In this episode of TFBTV, James reviews Wilson Combat’s brand new AR9G, a 9mm AR15 that accepts 9mm Glock magazines.  Wilson designed this gun from the ground up – it is no mere converted AR15, but a completely new gun. Wilson plans to introduce the AR9 in several other varieties accepting several different manufacturers’ 9mm pistol magazines. But at $2,000 MSRP, is the AR9G worth it? James tells you today on TFBTV.

More shooting footage here:

Transcript …

– Hey guys, James again for TFB TV.

Today on TFB TV, I’m very excited to introduce to you the new Wilson Combat AR 9.

(gun firing) And this is Wilson Combat, 9 milometer AR 15 carbine.

And I’m reluctant to refer to it as an AR 15 style carbine because Wilson Combat really wants to emphasize that this gun was developed from the ground up to be a 9 milometer carbine that shares some similarities with the AR 15.

This is the AR 9 g, g being short for Glock.

This model takes Glock magazines.

And while Wilson is going to make a model that takes Beretta magazines and a model that takes Smith and Wesson M&P magazines, I guarantee you that the Glock version is going to be the most popular.

You have more options with the Glock magazine.

You have manufacturers making Glock magazines that are reliable, high quality and inexpensive including Magpul so to me I think it’s a no brainer to get the Glock model.

So let’s go front to back here guys.

To start, you’ve got a five eight by 24 inch threaded 9 milometer barrel that comes with a Q-comp/flash hider on the front.

Now if I can make a brief comment about that.

Five eight by 24 is kind of an odd thread pitch to have for a 9 milometer barrel.

So I’m kinda disappointed to see Wilson go with one of the odder thread pitches for the barrel.

But at the end of the day, it’s not really that big of a deal.

Moving back you have the Wilson Combat trim, t-r-i-m hand guard, it’s a free float hand guard.

Easy to change out if you need to.

And you may be able to see, it’s got a couple sling studs on either side, quick disconnect sling studs.

And then it has threaded portions on the three o’clock, six o’clock and nine o’clock of the rail where you can screw on little pieces of Picatinny rail.

I also note that for an extra 100 dollar upcharge you can get a fluted barrel model if you want to cut down on some weight.

I think that for an extra 100 dollars that’s a pretty decent deal if ounces matter to you.

And continuing backwards you can see that the magwell is flared and beveled.

Very nice, easy insert for the mags even if you’re not looking at the magwell when you’re doing it.

Very nice billet receiver, has a built in trigger guard as you can see here.

It’s got the Wilson Combat two stage TTU or tactical trigger unit which is supposed to be four pounds.

This also comes with a Wilson Combat branded BCM star-burst grip which has a storage compartment that had no star-burst in it.

I think somebody from Wilson Combat ate them before they sent this to me so I’ll be in touch with them about that.

Finally in the rear, you’ve got the Rogers Super-Stoc which is actually one of my favorite stocks.

Ugly as hell but it works very well, it’s extremely lightweight, one of the lightest weight stocks on the market.

And I gotta say guys, this gun looks great.

It feels great, it’s finished in the Wilson Combat armor tough finish which I love.

Black, they say that there are going to be more colors available in the future.

But the one hang up with Wilson Combat, you know where I’m going, you know what I’m about to say, price, MSRP on this guy is two grand.

And 2100 dollars if you go with a fluted barrel model.

Now, ya know, that said you get a lot of value out of Wilson Combat guns.

They’ve been selling their ARs for two grand plus for years and they’re not going out of business.

Unfortunately for you south paws, this is not an A&B gun, it has only a strong side safety and bolt catch.

Now when you spend 2,000 dollars on a rifle, you kinda hope that it comes with some nice packaging.

Fortunately, Wilson Combat delivers in that regard.

They’ve got a very nice, zipper, mult-compartment Wilson Combat branded sock close.

Kinda clever, the AR 9 also comes with a dog tag that has your AR 9 model and serial number on the plate.

Okay, first shots with the AR 9, let’s go.

Oh, well, for 2,000 dollars, it turns out, you don’t get any sights.

Let me go back to the truck and grab an aim point.

First shots with the AR 9, take two.

(gun firing and hitting metal repeatedly) Alright, just had a little failure to fire but it turns out, just a hard primer.

On this crappy Wolf Steel ammunition, I almost feel bad running cheap nine through a nice 9 milometer AR like this.

(gun firing and hitting metal repeatedly) Wow, wow, I mean, this isn’t just nice.

It’s exceptional, like this really is the trigger.

Wilson’s trigger on here is amazing.

I love this two stage trigger, very crisp, works very well with the aim point.

This is the aim point that sighted in for my MPX.

It’s shooting a little bit low but not much.

I mean, you can hear it dinging the plate.

It’s working well enough, I do have a complaint about this magazine release, takes quite a bit of pressure to not move it very far.

I mean, your, it barely goes in.

You gotta really treat it like a see saw.

Because how it works is this mag release, it’s a long piece of metal and so you press down on the back end and it lifts up the front end, the tab that’s holding the mag in place.

So you just see saw it out so the further back you hit it, the better.

The AR 9 is specifically made to be utterly reliable with all bullet weights, 9 milometer bullet weights.

I have 50 rounds, I just plucked from three boxes.

We’ve got aluminum case, 147 grain.

Brass case, 124 grain and a lot of Steel Wolf, 115 grain.

Let’s see if this Wilson can take all of it.

(gun cocking) (gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) Oh.

Got another hard primer with the Wolf.

So that makes you kinda wonder if the primer’s hard or if this firing pin’s hitting a little soft.

(gun cocking) (gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) Again, another one with Wolf.

And the dimple’s looking really light on this primer so I am wondering if this Wilson firing pin is hitting a little on the, a little on the soft side.

(gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) Oh, another one, bet it’s Wolf.

Yup, again, Wolf, hard primer, soft strike, combination of the two, who knows.

(gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) And again, I really don’t like that mag release very much.

(gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) Here we go again.

Oh.

This time that was 147 grain CCI blazer.

It’s making me wonder if the AR 9’s hitting a little too soft, its like the Drake of guns.

(gun firing and hitting plate repeatedly) Here we go again.

Oh no, that time it went dry but the bolt didn’t hold open.

I mean, as far as feeding reliability goes, it’s choking it all down, I mean, it’s taking it.

But I mean, it looks like the firing pin might be hitting the primers a little bit on the soft side.

So ya know, it did that a couple of times with Wolf and with CCI Blazer aluminium, both of which kinda have a reputation for having harder primers.

I also didn’t like that the bolt didn’t hold open on the last round but I don’t know if this makes any difference, it shouldn’t but that was with a Glock 19 mag from a Gen 2 Glock 19.

Maybe it makes a difference, maybe it doesn’t.

The Wilson Combat AR 9 comes in 9 milometer with your choice of the 14.7 inch or 16 inch barrel.

The overall length on the 16 inch model is 32.75 inches and it weighs six pounds, four ounces, which is pretty lightweight.

It comes with a billet AR 70/75 aluminum flat top upper and lower matching receiver.

And Wilson promises match grade accuracy out of this thing.

But Wilson has outfitted this thing with a propitiatory bolt and barrel to maximize the feed reliability with common bullet profiles.

It uses a closed bolt blow back operating system that it says is soft shooting and reliable.

And this gun is plus p rated, obviously.

Okay, so this is my second trip to the range now with the Wilson AR 9.

I sent it back to Wilson after last week because as you guys saw, I had a few problems.

There were mostly light primer strikes and then I had one double feed (ding) and one double fire.

And again, that was with Wolf so (gun fires) that was really interesting.

But I sent it back to Wilson, they checked the gun out.

They said the gun’s fine but Wilson did send some really wonky grain weight made by Wilson.

And I’ve got it here, they sent me 100 rounds of it.

They said run this through it and see if it works.

But real weird conical bullet and it comes in a Wilson Combat box and then there’s a plastic box in the box, it’s like a Russian doll of ammo.

But anyways, that’s what they sent me, they sent 100 rounds.

So what I’m gonna do right now is I’m gonna run those 100 rounds through this Wilson Combat AR 9.

I loaded up a bunch of Glock magazines.

I’m just gonna blast and see what happens.

And then I’m gonna run some more Wolf through it.

And see what happens but ya know, they said don’t run Wolf through it.

That’s a little bit like don’t try to run your car on Jack Daniels.

It’s like of course, everybody knows that.

But ya know, Wolf being as cheap as it is, even though it is garbage, it’s great for the range.

And you really, if you spend 2,000 dollars on an AR, you kinda do want it to be able to take anything you could throw at it, right? So anyways, we’ll, let me shoot this.

We’ll go peel off this hundred rounds.

And then, and then I’ll fire some more Wolf through it, see if it has the same problems.

(gun cocking) (gun firing) Look at that, second round, failure to feed.

God, second round from having it.

Right after the first shot, getting it back from the factory.

(gun firing twice) Again, failure to feed, this is a factory Glock 33 round magazine, this isn’t the magazine that Wilson sent, but this is OEM factory Glock 33 round magazine.

(gun firing repeatedly) There we go, got it running, made it through the rest of those, but yeah, factory Glock magazine, Wilson’s ammo.

Isn’t that adorable? Alright, this is the Glock or the Magpul Glock magazine.

The GL 9, the 17 rounder, see how it does.

(gun cocking) (gun firing repeatedly and rapidly) (gun firing in slow motion) Not bad, Glock 19 mag and it doesn’t want to insert on a closed bolt.

(gun firing repeatedly and rapidly) Oh, stove pipe, alright I just squirted this thing down with WD-40 and I’m gonna give it another run, see how it does.

(gun firing repeatedly) Yeah, ran it, but bolt didn’t hold open that time.

Let’s keep going, ah, this is Wolf, your old adversary. (gun firing repeatedly) I gotta tell you, Wolf’s running a lot hotter out of here.

Yup and there it was again, light primer strike.

(gun firing repeatedly) Another light primer strike, looks like.

Ya know, I wonder if it has something to do with the two stage trigger.

I wish I knew more about how two stage triggers work, what affect that they had on an impact, primer impact with the firing pin but ya know, I wonder if that could explain it.

If you put GI trigger, your standard GI trigger, if it would work better.

Alright now we’ve got the last two magazines of the Wilson Combat ammo.

(gun firing repeatedly) There it was, another double fire.

Did you guys, you hear that? God, ATF if you’re watching this, don’t take me to jail.

I swear to God I didn’t know that was gonna happen.

Wilson, get your shit together man.

This is a great gun, this is a great gun.

But like I said earlier, it just doesn’t work.

Like it just doesn’t work.

(gun firing repeatedly) I guess it’s a little bit like having a Lamborghini powered by a hamster wheel.

I mean, this thing looks sleek.

And when it works, its awesome.

The trigger’s great, everything about it.

Like I said, I’m lukewarm on the magazine release.

But other than that, this is a great gun.

And this is a shame, guys, I mean, I can already tell you for 2,000 dollars, I mean, (censor beep) Man, I mean, the reliability if this thing just worked.

This would be amazing, I might even shell out 2,000 dollars, it’s a great gun.

It just (gun firing in slow motion) Doesn’t really work that well.

And remember guys, I sent this back to Wilson Combat.

I sent this back to Wilson Combat.

They said that everything was fine.

Even after I lubed it up, after I put WD-40 on the bolt, it really didn’t fix any of the issues, so.

I don’t know, I mean, bummer man.

In conclusion: bummer, that is the conclusion, bummer.

Great gun and I just can’t tell you to go out and spend 2,000 dollars on this.

But anyways, thanks for watching guys.

I really appreciate it, as usual.

Please subscribe, I will see you next week, take care.

(marching band music)