Going to build a cheap PCC

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It will always be a range toy.

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And that's fine. I have plenty of firearms; ARs, shotguns, pistols etc.
My 4am "what was that?" continues to be my P226 with Gold Dots. It's just too handy, and I'm too comfortable and confident with it in the closed quarters of being inside my own house.

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I have a Aero EPC 9mm and it’s been good.

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Great, school me
Did you change anything, or is it as it came? And what's the buffer, tube, spring, etc? If yours runs, I'd like baseline specs.

And again, I don't have Glocks, I have Sigs and CZs in handguns. This will be my first "Glock" magazine experience, so I could use advice on acceptable/cheap mags.
*I don't want a drum , the 30 rd sticks will be plenty for me. Hell, standard 15 rd mags would be ok, if the price is cheap enough.

I have a 9mm SBR built on a CMMG 9mm colt lower. If you plan on ever suppressing go with a 4.5” barrel. You can run 147’s and velocity is subsonic out of the 4.5”. PCC can be reliable. I don’t have any issues with mine cycling good ammo.

Have the CMMG Banshee that takes M17 mags and it has run flawlessly. Never had any feeding or functioning issues. Run it suppressed with a light and green dot on top.

Ok, quick update. I finally had time to take them both to the range and put a couple hundred rounds through them. Figured I'd report back, in case anyone is interested.


Gun #1: Aero EPC lower. I did go to Aero and buy the EPC buffer from them, and swapped it in. New Frontier upper, with a $50-60 barrel (8.5"), and the handguard from the Zaviar kit.
I put an old Tasco Accudot red dot tube on it, which still works and I like the retro form factor.

Gun #2: Foxtrot Mike lower. I ordered a deadblow buffer from Macon Armory, and swapped that in. Upper was the rest of the kit from Zaviar (a 9mm profile upper from Anderson, an 8.5" barrel without index tab). I put a 8 inch Yankee Hill handguard I got on deep clearance a couple years ago (keymod, so they dropped the price to under $40).
Put one of the "romeo" clone red dots on that.

Magazines: 1 Glock 33 rd mag (from the Zaviar kit), a Korean 33 rd mag, and a super-cheap ETS mag (gunmag warehouse has them for under $8 apiece).
Ammo: I scooped out some reloads from LAX, into a ziplock. I believe they were 124gr FMJ. I have a couple ammo cans full of them, figured they would be the cheapest brass (didn't want to try steel or aluminum in a first run).

Ok, performance. I'd used a cheap universal bore laser to zero both red dots, at the longest stretch inside my house- from my son's head of bed in his bedroom, to the far wall in our living room. That goes the length of his room, the width of the hallway, and the length of the living room diagonally- so maybe 20 yds, give or take.
Both guns, indoor range, target at 25 yds- sights were dead-on and held zero fine for that session. I used some NRA 12-bull targets, put the dot on the middle bull of the second row- and blew that out. Just standing, guns not using any bench support, "braced" offhand (yeah, the brace went against my body in the usual way).

I shot mags with 5 rds, then with 10 rds.

Gun #1, the Aero- flawless. Not a single issue from first shot to last. All magazines ran fine. Bolt held open after last round for each.

Gun #2, the Foxtrot Mike- a couple break-in issues?
Very first mag- 5 rds with Glock mag- I had 3 "lock bolt back" events. Not jams, not FTF, the bolt would lock back on firing. I'd hit the bolt release, it would feed and I could shoot.
2nd mag- Korean, 5 rds, I had one such event. ** that mag, in that lower, locks back with one rd left in the mag, no matter how many or few I loaded into it**
3rd mag- cheapo ETS mag with 5 rds. Felt like it would shatter if I dropped it ; but it ran without issue.

2nd round of shooting, same as before- 5 out of each. Glock ran clean this time, and the ETS again was good. Again the Korean locked back with a rd left.

3rd round of shooting, 10 rds in mags. Clean for the Glock and the ETS, Korean locked back with a rd.

So, the first time through I did run into some issues with the Glock mag, in the FM9. That disappeared afterwards. And when I say "issue", it's simply: the bolt is locking back with ammo still in the magazine. It is not a jam, it is not a failure to feed. I hit the bolt release and it charges the gun. And that only persisted with 1 mag, the Korean.

Of note... while I say the Aero is gun #1, that was for typing purposes. I shot the Foxtrot Mike first; the very first mag was Glock, with 5 rds, with the multiple lockback issue. I shot about 50-60 rds through that, then swapped over to the Aero for about 60, then back to the FM for the rest.

After getting home, I went and swapped in a new carbine buffer spring into the FM9, that might have been the issue. I think I used a Franklin Armory xtra power spring in that, from a binary trigger kit. Otherwise, I'm going to keep actual Glock mag with the FM9 and use the Korean with the Aero.

And shooting- the fun factor is off the charts . There's some bouncing, but recoil is softer than 223. Probably about halfway between that and a 22lr. At my size and build, these guns sit very comfortably and naturally with the brace . And I agree with the general internet consensus, that 8 inches is the sweet spot on this.
Accuracy- impressive for a 9mm . I was mainly shooting to see if it was on paper, and if I had any failures. That said, yeah- if I had been focusing on bullseyes, I think both would do so easily.