Freedom Ordnance FX-9 9mm PCC Review

We're back at the ranch with the Freedom Ordnance FX-9 — I think this was the first pistol caliber carbine I ever bought, about two years ago now. Today it's wearing the Holosun AEMS red dot (that review is coming separately) and an SBA4 pistol brace from SB Tactical. When I bought it during the height of the pistol brace ban it came with a slick buffer tube and a padded covering, so I swapped on an Aero buffer tube with the SBA4 for ease of use.

This is an AR-style, direct-blowback 9mm, and most of the controls are exactly what your hands already know. The mag release is a nice big paddle-style button with texture on it — you can slap it and get that clean drop-free release I prefer. Standard AR-style trigger, fire and safety selector, and a bolt release that actually sits in a pretty good position and locks back properly. Takedown is standard AR with front and rear pins. Mine is the roughly 4.5-inch version with the thick CAA-style muzzle device, and it ships with an A2-style grip — I swapped to the MOE with the secret compartment in the bottom and the little beavertail. There's a QD point in the back, and I run a single-point sling on it; the gun is so small that a single point actually works here, and you guys know I'm usually not a fan of those things.

One upgrade to make immediately: the charging handle. Freedom Ordnance sent me their upgraded version made by Breek Arms — the Warhammer with the big wide wing — and it makes a load of difference grabbing that handle in a compact space. The stock enhanced handle is fine; the Warhammer is better.

Reliability is the headline. This thing has probably 2,000 to 3,000 rounds through it, I clean it about every 500 to 600 rounds, and I've had no issues, no misfires, nothing. The AR-style build makes it dead easy to break down. One smart detail: the firing pin in the BCG is spring-activated, so you're not getting negligent discharges out of this blowback design, and it has last-round bolt hold-open.

What it's not: a recoil-free wonder. You get pretty much the same recoil as any AR pistol — sometimes a touch worse — and the mitigation is not fantastic. But it's nowhere near a Kel-Tec Sub 2000, which about rips your face and your arm off. My one control gripe is the flat, straight trigger guard, which makes shooting with gloves a little more difficult. On the range it ran flawlessly with a stubby 17-round Glock mag — YouTube gives me a no-no badge every time I show the big sticks — and I hit every single target having pulled the optic straight off another gun without re-zeroing.

So what's it for? Honestly debatable. It's mainly a range plinker for me — it's just fun as shit to shoot — but there's a real home-defense argument, especially for newer shooters. Put an AR pistol in 5.56 in a novice's hands and it's a handful; put this in their hands, tell them to put the circle on the target, and they've got complete control. The blowback won't toss a smaller-statured shooter around like a shotgun. If you want more gun, go slightly longer in 300 Blackout — but for the small form factor, a backpack gun you could shrink further with a folder, this thing delivers. They make it in full-length and 7-8 inch versions too, with different brace and stock options if you SBR it.