Twenty years on, Ruger reboots its take on the Pistol Caliber Carbine, this time designing it to accept three different types of 9mm pistol magazines, including Glock.

by Brian R. Smith

Ruger recently introduced its PC Carbine, a clean sheet upgrade/redesign of its former pistol caliber Police Carbines designated PC9 (9mm) and PC4 (sometimes referred to as PC40, in .40 S&W) made between 1996 and 2006. The “PC” in the new offering’s name denotes “Pistol Caliber” and at the moment is offered in 9×19 only, but evidence of the design features of the PC Carbine suggest that other chamberings may be offered in future.

Before we examine the new PC Carbine, let’s take a brief but closer review of Ruger’s former entries into the pistol caliber long gun market, the PC9 and PC4. Those earlier Ruger carbines were designed as companions to their P-series pistols. Ruger sought to capitalize on the trend of many law enforcement departments of adding a carbine as an alternative or an addition to a shotgun for patrol cars. Ruger P-series pistols used the same magazines and were offered in both 9mm and .40 caliber chamberings, marketing them primarily to police departments and selling them to private customers as well.

The PC9 and PC4 outwardly resembled a…

Read more in the September 2018 issue.

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