Gun Thread: January 12th Edition!

Damnit, dates at the bottom of the boxes again!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be Sunday again? It's going to be a quick thread tonight, hombres and hombrettes. Your old pal Weasel is a wee-tad occupied with work stuff right now, putting in three, and sometimes even four hour days! With any luck things will calm down soon and return to normal. Other regular features will return soon. Thanks for understanding!

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

FUNdamentals

Focus on fundamentals, 'kay?

The folding, concealable pistol caliber carbine (PCC) or personal defense weapon (PDW) is a longstanding dream with many gun designers from the 1980s onward. Brugger and Thomet (B&T) introduced their version, the BWC-9, in 2023. At first glance, it looks like a simple rectangular box with a carrying handle.

Press the latch on the right side of the BWC-9 and flick your wrist. Push the magazine home. Rack the charging handle on the left side. The BWC-9 will unfold into a carbine equipped with an Aimpoint Accro P2 red dot sight.

The BWC-9 accommodates a SIG P320 fire control unit (FCU), slide, and barrel into its chassis. To fold up the BWC-9 again, clear the firearm, drop the magazine halfway out using the retainer in the pistol grip, and press the tab in the upper rear of the pistol grip to fold the pistol grip inward below the slide and barrel. Lift the rear cover and stock will fold up underneath the rest of the BWC-9, neatly concealing the pistol grip. The BWC-9 can accommodate 9mm (shown here), .357 SIG, or .40 S&W chamberings of the SIG P320.

The Aimpoint Accro P2 greatly aids accuracy. Shown here are groups at 20 yards (bullseye target) and 25 yards (silhouette target). Both used 9mm 124 grain Federal Syntech ammunition. Note that even though the silhouette target is meant for use at 25 feet, the BWC-9 is still able to put every shot in the black at triple that distance. I think the BWC-9 passes the accuracy test for a PDW.

The BWC-9 is sold as a chassis. Since it's not a firearm, you don't need to submit a 4473 when you purchase it. Installing the SIG P320 FCU does make it a short barrel rifle (SBR) and therefore, an NFA item.

The BWC-9 has significant downsides. It's not cheap ($2,300 for the chassis alone, $650 and up for the donor SIG P320, and the $200 tax stamp for the Form 1 to make the SIG P320 FCU into an SBR). Racking the charging handle isn't easy because the charging handle maximizes concealability, not ergonomics. You must put a significant amount of grip force into a small piece of material in order to rack the slide. Installing the SIG P320 FCU into the BWC-9 chassis is a PITA because it's a very tight fit between the two. You might need to use a rubber mallet or puck to fully seat the FCU in. Once installed, you'll need a flat head screwdriver to disassemble the BWC-9's components for cleaning. But if you're willing to accept these minuses, you'll have a very light, compact, concealable PDW platform that's unlike anything else on the market today as of January 2025.

Ho-lee Crap! Thank you Ed L!! Excellent write-up and I appreciate it!

Are you current on your Lorentz transformations?

If I get one request a week for B-17 propeller installation guidance, I must get a dozen, so here you go.

Ammo Link-O-Rama
I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop
American Elite Ammo NEW!

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That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM

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