building pcc gun

[HawkMoney]

Has anyone had luck building a 9mm ar? What parts should you look into and what should you stay away from? I'm leaning towards the Palmetto State armory stuff. Also thinking about just buying an MPX pistol. Any insight would be appreciated. 

Thanks

Ivan

[OPENB]

I built mine. Already had an AR15, so needed an upper and a mag block. For the upper, I got an Anderson lightweight with shell deflector and no forward assist. Barrel, I got the Faxon 10.5" (registered SBR). I had a Nordic free float tube laying around, and a Colt 9mm flash hider. I bought a Palmetto bolt, mags, and mag block on the classified on AR15.com. I also added the Rock River Arms 9mm mag catch and buffer, and 13 quarters in the buffer tube to keep the bolt from over travelling. Bought a used C-more here, and done.

If you already have an AR, build another upper for it. Add a mag block and buffer. But, nothing wrong with buying another gun if you want it. Palmetto stuff is good, but never in stock. Even when it's on sale, it isn't available. And if it is in stock, it'll be a month before it ships. And as far as ordering straight from RRA, I've had a 9mm upper on order for 2 months, still haven't heard from them. And building it is fun. Check the rimfire/pistol forum on AR15.com, lots of great info.

[HawkMoney]

Thanks for the info OPENB! no reliability issues running the mag block at all? That might be the way for me to go since i already have a stripped AR pistol lower. you are running the smg mags? bolt hold open?

[OPENB]

My mag block goes in from the top. I had to remove the bolt catch to put it in, then reinstall the bolt catch.  It is super tight in my lower, so it stays put. The bolt does lock back on the last round. I use Palmetto/Metalform Colt style mags. They've been on sale a couple times recently for $20. 

The various Glock mag ARs look interesting & worth a look. 

[HawkMoney]

Thank you for the insight! Now I have a lot of research to do. Got all winter to build a pcc gun for next year.

[jrswanson1]

I bought a used CMMG complete pistol lower, dedicated 9mm with four magazines ($350), paid another $100 to convert it to rifle, and paid $400 for a complete upper off of Gunbroker.  I am using a Colt pattern versus the Glock pattern because I don't own any Glocks, so mag compatibility wasn't an issue, and ASC 32-round magazines are $20 a pop.  I'm up to six magazines now.  I transferred a Millet DMS-1 scope to it from my 3-gun rifle, but I'm going to switch to a Bushnell TRS-25 with riser ($85 from Amazon) when my bank account recovers.  If I bought the 9mm lower new, I would have paid about the same for a complete lower but wouldn't have gotten the magazines.  All told, I'll be under $1000 for this, which is less than what you'd really pay for a complete Limited setup.

[HawkMoney]

Nice! Have you gotten a chance to run it much? i know a few people who have build them and they seem a little finicky with reloads. i would also like to see what people say about the mpx's. This new pcc division seems like it could have a lot of potential I'm looking forward to shooting a few matches in it next year.

[Les Snyder]

HawkMoney...I shoot a G34 for USPSA and 3 gun, so the choice for a Glock lower was pretty obvious for me..the price was right for a New Frontier Armory complete lower with one of their two piece bolts (17oz)...Aero Precision upper,16" barrel of unknown manufacture, charging handle and LMT full float tube came from MAS Defense....I broke a firing pin at about 400 rounds (blue steel) but the replacement pin (stainless) has gone a 1000 rounds or so without a problem...I've been working on getting scope movement to a minimum, and my experimentation headed to heavier buffers... I went to a rifle length buffer tube with an A1 stock to get more weight in the buffer.... my current status is a 7.5oz rifle buffer with a .308 spring...Miculek style 3 port comp... still considerable recoil, but this combination has given me the least scope movement...my 135 coated lead hand loads are running about 1150 out of the carbine and 960 from the G34... currently a Vortex Spitfire 1x for a sight as I have a pretty bad astigmatism and the Spitfire has a focus adjustment... with factory Win Ranger 147 flat points it shot better than 2" at 50yd... 3 of the 5 at about 1"... cost excluding the scope was under $800

Edited September 27, 2016 by Les Snyder

[jrswanson1]

17 hours ago, HawkMoney said:

Nice! Have you gotten a chance to run it much? i know a few people who have build them and they seem a little finicky with reloads. i would also like to see what people say about the mpx's. This new pcc division seems like it could have a lot of potential I'm looking forward to shooting a few matches in it next year.

The first 100 rounds I had problems due to the fact that the previous owner of the lower screwed up the hole the bolt release detent went into.  After I fixed that, I have put roughly 150 rounds of Federal factory 115gr ammunition, and another 64 rounds of my mouse fart 147gr LFP reloads without any problems.

[Corey]

Friend and I are building a couple right now. I'm just waiting on a BCG and mine should be ready to shoot. 9mm lower from New Frontier and a hodge-podge of parts from Joe Bob's. We both shot his at the last match and it ran like a champ.Ill get a full list together once mine is actually done

 

[Darqusoull13]

I built mine with a JP dedicated complete lower (with JP installed trigger), bolt and springs. All the "moving parts" essentially are JP while the furniture, upper etc. are a mix of lightweight parts and things I had in the spare parts / prize table box. All together mine weighs just under 6 lbs with an Aimpoint pro. The JP install trigger is unreal. If you go the MPX or CZ route, you're giving up a little (MPX is picky about triggers) and a lot (CZ trigger can only be made so good) to the AR trigger. 

I've got ~2000 rounds through my JP now. I have shot nearly any random load I could find but the majority of rounds were my production 147 grains that chrono'ed 145 PF out of the 16" barrel. The JP flat out runs. I have had exactly ZERO malfunctions. Not oh I blame that one on the ammo or oh I blame that on the mag, ZERO. A 9mm platform that used GLOCK brand GLOCK mags and the new ETS mags was a big consideration for me since I wanted this kind of reliability. I've had almost 20 people shoot my JP both at matches and after matches. The HUGE smiles afterwards make this my most satisfying build because 4 have put orders in and another 3 are planning their builds out. I'd be happy to share my build list if anyone was interested.  

[rishii]

I don't know if this qualifies as a build, I bought a complete psa lower for the colt mags, a complete psa upper and slap them together

on the psa lower there are a couple of thing I did to get it to run, 

i filed down the bolt catch about 1/8" to prevent it from rubbing the round in the magazine 

I bent the ejector slightly to the right, just so it would clear the bolt, but it would hit the ejecting brass more positively

and the stock buffer is short, with the bolt fully to the rear, there's about 1" of extra travel, some guys put 7 quarters in the bottom of the buffer tube as a spacer, the buck 75 mod. I tried it and didn't like it, instead a went to the local ace hardware and found a tapered rubber stopper, think of a bottle cork made out of rubber, that wedged tightly in the buffer spring, and cut off about 1/4" off the tip, now my bolt stops just past the bolt catch.

for mags,I have the psa, Brownells and metalform, they all work, there're all made by metalform, the psa's are the cheapest, the Brownells are coated with a high tech paint to prevent rust, the others are blued

[fishhunter3]

Didn't really build mine either I just accessorized , picked up a MPX gen 2, pulled off the collapsible stock and installed a US machine gun folding adapter  with a ace 7,25 stock, swapped the trigger group for an elf tac 3 gun flat trigger and one of there cross bolt safeties (really like this), tried all the red dots I had, (delta point, aim point off of the AR pistol, even the C More from the open gun. just ordered a new 6 min C More from shooters connection, to top of the PCC, 

[Dannybot]

I used a registered lower I already had so I could use any barrel length.  

 

I got a Rock River mag block, it goes inthe mag well from the bottom just like a magazine, then you tighten a tensioning bolt.  I eyeballed it even with the top surface of the lower with no more fussing.  The Rock River block has a wide cut around the magazine release to allow height adjustment, but mine ran just fine like that.

 

The advantage for me using the Rock River mag block is that I have a rifle that is identical to the one I have been using for years.  The Colt pattern magazines can be had for around $20 and are proven relible.  The downside is the magazines are quite heavy and in the long run I didn't save much if any money over buying something like a dedicated lower from PSA or NFA in either pattern, but I do have the registerlower, so I can run it as I like.

 

The upper is assembled from a package deal I found online; Anderson stripped upper, Ballistic Advantage 11" barrel, New Frontier modular bolt... I'm using an ATI 12" handguard taken off another build from many years back, it's nothing special but it isn't terribly heavy and allows a lot of room for a suppressor.

 

The upper is much simpler that a gas gun--barrel slips in and barrel nut goes on.  That's it.  The rest is window dressing.

 

 

[Mx556]

I just finished my PCC ...went with a Quarter Circle 10 Glock lower with JP bolt  and captured spring SSA Geissele trigger ...  Runs like a top !!

 

[Dannybot]

Two shooters ran our Rock River mag block conversion in a 140 round match without a single hitch.  Also about 500 rounds testing, sighting and tuning it this week.

 

 

[HawkMoney]

I wish I could use a dedicated 9mm lower but with my current situation in Newyork I have to use one of the lowers I already own. So I pretty much have to get a mag block and run colt mags..any suggestions on Mag blocks?  Dannybot. Keep me posted on those rock rivers after you get done testing. 

[NPDriver]

I scored a CMMG Guard barrel & bolt on a black Friday sale for $299. Then I picked up a Foxtrot Mike's build kit on sale for $199. That kit also included the full LPK minus the trigger assembly (even included the trigger pins) upper, lower & 8.5" M-lok handguard. These were a Primary Arms exclusive that are no longer listed on their site. I wish I'd have known they were going to discontinue them, I'd have bought another at that price. All I needed to complete it was a buffer assembly (the Guard uses a standard carbine buffer & spring) trigger and charging handle. All of those parts were borrowed from my AR for the time being. Bought an SBA3 brace, buffer tube was included & I finished it off with a PWS PCC compensator that I bought on sale for $20. My grand total to date is just over $650, so you can build a quality PCC using higher-end parts on a budget if you're patient and watch for sales.

 

It's a great running little pistol. If I knew how to shrink my pictures down to .49 GB I'd post up a few. This was my first attempt at a build and I researched every part to the best of my ability for about 6 months before I purchased anything. I kept coming back to FM Products every time I'd start going through the list of features, quality and price. When I asked a question on Facebook and had the VP of operations send me a friend request so we could communicate directly on messenger, I was sold. The best customer service I've ever experienced in any industry and they have a lifetime warranty. They're bigger than you probably think also. Take a look at a Foxtrot Mike's rifle and Compare that to a $1200 PWS PCC rifle and I think you'll see what I mean. They build parts for Brownells and The Glock Store also. They just don't sell direct to the public.

[TNREDNECK]

You can get the Sterns adapter and use Glock mags , the quarter circle 10 is the way I would go with the upper, my son just got a CK Arms  Barrel that shoots nice I like JP . Good luck you will love the PCC .