In this episode of TFBTV, James gets to tackle one of his favorite subjects – the pistol caliber carbine. James is hands-on with the Brügger & Thomet GHM9 (possibly, this acronym stands for Grasshopper Mouse/Grashüpfermäuse, a scorpion-eating rodent).  The GHM-9 is a submachinegun/personal defense weapon (SMG/PDW) designed and manufactured by Brügger & Thomet of Switzerland. The GHM-9 is a 9×19mm Parabellum caliber carbine. It uses 15, 20, 25, and 30 round transparent polymer detachable box magazines. The GHM-9 is a development of the AP9, using the same lower and a very simplified upper. The GHM-9 includes a stock that folds to the right side of the weapon, an integrated Picatinny rail (part of the monolithic receiver at 12 and 6 o’clock, and via screw-on rail at 3 and 9 o’clock).

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Transcript ….

– [James] Hey guys, James again, with TFB TV and I have a special treat for you today.

It is the B&T GHM-9.

The GHM-9 is B&T’s new nine millimeter pistol caliber carbine and with a street price of around $1200, it’s taking aim directly at the SIG MPX and the slightly less expensive CZ Scorpion.

The scorpion and the MPX are definitely the two most dominant non-AR- nine millimeter pistol caliber carbines.

So, how does GHM-9 stack up and is there any room in this crowded market for it.

Before we get there, put on your tin foil hats because I’ve got a conspiracy theory.

I’ve told you guys this before, my wife, Lindsay and I are two big nature nerds, so, when I disassembled the GHM-9 and I saw this engraving in the upper receiver, I knew something was up.

That’s a mouse eating a scorpion and I’ve watched enough BBC documentaries to tell you, that, that is a grasshopper mouse.

These cute little bastards eat all kinds of insects, including scorpions.

Grasshopper mouse, GHM, scorpion killer, you do the math.

The GHM-9 is a nine millimeter blow back, pistol caliber carbine and although it uses a straight blow back recoil system with a closed bolt, the GHM-9’s bolt carrier group has a hydraulic buffer in the rear that really does dampen the recoil.

It’s recoil impulse is closer to the milder shooting MP-5, because of the hydraulic buffer system.

The GHM-9 uses the same polymer lower as the APC-9 and the same magazines and if there’s at least one trait that the GHM-9 shares in common with the MPX, it is that the magazines are 70 bucks.

It has an ambi mag release and an ambi bolt release as well as an ambi thumb safety.

The aluminum upper receiver is totally monolithic and it has full length, 12 o’clock rail and 6 o’clock rail along the bottom of the free floating hand guard.

Also, note the screws on the outside of the receiver towards the barrel, those go directly into the barrel trunnion, so, the user can change the barrel at home.

Unlike the MP-5 it has a last round bolt hold open and another really cool feature is a reversible charging handle.

I want to give a big shout out to the St. Bernard Indoor Shooting Center for letting me film this video at their range.

So, in return I’ve let the guys at St. Bernard shoot the gun, but only if they would let me put them on TFB TV.

So, as you’ll see, here, Cam is demonstrating how if you’re a right hand shooter, that reciprocating charging handle that’s attached to the bolt can sometimes get in the way of your support hand.

So, what’s your option? Flip it over to the right hand side.

That might make charging a little bit more cumbersome if you’re a rightie, so, you’re going to have to charge it AK style, however, again, it has an ambidextrous bolt release, so, if you’re trying to execute a quick reload all you gotta do is press a button.

You don’t have to worry about flipping the gun over on it’s side and pumping it manually.

As you can see, the lower attaches to the upper via two pins.

So, field-stripping the lower is very easy.

The pins are captive, you just knock them out, just like in AR-15 and speaking of just like an AR-15, I’m fairly confident that the GHM-9 is using an AR-15 or at least, AR-15 style trigger group because it looks and feels almost identical although, the trigger pull on the GHM-9 is slightly smoother and slightly better than the MPX, which I know for a fact, uses an AR-15 trigger group.

I should also, mention that Geissele, has a trigger for the GHM-9 on the way.

Now, if you see that 3rd pin all the way to the rear, I thought that was kind of silly looking, at first, however, it’s pretty ingenious.

The two pins allow you to remove the lower and you can also, remove just the top pin to take out the recoil springs and the bolt for a quick cleaning.

As you see here, I’m a complete and total idiot and it is very difficult to remove a stock and the stock trunnion at the back without the recoil assembly shooting out the back and it’s not that big of a deal.

Speaking of the stock, you’ve seen this B&T minimalist stock on quite a few other guns and for nine millimeter use I am a huge fan.

It’s incredibly lightweight and it’s still a very comfortable wire stock.

That said, I wouldn’t be butt stroking anyone with this stock and while I do like the MPX stock, slightly more, and I do believe the MPX stock is going to be much more robust, than the folding stock and the GHM-9, the GHM-9 is extremely low profile, extremely lightweight and very quick and easy to deploy.

Giving it a slight edge on the MPX collapsible stock.

We shot a few hundred rounds to this gun and universally, everyone who shot it, absolutely loved it.

It’s nice.

It’s definitely a scorpion killer.

– [James] The bottom line is the GHM-9 is on par with the MPX if not better.

Although, they both have their pluses and minuses and I certainly think that the GHM-9 is better than the Scorpion and while the GHM-9 generally, drips with Swiss quality, I mean, you really feel it when you pick up this svelte gun.

There were a couple of minor issues that I could see as being easily fixed that caught my attention.

First of all, the thumb safety, while, they’re easy to manipulate, tends to dig into the webbing between the webbing between your thumb and your index finger, if you have larger hands but that’s something you could really mill down yourself if you needed to.

Second, I was actually kind of pissed off about the stock retention system.

By the time I received this brand new gun, it wasn’t even working.

So, we had to shoot it with the stock deployed, the whole time, which kind of defeats the purpose.

B&T explained that they imported a bunch of TP-9 stocks for the GHM-9 and installed them on the prototypes, but they found out they’re not an exact fit from the TP-9 to the GHM-9.

Future GHM-9 stocks are going to be custom fitted, however, this gun is still evolving.

It’s still relatively new in the market and they’re still looking at making minor changes here and there to the GHM-9, in order to make it the perfect pistol caliber carbine.

B&T and third parties are presently working on brace adapters for the GHM-9.

B&T sent me their own Swiss made SMG-9 suppressor to use on the GHM-9 and as you can hear in this video, sound suppression was very impressive, even indoors.

I’ve got a video review coming on DSMG-9 suppressor once I break it out of jail and I get to use it on a few other guns.

Note that B&T actually makes H&K OEM suppressors.

So, in conclusion, I have to say that the GHM-9 is almost perfect and I think it has the potential to be the best pistol caliber carbine on the market.

But before anyone can say that with any authority, it’s gonna need some time on the market to see how the reliability plays out and to see it evolve into it’s final form.

Anyways, I want to say thank you to you guy’s usual for watching, thank you to Ventura Munitions for sending me the ammo that we used through the B&T and thank you to B&T for sending me this gun to evaluate.

As an epilogue, I was so impressed with the GHM-9 I decided that I’m going to be buying it.

I’ve done the paperwork on it and hopefully I’ll have it in a few months and we can do a true side by side comparison.

Guys I will see you next week.

(upbeat music)