The rising popularity of pistol caliber carbines is a fad I can get behind. It offers more shooting time for poorsie's like myself, it's a ton of fun, and I believe there are practical applications for a such a weapon. When referring to the short comings of the 9mm PCC I am specifically referring to the AR variants. The Stribog, CZ, Ruger, and S&W offerings (to name a few) do not suffer the same issues that have plagued the AR-9.
My first AR-9 build consisted of a dedicated 9mm PX-9 lower by Palmetto State and a 7.5 inch side charging upper from Bear Creek. I know many of you will stop there and think "There's your sign." but I do not believe the reliability issues I suffered were unique to the brands I used. First trip to the range I had multiple failures to feed and a few instances of a dead trigger. I got home and took apart the pistol to inspect every aspect. I could rule out user error. I did some research and found that the issue most likely originated from the feed ramp. I did some polishing and sure enough that improved the reliability but did not completely rid the gun of its issues. The more I shot the gun the better it got until finally it was sold to a close friend to make room for other builds. Knock on wood but months later and thousands of rounds fired at Texas hogs, he swears it's been rock steady. Maybe it was bad luck. Back to the drawing board.
I come across a Freedom Ordinance FX-9. It was a full carbine length and ran like a gawtdamn sewing machine. It could keep up with any fire rate and I never encountered a single failure. My brother visited and loved the gun so much that I sent it home with him and started searching for another. I decided I'd like a pistol length so it could take its place as my new truck gun. I purchased the 4 inch variant from PSA on a sale for around $650. It arrived dry as a can of corn starch. Naturally I will clean any factory lubricant off a new gun as part of its baptism into my collection so I didn't mind. The first magazine left me fuming mad. The first bolt drop in fact resulted in a failure to feed. I did what any gun expert would do, doused the sum bitch in oil. After a few rounds down range I had a double feed. Then another. And another. I finally decided that I needed to use a Glock branded magazine as they have proven to be the most reliable for firearms that utilize the pattern. I've still had a few issues so I am considering doing some polishing to the feed ramp. I will certainly be reaching out to Freedom Ordinance to see if there is a break in period that I am unaware of. I truly believe that no gun should require a break in period of more than 500 rounds as I very well could have spent that extra $150 and found a pretty slick rig for $800. I say that because my SP9A1 has never had an issue. It also has a better feed angle but let's ignore that as I'd like to keep this post at a readable length. I will continue to provide updates on the reliability of the gun and for the time being it will not be carried in my truck.
If you are considering an FX9 and you are reading this I'm sure you're thinking "Well this doesn't give me much to work with." I can agree with that sentiment. I myself still don't know whether or not I'd recommend the gun. If all of them ran the way my first one did it would be a no brainer but I've had to learn the hard way that they do not all in fact come ready to rumble. It's an AR style 9mm, with a few minor differences that optimize it for 9mm but still has the same issues that other AR9s seem to have. Feeding issues that'll frustrate the hell out of ya.