About two weeks ago, the amazing Oleg Volk had a post wherein he introduced me to a firearm I was not previously familiar with, the Just Right Carbine. Now, admittedly, it was more his choice of model(her hair is the perfect shade of red, and Oleg's picture are always The Best), than the gun that caught my eye. Despite the intriguing camo schemes on the pictured guns, it looked almost like any other M-4gery with a pistol conversion kit on it. Ho-Hum.
I do like the concept of 'cowboy logistics' that Oleg talks about though...having a common caliber for use in both a handgun and a long-gun. I already have that basis covered somewhat, with my S&W 686 and Marlin 1892 both being in .357. It means I stock up on a lot of .357 and .38...would it be so bad to have a similar deal going in 9mm?
By coincidence(or maybe not coincidence) I was at my local ACE yesterday looking for a gift for a White Elephant exchange(got a sling shot), and I noticed the black rifle section had an M-4 with a Glock magazine hanging out the bottom. 'Why yes, I would like to see something...'
I still don't know if I was totally blown away or not. It felt like a well madevM-4...balanced nice, and it was quick to the shoulder and pointed well. The controls were almost, but not quite where the belonged...and all in all, it seemed an attractive pistol caliber carbine.
The two negatives about it, for me anyway, were the price, and the magazine. Asking price on the gun was $538. Not that much more than some of the dedicated .22lr AR trainers out there right now, but twice as much as the Hi-Point Carbine they had next to it on the shelf. Now, don't check out on me now...I'm not here to sing the praises of Hi-Point firearms, but I have seldom heard many complaints about their pistol carbines. I think they are ugly as sin, but I actually know two people who own them, and they seem happy with them. Under 50-yards with a red dot, they are a good time.
The other issue, and the killer for me from a 'cowboy logistics' standpoint, is that they run with Glock magazines. I don't currently own a Glock...my 9mm of choice is a CZ. If I bought this carbine, then I would need to go pick up a Glock or two also...and then a couple of 33rd magazine...
You can see how expensive this would rapidly become...
My "Just Right" carbine is the one I have in my hands at the time when I need it.
ReplyDeleteOr one with a redhead attached...
:)
Q
Thanks for taking the time to look at our carbine and report it here on your blog.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the magazines we have adapted the JR Carbine to use, we base our JR Carbine model offerings on magazines that have proven most popular among the general shooting public. Currently that means Glock magazines (in 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP) and standard 1911 magazines in .45ACP.
We have also prototyped an S&W M&P magwell for the .40S&W but will only enter production when we receive an order large enough (about 800 pieces) to justify the tooling and setup costs involved. We have been in contact with a certain national security company that has approximately 5000 security officers - all of whom are armed with the S&W M&P in .40S&W. They want to arm each of their security details with at least one carbine in .40S&W and are looking at the JR Carbine because we can provide it not only in .40S&W but also with the M&P magazine. If they place an order with us we will also make the JR Carbine in .40S&W with the M&P magazine available to the public.
Additionally, the external dimensions of the .40S&W M&P magazine may be identical to those of the M&P 9mm mag (the same situation is true with Glock 9mm and .40S&W mags). If that is the case and we end up going into production on the .40S&W M&P model, we would also probably prototype the 9mm M&P as well.
I know this does not do much for you with your CZ. Unfortunately, we are still a small company with limited R&D resources. At the moment we simply have to base our model offerings on those calibers/magazines most prevalent in the marketplace. There are several fine, very popular semi-automatic handguns on the market now, the CZ among them. I hope that we will get to the point that we can offer our carbine configured for them as well.
Thanks again for considering a JR Carbine.
Best regards,
Miranda Bernabei
Managing Partner
Just Right Carbines LLC
I totally understand the supply and demand and can understand a smaller companies need to focus on what is going to sell. Heck...even big companies only make what is selling...Taurus isn't cranking out all those Judge's just for the heck of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not your fault I got a better deal on a CZ than I could on a Glock.
The M&P is very promising, since I am much more interested in purchasing one of those then a Glck. I wish you guys luck...how can you not want a good company to succeed, even if you aren't getting anything from them for Christmas.