A couple of years back, Ruger released the PC (Pistol Caliber) Carbine, an evolution of a concept initially realized with the discontinued Ruger Police Carbine. Featuring a takedown receiver, ~16″ barrel, and 9x19mm chambering, The PC Carbine was designed to allow shooters to utilize a common caliber and magazines between their sidearm and long gun, lowering a shooter’s logistical burden while providing an improvement in controllability, accuracy, and effective range as required. Lending to the functionality of the PC Carbine is its interchangeable magwells, since it comes out of the box compatible with Ruger’s Security 9 magazines, but can be quickly converted using an included magwell to feed from ubiquitous Glock pattern 9mm magazines instead; a Ruger American compatible magwell was also made available for purchase.
The warm reception and popularity of the PC Carbine led Ruger to expand the product line with various models, including some with a modular, more ‘tactical/modern’ chassis, and others chambered for .40 S&W. However, earlier this week Ruger revealed the most unique addition to the PC line yet, with the introduction of the PC Charger. Like Ruger’s .22 Charger to the 10/22, the PC Charger is a pistol variant of the PC Carbine that utilizes the same receiver – you can think of it as a PDW to the PC Carbine’s, well, carbine:
– 16.5″ overall length vs the PCC’s 34.37″
– 6.5″ barrel length vs the PCC’s 16.12″
– 5 lbs vs the PCC’s 7 lbs
Simply put, it’s a lighter, more compact weapon compared to the PCC while retaining parts commonality and many of the same features, such as the 12 o’clock Picatinny optics rail, reversible charging handle and magazine catch, threaded barrel, and exchangeable magazine well.
What’s unique to the PC Charger, at least compared to the standard PC Carbine, is the features of its polymer chassis. It includes rearward QD cups for installing QD-compatible slings, the ability to install any AR-compatible pistol grips, and the integrated rear 7075-T6 Picatinny rail, for attaching a rail-mounted brace or stock mount. Rounding out the PC Charger is an M-LOK compatible forend which allows for the attachment of M-LOK accessories or rails at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions.
www.ruger.com/products/pcCharger/models
