Cast boolits in a Ruger 9mm PC Carbine? Anyone?

I’m interested in finding out if anyone is loading cast for their Ruger 9mm PC Carbine – and if so, what they are using for boolits (design and weight) and if you are using either Red Dot or Bulls Eye, what charge have you found to work the best in the carbine?

I’m old and I freely admit that. My bottleneck centerfire and pistol centerfire guns have been limited to either single shot, bolt or lever action – semi-auto limited to .22 rimfire. I’ve been looking for a while for a general purpose 9mm rifle – something for plinking, woods walking gun and also suitable for HD that my wife could easily point and shoot if ever necessary (loaded with factory rounds that function in the PC – my wife does not like shooting anything larger than a .22 pistol). I like the loos of the standard Ruger PC Carbine (not really into the AR look but surely respect those that do like ‘em).

After checking out quite a few videso, while they are shooting a variety of jacketed bullet weighs, it appears that the Ruger PC seems to function well with everything from 115 grain to 145issh grain and cycle well. I usually carry a Glock 26, and I like the fact that the Ruger is one that can accept the Glock magazines by changing out the magazine floor plate. In one of Hickock45’s reviews of the rifle, he stated that while he did not have one with him, he saw no reason why a 26 magazine would not work. While I hae a quantity of 26 magazines, I would also pick up some higher capacity magazines for range shooting, etc.

I have loaded 9mm for quite a few years for pistol and have good luck with both truncated and round nose cast. A number of years ago, I used a Lyman/Ideal 358-242 RN for casting and I settled on that as it worked very well in my pistols. I replaced that mold with a NOE 359-121 RN (basically a clone of the 358-242) and it works great in my 9mm as well as 38s. I don’t PC and my TL lubing has always worked fine with no leading issues. They hae worked well out of a Ruger SR9 (no longer have it), Shield and Glock 26. I do have some PC’s RN from a couple of different sources that I bough tot try out of my pistols and if people’s experiences show that a PC’d boolit works better out of the Ruger PC Carbine, then I would go that route. However, if a different weight/design would work better, I would've no issue with getting a different mold.

The one thing I see mentioned in many of the videos is the weight of the PC bolt, made necessary by the design of the carbine. From what I’ve watched, the PC seems to function reliably with factory ammo – but what are your experiences with cast handloads? Where on the minimum/maximum charge do you find you need to be so that the bolt cycles completely? Or, with the length of the PC barrel and the design become less of an issue as far as cycing properly over that of a 9mm pistol where .2 grains might make the difference of whether the pistol cycles properly or not?

From what I'm seeing in the videos, the Ruger PC Carbine is giving acceptable accuracy out to 100 yards on steel and lesser distances - not a "target rifle" but still acceptable and as a HD weapon at close range in a house, surely acceptable as a point and hit if necessary. If experiences show that cast doesn't cut the mustard, then while I've never loaded 9mm jacketed, there's always a first time for everything.

Would love to hear any experiences of Ruger PC owneers (any comnfigeration of the PC) and what they have found works best with cast hamndloads.

Thanks!

Jim

My ex gf was a small lady. I bought a Sub 2000 and she could not cycle the bolt

Before you get too far down the road, go to a store and see if your wife can cycle the gun.

IMO the M-1 .30 carbine is about perfect. Light and easy to handle as well as more powerful.

Can’t help with a favorite load because mine gets all the stuff the pistols don’t like. Mine eats everything and shoots well enough for my use.
Tony

Been shooting 125 Gr, lead truncated nose, that is a 50/50 mix of clip on wheel weights and soft lead with 2% tin added in.
The current powder load is 3.6 grains of DO32.
The bullets are sized to .357.
If my pistols shoot it, the PC carbine shoots it. Never had a problem with it cycling.
It is a fun gun to shoot.
Do not have a favorite load, just use what ever power or primers I have on hand.
Try it, you will like it.

I use Accurate #35-125AG with 4.2 grains of 231.

1300 fps, does about 2" at 100yds.

I have a Rock River LAR 9 and have used 115gr to 160 gr cast with Hi-Tek coated bullets.
As with shooting any cast bullet make sure the bullet is sized .002" over the bore size and make sure your loading dies are not swagging the bullets when loading.

PCC is a lot of fun for USPSA matches.

I’m just about to try Lee TL356-124-2R bullet that’s been powder coated to try in a 1911 and a Ruger ppc. I have cast and powder coated some but haven’t decided which powder to try which I have a variety to choose.

That happens to be one of my pit go to fun guns. I have exceptional luck with a 356121 (121gr round nose) I powder coat. I have shot literally 1000's of those through that gun with a red dot. Good Luck!

Ours feeds and functions with about any boolit and reasonable charge. Never did full scale accuracy testing or workup with it. Need to do that. Leading is not an issue with conventional lubed boolits. I don't powder coat.

NOE/Ranch Dog Tumble Lube 135-RF of wheelweight-equivalent, as-cast at .357" in front of enough Bullseye (3.7gr, IIRC) to get it to 1030 out of the Glock the load was cooked up for. Probably clocks about 100 fps faster out of the Ruger. The Accurate Molds 35-135D is the same slug.

Above combo shoots so clean out of the Ruger as to leave the bore looking unfired. Does not seem to deliver any different level of grouping than top-shelf 147 grain duty loads, which hold about 3-4" at the 75 yards I'm zeroed at, and opens maybe another inch or two at 100.

The gun is not at all ammo-fussy with Glock or Mag Pul's Glock magazines, although I did attempt to see how it did with Mag Pul 27 rounders (jacketed "work" ammo) joined by a coupler, and that gave some trouble. As best I could tell, it was due to the fact the magazines do not fit terribly snug in the carbine and the extra weight of the second mag caused the one in the gun to rock off proper alignment and cause malfunctions.

Neat little gun. I ended up not recommending them as a work carbine because tear-down is enough of a PITA that servicing 100 or more of them would be impractical, but as a 1- man house tool, outstanding.

Thank you everyone for your kind responses - great information and helpful!

I have owned a number of Ruger through the years (still own a few) and all were good reliable revolvers/pistols and neve had an issue with any of them I purchased a Ruger American Ranch bolt action 5.56/223 rifle just before the pandemic hit and while Im older and grew up on walnut stocked long guns, I really like the Ruger bolt gun a LOT. I'm sure I'll enjoy one of the Ruger 9mm PCCs as well and am looking forward to getting one.

Again . . . many thanks - greatly appreciated!

Jim

Mine eats it all. I have moved the charging handle from the right side to the left and love it. I can keep my strong hand on the trigger and cycle the action from my left. I think you will love it. I honestly have shot 5000 plus rounds out of mine without any hiccups I can remember. All different stuff. Good luck.

I found that any load that will cycle a handgun will work well in the Ruger carbine.

I shoot my Ruger 9 in a PCC class and love it. It just eats whatever I try in it and does so accurately. So far it likes 147 GR Extreme HPs, 147 GR FPs, 125 NOE cast sized to .357, Berry's 124 Round Nose and working on a MP HP that drops around 153. I use Titegroup because it works well and I have a lot of it. I also use small rifle primers. Thr cast NOE bullet at 127 grains, powder coated gets 3.7 Grains of TG.

I very fun gun to shoot although I do not go out far with mine.

My PC-9 Carbine (older style with Ruger Mags) loves the 358402 over 4.2gr of Unique if remember right, not at the house where I have my notes. It's a fairly moderate loading. Although I do size my boolits to .358 for the Ruger. Actually just about all of my 9mm stuff I size between .357 and .358...

In my PCC9 I have tried powder coated 115 cast from a friend, 124 gr pc and conventional lubed, 135 gr pc and 147 gr pc. All were decent but 124 gr conventional lubed shot the best. AA2, Powder Pistol, and Ramshot Silhuette powders worked well. Someday I may shoot some jacketed but I would need to buy them first.

I've loaded the Accurate 35-115Y powder coated for 5 different 9mm pistols over the past couple years. Final dressed weight is 119grain using COWWs with a little tin. 50/50 + 1% tin is about the same. The pistols have been real particular about OAL, powder, final sizing dimension, etc. The Ruger PC9 didn't care what it was fed. The current Sig P320 likes 3.65grains of Shooters World Clean Shot. The Clean Shot meters really well. Recoil brings the dot from the middle of the 10" gong to just above the top edge. really fun to shoot

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I’m old.................. centerfire guns have been limited to either single shot, bolt or lever action – semi-auto limited to .22 rimfire.......looking for a while for a general purpose 9mm rifle...... suitable.... that my wife could easily point and shoot.......not really into the AR look but surely respect those that do like ‘em).

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We almost sound like twins. I bought a PC about two years ago and never got around to shooting it. I finally sold it last year. The rifle's bulk and weight distribution seemed off to me. Maybe its the material heft that had to be added to give it its breakdown design. To me it gave the rifle a chunky impression.

That said I bought a second Ruger but in the PC Charger design and added a shoulder stock along with my suppressor. The stripped weight of the Carbine is 6.8lb and OAL is 34.3. The Charger as I have now weights 7.5 and is 33.5" long with the stock, suppressor and a Sig Romeo sight.

I think the Carbine is a good walk around carbine and a good HD weapon. The charger with a stock and suppressor makes it a better HD weapon and still a good plinker. Since I was leaning 80/20 towards HD the Charger fit my needs. It's still chunky but with a collapsible stock and suppressor it handles better for me. With the collapsed stock shortened up my wife will be better able to hit what she's aiming at and with the suppressor she'll put a lot more rounds through it. But that's another story.

I'd encourage you to hold one in your hands before you buy one so you can get a feel for its bulk.

Larry said that Bullseye or Red Dot would be good powders to use. I went with N320 because its popular. I needed more pistol powder and my Red Dot was getting low. Any powder you use will give you great mileage. The 4lb jug of N320 I bought should be enough for 10,000 rounds. I'm using the NOE 358-151-TC BB AS5. Its a heavy for cartridge bullet because I'm using a suppressor. It feeds magnificently. Almost like shooting a rimfire. MP has a great 8 cavity mold as well.

With the above caveats in mind I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either the Carbine or the Charger. One is a little better as a plinker and the other may have the edge with HD. Oh yeah, keep in mind that its nearest competition is a whole heck of a lot more expensive. And having the conversion capability to Glock magazines is terrific. Good luck. Bill C.

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