Jack, Caleb, and myself have spoken on Gunday Brunch about why PCC PDWs, and the MP5 as the poster child, are still a viable option. Under certain circumstances they are actually the most desirable option given certain performance requirements.
Josh and Henry over at 9-Hole (Subscribe, I do) go through a range talk where the reiterate the data we chatted about on Gunday. The 9mm (or most pistol calibers) PDW offers significant ease of function and performance gains for most users over handguns. We are not kidding whenever we reiterate that handguns are hard to shoot, and usually the smaller the handgun the harder it is to shoot.
PDW types, especially the MP5, are among the most pleasant firearms to learn to shoot. The MP5 was the platform I first learned outside the military. It was an excellent exposure and solidified my opinion on the validity of PCC PDW into the roles.
These often have the shortest learning curve to highest efficacy on target in the most users. This ease of use and increased control can be applied to other high quality small PCCs like the Scorpion, MPX, EPC, and Rat Dog. It overall takes less training and less recurring training to maintain a high degree of capability with a PDW PCC.
While we should strive to keep training and continue to take training that promotes thinking efficiently while running a gun, we don’t always get to balance that time with the rest of life in the ratio we would prefer. Because we might have a true limit on the training time, picking a home defense option that remains easily effective in hand for us is not a small consideration or to be dismissed as too easy an option. PCC divisions of the shooting sports are way easier to hit GM rank in than traditional handguns and that should be illustrative that we take PCC PDW type guns seriously as the objectively easier options to operate.
A PDW with 50 rounds of 124+P JHPs that the user can accurately place anywhere at will and at speed at distances inside 25 yards > a compact handgun with 12-17 rounds where distances beyond 10 yards become a challenge and induce a greater miss probability.
Now that is, of course, the pure ease of use efficacy equation. Carryability is still and forever will be in favor of small handguns. But we don’t live in worlds where carried is our only option all the time, the circumstances of our lives vary greatly and what we can manage within them is worth putting detailed thought and planning into instead of selecting one option for all situations on about one sentence worth of critical analysis.
