Thoughts on The Civilian PDW

I’ve just lately taken a renewed curiosity within the thought of a civilian PDW. The time period PDW, or Private Protection Weapon, has developed over time. At first, it was a category of firearms that sat someplace between a rifle and a submachine gun, a notable instance being the P90. The Russians have been the primary to say let’s simply make a brilliant brief rifle with the AKS-74U, however America has caught as much as them. Weapons just like the SIG Rattler in 300 Blackout redefined the army PDW. In my view, the civilian PDW is a bit completely different, and I’ve been chewing on the concept since SHOT 2024. 

Ever for the reason that nationwide brace ban injunction, we’ve seen a brand new rise in braced firearms. The brand new P365 Raider from Flux Protection, aka the Panty Raider, is what piqued my curiosity within the thought. At SHOT, we noticed the discharge of the MP7 from Tommy Constructed Tactical, a Rock-based MP7 lookalike from PSA, and even a dress-up equipment from FarrowTech for the KelTec CP33 that kinda crammed that very same roll. 

These and others, fill that Civilian PDW function and obtained me fascinated with the usefulness of a civilian PDW, what the parameters of 1 needs to be, and the way would you carry, deploy, and utilise the weapon. With this all in thoughts, I needed to discover the idea in a sequence of articles, beginning with this text that lays the final groundwork for the idea. 

Placing In The Analysis 

This isn’t an unique thought, and I definitely didn’t give you it. In doing my analysis, I discovered it’s been round in a couple of completely different types for fairly a while. Arguably, the idea of a truck gun isn’t too removed from this concept. YouTuber Brass Information has a video that I watched throughout my analysis. If you happen to’re within the idea, watch his video. He lays out some nice reasoning, recommendations, and extra. 

I began with the preliminary idea of the PDW, which was began by NATO. The concept of a weapon that sits between a pistol and a rifle made sense. It needs to be small and compact however succesful, straightforward to shoot, and dependable. For the civilian market, it might additionally must be concealable for every day carry. 

With this unfastened algorithm, I used to be capable of give you a couple of completely different genres of potential civilian PDWs. My plan with this sequence is to discover every of those classes with a sequence of assessments that can contain accuracy, velocity, ease of carry, deployment, and general ease of use. 

Potential PDWs

I’ve damaged down potential PDWs into 4 classes. 

Braced Pistols 

By braced pistols I imply kits which are enveloped or engulfed by braces. This style is generally dominated by the Flux Raider sequence and the RT 20/20. I’m not together with the Roni kits or similiar equipment. Whereas these are effective for plinking and enjoyable I don’t factor they’re unbelievable for severe use. 

Subguns 

Subguns are technically and legally pistols, however I’m separating them for readability’s sake. These are weapons just like the CZ Scorpion are pistol-caliber weapons that mimic SMGs. The smallest fashions, generally referred to as the Okay fashions, are candidates for a civilian PDW. 

Fast Connect Pistol Programs 

An underrated however sensible choice is a quick-attach brace or inventory design that may be connected to your handgun in seconds. This sort of system has very restricted choices, however hopefully, we’ll have a couple of to check. It’s fairly removed from the civilian PDW however it is perhaps succesful.

Folding Rifles 

Everybody is aware of what I imply once I say folding rifle. There are solely actually two, and that’s the KelTec Sub 2000 and the S&W FPC. These supply a rifle choice for a PDW. 

Carrying & Testing 

I gained’t be utilizing a brilliant tactical or specialty bag. I goal to make use of a reasonably standard-looking bag. It may be tactical in some methods however ought to seem plain and never overly giant. I’ve a couple of in thoughts. We plan to get this sequence kicked off within the subsequent few weeks, so keep tuned and drop in to see the place we’ve landed on the civilian PDW.