Ruger introduces PC Charger Pistol

[Grayling813]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

[Rafe]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

That's unfortunate. Please keep us informed if that continues or straightens out after more range time. If the mags aren't a problem in your pistols, I assume it could still be a feed lip issue or something, but it strikes me as unlikely...especially if different mags all have the problem. If it's the ejector or recoil spring, I can't imagine more rounds would help. I'm guessing it can't be soft-shooting handloads?

I'm still thinkin' about getting one of these. But not if they FTE all the time.

[Grayling813]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

That's unfortunate. Please keep us informed if that continues or straightens out after more range time. If the mags aren't a problem in your pistols, I assume it could still be a feed lip issue or something, but it strikes me as unlikely...especially if different mags all have the problem. If it's the ejector or recoil spring, I can't imagine more rounds would help. I'm guessing it can't be soft-shooting handloads?

I'm still thinkin' about getting one of these. But not if they FTE all the time.

Factory ammo, factory Glock mags that haven’t had any issues in PC Carbine.

[The Annoyed Man]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

That's unfortunate. Please keep us informed if that continues or straightens out after more range time. If the mags aren't a problem in your pistols, I assume it could still be a feed lip issue or something, but it strikes me as unlikely...especially if different mags all have the problem. If it's the ejector or recoil spring, I can't imagine more rounds would help. I'm guessing it can't be soft-shooting handloads?

I'm still thinkin' about getting one of these. But not if they FTE all the time.

Factory ammo, factory Glock mags that haven’t had any issues in PC Carbine.

The first time I ever shot my PC Carbine, I had a a small number of misfeeds, but only with the Glock 33-round "funsticks". I finally diagnosed the cause as the following....

There's a very small amount of play in the fit between the magazine and the magwell when the magazine is inserted. The longer the magazine, the more leverage can be applied against that play by forces acting on the bottom end of the protruding magazine. I realized that I had been using the magazine basepad as a rest to support the weight of the carbine on the bench while shooting it, and without intending to, I had been applying a small amount of forward pressure against the end of the magazine—much like if I had been preloading a rifle bipod with forward pressure. That forward pressure was enough to tilt the magazine feed lips downward just enough to misalign them to the feed ramp, causing nose-down feed stoppages.

Unweighting the stick mag from the bench made the problem go away, and the problem never happened with any of my 10, 12, 15, 17, or 19 round magazines because they were too short to be used as a "rest" while shooting the gun. Once I had diagnosed the problem's cause, it went away.

Grayling813, check and see if that isn’t the problem with yours.

[Grayling813]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

That's unfortunate. Please keep us informed if that continues or straightens out after more range time. If the mags aren't a problem in your pistols, I assume it could still be a feed lip issue or something, but it strikes me as unlikely...especially if different mags all have the problem. If it's the ejector or recoil spring, I can't imagine more rounds would help. I'm guessing it can't be soft-shooting handloads?

I'm still thinkin' about getting one of these. But not if they FTE all the time.

Factory ammo, factory Glock mags that haven’t had any issues in PC Carbine.

The first time I ever shot my PC Carbine, I had a a small number of misfeeds, but only with the Glock 33-round "funsticks". I finally diagnosed the cause as the following....

There's a very small amount of play in the fit between the magazine and the magwell when the magazine is inserted. The longer the magazine, the more leverage can be applied against that play by forces acting on the bottom end of the protruding magazine. I realized that I had been using the magazine basepad as a rest to support the weight of the carbine on the bench while shooting it, and without intending to, I had been applying a small amount of forward pressure against the end of the magazine—much like if I had been preloading a rifle bipod with forward pressure. That forward pressure was enough to tilt the magazine feed lips downward just enough to misalign them to the feed ramp, causing nose-down feed stoppages.

Unweighting the stick mag from the bench made the problem go away, and the problem never happened with any of my 10, 12, 15, 17, or 19 round magazines because they were too short to be used as a "rest" while shooting the gun. Once I had diagnosed the problem's cause, it went away.

Grayling813, check and see if that isn’t the problem with yours.

Issue occurred with both 17 and 33 round Glock mags. Not resting on bench either. One thing I just thought about was that I have never cleaned those mags that I originally bought to use with Keltec Sub2000.

Will try cleaning the mags, then take both PC Charger and PC Carbine to range at same time to compare performance.

[Grayling813]

Took it out to shoot for first time yesterday. Set up to use Glock mags. Had several stovepipes, which I’ve never had on the PC Carbine.
Very fun to shoot except for the stovepipes. Hopefully just a break-in issue.

That's unfortunate. Please keep us informed if that continues or straightens out after more range time. If the mags aren't a problem in your pistols, I assume it could still be a feed lip issue or something, but it strikes me as unlikely...especially if different mags all have the problem. If it's the ejector or recoil spring, I can't imagine more rounds would help. I'm guessing it can't be soft-shooting handloads?

I'm still thinkin' about getting one of these. But not if they FTE all the time.

Factory ammo, factory Glock mags that haven’t had any issues in PC Carbine.

The first time I ever shot my PC Carbine, I had a a small number of misfeeds, but only with the Glock 33-round "funsticks". I finally diagnosed the cause as the following....

There's a very small amount of play in the fit between the magazine and the magwell when the magazine is inserted. The longer the magazine, the more leverage can be applied against that play by forces acting on the bottom end of the protruding magazine. I realized that I had been using the magazine basepad as a rest to support the weight of the carbine on the bench while shooting it, and without intending to, I had been applying a small amount of forward pressure against the end of the magazine—much like if I had been preloading a rifle bipod with forward pressure. That forward pressure was enough to tilt the magazine feed lips downward just enough to misalign them to the feed ramp, causing nose-down feed stoppages.

Unweighting the stick mag from the bench made the problem go away, and the problem never happened with any of my 10, 12, 15, 17, or 19 round magazines because they were too short to be used as a "rest" while shooting the gun. Once I had diagnosed the problem's cause, it went away.

Grayling813, check and see if that isn’t the problem with yours.

Issue occurred with both 17 and 33 round Glock mags. Not resting on bench either. One thing I just thought about was that I have never cleaned those mags that I originally bought to use with Keltec Sub2000.

Will try cleaning the mags, then take both PC Charger and PC Carbine to range at same time to compare performance.

Well, bad news and good news....
Bad: It seems that extraction issues on the PC Carbine are not uncommon, and directly attributed to a cheap factory extractor. Although I haven't had any issues, alot of folks have, especially those who shoot their PCC alot in competitions.

Good: Researching the issue led me to https://www.mcarbo.com/ruger-pc-carbine ... ories.aspx which makes aftermarket parts for firearms, including the PC Carbine. Yep, they make extractors for PC Carbine/Charger. Ordered two extractors and two sets of Bolt Head/Extractor pins today.
I disassembled the PC Charger today and my extractor looks just as crappy as the one shown on the McCarbo website. A shame a quality product can be diminished so badly by one cheap part.

Further update after new parts installed and range tested.

[Grayling813]

Well, bad news and good news....
Bad: It seems that extraction issues on the PC Carbine are not uncommon, and directly attributed to a cheap factory extractor. Although I haven't had any issues, alot of folks have, especially those who shoot their PCC alot in competitions.

Good: Researching the issue led me to https://www.mcarbo.com/ruger-pc-carbine ... ories.aspx which makes aftermarket parts for firearms, including the PC Carbine. Yep, they make extractors for PC Carbine/Charger. Ordered two extractors and two sets of Bolt Head/Extractor pins today.
I disassembled the PC Charger today and my extractor looks just as crappy as the one shown on the McCarbo website. A shame a quality product can be diminished so badly by one cheap part.

Further update after new parts installed and range tested.

More bad news on the PC Charger. Replaced the factory extractor and pins on both PC Charger and PC Carbine. Went to range yesterday to test both. PC Charger - first round FTE. Multiple rounds in each magazine FTE. Tried different ammo, same results.
PC Carbine - no FTE's using same magazines and same ammo.
Both using the same factory Glock magazines.

I've put the Ruger magazine well into the PC Chargers and will go back to range to test using Ruger factory magazines.

If failures persist with Ruger magazines I will have to send it back to Ruger.

[Rafe]

Aargh. I'm less and less interested in this interesting looking little gun. Thanks for keeping us updated.