Pistol Caliber Carbines continue their well-deserved resurgence in popularity. They are easier to aim than a handgun, have greater velocity, work well for home defense, competition, plinking, and truck guns. They fit a lot of niches, and frankly, they are so much fun to shoot. This year was my first year doing the Ballistic Best of the Best roundup in PCCs, so I assembled an entirely new team with new sponsors for the challenge.
Pistol Caliber Carbines Evaluators
My testing team consisted of USPSA Grand Master and IDPA Master shooter John Murray with 35 years of law enforcement experience almost all of which he has been a firearms and tactical instructor throughout the United States and abroad.
Joe Bryson, my second team member, has nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience throughout the U.S. and 25 years as a firearms instructor. Joe began his competitive career about 5 years ago.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Ray, our youngest member of the team, boasts 7 years of law enforcement experience in detentions, SWAT, patrol, and investigations as well as proving very capable over the last 4 years in USPSA, IDPA, PCSL, and anything else he can squeeze in on the weekends.
Ammo
Ammunition was a huge concern this year as it is easy to run through a lot of ammo quickly. Fortunately, we got cases of 9mm from Federal, Wilson Combat, CCI, and Remington.While most of this was simply inexpensive ball ammunition and not very exciting, the truth is, it all performed very well. None of us want to spend an arm and leg for ammunition that is simply for practice, and each one of these manufacturers has their own line of bulk, ball ammo that functioned 100% of the time and maintained consistent velocities and groupings. I’ve had practice ammunition that didn’t consistently feed or perform and it is beyond frustrating. These manufacturers manage to keep prices down as much as possible while delivering a consistent, quality product.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Optics
Our biggest sponsor this year was easily Holosun. I contacted the company and told them I needed red dot sights for every gun I would be testing this year. To my surprise, they said, “No problem.” They sent 6 different modles of optical sights which let us experience all kinds of different features like solar power, different styled reticles, different colors of reticles (even yellow), and they all were easy to attach, easy to turn on/off and sight in without ever consulting the manuals. The following models were supplied:
- Ronin AEMS – Max – RD
- AEMS – Pro
- AEMS – Core – X2 – RD
- SCRS – RD – MRS
- ARO – MRS – GD
- ARO – MRS – RD
Winchester Optics sent us their Supreme 4-12×44 riflescope for the accuracy portion of the testing. Sure, the Holosun red dots could have been used for this, but a little magnification helps me see better and hold tighter groups during benched, slow fire. The scope worked great and the cantilever scope mount with quick throw levers made switching guns fast and easy. I don’t normally use a magnified optic for testing PCCs, but this one worked so well, I plan to use it from now on.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Eyes & Range
Warbird Protection Group generously let each of us pick out the style of eye protection we wanted. Ray and I got Easy Days, John chose Deep State and Joe picked Fusillade. I’ve shot with glasses that cost $10 and I’ve shot with glasses that cost $400. Once you get to use quality glasses with good lenses and solid craftsmanship, it is very difficult to go back to the cheap throwaways. Warbird Pro makes all different styles with lots of different features, and the quality runs throughout. Most pairs retail for less than $100. Everyone raved about the glasses and they looked good enough they may be worn as much off the range as they were on it.
Finally, our appreciation goes out to historic Cowtown Range north of Phoenix. It allows shooters to have their very own range for 2-4 hours a day and set it up however you want. Although not all of our PCCs were designed as competition guns, we decided to set up a USPSA style range with various shoot and no shoot targets, steel, and movement along with mandatory reloads to fully test each gun. Cowtown supplied everything we needed. Not many other ranges have the flexibility and resources to put something like this together, so we took full advantage.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Ballistic’s Best 2025 Pistol Caliber Carbine Contenders
It is time to talk about the real stars of this roundup, the PCCs themselves. At my request, all were provided in 9mm, although the JR Carbine, Keltec Sub2000, and Ruger PC Carbine are available in other pistol calibers and some of the other guns were available in rifle calibers too. All of them had 16” barrels; no pistols or arm braces were allowed. All were tested with the same ammunition and in the same conditions although the DaVinci DG-9 was supplied with some specially loaded ammunition that the gun is specifically tuned to run the best.
The team was allowed to run each gun as many times as they liked as well as testing trigger resets and even single-handed shooting to check muzzle rise. Although some shooters admitted being drawn to certain features, the scoring was remarkably consistent from all four of us. Guns that did not have any provided iron sights were scored with a “1” while the guns that did have sights included were scored based on the tester’s opinion of them. The following list is in order from eighth place to first in the competition.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
KelTec Sub2000
The KelTec Sub2000 finished in eighth place, but that isn’t a fair representation for this firearm. First, it costs less than 1/6 of several of the other guns, and it was never designed for competition. It was designed to be lightweight (check), compact (check), innovative design (check) and reliable (mostly; one shooter experienced misfeeds with one particular magazine). We were all impressed at the innovative design that allows it to lock folded with a sight and even with a light/laser and fore-grip attached.
If we were picking best backpacking gun, it would have been between the Sub2000 and the Ruger PC Carbine, and the Keltec is considerably lighter. Overall, everyone liked the Sub2000, but felt the recoil was the strongest of any of the guns tested, and the controls were not as ergonomic as some of the other guns. However, for what it was designed to do, it does very well.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
JR Carbine G3 M-LOK
In seventh place was the JR Carbine G3 M-LOK model. With a $699 MSRP, it again seems unfair to pit it against guns that cost over $3K. It is available in 9mm, .45 ACP and 10mm and you can buy a kit from JRC to switch the calibers yourself. It can be switched from left to right for both the charging handle and the ejection.
The biggest complaints were that it does not have a last round bolt hold open, the magazine release is in an unfamiliar location, and the notch to lock the bolt back seems in an odd spot (3/4 the way back instead of all the way to the rear and then locked down). However, for an inexpensive, reliable PCC that has great accuracy, it performed well.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Ruger PC Carbine
The Ruger PC Carbine finished in 6th place although one of the evaluator’s raved about it being one of his favorites of the day. At just under one thousand MSRP, it was still one of the more affordable guns. Its most unique feature was its ability to break down quickly and easily into two pieces. Every evaluator noted on their comments sheet that this firearm felt surprisingly heavy. On paper, it was the same weight as several other contenders, but the front end of the gun just feels heavier than it looks. On the plus side, this extra weight sucks up the recoil which was very mild.
Most of the shooters liked the trigger of the Ruger PC Carbine and appreciated the ability to switch the charging handle and mag release to either side. The mag release isn’t the fastest to access and the crossbolt safety is easy to take off, but slow to put back on. Since it is a takedown gun, I would replace the stock with a folding model to make it even more compact. Overall, what it does, it does well, but it is not designed for competition the way the top performers were.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
Century Arms AP-L
The Century Arms AP-L came in 5th. There were two consistent things working against it: price point and a plastic magazine that was difficult to insert and extract. Other than that, everyone appreciated the classic MP5 style. It shot great. The trigger had a little bit of squishiness but was very light and quick. Those of us that had spent a lot of time behind the MP5 loved it and those who were new to the style were quick to learn it. Complaints were inherent to the design: no last round bolt hold open and the magazine release is not as fast as an AR.
Because we use the Holosun sights, the testers did not get much time with the rotary drum HK style iron sights, but they worked great and they are one of my favorite designs for iron sights. It was also utterly reliable with everyone scoring it a 5. It came with an add-on Picatinny rail that was rock solid. With a metal mag and a little lower price, this gun would have been considerably higher in the rankings.
DaVinci DG-9
The top half of the rankings begins with the gun I thought would probably take first place: the DaVinci DG-9. This AR style race gun with side charging handle and enormous mag well was made for speed and accuracy. It looks like a race car just sitting on the table.The Hiperfire Hipertouch Competition trigger was phenomenal as was recoil control. Two of the shooters commented that they did not like the magazine release button being slightly higher than a traditional AR. They also did not like how the charging handle is in line with the bolt release when it is locked to the rear and would have preferred if it was located a little farther back.
The biggest complaint was simply that while it ran flawlessly with the ammunition that was provided for it (DaVinci has a specific type of ammunition it recommends for best performance of the DG-9), it would not run with some hollow point ammo. Apart from ammo finickiness, the rifle was a work of art. Amazing split times and ability for fast follow up shots were incredible. The Kynshot buffer needs to be experienced to be believed. Also, the ability to talk to David Padovan at the factory and have the rifle built exactly to your specifications make this a top-tier race gun.
Springfield Saint Victor 9mm
Number three on our roundup was again a surprise. The Springfield Saint Victor 9mm uses the metal Colt SMG style magazines instead of Glock mags. I thought this would make it “outdated.” Instead, its utter reliability and good price point made it a crowd favorite. The familiarity of the basic AR platform made it easy for everyone to run.
The Springfield Saint Victor has an excellent trigger and the muzzle brake worked well. It comes with iron sights which gave it a little boost in the scores because most of the guns do not. The biggest critiques all had to do with the magazines. Several testers said they would prefer Glock style mags and one mentioned the funnel of the magazine well could be improved to speed up reloads. In the end, the Springfield Saint Victor did win “Best Bang for the Buck” by unanimous decision.
JP Enterprises JP-5
The number two vs number one position was decided by ¼ of one point. The JP Enterprises JP-5 with 80 degree roller delay had the very least muzzle rise of any gun tested. As fast as you can pull the trigger, the muzzle simply didn’t move. The JP trigger is amazing: light, crisp and a short reset. The 3-port comp worked great. There were only a few complaints. Most of us would have preferred a thinner profiled fore-end. It seemed a little too fat to grasp and really drive the rifle.
Both the JP-5 and the DaVinci sell for a little more than $3K and they both have a decent waiting period. Neither of these are what most manufacturers would call “mass produced.” However, both come with myriad features and are amazing race guns. The JP-5 edged out the DaVinci simply because it ran reliably with every type of ammunition and the DaVinci was finicky. Personally, I think the roller lock shoots just a little more smoothly than the direct blowback. However, they are both absolutely amazing race guns and any competitor should count themselves very lucky to get to own one.
WINNER: Wilson Combat AR9
Finally, we come to the well deserved number one PCC for our roundup, the Wilson Combat AR9 with Glock pattern receiver. Our test gun came with a very sharp White Kodiak Camo from Armor Tuff colors. The AR9 is straight blowback but handled recoil surprisingly well. One of the testers found out when he pulled the buffer out and found the buffer spring was substantially longer than normal (and substantially harder to put back!).
This was the favorite lower receiver of all the AR platforms. Everything ran flawlessly and the shooters just kept going back to it to run again and again. One evaluator lamented that he wished all of the controls were fully ambidextrous and another found the bolt catch/release was recessed and a little harder to access than a standard one. Other than that, no one could find anything they didn’t love about the gun. In the end, it was the price point that put this gun at #1. The JP-5 was equally impressive, but the base model WC AR9 (without the White Kodiak Camopaint job) is over $1,000 cheaper than the base JP-5. That is significant.
Wrapping it Up
The day ended with lots of discussions and tabulating score sheets before we broke down the pop-up tents and gathered up the steel. If you are in the market for a competition gun, a home defense gun, or just a fun gun for the range, our reviews may help narrow down your search. The downside of testing so many nice PCCs was knowing they had to go back to the manufacturer when we got done. I may see if there is time for one more trip to Cowtown before they all get boxed up. We really appreciated all of the sponsors this year and congratulations to the Springfield Saint Victor for winning the Best Bang for the Buck and to Wilson Combat’s AR-9 Carbine for coming in number one this year for Ballistic Magazine’s Best of the Best in Pistol Caliber Carbines.
Specifications
Ballistic’s Best 2025 Pistol Caliber Carbines Scoring
WHY OUR ARTICLES/REVIEWS DO NOT HAVE AFFILIATE LINKS
Affiliate links create a financial incentive for writers to promote certain products, which can lead to biased recommendations. This blurs the line between genuine advice and marketing, reducing trust in the content.
