AR-9 owners?

Hey all. I’m hoping to get some info from owners (or folks who’ve shot/rented them) of AR-9 firearms.

What do you own and what do you like and not like? I’m pretty much down to Brigade, FoxTrot Mike, and PSA with 8"-16" barrel. CMMG is way outside of the price range. From my research, there are some things that I like/dislike about each (triggers, side charging, blade vs. brace/stock).

They all get mostly great reviews with some folks talking about a lot of jams. None offer 92FS mags, which I wish that they did. Glock seems to be the mag well of choice…and I own zero Glocks or Glock mags. Anything that you would like to offer would be great.

Thank you!

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I don’t shoot and I don’t own AR platform… but…
One day I’ve attended Wilson Combat Demo day and had a pleasure (now after few months I can say “pleasure”) to rent and shoot AR9 Pistol.
I haven’t enjoyed it that time (but only because I’ve been always handgun guy) however I can say that AR is one hell of a gun. Very, very, very, very… and once more time very accurate :point_up:
The model I’ve shot accepted Glock’s mags but if I remember this model can also run Beretta mags.

Anyway, if this can help somehow, you get 100% positive feedback for WC AR9 from non AR shooter :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you, Jerzy. Those look really nice. Sadly, they’re champagne on a root beer budget, starting at $2k.

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Another non-AR-9 owner checking in :slight_smile: I have heard the Palmetto State Armory’s PA-9 is pretty good, and reasonable cost. I think they only take glock mags though

ETA: if it doesn’t have to be AR platform, your options increase → PCC suggestions

EETA: I think the mixed reviews is early attempts at 9mm in AR platform required a lot of compromises. Seems like manufacturers have mostly figured that out though.

I was able to shoot a friend’s PSA AR9 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Low recoil, nice grouping, no issues experienced. The only thing I did not like about that particular model was that it did not have LRBO. Well, that started me on the road to finding and owning one. Heard a lot of good things about FoxTrot Mike from other people at the range. Spike’s Tactical was also highly recommended.

In the end, I purchased a custom AR9 with a Spike’s lower from a contact I made through gunbroker. He had a couple of AR9s listed and I contacted him to see if was willing to change a couple of things on one of the guns he was advertising. Really happy with what he delivered. Had a couple of small issues in the beginning (typical to custom setups) which he quickly helped me resolved.

Wilson Combat has AR9s that use Beretta mags, but I think that puts you back in the higher price bracket.

If you want to convert an AR15 to an AR9, I believe Stern Defense has adapters for commonly used magazines including Beretta.

Good Luck!

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Thanks Harvey. I feel like I’ll be stuck with Glock mags (and no other firearms to use them in). Not a bad thing, but would prefer 92s.

I’ve been following the PCC thread. I like some things about the Ruger, but others…not so much. Another that could but doesn’t take Beretta mags. I figured that the aftermarket would have solved that by now!

PDA3, thanks. I’m not ready to commit to thee times the cost for a mag well, but i’m sure that the WC stuff is great. I don’t shoot any one firearm enough to warrant that expense.

People seem to really care about LRBO. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m missing something.

I’ll take a look at Spike’s.

You can use a ar15 lower with endomags that convert to 9 mm. Been doing research for our ar9 . Will use palmetto upper with the Anderson ar15 lower.

LRBO is just more convenient for me. If you don’t mind pulling the charging handle to load the next round after a mag change, then it’s not a big deal.

Do they seem reliable, from what you know? Part of why I like the Brigade is because it seems reliable. Still watching reviews of all of them.

@Brad. From everything I’ve been reading they work well. Honestly I need to do more research before I can recommend them. This is more then likely the route we are going

I have a Just Right 9mm carbine, it’s a little tack driver. It takes glock mags, can be converted to shoot. 45 acp or 10mm. It is a side charger that can be converted to left or right hand. You can find them for a fairly reasonable price.

The negatives? The bolt doesn’t lock open after the last round, it’s not as easy to take apart (the upper and lower use Allen screws instead of takedown pins) and it’s harder to clean. They may have fixed some of these issues in newer gens, it’s worth looking into.

I stuck with 5.56/.233 AR, but did pickup an AK-9 (AKV).

I have a Wilson Combat AR9G that takes glock magazines. Its a blast to shoot. Accurate, cheap to feed, great for people new to the AR platform, especially when I have the suppressor on it. BUT, mine is the 16" barrel version. If I want a pistol, I grab a pistol. If I am grabbing a rifle, I want a rifle caliber. Big fan of the 300 blackout in the AR platform.

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I don’t buy them prebuilt, not even the uppers. I only build them. A lot of sellers try to make standard features some sort of selling point for folks who haven’t done research. LRBHO- while pretty much the industry standard in 2020, makes for a weapon that you’ll just have to get used to without it. I make sure I always have a hold open feature. If you TRAIN, you can get used to whatever you end up buying and make sure it works for you. Palmetto makes an inexpensive lower and it DOES have lrbho. I own and fire multiple Palmetto lowers as the base for my setups. They have the right size magwell and take all Mil-Spec components or aftermarket Mil-Spec. It’s never hiccuped on standard white box Remington and it’s been running for around 5 years now without so much as a stovepipe. Running certain types of hollow rounds could induce a failure but only if using the magpul Glock mags. I’ve had 2 of these failure to feed when the gun was kinda new on the magpul magazines so I stopped using them in my PCCs. Otherwise, ALL other Glock mags work great. I’ve used 6 different Glock style magazines all are just as good as the oem. BUT, the oem Glock mags are still the best for reliability sake if you are new to this.

If you have a pistol with popular magazines, the ar9 makes sense. Run a setup that utilizes the same ammo and mags for both your sidearm and your pcc, it’s very easy to save money this way. Plus 9mm is way cheaper than rifle calibers. (Buy more ammo to train with!!) In addition, you only need one ammo type and one magazine type which makes a load out or kit design a pretty good contingency plan. It’s a backup to a backup. This kit should not be a main kit for hunters or police, but to a family defending their property or killing pests around the farm… 9mm is super good at rodent murder. Although, 9mm is not the most excellent primary weapon round out there, but is very useful in many close engagements and a perfect way for you to perfect your skills.

Facts: If you plan on a 16” ar9, you missed the purpose of the pistol caliber carbine. The combination of a 9mm round and 16” barrel yields a maximum effective range against human sized targets about 100 yds. While bench shooting, training, target shooting MAYBE about 200 yds. (With a 24” bullet drop) The drop on a 9mm round at 100yds is about 12”. So good luck shooting out further than around 50-75yds without having to significantly change your poa for an accurate poi. It’s a 50yd gun for most intents and purposes.

Just a tidbit for giggles and kicks:
A piece of data you may want to investigate - the nomenclature of “carbine” being used for the PCCs of today doesn’t make sense to me even though it’s a carbine “platform” without the actual carbine firing cycles - momentum from blowback instead of the carbine gassing. The AR9 and PCCs don’t utilize any gas blocks or gas tubes. Radial delay blowback operated (in 99% of the PCCs today, tell me why is it still considered a carbine. :wink: no timing to adjust like in our standard black guns with adjustable gas systems or piston systems.

Hope this information is useful.

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