Ruger PC4

About the Ruger PC4

The Ruger PC4 is a blowback-operated pistol-caliber police carbine chambered in .40 S&W, produced by Sturm, Ruger & Co. from 1998 to 2006. Sharing its layout with the Ruger 10/22 and Mini-14 family, it used an aluminum receiver, a roughly 16.5-inch barrel, ghost-ring sights, and accepted Ruger P-series pistol magazines. Marketed primarily to law enforcement as a companion to Ruger's P-series duty pistols, the PC4 and its 9mm sibling the PC9 offered a magazine-compatible long gun for patrol use.

Ruger built the PC4 and PC9 so police departments already issuing Ruger P-series pistols could field a patrol carbine that shared the very same magazines, simplifying logistics in the patrol-rifle era of the late 1990s.

Ruger PC4 specifications

Standard magazines were Ruger P-series 10-round units (P-series factory magazines of larger capacity exist but the carbine was commonly sold with 10-rounders). The PC4 is the .40 S&W version; the PC9 is the 9mm version. Not to be confused with the later 2017 Ruger PC Carbine (takedown) which uses interchangeable SR-series/Glock magazine wells.