Review Of The CMMG PSB .45 ACP
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 11 months ago
This will be the first of several reviews of the CMMG PSB .45 ACP. My intention for this first one wasn’t to test accuracy at distance, as I will get to that later.
My intention was (1) to put a lot of rounds through the gun with different manufacturers, (2) to test it in rapid fire, and (3) to sight in my EOTech with the gun.
I headed out to the range with the Glock .45 ACP magazine that came with the gun, plus another (26 round mag) from the Gun Mag Warehouse (this one was SGM Tactical). Both magazines worked fine, but the Glock magazine loaded easier and the spring on the SGM Tactical was very stiff. I spent most of my time with the Glock magazine.
It took a long time and a lot of rounds to get the EOTech centered, more turns of the screws than I had anticipated. I finally got it shooting at about one inch low at 7 yards, or a little higher than height-over-bore.
I put close to 300 rounds through the gun. I was also shooting a Dan Wesson 1911, but only two magazines worth of rounds. The CMMG performed flawlessly. It ate everything I put in it.
Remington, Federal, Magtech, American Eagle and Winchester. The Remington was hollow point. The Winchester seemed dirtier than the others, and the Magtech and Federal seemed to perform the best.
But every round hit where I aimed when I finally got the red dot centered where I wanted it (I had to move it to the right and up). It works very nicely in rapid fire, and it’s easy to recover sight picture.
The things I like about this gun are as follows.
(1) It worked flawlessly over nearly 300 rounds, many of which were discharged virtually as soon as I could grab a sight picture (less than a second).
(2) It has AR style operation, with which I’m intimately familiar.
(3) I find that I really like the thumb-over-bore (or C-clamp) grip. It helps to stabilize any AR style weapon. I had worried that this barrel was so short that the muzzle brake would cause concussive stress to my left hand upon discharge. No worries after the first shot. The barrel was cool, the hand guard was cool, and I didn’t feel a thing even without gloves. My left hand was near the end of the hand guard.
(4) This gun and its caliber were very controllable. I’ve shot AR pistols before in 5.56mm that I considered to be out of control (or better said, very difficult to control). This one is not.
(5) It has a flared mag-well where the magazine is easy to insert, but not the AR-15 size magwell. It is one suited for the Glock magazine for which it is designed.
The things I don’t like about this gun are as follows.
(1) Nothing …
I consider this gun to be a very good weapon to fill the gap between pistols and rifles, as I don’t really relish the idea of shooting a rifle inside the home for self defense. I really, really like this gun.
Now, if I could just remember to put my tools in the range bag before I go so I don’t have to borrow tools from other guys. It’s embarrassing. Or I could just get some tools and leave them in the range bag.
I’ll do other reviews on this gun as time permits.
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On January 22, 2018 at 8:50 am, Duke_Digger said:
“get some tools and leave them in the range bag”
I whole heartily agree with this, even then, I still fail to take everything I need.
I usually arrive with ammo, that one is really embarrassing!
On January 22, 2018 at 9:14 am, Fred said:
I love, love, love a gun that eats everything right out of the box. In fact I will no longer tolerate a weapon that doesn’t or one that requires a ‘break in’ period.
On January 22, 2018 at 11:05 am, James said:
By chande did you get to chrono any rounds out of it, especially 230grain ball?
I shot my friend’s Palmetto State version after a 3gun match and I really liked it.
On January 22, 2018 at 6:12 pm, rocketguy said:
Can you give us a rough street price? MSRP is kinda salty.
I could have dismissed your concerns about your left hand being close to the muzzle. Put quite a few rounds through a 10″ 5.56 this weekend with no issues…muzzle blast and fireball are impressive.
On January 23, 2018 at 11:07 am, Herschel Smith said:
@rocket,
It’s not cheap, but remember you get what you pay for. It’s not priced comparably to budget/rack ARs like DPMS, S&W, Bushmaster, etc. It’s priced more like a RRA or Head Down AR.
That said, if you find another online for, say $1200, at Bud’s, or somewhere else, take your iPhone with you, pull the web site up, and tell them you can get it for that much. Normally, gun shops know they’re competing with online retailers so they’ll say they can match the price. That way, you can drive the selling price as low as the lowest you find on the market at the time.
On January 23, 2018 at 11:09 am, Herschel Smith said:
@James,
Didn’t chrono any rounds. Would have liked to. Don’t have one – will have to see if I can borrow one for the next review at distance. Intend to take it to the 50 yard rifle range next. Was on the pistol range all day.
On January 23, 2018 at 6:21 pm, rocketguy said:
I should have added that I’m drooling – a AR style shorty 45 carbine + Glock mags + reliable…be still my heart.
On February 8, 2018 at 10:58 am, Pat Hines said:
Curious about 30 round magazines. Did you acquire any and if so, how did they do?
On February 8, 2018 at 11:01 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Pat,
As I said in the article, I had a 28-rnd mag, but found it hard to load. I need to get a mag loader to easy the stress to my hand. Both mags worked fine and none had any FTF/FTE. IDK. I might just stick with the Glock mags for range work and load a single one for home defense.
On February 8, 2018 at 6:40 pm, Pat Hines said:
Color me embarrassed. I missed your mention of a larger capacity magazine.
Still, if you make this rifle (short or not) your truck/car gun, the larger magazines, either duplexed, or drum type, is what I’d want.
My decision for a truck gun based on an AR type weapon is for controlling crowds around my vehicle. For use when pistols aren’t adequate due to magazine limits. I’ve read a number of examples of shopping mall “negro flash mobs” which would require a couple of 30 round magazines.