Just 10 years ago, it seemed like submachine guns and pistol caliber carbines would soon be a thing of the past, or at least they will become very niche firearms like revolvers or scout rifles. But the firearms industry trends move in mysterious ways, and now we’re witnessing what looks like a golden age of SMGs and PCCs – companies, big and small, keep designing pistol caliber carbines like it’s 1941, and the intermediate cartridge hasn’t been invented yet. And recently a small private Russian company called Sport Weapon Custom came up with another original PCC design.

Sport Weapon Custom 9 mm pistol caliber carbine

I came across that PCC on a shooting range, when an instructor was trying out his personal carbine. Since me and my friends had a lot of our own ammo and plenty of curiosity we shot a few hundred rounds through it. At first, it looked just like another pistol caliber AR, but even after a brief look, you can see that it’s something a little different.

Sport Weapon Custom 9 mm pistol caliber carbine

For me, the most unusual feature was the charging handle – in a way, it is similar to MP5, but the notch you use to lock the bolt to the rear is in the bottom of the charging handle slot. The charging handle can be installed on the right or left side. Also on the final version, there will be 4 options for charging handle placement.

Charging handle in the forward position

Upside – it is slightly easier to lock the bolt to the rear compared to MP5, downside – you can’t slap the charging handle like it owes you money.

Charging handle in the rearward position

The magazine release is also pretty interesting – there are two levers on either side of the trigger guard, you can push them with your trigger finger or use your support hand to drop the magazine.

Mag release levers on the trigger guard

The carbine uses a simple blowback action. To reduce the recoil, there is a set of proprietary buffers located in the buffer tube. At the moment, the manufacturer is offering three buffers: for subsonic low-powered ammo there is a light buffer called “ROCKSTAR”, for standard ammo they recommend “HEAVY” buffer, and for +P loads, there is one more buffer called “HARDCORE”.

Overall, the gun was pleasant to shoot and had an excellent trigger. At the moment, no one knows if this new PCC will ever be available on the international market. Considering the design of this gun and the fact that you make it on a modern CNC machine out of aluminum, Sport Weapon Custom can probably easily set up manufacturing in the country that will have sufficient demand for a new PCC.

Is it better than a 9 mm AR carbine? Perhaps not, but only time will tell. I think it is nice to see companies trying to design something new instead of just producing accessories for existing firearms.