9mm AR Build Review

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Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you will have noticed, probably with despair, that the price of .223 or 5.56 has gotten nuts the last couple of years. A few years back, a 1000+rd case of surplus 5.56 could be had for less than 150.00 easily. Now, new production ammo is over 400.00 per case and surplus is often in the mid 300.00 price range. Imagine this, take a quarter, a dime and a nickle, and throw them in the dirt. Then do it 300 to 1200 more time and you'll have the average rifle/carbine class' ammo budget. Hurts huh?

So I hunted around, looking for a way to make training sting a bit less in the wallet and thought, well, what about a 9mm AR platform? They're certainly cheaper to shoot (about 15.5 cents a round) and mostly the same ergonomics. Whats the down side? Well, that was the harder part. If you're converting a 'normal' .223/5.56AR into a 9mm AR you have to recognize that its a direct blowback weapon so it requires some special parts in the lower reciever:

9mm hammer.
A special buffer tube spacer (if you're running a fixed stock).
A special buffer spring.
A special bffer.
And an adapter to allow 9mm magazines to fit in the .223/5.56 magwell.

And of course, you need a dedicated 9mm upper reciever.

All these parts cost about 500.00 total, but in ammo savings, if you take more than 1 class a year and practice 10+ times on your own, the costs are easily forgotten. PLUS you can shoot a 9mm AR at most indoor ranges which would otherwise prohibit centerfire rifles.

I already had a Rock River Arms lower M4 style lower reciever, so it was mostly the addition of a few parts and purchasing the upper reciever and a magwell adapter. I settled on the VM Hytech adapter because it uses Uzi magazines which are relativly cheap and plentiful. The one caveat, that they don't tell you is that there are certain Uzi magazines that don't fit. In this case, Israeli mags with the folded back are ok, german and other 'flat backed' magazines will require that you dremel out the corners of the magwell adapter to get them to fit. Not a huge deal, but a time consuming pain in the ass. Once I had the rifle put together I had to make some decisions on how to set the rifle up. Since most of the carbine classes are 100m and in and the 9mm isn't exactly a long range round, I decided that focusing this platform on close quarters battle (CQB) would be the way to go.

This meant I needed at least four items:

• CQB geared furniture (pistol grip, vertical foregrip, buttstock, etc)<br>
• A solid reflex type optic<br>
• Strong rail system<br>
• And a weapons light<br>

I started with the furniture, since I'd need a good base to build on. Duostock stepped up to the plate first with their purpose built buttstock. I had one on an earlier AR and I'd had problems with it to be honest, if you pulled out the stock to adjust it, it would slide all the way off leaving you with a rifle in one and and the butt stock in the other or worse, on the ground. Not to worry, this had all been sorted out with the updated version. Although it still has a rather ungainly look to it, the butt is full width all the way from top to bottom and the curvature serves a very specific purpose. Either the stock can be used higher on the shoulder pocket/chest with the curved portion or as a traditional stock in the classic shoulder pocket with the flat portion of the stock.

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COST: $99.98 with tube

After settling on a stock, I turned my attention to the rest of the furniture. I knew that the old school A2 pistol grip had to go and the future rail system would need some sort of protection. I called up Magpul and settled on the Mission Adaptable (MIAD) basic grip system, some 9mm magazine magpuls and a set of 4 XT rail panel covers. The MIAD is considered one of the flagships of ergonomic pistol grips for the AR and rightfully so. Magpul products are produced locally here in Colorado, and as always the quality, design, fit and finish were outstanding.

Features:
• Removable and replaceable front and rear panels for a custom fit over multiple hand sizes.
• Grip features improved ergonimics and positive rough texture on both sides and rear backstraps.
• A removable inner core that allows for storage (3 round plug included).
• Basic Kit includes 3 size backstraps (s,m,l), 2 frontstraps, 3 round core plug, installation hardware.

COST: $35.95

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So for the rail system, I turned to an old standby, a Knights Armament RAS that I had here. It taks a bit of modification, since the 9mm system has no gastube and the front sight block plate is slightly different, but with removing one front clip I was able to make it work solidly.

I'm always up for reducing the number of items I have to bolt onto a weapon, so when I saw the Vertical Foregrip Weapon Light system from Zahal, I figured I'd give it a try. Now sure, if I had an extra 600 bucks, I could get a Surefire M900, but this is for training, so basic demands for basic needs. And since the Zahal offering was 56.00 and a Surefire G2 for 36.00 I could have a VFG, and a decent name brand weapon light for less than 100.00.

The Zahal VFG Weaponlight features:

• Three in one : Ergonomic foregrip with a 1" flashlight mount and a built in On/Off trigger.
• Easy to fit and fits all standard Picatinny rails.
• Built in storage compartment for batteries and cleaning kit.
• No gunsmithing is required.
• Durable, hardwearing & lightweight polymer construction.
• State-of-the-art ergonomic design & easy installation.
• Eliminates the need for straight-cord preassure pad switch tail cap.
• Quick Release button.
• Cross block safety to prevent accidental activation during light discipline periods.

COST: $56.00

The Surefire G2 is a compact (pocket sized), high-intensity incandescent flashlight for tactical, self-defense, and general use. Similar to our 6P but with a tough polymer body. Puts out a smooth, brilliant, pre-focused, tactical-level beam with over three times the light of a big two-D-cell flashlight—bright enough to temporarily blind and disorient a person by impairing his night-adapted vision. Light output may be nearly doubled with optional P61 lamp. Small size, light weight, and high output make it a perfect for camping, backpacking, emergency/disaster-preparedness kits, or everyday carry.

G2 FEATURES

• Rugged, lightweight, corrosion-proof Nitrolon&#174; polymer body, available in black, olive drab, tan, yellow.
• O-ring sealed, weatherproof.
• Tailcap switch: press for momentary-on, twist for constant-on.
• Switch lockout prevents accidental activation during transport or storage.
• Available in black, tan, yellow and OD green.

COST: $36.00

So all that was left was an optic, preferably a redot of some flavor. I'd been contacted by PrideFowler Inc regarding their new reddot, the "Special Ops Auto". I'd never heard of the company, but the sales rep was a friend of several of the Marine Corps staff at LMS Defense, so I agreed to try their reddot out and run it thru the wringer.

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• 33MM 6061 T6 hard aluminum body with anodized black finish.
• 3 Volt 'Pulse' LED with Auto-Light adjusting sensor system.
• 8 manual light settings
• 2 night vision settings
• One auto setting
• Two 33MM mounting rings
• Flip up protective Caps
• 5 MOA LED
• Coated glass lenses
• One flash kill filter
• One 3 Volt battery, included.
• Weight: with battery installed; 8 ounces
• Length: without sunshades; 4-5/8"
• Water proof and shock resistant

COST: $375 plus qd mount

So now I have a rifle. But how did it run?

After getting everything in and mounted up, I added a set of Matech BUIS took it to the range to zero it. After zeroing the irons, I took a few minutes to zero the Special Ops Auto. The adjustments are fairly standard if coarse (each click is 1.3 MOA, a bit coarse). I fired off about 300rds the first day just to get a feel for the rifle and really didn't have any problems with the rifle itself in a square range enviroment, but out in the big boy playground the VM Hytech adapter and Uzi Magazines gave me fits. Not that this is a bad thing, Rifles go down, its a fact of life, being able to get to your secondary weapon and get back into the fray is an important skill, find the silver lining and use it to learn from.

During hard use I doscovered that impacts to the Uzi magazines could cause either a round to pop up into the chamber (a simple double feed, easily cleared) or if the magazine was rested against a bench or other platform, it could cause a catastrophic malfunction in the form of the double feed from hell. You'd get a round stuck in the chamber and one stuck between the bolt and adapter block or worse yet, a deformed case jammed into the charging handle channel. Either one of these particular malfunctions required that the weapons be completely cleared, and the adapter block removed to get the weapon back up and running. Fine for target practice and simple drills but hard movement, prone drills, hasty cover fire, would almost always induce stoppage that was unfixable. To be fair you really hard to knock the crap out of it to make it fail, but when it did it was a big one. Research suggests that having the adapter block permanantly pinned into place will help with some of the problems and new springs for the surplus mags won't hurt a bit either. I'm also going to adjust my 9mm magpuls on the magazines a bit to provide a bit more impact cushion. I'll report back once I've made some more changes.

Once I learned the limits of the rifle itself, what about the rest of the platform? The system was VERY accurate despite the pistol round. I could hit an IPSC steel at 217yds from the tower with both iron sights and the Special Ops Auto. I also scored 100&#37; on the shoot on the move qualification and had the best and most consistent hits in the shoot house with this rifle (the target below is tpyical for what I shot). I attribute this to several factors. The Magpul furniture and Duostock were ROCK solid, and didn't move even during hard corners and close areas. The Special Ops Auto had a great field of view, adjusted to the ambient light levels automatically and generally did its job well (see below). It was also fairly precise considering its largish 5moa dot. I felt extremely comfortably with those items, even if my faith in the rifle itself was tested.

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I also made it a point, day or low light to 'blind' the target with my weapons light. I wanted to see if there was any sympathtic tendency to squeeze the double trigger or other problems. I really didn't have any issues with it and on both the square range and in the shoothouse that night the light system worked as advertised. I also tried a couple of different lights (the Surefire G2 and a Cheapee Wal-Mart Brinkman) and they functioned just fine thankyouverymuch.

So what didn't I like?

To be honest, I had no real issues with the Duostock or the Magpul items, anything that I disliked was more a personal preference or such a small issue that I can't really complain in good faith.

On the Zahal system, there were a couple of issues. The trigger was somewhat smallish and it got tiring to hold the trigger 'on' once you'd broken light discipline. The rearward rake of the VFG portion was a big too much on my wrist, the light safety (a crossbar system much like a shotgun) was easy to disengage for a right handed shooter, but fairly hard to reengage. Also, because of the fairly tight trigger space, the actuator for the light could be bumped with the left forefinger causing a light dischage (whoops).
*cough*cough*

Some editor I am. I corrected all the spelling errors and clarified the the Pride/Fowler paragraph and inserted the the missing last paragraph.

The PrideFowler Special Ops Auto had some issues that caused me concern. It's big. I mean, like, takes up a lot of valuable rail real estate big. I dislike putting my optics on the handguard potion of the rail system as it makes the weapons too front heavy for my tastes, so fitting my nightvision behind this reddot was a no-go. I had two issues that were particularly troublesome. The first was that my 'Auto-Off' feature didn't seem to be functioning properly. Second, on three separate occasions, the unit failed to power up in any setting. Usually turning it off, then back on, or tapping the switch with my finger, I could get it to work, but it was non-functional during two separate shoothouse runs. I did replace the battery to see if that was part of the problem, but it didn't seem to help. Although its made in Japan, instead of China like a lot of entry level red dots, it displayed some quality issues that need to be addressed. The 'quick disconnect' mount (that you have to pay extra for) is comparable to many other run of the mill thumbscrew mounts and not nearly as innovative as a Larue or ARMS type mount. And finally for the 375.00 price tag, you're squarely in Aimpoint ML2 territory, a brand which has a lot more field time and recognition for the same money. Solid features, but a little more polish and a more aggressive price will go a long way for this unit.

Overall, I got in a lot of bang time in for a little money and the platform did all that I wanted and more. It's not a cheap conversion when you add everything up, but it easily pays for itself while we hope for rifle ammo prices to drop.

Kelly B.
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