Lefty wanting to join the PCC bandwagon

[tehweej]

So! I’m done convincing myself that I don’t want a PCC. Now begins the journey of which one I want. I’ve lusted after the scorpion evo because HK slap and ambi-ness of it. Now that I’ve looked, there are a few AR style lowers that are fully ambi as well. I have a Glock 17, but magazine sharing isn’t a huge seller for me, and it seems that Colt style mags have more ambi control lowers available. Not super hot on the MPX either since it seems to had issues, but I’m sure the now ones are better. I plan on eventually running a can and SBRing as well. I’m a C class shooter and I prefer reliability over having to tweak with things constantly. Which platform would you recommend and why?

 

 

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[Steve RA]

More people seem to be going to the Glock mag setups.  I'd check that out closely before I made a decision.

[BigBamBoo]

My shooting buddy is a lefty and runs a Gibbz Arms lefty setup. VERY nice upper and lower. Works well for him.

 

 

[MemphisMechanic]

I’m running a KE Arms ambi lower. Really like it.

 

The ambi mag catch works perfectly and the magwell is better than anyone else is making.

 

 

 

Downsides to colt mags:

 

1. They are a pain to seat under a closed bolt, even with 6 rounds missing from an extended 42rd mag, you really need to drive it home AND give the mag a palm heel strike.

 

(A 47rd Glock mag downloaded to 46 seats as easily as popping a factory mag into a Glock 17.)

 

2. Feed issues. You just don’t have nearly the same support keeping the nose of the first round up as Glock mags give you.

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by MemphisMechanic

[gerritm]

12 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

I’m running a KE Arms ambi lower. Really like it.

 

The ambi mag catch works perfectly and the magwell is better than anyone else is making.

 

 

 

Downsides to colt mags:

 

1. They are a pain to seat under a closed bolt, even with 6 rounds missing from an extended 42rd mag, you really need to drive it home AND give the mag a palm heel strike.

 

(A 47rd Glock mag downloaded to 46 seats as easily as popping a factory mag into a Glock 17.)

 

2. Feed issues. You just don’t have nearly the same support keeping the nose of the first round up as Glock mags give you.

 

The above is true, watched it this weekend with my shooting buddies Colt lower.

 

I run a Gibbz ambi Glock lower and love it with Glock mags , TF & MBX Extensions.  Secret to PCC is reliability and with the right parts totally achievable. Biggest improvement is the ramped barrel or Taccom feed ramp. Went from 90% to 99.9% reliable in both PCC's we run.

 

gerritm

[bwikel]

The trick to seating colt mags is

A.) download the mags a few rounds so the mag catch window is open at the top

B.) Use 20 rd. mags and load them like you would a pistol  with the base plate in the palm of your hand. 

 

A colt lower gives you lots of options for ambi controls, basically you get any ambi option you would with a multi-cal AR lower. 

[davsco]

jp gmr13 with glock mags works for me (shoots rifles lefty).  glock mags just work in glocks and they also just work in the jp (and prob most other AR-glock platforms).  relatively inexpensive and lots of mag and extension options.  i've only shot a colt-mag pcc once, but loading and unloading those mags SUCKED.

[SteelCityShooter]

I'm also a lefty and have a JP GMR15.  It comes with an ambi safety and I find the bolt catch/bolt release are far more accessible to my left trigger finger than they would be to a right-hander's thumb.  The mag catch isn't reversible but I use my support (right) hand to change magazines and that works well too.  

 

At much less cost, the Ruger PC Carbine is also very lefty friendly and i have one of these too.  The charging handle and mag catch are reversible and Tactical Innovations sells a left-handed safety button that is inexpensive and very easy to install.   Of course it can take Glock magazines of any capacity.

[jackson923]

18 hours ago, tehweej said:

 

So! I’m done convincing myself that I don’t want a PCC. Now begins the journey of which one I want. I’ve lusted after the scorpion evo because HK slap and ambi-ness of it. Now that I’ve looked, there are a few AR style lowers that are fully ambi as well. I have a Glock 17, but magazine sharing isn’t a huge seller for me, and it seems that Colt style mags have more ambi control lowers available. Not super hot on the MPX either since it seems to had issues, but I’m sure the now ones are better. I plan on eventually running a can and SBRing as well. I’m a C class shooter and I prefer reliability over having to tweak with things constantly. Which platform would you recommend and why?

 

 

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As a fellow lefty I can talk about both the Colt pattern and Glock pattern rifles as I have one of each.  I have my Colt pattern rifle with is a DDLES lower now QC10 and its set up just like my other AR's with ambi charging handle, BAD lever and ambi safety control.  I also have a Foxtrot Mike rifle that is Glock mag pattern lower and it has a side charging handle that is forward on the handguard.  I prefer the ease of the Foxtrot Mike side charger as a left handed shooter.  My FTM rifle also has an ambi safety selector, the benefit is the side charging upper is ambi as well.  The initial design was a folder paratrooper style charging handle, it has been redesigned and comes with three options, a thin single finger charger, an thicker single finger charger and an ambi single finger charger that is thinner material (sticks through the top part of the rail on both sides).  The quality of the Foxtrot Mike rifle is awesome, watched it eat over 8K rounds of non brass ammo at a demo bay for 3 Gun Nation Nationals without a single malfunction.  The customer service is also top notch as I always have a reply to any question usually same day (hour or less) or no later than the next day. 

 

A new three lug adapter just came out for cans.  I may be wrong but I think it is for PCC rifles as well as AR15 rifles.

Edited December 20, 2018 by jackson923
Update info

[tehweej]

Do you guys find that not having a left-handed mag release slows you down much? I know with PCC you shouldn’t have to reload except for mandatory reload stages, but I just wondered how much this affects your times.

 

I also like the side charging uppers

 

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[gerritm]

19 hours ago, tehweej said:

Do you guys find that not having a left-handed mag release slows you down much? I know with PCC you shouldn’t have to reload except for mandatory reload stages, but I just wondered how much this affects your times.

 

I also like the side charging uppers

 

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Yes, it does slow you down considerably. We have stages beside classifiers where they call for a mandatory reloads. Shooting 3-gun my AR's don't have left handed safeties so I was used to it but never really needed one till PCC USPSA. Ambi is great.

 

To me side charging is not necessary because in this case you really should never run dry with 57-60 round mags. But it is nice, I have shot the JPGMR's with it.

 

gerritm

Edited December 21, 2018 by gerritm

[Darqusoull13]

22 hours ago, tehweej said:

 

So! I’m done convincing myself that I don’t want a PCC. Now begins the journey of which one I want. I’ve lusted after the scorpion evo because HK slap and ambi-ness of it. Now that I’ve looked, there are a few AR style lowers that are fully ambi as well. I have a Glock 17, but magazine sharing isn’t a huge seller for me, and it seems that Colt style mags have more ambi control lowers available. Not super hot on the MPX either since it seems to had issues, but I’m sure the now ones are better. I plan on eventually running a can and SBRing as well. I’m a C class shooter and I prefer reliability over having to tweak with things constantly. Which platform would you recommend and why?

 

 

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If you want reliability buy the JP and focus on shooting and having fun. We ran 4 shooters on 1 of my GMR's through a 250 round steel match all suppressed. The GMR just flat runs and runs. Over a couple seasons now the GMR's are over 65,000 rounds and still going. I actually just picked up a '15 to SBR and play with the new giant competition mag release. It's sweet and the ambi safeties are obviously standard on the JP. They are also offering the Radian charging handles on factory builds now which is sweet. 

I always have a spare JP in case another PCC goes down at a match. The loaners have been called into action for plenty of folks and they run damn near any 9mm you can fit in the GLOCK mags. For whatever reason they don't like the 9mm with "380 Auto" or "40 Short and Weak" written on the bottoms but they run the rest just fine 

[gerritm]

15 hours ago, Darqusoull13 said:

If you want reliability buy the JP and focus on shooting and having fun. We ran 4 shooters on 1 of my GMR's through a 250 round steel match all suppressed. The GMR just flat runs and runs. Over a couple seasons now the GMR's are over 65,000 rounds and still going. I actually just picked up a '15 to SBR and play with the new giant competition mag release. It's sweet and the ambi safeties are obviously standard on the JP. They are also offering the Radian charging handles on factory builds now which is sweet. 

I always have a spare JP in case another PCC goes down at a match. The loaners have been called into action for plenty of folks and they run damn near any 9mm you can fit in the GLOCK mags. For whatever reason they don't like the 9mm with "380 Auto" or "40 Short and Weak" written on the bottoms but they run the rest just fine 

I have seen these in action and other than the 2 I built these are the most reliable best running high round count PCC's there are. These get a ton of use. Several of the guys I shoot with besides Cory run the JP's and I don't think think I have ever seen a failure. Great guns and reliability is the key. 

 

gerritm

[MemphisMechanic]

18 hours ago, tehweej said:

Do you guys find that not having a left-handed mag release slows you down much? 

 

I run the KE Arms ambi lower because the lack of an ambi mag release isn’t acceptable in USPSA.

[rchaas]

One concern for lefties (I know from personal experience) is in the event of a case rupture (the case is not fully supported in these rifles and with a right sided port, all that blow back goes right in your face.  So I am happy to continue using a Gibbz left sided ejection port upper (with right side charging handle).  

The Gibbz lower has an ambi mag release and can be used with a righty or lefty upper.  I have had issues with extraction/ejection with the Gibbz ambi bolt, but some mods we made (see the thread linked below) have resulted in a very reliable, accurate and safe machine!

 

rch

 

[tehweej]

One concern for lefties (I know from personal experience) is in the event of a case rupture (the case is not fully supported in these rifles and with a right sided port, all that blow back goes right in your face.  So I am happy to continue using a Gibbz left sided ejection port upper (with right side charging handle).  

The Gibbz lower has an ambi mag release and can be used with a righty or lefty upper.  I have had issues with extraction/ejection with the Gibbz ambi bolt, but some mods we made (see the thread linked below) have resulted in a very reliable, accurate and safe machine!
 
rch
 

Thanks for all the info guys! Kinda leaning toward the KE or the Gibbz. JPs reputation is superlative, but as mentioned above not having an ambi mag release kinda kills it for me. The KE with a JP upper seems like a good compromise?


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[gerritm]

Mine is a Gibbz lower with a JP upper 14.5" pinned JP tac comp. I built my own CF handguard to keep the weight down, but there are plenty of light handguards available. I found the JP was too heavy. I like the front to be light for fast transitions. Balance more in the middle.

 

gerritm

[MemphisMechanic]

16 hours ago, tehweej said:

Thanks for all the info guys! Kinda leaning toward the KE or the Gibbz. JPs reputation is superlative, but as mentioned above not having an ambi mag release kinda kills it for me. The KE with a JP upper seems like a good compromise?

 

 

I agree. I’m a big fan of my KE arms lower now.

 

My gun is an odd duck because I had to lower the magazine position about 3/16” to clear the fat bolt head the CMMG Guard upper uses.

 

Ran like a top on the maiden voyage last night: After 6 months hunting for reliability feeding it from colt mags, I couldn’t get beyond a jam every 50-100 or so rounds.

 

She went 350 or so last night without a single malfunction. Everything from heavy slow 150gr 130PF  to hot fast 115gr loads.

 

Lousy camera angle, but:

 

 

 

 

[OPENB]

I thought about a Coda Evolution before I bought my MPX, but it appears they quit making them. Coda doesn't have them on their site, and Shooter's Connection is out of stock. I've seen some on some other sites still for sale, but not from Coda.

I know you are leery about the MPX, but for ambi-ness, it's great. I added the extended mag buttons, and the bolt release is fine as is. It is the softest shooting PCC  I've tried yet. Loving everything about it so far, except for the cost of Gen 2 mags. But I shoot open too, so I've long been inoculated to high mag cost.

[Fowlmouths]

I made a Palmetto State Armory glock billet lower ambi!  Not pretty but works great.

[edyan]

Ruger PC Carbine ...perfectly ambidextrous, very accurate and reliable...takes glock mags. Put a 2.5 lb.  Volquartsen trigger and an Allchin comp plus whatever sight you like and you have a sweet shooting steel gun and not very expensive.

[Kixx]

5 minutes ago, edyan said:

Ruger PC Carbine ...perfectly ambidextrous

 

Is the safety ambidextrous?  I passed up one of these because I didn’t think the safety could be switched. 

[edyan]

Ruger PC Carbine ...perfectly ambidextrous, very accurate and reliable...takes glock mags. Put a 2.5 lb.  Volquartsen trigger and an Allchin comp plus whatever sight you like and you have a sweet shooting steel gun and not very expensive.

 

yes I reversed the safety...Tactical Solutions https://www.tacticalinc.com/catalog/product/00418

[Kixx]

Excellent. That was the only thing keeping me from picking one up. 

[edyan]

Taccom also makes  accesories for it...