Posted on 02/17/2015 5:14:19 AM PST by Jed Eckert
The Ruger Police carbine was designed by as a companion long arm to go with their P series pistols. This was to cash in on the trend of many law enforcement departments adding a carbine as an alternative or an addition to a shotgun for patrol cars. Ruger P series pistols use the same magazines and were offered in both 9mm and .40 caliber chamberings. Ruger made these carbines for 10 years, 1996 to 2006, marketing them to police departments but selling them to private buyers as well.
The carbine is externally a traditionally styled long arm with a manual push-button safety located behind the trigger guard. The magazine release is located on the slightly lowered magazine well, and the cocking handle is located on the bolt they operate from the right side. There is a bolt release located on the left side of the receiver. The bolt locks back on an empty magazine after the last shot. The balance point is located between the supporting hands, making it fast to shoulder and track a target.
The stock is solid black polymer with molded checkering on the wrist and forearm, capped with a rubber buttplate that is ribbed and rounded. It has two sling swivels one on the front barrel band and one on the bottom of the buttstock midline.
The metal sights consist of a military style front with protective wings located at the muzzle and a ghost ring rear sight located 12 ½ inches back from it
The top of the receiver is milled to accept Ruger scope rings.
Like most pistol caliber carbines, the Ruger is a blowback operated autoloader. That means the weight of the bolt and the expansion of the case is what keeps the chamber sealed until the pressure is low enough for the action to extract the fired case and chamber the next round. In center fire guns, this means the bolt has to be heavy. In order to keep the carbine compact and balanced, Ruger designed a two piece bolt. The working bolt in the receiver that houses the extractor, ejector, and firing pin and the massive bolt are located in the forend. They are connected by steel rods. The combined mass of these is enough to hold the breech safely closed during firing. Without an expanded case in the chamber to add friction, the bolt is held closed only by the recoil spring. To keep the bolt closed when not firing, Ruger added a bolt safety lock to the working bolt. It is deactivated by pulling back on the bolt handle or pulling the trigger. This is typical Ruger belt and suspenders engineering.
Being designed for short range and fast action, the PC was shot at 15 yards with the issue iron sights. The accuracy was as expected: two inch groups with lots of touching holes.
The PC9/4 carbine is a good addition to any urban dwellers arsenal. Ruger has always made quality firearms that were priced on the lower end of the scale. Both it and the Ruger P series pistols can be generally found on the used market at a lower price than most other brands. While the weight is more like a full sized rifle, the carbine is compact and well balanced. Also it is solid enough to use as a melee weapon.
The roots of its design are from the 20th Century 2nd generation carbines. That means no rails or pistol grip, no muzzle break/flash hider, and night sights. It is a solid firearm that will take a lot of abuse and function accurately and reliably. The only change I would recommend is the addition of an electronic sight, such as the Lucid M7 shown above or an Aimpoint. While the top of the receiver is milled for Ruger scope rings, you can mount a Picatinny rail adapter to the receiver. For best cheek weld, you will want to choose a sight that is lower than those sold for AR straight stock style rifles.
Specifications:
More photos at the source
Good find. If you ever want to go back to a wood stock Boyds Gunstocks offers them from time to time in laminated wood.
Not a new idea. Anyone remember the short rifle designed on the Browning Hi-Power back in the 1960s?
Saw them advertized but never saw one for sale.
Bump
I’ve always wanted a short carbine chambered for 10mm accepting a Glock magazine
I really wanted one of these, but they’re hard to find nowadays. Wound up with the Beretta CX4 in 9mm instead. It’s really quite nice, if a bit pricey.
(Also available in .40 and .45, too. Tempting)
Look at Keltec Sub2000. They make a really nice little 9mm glock mag carbine. Well made and very compact. Don’t know if they do one in a 45 glock yet.
Who makes that?
Thanks. I’ve read mixed reviews about those for reliability. Never saw one in person but I’d like to.
My only gripe is the factory plastic buffer self destructed after a couple of years. Fortunately there are lots of high quality aftermarket buffers available for it that last forever now.
Had the very same problem with a Marlin 99M1 .22. Whatever plastic or nylon they were using back then just disintegrated after awhile.
They look like cool little carbines.
The Ruger PC9, a gun that sold for $459 new and now sells for $1,200 +/-. I was lucky enough to find 2 that once belonged to the Maine State Police for $600 bringing my arsenal total to three of these beauties. All of mine have Ghost Sights and no optics, tactical sling and stock mounted dual magazine holders. Of course my collection wouldn’t be complete without the accompanying Ruger P95 pistols and 30, 15 round magazines that fit both. Out to 75 yards this thing is deadly even in the hands of my 8 and 11 year old kids. I am having issues with the one that wasn’t from the Troopers jamming every 3rd or 4th round. A quick call to my good friends at Ruger and for $30 shipping will fix my carbine for free. That is what I call customer service. If you get the chance to pick one of these up at a reasonable price, you won’t be sorry.
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