliable, the answer is going to be yes. They do tend to be.

I have one of the old style ones, and it has been essentially bomb proof. Never have had any kind of failure. Accuracy is acceptable. Trigger is the worst trigger I have ever had on a gun. Ruger has pervasive QC issues that it appears the PC series has dodged.

I bought mine about three years ago and have been very pleased with accuracy, reliability and handling. Mine is the take down version and has a conventionally shaped synthetic stock without the shrouded barrel. If you do buy one, sure to read the section in the owner’s manual about tightening the take down feature. I put a low powered Leupold variable on mine but it would work really well with a red dot too. You can set it up to use either Ruger or Glock magazines.

I was working up a load with the Hornady 115 HP and Power Pistol and at fifty yards the four, five shot groups at different increments went: 0.7, 0.55, 0.35 and 0.6. The best load does 1.5 +/- at 100. The 115 Gold Dot went from 0.4-0.75 at fifty yds and 2”+ at 100 yds so it can pay to dink around a little with loads.

Thanks guys!

That sounds like a heck of a good shooter. Yes, the plan is to play with different loads as you have. I'm not sure if I'll go with a dot or low power scope, but will do one of those.

They are fun rifles and plenty accurate. Mine wears a Sightmark Ultra Shot R Spec red dot.

Been looking at the PC Charger of late. “Pistols” like it have certain legal advantages for concealed or open carry in my state, as well as in cars. If the recent ATF power grab holds up in court, the Charger is easily equipped with a sling in place of a brace. Accuracy tests I’ve viewed are impressive.


A range buddy has the carbine and likes it a lot. I decided that my Mini 14 is about the same size and weight and is more powerful, and paid for.

I have two of the newer Ruger 9mm PC-9 carbines, one at my home in MI and the other in AZ. I fly back and forth and it's not practical to haul a bunch of guns back and forth. They are both set up with red dots. I have never had a bobble of any kind with either. They both use Glock magazines. The takedown feature has been more useful than I thought it would be, and is nice for storage and cleaning.

You can ring steel like a maniac with these neat little carbines. I consider mine to be as reliable as any other 9mm firearm.

Looking real hard at one....

Considered the 5.7x28 for a minute...then the extra cost of dies/brass/bullets

Already set up to load the 9mm so that's the direction I'm headed

Ready to pull the pin on the #19122....

Now.......red dot.........? Sig.....Holosun.....Sightmark ?


https://gunzonedeals.com/product/rug-25#product_detail

I just put a Romeo 5 on my Mini 14. Motion switch, so you can leave it on, 40,000 hours of battery, 2moa dot. I’m sold, and just ordered another one.

Mine wears a Leupold Freedom RDS and I am pleased with it.

Well, I picked one up locally, our Governor recently signed for no sales tax on firearms which helped a bit.

Got it home and took it apart, sopped up some of the oil that was literally dripping from it, and ran a few patches through the bore. The take down feature was appreciated here.

I took it out the next morning and put a few rounds down range with a small mix of factory loads, and a couple of hand loads. It was hitting just a bit left at 25 yards, so I bumped the sight over slightly and put the target stand at 50.

Here my vintage eyes, coupled with progressive lenses on my glasses made groups nearly impossible. The angle necessary to see the sights seemed to put my eye in line with the very edge of where there's a "transformation" in the lense of the glasses. This left me seeing two bullseyes.

Let's just say a chest size target is in real trouble at that range, while a squirrel head sized target is perfectly safe.

The carbine functioned perfectly with all loads, one of which was a hand load with a 147 grain powder coated flat point from Missouri bullet co. with BE86 powder. Most accurate seemed to be a Hornady 115gr. XTP with the same powder.

I just ordered a SIG Romeo 5 that should help with my open sight shortcomings. (Thanks for the heads up on it Pappy).

The Freedom RDS looks even better with the 1 minute dot, but will have to wait until my wallet recovers.

Just ordered one today....the #19122 as shown in pic

Along with a Holosun HS510C-FDE in Green dot

Nice, reminds me of the old Russian PPSH. I opted for the "standard" model, as I wanted to try and have for backup the ghost ring style open sights.

These things are so ugly they're almost cute, like a bulldog puppy.

Let us know how it works. I plan on trying some different loads. I'm curious what kind of velocity can be obtained from the 147 grainers.

Does the barrel touch the handguard at 12:00?

Prob won't receive Ruger for 7-10 days

I'll know then

Didn't have any Glock mags...bought the Ruger ones instead

Thought $22 a pop was good.......bought 6

https://gunzonedeals.com/product/RU...CK-SR9SR9C-9MM-17RD-BLACK#product_detail

I learned my lesson, thankfully at my company’s expense, with progressives a long while back. I’m a bifocal guy now. Small lenses make the issue worse with both kinds.

I have a bunch of single-vision safety glasses in as close to my needed distance correction as possible. Those make irons usable for the most part, and sharpen red dots appreciatively. My correction is only +1.35, so I buy +1.5s. Perhaps someone with worse vision might not be helped as much. They offer good protection as well.

When I got semi-serious about clays, I ponied up for single-vision Decots. Worth every penny. I do have to be careful to take them off when I’m done so as not to be mistaken for an Elton John impersonator…….

I have been using 27 round Magpul Glock magazines in mine. Perfect function and less than $20 a pop.

I commited to Ruger mags

17 rd..........$22 a pop

Is the the Springfield an improvement over the Ruger

For another $400 or so ?

https://gunzonedeals.com/product/sprgfld-st-vic-9mm-carbine-16-32rd#product_detail

That looks pretty nice! Says it comes with a Colt mag., I don't know if those are readily available or if there are other substitutions.

I would think that it would be better, but have no experience with it, nor have I read anything about it.

I recently joined the Ruger PC9 club.

Swapped the magazine adaptor to Glock, put the mag release on the starboard side (I'm a lefty), and put the Primary Arms 3X Micro Prism on top.

The ACSS reticle is calibrated for 7.62x39 to 600 yards. I did some ballistic homework, and it looks like it should make a fine 300-yard holdover reticle with 9mm, using a 30-yard zero.

Picked mine up this morning.....still waiting for 6 spare Mags

Stayed with Ruger mags.....no Glocks in the house...Ruger 17's were $22 a pop

Brought it home...got familiar with it......cleaned 'er up good

Mounted Holosun 510C Green....Added Tanemkross bolt handle/mag release button/compensator

Warmed it up with some 124 gr FMJ handloads

Holosun was 2" low to start but center.....good to go now

Thinkin' I'm gonna like it

9mm, no. I won a 40 cal on an auction. $490.

I've been meaning to update on my carbine but, life has had me piddling around and being a responsible adult, hate when that happens.

Good buy viking!

I mounted a Sig Romeo 5 on mine, and got it sighted in. This little carbine seems like it wants to group pretty good at 50 yards, when I can determine the actual dot from the comet tail flares. Keeping the brightness adjustment low helps. Going to mount a scope on it one of these days for a range trip or two, just to see how well it can do.

I don't have any Glocks either but decided to go that way for magazines, though I went with the Magpul mags.
https://magpul.com/firearm-accessories/pmags/glock.html


I ordered 3 -17 round mags, and wanted to try the little 10 round one, but it was out of stock, so I ended up getting a 12 round one. The thought was that a shorter one would be a bit better to carry around in the woods.

The springs in these magazines are stiff! I've since ordered a maglula gadget that should be delivered today.

The magwell insert was an easy switch, and all of the mags worked perfectly.

I had some water jugs in the garage that I've been tripping over for a couple of months now, so decided to catch some bullets in them, fired from the PCC.

The jugs were 51 yards from the muzzle.

The bullet on the left is a Hornady 115 grain XTP, velocity at 15 feet, 1206 fps. Bullet was in the 4th. jug, but had put a hole in jug #5.

Bullet on the right is a 124 gr. XTP, 1213 fps. The jacket was found in jug #4, core in jug #5.

How is that Romeo 5 working? I put one on mine but there was too much extra space in the rail slot and it kept shooting loose no matter how hard I cranked it down. I would love to put it back on the gun if possible. Thanks.

So far so good, but I haven't put that many rounds through it. I'll have to watch it, and will report back if any problems arise.

Put a hasty 30-yard zero on this rig today. Handloads, 115gr FMJ over 6.0gr Unique. QL suggests 1575 fps, but I need to chronograph them.

Not a rock steady rest, but managed about 1" groups at 30 yards. If velocity is close, it will be up 1/2" at 50, back to zero at 75, and down 1.7" at 100.

What a FUN little carbine to shoot!

FYI, if you are using that ammo and gun for self-defense purposes, try shooting those rounds at the same medium from only a few yards away. The bullets probably are designed around different velocity parameters that the carbine barrel length may skew, especially close up. I shot Hornady Custom 124 grain XTP out of my PC Carbine 9mm from about 4 yards away from water jugs. (I got chrono results of 1305 MV out of my PC Carbine.) I only got into the third jug, while my Sig P365 and Sig P365 XL, with the same ammo and fired from the same distance but at lower velocities, got into the 4th jug. Of course, there was more expansion out of the carbine. The same array fired with a 124 Gold Dot out of the carbine resulted in an almost pancake flat overexpanded Gold Dot in jug 2. I shot it again and got the same result. A Gold Dot fired out of the Sig P365 XL got into the third jug.

I love my PC Carbine, but for self defense and general woods bumming, I keep it loaded with Buffalo Bore 147 grain +P hard cast or our own Mackay_Sagebrush's Lost River Ammunition Company 148 grain +P hard cast.

Good points Cheyenne, mine gets a mag loaded with Barnes Vor-tx 115 gr. Tac-xp ammo for home defense duty. Not that I've tested them much though, just a few to check cycling and that poi isn't off.

Are the barrels not centered in the shroud?

I wish they would make the mag well smaller to look more in line with the small magazines.

I don't know if the Barnes Vor-tx is just a repackaging of the Barnes 115 grain TAC-XPD or not, but I got a 1 fps variation in muzzle velocity with the TAC-XPD between the Ruger PC Carbine and a Sig P365 XL (1069 for the Ruger and 1068 for the Sig) with a higher ES from the Ruger. That's pretty slow for a 115 grain +P round! Not surprisingly, those rounds fired from close range at water jugs both got into the 3rd jug with decent expansion.

Thanks for the info again. I only have one box left of these, and didn't have the chronograph set up on the day I fired them. These are not marked as +p, and I did put one across the Chrono from a 3" Kimber micro a while back, the one round went 1042 fps.

I know one round doesn't mean much.

Sounds like pretty good performance from your batch, even though they don't seem to gain anything much in the longer barrel.

I haven't had mine for very long, but I LOVE it. I immediately set mine up for Schlock magazines. You will never see me with a Schlock pistol on my hip, but the magazines are good, reliable, and cheap (though don't go TOO cheap...). I haven't shot it a tremendous amount yet, but I have had zero problems, other than a couple of bobbles with some lousy ETS magazines (the too cheap ones). Throw those things away. The followers tilt and jam up. I couldn't even get some of the really cheap KCI magazines loaded, the followers were tilting so bad. Oh well. $13 Magpul magazines work just fine.

I love the sights, they work very well for me, once the front was painted fluorescent orange (I am a firm believer that ALL front sights should be fluorescent orange).

I went ahead and got the A2 extractor and pins and some other little things from MCARBO, just because I could, though I don't know that it was really necessary (some have reported premature wear on their extractors). I also put on a Kaw Valley "linear compensator", or "blast forwarding device". It is not a silencer by any means, but it DOES WORK. Without it, firing the gun is right on the edge of making my ears ring. After a few shots it would start to bother me. But with the device on the muzzle, there is a small but noticeable difference, and I can shoot it all day with no ear ringing (of course you should never do that..... whatever).

I could get interested if somebody would make sleeve for the mag to make it look like it actually fit the well.

That mag/magwell is an oversight that makes it look like an add on after the fact.

A bit more pricey than I figured too. IMO $100 less would be more in line, at least for me.

I thought the mag-well looked kind of janky in photos. When I actually had it in my hands, it doesn't bother me at all.

That looks great with the paint!

I love painting ARs. I'm trying to hold off on the PC9, but I'm getting weak looking at yours....grin.

I used to have one of the old Ruger PC9's. It was very reliable and had a decent trigger but felt a little clunky, and eventually I sold it and went to AR-9's which I found to be more ergonomic. I haven't shot the new model Ruger carbine, but I've seen quite a few people using them and they seem to run well.

I still have a Colt AR-9 that takes Colt SMG magazines. Colt pattern AR-9's have worked well for me and I've shot a lot of short range 3 gun matches with them. More recently I've gone to a JP GMR-15 which uses Glock mags. JP makes very nice rifles and the new JP-5 with delayed roller bearing action would be top of the line for PCC's. However, it costs more than $3000 so it's expensive. I think the Glock magazines are a bit more reliable than the Colt mags and I'm happy to have switched to them.

PCC's are a lot of fun and relatively cheap to shoot.

You haven't used a High Point carbine then

Ruger PC is much better

yea........maybe should have went Magpul......

I have 10 Ruger mags floating their way to me on Fed Ex Smart Post...what a joke

Also some stuff from MCarbo

https://magpul.com/firearm-accessories/pmags/glock.html

That was my question as well. At least in the factory pic they didn't get the barrel centered at all.

Is your barrel centered in the handguard?

No the barrel isn't centered. It's closer to 12 o'clock. It is floating though.

Let me take a pic.

Here's a look from the front.

The sights are not centered very well in the handguard cutouts, but they are floating......barely. I might relieve the handguard a bit on the close side.

I guess as long as you don't shoot it slung up....

Probably designed for the opposite load - bipods.

Thank you.

I had robbed the 3X prism from my AK47. I have a Primary Arms 1-6x24 scope on the way for the PC9 dedicated optic. Should be along in a few days.

Anyhoo, I was fiddlin. around putting some basic zero on the irons. Kind of tough with old eyes, and I need to fine tune the windage a bit more. This rear sight has no references on the windage adjustments.

I was only zeroing at 20 yards. Here are some pics and a couple nice groups considering how blurry the front sight appears to me.

I put a Smith Enterprises Vortex flash suppressor on it too.

If you haven’t already, review the owner’s manual about adjusting the take down feature for best accuracy.

I've fiddled with that adjustment ring and got it just snug but so it isn't a fight to rotate.

Chrono'd a couple handloads out of the PC9,

115gr FMJ, 6.0gr Unique - avg 1495 fps.

147gr XTP, 6.0gr Power Pistol - avg 1382 fps. This one put five in a ragged hole at 25 yards.

I wouldn't want to be a raccoon getting in your garbage. Nice shooting.

Just got a couple of boxes of the 147 XTP's myself, and was thinking along the same lines about trying Power Pistol. Looks like you've got them cooking pretty good.

just got some 147 XTP's......

Longshot going in them

I like mine

but its a damm money pit

MCarbo has some stuff coming for mine

I loaded the 147 XTP to an OAL of 1.12". This put a reasonable amount of bearing surface into the case (.191"), and also prevented the bullet from jamming into the lands.

Hot! I'd be interested in seeing what those XTPs do when they hit water jugs.

I might have to save a few milk jugs and see.

One thing I noted on the PC9, case support of a chambered round is excellent, like 99+ percent supported. And the tiny unsupported bit is just barely above the groove, in the web area. Not enough to let anything rupture.

Well, Fedex made it today, after several days of weather delay.

Now I have the PC9 all 'churched up'. Basically, just added a Vortex flash suppressor, and now a Primary Arms 1-6x24 optic, with the 300BO/7.62x39 ACSS reticle. Should work out for a 0-300 yard steel banger/utility gun.

When things warm up outside, I might have to Krylon the piss out of it. It's going to be hard for me to resist.

Very interested in getting PC9 so thanks for the reviews. Wondering if the zero returns after removing the barrel with the sight mounted not on the barrel.

There's a barrel nut of sorts that regulates the firmness of the barrel/receiver interface. The owners manual indicates zero will be maintained when that ring is properly adjusted.

I have mine adjusted properly, but haven't really tested the return to zero. Now that I have the dedicated optic on board, I will see how that zero holds. Mostly out of curiosity. I will not be breaking mine down all the time, but it is a handy feature when cleaning the bore.

Nice! I'd love to see any data points that you would like to share concerning your longer range results with that setup.

I'll share what i come up with in shooting results.

In theory, my trajectory will look like this on paper (rounded to full inches and .1 moa):

115gr FMJ, 6.0gr Unique, 1495 fps (chronographed).
Scope center height 1.9" over bore center.

Zero - 22 yards

50 yards: +1" - 2.3 moa
100 yards: -1" - 0.7 moa
150 yards: -9" - 5.7 moa
200 yards: -24" - 11.7 moa
250 yards: -48" - 18.5 moa
300 yards -81" - 26.0 moa

If those drops are reasonably close, they will line up with this reticle good enough to hit steel using the 300 holdover for 150, 400 holdover for 200, 500 holdover for 250 and 600 holdover for 300. Pretty much within 1 moa at all distances.



I realize the 9mm is honestly more of a 100 yard effective round. The further distances are just for fun.

I was watching a vid Drew put together on the channel Beyond Seclusion where he was stretching his PC9 out to 400 or so. It was falling apart at 400 as I recall, but at 300 it was doing reasonably well on torso size steel.

^^ Oh man, here comes another rabbit trail for me to go down! Thanks for the data and video link.

You bet!

This is the optic I purchased. PA is moving them out at $199. Normally $289. I already had one on a 7.62x39 upper and liked it enough to jump again at this price.

https://www.primaryarms.com/primary-arms-1-6x24mm-sfp-scope-w-acss-300blk-7-62x39-reticle

It looks like PA is updating most or all of the 1-6X lineup with FFP reticles. In this instance I prefer the SFP reticle. Why, because the power can be turned down from 6X to give more MOA to each holdoff point. Not a bad feature when dicking around with something like 9mm with a rainbow trajectory, and variations between different ammo.

Also, I like the full size chevron at 1X for close shooting. The reticle shrinks with the FFP reticle as you dial down power.

You’re an enabler, but in a good way.

I have one and love it. Recommend to all shooters, especially new to gun shooters. Easy to use, hasn't failed me