AR9 - yea or ney?

AR9?

  • Oh yeah!

    Votes: 22 68.8%

  • Waste of money.

    Votes: 4 12.5%

  • meh.

    Votes: 6 18.8%
  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
J

Jayhawkhuntclub

New member
Thinking about building a lower on a New Frontier Armory receiver and putting a PSA upper on it. What do you think? I really like the idea of having 9mm in the ar platform. I have plenty of 9mm brass and cast my own. I could finally afford to do a mag dump.:cool:
 
T

TMD

New member
I have a PSA 9mm pistol upper that I picked up last year when they had it on sale for only $299. Plan on another $150 or so for a 5oz or heavier buffer, acouple of colt mags and a ProMag mag block. I normally consider anything from ProMag junk and not worth the plastic its made from but surprisingly their 9mm mag block has pretty good reviews and can be had for about $40. For comparisons sakes RRA's 9mm mag block is almost $200.
I also swapped out PSA's 10.5" barrel for a 7.5" CMMG barrel. Got lucky selling the PSA barrel so cost for the CMMG was $0.
It shoots great and is fairly quiet with my Octane 45 can and 9mm end cap on it but not as quiet as my .300bo.
Also I would consider a forged lower instead of a poly one. Reason being is a 9mm AR upper is a blow back design and not DI like a standard AR upper. Not saying it recoils much but being a blowback design and having to use a buffer that weights close to double of a standard carbine buffer it can and will put added stress on the lower where the buffer tube screws in.
 
J

Jayhawkhuntclub

New member
I've decided to build one from scratch. I'm never going to be happy with anything pre-built. It won't be cheap. But in the long run, it will be cheaper than buying one and swapping out parts I don't like.
 
J

johnwilliamson062

Moderator
Understandable. Please post any compatibility issues you run into so other can learn. I see too much conflicting info about compatibility between brands on the 9mm to have any desire to tackle it myself. I have no desire to be trimming or shimming a mag block, polishing a feed ramp, or anything similar Maybe if you put together a list of parts that goes together right I will piggy back off your experience and save myself a little money:) Of course, with my luck the part from one manufacturer will be at the opposite end of the tolerance window, and my build won't run when yours is perfect.
 
M

marine6680

New member
A pistol carbine can be a lot of fun.

PSA has a new upper and lower designed to use Glock mags.


I picked up a steel 9mm buffer from PSA for less than $30 for my 308. It used regular steel buffer weights inside as well, so if you need even more weight, you could get an H3 and swap out the weights for tungsten.

Much cheaper than $150 quoted above.


I would go with the PSA Glock setup simply for the ease of finding high cap mags.
 
T

TMD

New member
If you're going to build one from scratch there are a few compatibility issues to keep in mind. If you have a ramped bcg then a standard ar trigger will work fine. If the bcg isn't ramped then you need a notched hammer. If you go with a lower that takes Glock mags then you will need the bolt cut for them if you don't buy one already specifically for them. Buffers are the next issue. At minimal you will need a 5oz one. With that a heavy buffer spring works best. Some people use a buffer as heavy as 8oz which run great with a standard carbine spring. Lastly 9mm ar's are known to bust the bolt hold latch. A cure for this problem is to put a spacer in the base of the buffer tube to where the bolt only goes back about 1/4" past the bolt catch. A stack of 6 to 8 quarters works great if you don't have something else to put in there.
 
S

smee78

New member
I assembled one years ago from an Olympic kit many years ago and it is a ball on the range. Mine used unmodified Sten mags and runs like a top, it used all standard lower parts and I can drop the mag block out any time and slap a 223 upper on it and fire away. BUT if I had to do it all over again now I would go with the PSA kit. The fact that it uses Glock mags is a deal maker for me, the mags are cheap and easy to find and should last a lifetime. Building one is good if you dont have the money to throw at it all at once but you may run into problems with weights and fitment of parts. Either way be sure to do your home work first and go from there. Good luck with your build, keep us posted.
 
B

bfoosh006

New member
I would NOT use a polymer lower for a 9MM build... the recoil from the blowback action is harsh on trigger pins, and the buffer tube.

I would genuinely be concerned about trigger pin holes "enlarging" from the way the hammer is cocked on a 9MM bolt. And the recoil from the added mass of a 9MM BCG could cause havoc on the plastic to buffer tube connection.


Seriously stick with a metal lower.

That said ,I have a PSA lower with a PSA Hybrid upper and the PSA Colt mag insert.... VERY fun rifle.
 
J

Jim243

New member
Like they say there is always one in every group, I guess that's me.

While I like pistol caliber carbines and love the AR platform, I am not sure a 9 MM AR would be the way to go.

If you just want an AR pistol, I would stick with the 223/5.56, much better power and a ton more parts available.

If you just want a high capacity 9 MM, a glock 17 would do as well, just get an extended barrel for it if you want more distance.

If you want a 9 MM carbine to play with, there are many others out there that would be cheaper to buy or put together and give you the same results.

No matter which way you go, remember it is still a pistol and putting a stock on it will require a SBR permit and tax stamp as well as a 6 to 12 month wait.

I would suggest you go with a Kel-Tec Sub 2000, I believe you can use Glock mags with it.

Have fun and stay safe.
Jim
 
J

Jayhawkhuntclub

New member
Yeah, I'm really not considering a pistol AR in 9mm. A 300 blackout is the way to go there. What I'm considering is a rifle AR9.
The Keltec is worth considering. They are a great concept. I'm not sure how well executed the concept is though: LOTS of plastic. Still pretty cool.
 
R

robert1804

New member
I vote yea on an AR9. Just bought the PSA Glock mag type upper and lower. !00% cycling of 350 rounds of various AE and reloads. It's very accurate and quiet. I got it for plinking because I thought a 9mm carbine would be lots of fun and I was right! 9mm is so easy and cheap to reload compared to .223.

The only minor drawbacks are that there's no bolt hold open after the last round and some powder fumes to my face in certain wind conditions. Not a big deal since I can count rounds (or not worry about it) and the smell of burned Power Pistol isn't bad at all.
 
J

Jayhawkhuntclub

New member
Operation AR9 is underway! I found everything I needed; although it did take a bit of work. It should be arriving in the next week.

My parts list:
Joe Bob's Spartan (rebadged New Frontier) dedicated billet lower
New Frontier Armory Standard (ramped) bolt
Kaw Valley 16" bbl and linear compensator
Magpul CTR lower build kit
Kaw Valley 9mm buffer (5.4 oz) and NFA spacer
Aero Precision complete upper receiver
Glock factory 17 and 33 rnd mags
Midwest Industries 15" handgaurd

It's going to cost me crap load of money (~a grand) :eek:. But then again, most quality AR builds are in that ball park. At least mine have been. It will cost me a couple hundred more than what I could have got from PSA (complete upper and lower). But it will be what I want. Time will tell how well it functions. I will try to post pics in a new thread once it's done.
 
T

Theohazard

New member
Jim243 said:
No matter which way you go, remember it is still a pistol and putting a stock on it will require a SBR permit and tax stamp as well as a 6 to 12 month wait.
Click to expand...
There's no such thing as an "SBR permit", at least not on the federal level (and I'm not aware of any state that issues such a thing either). And the wait time for tax stamps is around 4 to 6 months at the moment, though it'll probably go up as more people try to get in before 41F goes into effect.
 
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