I went to the range to FINALLY shoot and zero my new Ruger PCC-9.
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Set up to use Glock mags, Magpul hand stop, SIG Romeo 5
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The photo above is from before I added the M*Carbo muzzle brake which I had an issue with. Totally my fault though... I never had a firearm with a threaded barrel and I went too far with the crush washer making it useless. When I ordered a replacement washer and some extras as well as a bottle of their high temperature thread locker, the fucking USPS lost my package. M*Carbo sent out a free replacement shipment, but only one washer. Well, that was enough to get my gun running and I will deal with them to get my other 5 spares they owe me. The other thing I did was move the bolt charging handle to the left side, even though I am right handed. I can swap mags and cock the bolt with my left hand super fast. I chose to use Glock mags instead of Ruger mags for several reasons. 1) Standard Ruger mags are $45 each, Glock mags are $30. 2) Reviews I read stated almost 100% reliability using Glock mags over Ruger. 3) Glock G-17 10 round mags are longer, making them easier to grab for fast mag swaps. The Ruger 10 round mags are really short. 4) Glock G-17 mags are 10, 17, 24 and 30 round factory stick mags. I could even go Magpul drum mags if I didn't mind all that weight. Ruger factory SR9 mags are 17, and that's it. I plan on a shopping trip to a nearby Free State of America to acquire some contraband standard capacity mags.
My plan was to function test and initially zero using my 9mm reloads. My recipe is: Winchester brass, Berry's 115 grain plated round nose bullets, Winchester magnum small pistol primers, and 4.3 grains of Bullseye powder. Those rounds feed and function reliably in any semi-auto I have. Once I was satisfied, switch over to a box of Federal 147 grain HST JHP for final zero and target practice, which will be my defensive carry round in the carbine. I read several articles (this one in particular from Lucky Gunner) about using heavier bullets in pistol caliber carbines. It was a comparison of ammo and barrel lengths, and when you push certain lighter bullets through a carbine barrel, velocity goes too high for proper bullet penetration and expansion. They over expand and deform and lose penetration. I went with their recommendation of the Federal 147gr HST. All I can say is "WOW!" those rounds hit harder than I expected. More about that in a moment.
I mounted the SIG Romeo 5 Red Dot using the co-witness mount so I can always use the factory peep sights if the Romeo 5 fails. Out of the box, the factory sight was just a little low and the windage was fine. A quick adjustment with the factory supplied Allen wrench and I was dead on a 50 yards using my reloads. Next was to adjust the Romeo. While I have several scopes, this is my first red dot and I seemed to have a little difficulty with it at first. I figured it out and got it zeroed as well. A few more mags of my target ammo gave me satisfying results banging the steel plates at 75 and 100 yards holding just a little high, and on the 25 yard plates holding just a little low. Exactly what I was hoping for with a 50 yard zero. I switched to my 50 round box of Federal HST. It only required a little more adjustment of the Romeo 5 and I was happy with the 50 yard group I shot below.
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Circled 3-shot group is final zero
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From there it was whacking the freshly painted steel plates at 50, 75, 100, and then back to the 25 yard plates. There wasn't any difference in the amount of hold over or hold under from my target ammo. But there sure was a difference in how hard the 147gr HST rounds hit the plates. That became even more evident when I set up the milk jugs full of water. Since I was there alone there was no one to shoot a video of me blasting the milk jugs. Too bad. I set them two at a time on one of our range target stand bases at 50 yards about 3 feet apart. All the jugs flew into the air about 3 feet high and backwards when hit, which for a 9mm round surprised the shit out of me. Below are the remains on my truck tailgate.
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Lungs will be blown out, just like Joe Biden says they will
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While these jugs are not completely shredded like when hit with a rifle round, it is quite evident that a strike on a human (or sub-human) subject will be devastating. After all, our bodies are like 60% water, so the damage caused by the hydraulic properties of water would be similar.
The next thing I tried was breaking the rifle down and putting it back together to see how accuracy was affected. The manual says that when you put it back together, you should pull the charging handle back and let the bolt slam forward several times to fully re-seat the barrel. I did that and there was no adverse effect on accuracy. Excellent!
I burned through 50 rounds of my target ammo and 50 rounds of the Federal HST for a total of 100. There was not one misfire, hang fire, squib, FTF or FTE. The gun is easy to shoot and hold on target for follow up shots. The last thing I tried was bump firing it. No go, Joe. The recoil is either too light or the trigger too stiff. Since it uses the 10-22 trigger assembly, there are lots of after market tweaks available. Maybe a 3D printed FRT? It will someday get the Ruger AR style factory stock (verbotten in Kommiecticut... FUCK `EM!) and I need to find a proper backpack that doesn't scream "TACTICAL RIFLE INSIDE!!!" I like the Vertx Commuter but it is slightly too small, and their Commuter XL is ginormous. I'll keep looking.
This is the first gun I've bought since my S&W M&P 45 Shield in 2021. If the assholes at the ATF need to check to see if I still have it in my possession, the answer is "YES," don't bother coming to my house to see for yourself. You will not get a warm welcome.
