Another entry into what’s becoming an interesting class of pistol-caliber carbines is Ruger’s LC Carbine in 10mm. The LC series started with a 5.7 rifle, then moved to a .45 ACP rifle, and has expanded to 10mm. This means Ruger currently produces two lines of PCC: the PC Carbine and the LC Carbine. The LC Carbine seems to be formed for the more powerful classes of PCCs. These rifles tend to stretch into the light rifle concept.
I’m sure Ruger will sell tons of these things. It’s a 10mm rifle that uses Glock mags. According to every comment on any article about PCCs, if you make it in 10mm and ensure it uses Glock mags, those commenters will buy it, and I’m sure they’ll most certainly keep their word!
The LC Carbine – The New 10mm
The LC Carbine series are interesting guns. They look like Glocks in mech Tech kits from a different dimension. The gun houses the magazine in the pistol grip, which reduces the overall length. The LC Carbine series comes with folding stocks and collapsing stocks, an M-LOK handguard, a threaded barrel, flip-up sights, and modern ergonomics.
The modern ergos include an ambi safety, reversible charging handle, and an enlarged magazine release. The stock can be reversed to fold to either side, and a section of Picatinny rail at the rear allows you to swap stocks easily.
The carbine’s handguard is CNC-machined aluminum, so it’s quite sturdy. The sights are flip-down Ruger Rapid sights, which are just AR sights. The LC Carbine series features a 16.25-inch barrel and has an overall length of 30.6 inches. At 7.1 pounds, the gun isn’t quite light, but it’s no anchor.
The gun comes with a 30-round magazine from SGM. Overall, the LC Carbine has a great layout. It’s a solid little design that’s held back by the NFA and the requirement for a 16-inch barrel. This thing with an 8- to 10-inch barrel would be amazing. Although I’m not sure what the purpose of the rail in front of the trigger is, it’s there.
The biggest downside is the straight blowback system. It doesn’t even seem to use the dead-weight blowback system of the PC Carbine. Blowback 10mms might have some stiff recoil and stiff springs.
Why 10mm Carbines
The 10mm is like a mini magnum round. It’s long been compared to a .357 in an automatic gun. It can even reach the low end of the too cool for this world .41 Magnum. The round is great in handguns but even better in slightly longer barrels. The LC Carbine’s 16-inch barrel can substantially increase the 10mm round’s velocity.
It can throw the always-powerful Buffalo Bore 180-grain round at 1,700 feet per second and hit a target with 1,000-foot pounds of energy. Admittedly, compared to a proper rifle round, that’s not much. However, for a pistol round, that’s quite powerful. Unlike a .44 Magnum lever gun, you get 15 to 30 rounds of 10mm instead of seven or eight.
In reality, the 16.15-inch barrel is longer than it needs to be. It seems like 10mm excels with a 9- to 10-inch barrel. After that, we don’t see any significant improvements. The NFA keeps that from being a stocked reality, but knowing Ruger, there will be a Charger version sooner or later.
What’s the Point?
It’s still a pistol-caliber carbine. It’s fine for home defense, but it excels outdoors. The hard-hitting rounds can penetrate very deeply through muscle, bones, and beyond. It’s a great woods gun. It could be used as a lightweight camping rifle and could be a great defensive option for two-legged pests up to bears in a pinch.
A gun like this would be capable of reliably stopping predators with ease. It’d be a real coyote buster and hog killer. Even something like southeastern deer at close range could be taken with good ammo selection. If I did my shooter’s calculator right, the round would stay flat enough to 100 yards and not have a significant drop at 125, and even out to 150 shots would be possible with a slight holdover.
Sadly, I think the gun’s slightly over $1,000 MSRP will be a turn off. A 5.56 rifle could do all of the above and more quite well and could be had for less than a thousand dollars. Still, I’m intrigued. I like the 10mm and could see some real potential behind LC Carbine in 10mm.
For more information, please visit Ruger.com.
