AR-9 Pistol build

**schmol** · February 15th, 2020, 11:38 AM

Looking at building a Ar-9 pistol and was looking at the CBC AR15 PISTOL KIT – 7.5 INCH / 9MM / KEYMOD / SBA3 / SHORTIE / 205757 https://www.cbcindustries.com/produc...d-sba3-205757/ and was wondering if anyone has any experience with CBC?

**solrac7** · February 17th, 2020, 06:27 PM

Looks like they are on sale today (President's day sale - HUGE lolz) No experience with these, however I do have the Palmetto AR-9 pistol that I got complete for $500 on sale - not much more for the complete pistol -works great, and I am very happy with it. Not sure where you get 9mm lowers,or how much they run...

**JoshIronshaft** · February 18th, 2020, 02:18 PM

What is your intended use?

I would say get an mlok rail over keymod due to the mlok being more popular. Personal preference but I also can’t stand the look of keymod.

**Emptymag** · February 18th, 2020, 04:31 PM

I just looked at that link.

"Meh".
I added up the parts in my head and I think you could source the same parts for $40 less, or pay just a tad more for a few parts that are known/higher quality.

The upper has a forward assist. I don't even think most 9mm bolt carriers have cuts on them. Mine doesn't and I looked at a few others online that don't.
Probably just included because it's what they have, rather than sourcing an upper that has no forward assist provision.

Count me in the "Keymod hater's" group too. I hate the look of it, plus Keymod has lost out to M-Lok in the opinion of buyers - if you look at budget guns and kits, they typically include Keymod handguards because not many people are buying Keymod and they either need to get rid of them, or can acquire the part from their sources for much less than an M-Lok version.
Hell, some vendors like Aero Precision even joke about it (how nobody wants Keymod any more) in their clearance special ads.
I do have two Keymod rails - one on a gun and one waiting in a box, but "low price" won out over my dislike of them.

That SB Tactical SBA3 brace is one I highly recommend though. You can get them for $120 complete with tube on sale. I got mine for $75 without the buffer tube since I already had a tube lying in a box.

The KAK Shockwave Blade can be had for about $50 complete kit including buffer tube, buffer, spring and Blade brace.
The Blade would be fine on a 9mm pistol, but it lacks the adjustment for LOP and the added comfort of the SBA3 brace.

I've never ordered from them.
Just looking around, it seems like they offer a mix of known, decent quality brand name parts, and generic "mystery" parts of unknown origin.
The kits offer and "easy" way to get all the parts you need all at once, but personally, I like to pick and choose the exact parts I want in my build.

As "budget-minded" (cheap/poor) as I am, I prefer to spend just a few dollars more for certain things.
For example, their LPK says "proudly made in South Carolina". OK - better than made in China, but I'd still spend $10 more and get a CMMG LPK because I know it has a reputation for being a quality LPK and because with multiple builds now, I have seen firsthand that there IS a difference between parts in LPKs from various sources in terms of fit and finish. For example, the takedown pins in any generic kit will work, but the "heads" on the ones in the CMMG kit are shaped just slightly different, and are SO much easier to push/pull to take your upper off.

My laptop keeps crashing as I try to post this, and I've lost track of what I was trying to say, but ulimately, I don't know that this particular kit is one I would suggest.
It may be fine, but the price doesn't really make me want to scream "that's unbeatable!"