AR-9mm build
I'm impressed with Palmetto State Armory so far. I placed the order for my 9mm AR on 8/30 and PSA says it has already shipped. I was prepared for a 2 week wait but it should arrive this week. Pretty good service in light of the recent holiday weekend. I ordered the lower receiver on 8/31 and it has also shipped. I'll wait for the brown truck to arrive.
Be sure you are there when it arrives, PSA requires a signature for those items. Of course the lower will go to your FFL.
If I remember correctly they use a common carrier and not the USPS so tracking is very accurate and you will not have to sit for two or three days waiting for the delivery.
If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?
WOW,,rifle kit will be here Thursday 9/7. Arriving UPS ground. I'll be able to track the progress. The receiver will probably arrive at the gun shop the next day.
UPS stopped today at 2:00 PM with the AR-9 kit. Didn't need to sign for the package, I thought I would need to.
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I'll receive the lower receiver tomorrow and I can start assembly. The kit appears to be of similar quality to the Daytona Tactical AR kits I have already worked with. Missing is the push-button on the receiver to push the bolt forward. The AR-9 does not appear to be gas operated. I don't see a gas tube.
Made a fixture to hold the lower receiver for assembly. Made a plastic piece to hold the receiver through the magazine hole. Below are all the parts ready for assembly
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The lower receiver assembled. Took about 1 1/2 hours. The receiver already had the latch to hold the bold open so I now have a spare. Took some time to find the little tiny green spring that goes in the trigger system. The trigger mechanism is identical to any other AR-15
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This is the bad boy completed. I test fired the AR-9 in my machine shop. I fired twice into a 4 X 4 laying across a trash can. I had know idea a 9mm would penetrate a 4 x 4 so now I have a trash can with 2 bullet holes in the bottom. I go to the rifle range tomorrow.
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Last edited by jim Glass; 09-10-2017 at 08:37 PM.
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I took the new AR-9 to the gun range today. I purchased a Glock 15 shot magazine at the gun shop when I picked up the receiver.
The parts from PSA seem no different than the parts I purchased from Daytona Tactical for my
AR-15 builds. Parts had a similar fit and finish. The AR-9 does not have the forward assist push-button to advance bolt. I use the ratcheting bolt push button all the time when I'm hog hunting so I can quietly close the bolt. Also missing is the dust cover. The AR-9 does not appear to be gas operated, but a direct blowback. It arrived with the upper receiver assembled. It took me 1 and 1/2 hours to assemble the AR-9 lower receiver. The Glock magazine fit perfectly and latched in place. I setup the AR-9 with one of my red dot sights for the first test firing.
The PSA AR-9 never had a miss feed, miss fire, or miss eject. It worked absolutely perfectly. The
AR-9 does not hold the bolt open after the last shot but the bolt can be held open with the side latch. I was a little surprised the AR-9 had a little more recoil than I expected. In fact it had enough recoil to loosen the red dot gun sight after about a 100 rounds. I was thinking the AR-9 was not very accurate or it was the ammo purchased at a gun show. Turned out the sight was loose and I know I tightened it.
It is a great shooting rifle, I really like it. I was shooting at the 50 yard range. It was a little like shooting a 22LR where I could hear the bullet hit the target with a smack sound. Don't hear a 223 or 300 AAC do that. I think I will retire the 300 AAC from target shooting and use it strictly for hunting. The ammunition is expensive and I have tried reloading with somewhat mixed success. My experience has been reloading different weight bullets where each one shoots differently requiring sighting in when changing rounds. I don't mind sighting in but in light of the big picture it gets expensive. 9mm is almost cheap enough to buy I'm not sure how practical reloading would be. We shall see. I'll go to Cabela's and price the reloading components.
If the wild hogs survive the hurricane I may try shooing one with the 9mm just to check the effectiveness.
Last edited by jim Glass; 09-11-2017 at 11:12 PM.
Jim, 9mm ammo is not economical to reload unless you cast your own bullets. 9m at 20 cents a shot sound real cheap until you load up that 17, 19 or 25 round magazine and realize that you just ripped through $5 in 15 seconds.
The slug is the most expensive part of the reload. Unless you can reload the rounds for less than 1/2 of the retail cost it is not going to be cost and time effective to reload.
Primers in bulk are about $0.03, powder is a penny a shot. Bought slugs are going to run $0.10 at the very least and more normally.
I buy lead at 25 cents per pound and get 40-45( 9mm/.38 slugs per pound. Two slugs for a penny is cost effective.
Generally, I happen upon a good day and plug the pot in on the back porch and cast several hundred at one run with liberal breaks to check the forum and change out of mold blocks to cover all the calibers and whatever I happen to be experimenting on at the time.
I do recommend going ahead and buying a Lee 6 cavity mold. I also have preferences in bullet shape and weight but some would not agree.
I have gone to a heavier than normal 9mm slug that also makes a lighter than normal .38 reload. It is a tumble lube slug and eliminates resizing and lube problems.
In some places 9mm brass is for the cost of picking it up, and .40 is the same. It has become scarce in my area due to the police opening their own training area and fencing in their empty brass out of my reach. They used to come to our club range and leave their empties in a bucket.
You can still buy once fired 9mm brass real cheap.
It is nice to have a big 2 gallon bucket filled with 9mm reloads sitting around, just don't let folks know it is there or it will empty in no time.
A two gallon bucket of .38spl by the door of the shop is the reason my son is married to his wife of 18 years!
Last edited by kyratshooter; 09-13-2017 at 12:30 PM.
If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?
Do reloaded cast 9mm require gas checks?
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