Welcome to another Gun of the Week episode. We're here on the range with the Daniel Defense DDPCC. Pistol-caliber carbines have been really popular lately for a lot of great reasons, such as the low recoil, great handling and ability to train on shorter ranges. It also doesn't hurt that, comparatively speaking, 9 mm is significantly less expensive than rifle calibers. So, you can shoot PCCs a lot, and if your local gun range does not permit rifle calibers, you can still shoot it there. A lot of manufacturers have been coming out with great PCCs out there, with Daniel Defense one of the more recent companies to offer a PCC.
The DDPCC comes in a few different variants. The one we have right here is the full-length rifle, so this is a 16-inch barrel. Daniel Defense also offers SBR and large-format pistol versions of it as well. Clearly, the rifle variant is very-AR like, obviously. But, Daniel Defense has actually shortened up the receiver set here a little bit to make it conform to the 9 mm chambering that this particular carbine is in. But otherwise, it is very much an AR-style rifle in terms of controls, such as the AR-style charging handle at the top. There's the selector switch there just above the pistol grip, which is also a standard AR-15-style grip. Daniel Defense has a great grip on it, but you can swap that out for a whole bunch of different options on the market. The DDPCC also features totally bilateral controls. Another nice feature is that it has a pushbutton, AR-style magazine release as opposed to to a lot of the paddle-style releases in other pistol-caliber carbines on the market.
While we're on the bottom end of this gun, one thing that bears mentioning is Daniel Defense designed this to take CZ Scorpion mags. That's a savvy choice, as Magpul makes PMags for the CZ Scorpion, and there are a lot of options out there. These magazines are double-stack, double columns, which means that they're super easy to load. No more busted thumbs when loading! So that's really awesome. Up front there's the expected Daniel Defense collapsible buttstock, and it also has a 9 mm-size ejection port. Again, everything's a little bit more compact out here—Daniel Defense knows how to build a solid rifle.
One of the things on this that bears mentioning again is the large number of AR-15-inspired elements here. There's a full-length handguard with a full length Picatinny rail for optics up top so you can mount whatever optic you want. We've got a Sightmark Pinnacle 1-6X optic up top here. There's plenty of room for optics and accessories. The DDPCC comes with this vertical fore grip as well, which is a nice little added control element. All in all, this is a really sweet-shooting platform from Daniel Defense, with a great selection of magazine compatibility and the control layout. It's also a super fun gun to be on the range with.
For more information on the Daniel Defense DDPCC, visit Danieldefense.com. And for the latest in new guns and gear, stay tuned to American rifleman.org.
