Fits in your bag, without taking up the entire bag.

Current, seemingly never-ending, world events have led to a rise in questions about maybe needing something a bit more than a carry handgun. While your everyday carry needs to be light and small enough that you'll actually want to carry it, a PDW, personal defense weapon, can be a bit bigger to meet your needs. What would you rather carry? A small, compact gun or a bigger more powerful gun? Obviously there is a limit, at the end of the day you'll still need to carry it, but this debate has been going on for decades and has led to the rise in the micro-sub compact handguns like the Springfield Armory Hellcats and Sig Sauer P365's. But, these compact guns are at the end of the day, compact guns. What's the next step up from these? For the longest time, the next step up was a pistol caliber carbine or PCC. These are generally lighter and smaller than an AR even in a 10.5" barrel. Their ease of use combined with their ability for adding force multipliers like better optics and more powerful flashlights, make them overall better when compared to a standard handgun, but they have one massive flaw. They're massive.

Gonna start bulkmaxxing to fit this under a jacket in the winter.

B&T usually makes military contract bait. Firearms and parts that fit into the pentagon's budget, but aren't exactly consumer friendly. Mix that with current gun laws, and most of their products are anti-civilian featuring 16" stockless 9mm's and pistols where the only attachment point you have in the front is for their own proprietary vertical grip you couldn't legally attach without making it a Short Barreled Rifle or paying another tax to the crown. But they do have one item that caught my eye.

This is B&T's USW for the G17. It's a chassis system for the Glock 17 that allows you to use a full-sized optic, a flashlight, and even gives you a stock. Full disclosure, this is a short barreled rifle in these pictures, you have three options on how you'd want to do this.

1. Fill out the proper paperwork and pay your $200 tax stamp.

2. Remove the stock and replace it with a brace like this one from A3 Tactical.

3. Remove the stock all together as this system still gives you some upgrades like the rifle optic mount.

Now I know what you're thinking, is this really enough of a performance increase to warrant this entire article? The simple answer is yes, the long answer is this entire report you're reading. The recoil off of a 9mm full-sized Glock is already fairly smooth, but with a stock and a bit more weight and meat for your left hand to grip? It's minimal.

I learned way too late into this project that the Aimpoint Acro cut and rail included for the optic were a trap designed by the Swiss to make me buy one of their fellow country-men's optics, but by dodging this trap I fell into another one. This kit comes with a full sized optic rail, and while it'd be silly to put something as big as an Eotech on there, you can easily get away with a Sig Sauer Romeo 5 or similar Holosun. Your head is high up enough that you can easily see the reticle instead of playing around with five different risers like I did in the pic above trying to make a full-sized pistol optic work for this. You still have a small cut-out in the back of the housing for your iron sights incase of an optic failure which is a nice touch. The side-charging handle can be reversed to either side but if you're right handed, compared to wrong handed, you'll be fine with how surprisingly ergonomic this whole kit is while still being incredibly compact.

The best part about this entire setup is being able to use one of the most supported firearms in the world as your base. Utilizing the Glock 17 let's you have aftermarket magazines that use new improvements in polymers to hold 21 rounds nearly flush or finding a threaded barrel made by someone other than the original manufacturer. Need a longer slide release? Everyone makes one. Want new iron-sights? Even your competitors like Walther, make Glock sights.

We're seeing more and more of these PDW's coming out. Big companies like B&T and Sig Sauer are even getting in on it. The civilian defense market doesn't have much in-between a full sized handgun and a chunky MCX Rattler until chassis like the USW-G17 or the Flux Raider started hitting the scene recently. They fill a niche role, and if you've ever asked that question to us at any of the shows, you know we've talked your ear off already about all of this. This is a constant conversation happening right now. New parents always have a bit of extra room in a tactical diaper bag and want something that gives them a bit of a bigger edge than just a standard handgun. The USW for the G17 is easy to install and disassemble for cleaning while still being incredibly durable. True story, I once took this to the range on two hours of sleep, no coffee, and actual ants in my pants to accidently load it with 380. It took me three shots in to actually get a malfunction even with the entire chassis on there. That's when I knew this chunk of aluminum was a keeper.