PSA JAKL 5.56 Pistol Review

PSA Jackal, let’s check it out.

 

Palmetto State Armory is known for its AR-15s, and they sell those rifles very reasonably. And one of the big reasons is that all the parts, the barrels, the bolt carrier groups, the forged receivers, they’re all made at the Palmetto State Armory facilities.

And I’ve been down there, and it’s a state-of-the-art manufacturing company. I mean, they are really doing a great job. And the reason the price is so good is because they sell it directly to consumers.

And so you get the benefit. With that, they have been producing more different type firearms, just like the Dagger, which is a Glock Gen 3 clone, but yet it has a lot of upgrades. And the price is really right on that.

And then we have the PSA Rock 5.7, which is 5.7 by 28. And we’ve done a review on it. We took a look at the Jackal, and this is something that’s new from Palmetto State Armory.

It’s a piston system gun with a mil-spec AR-15 lower. So you have all the controls that are AR-15, and yet you have the reliability that’s similar to an AK. And that has a lot to do with that long stroke piston, has a monolithic upper, which is going to allow you to mount optics anywhere on this rail.

You can’t mount optics on a handguard and really get consistent accuracy on an AR. It just gives you a lot of real estate. They are first introducing their pistol, and so we’re going to take a good look at it.

We did get a sneak peek when we were down at the gathering, which is one of Palmetto State Armory’s big events that are open to the public, which I highly recommend. But now we’re going to take more of an in-depth look at the PSA Jackal. And we really appreciate Palmetto State Armory for sending the Jackal for this review.

The Palmetto State Armory Jackal. This is a completely in-house firearm that Palmetto State Armory is making. Now, one of the things about the Jackal that has caused a lot of excitement is that it is a long stroke piston system.

The AR-15 is a direct impingement system, and we’ll take a look at that in a minute when we break this down so we can compare it. But one of the things about a long stroke piston system is that is what’s in the AK-47. So, it gives it a lot of durability.

It’s very reliable. But we’re also going to talk about pros and cons. There are some pros to the piston guns.

There are some pros to the direct impingement like the AR-15. So, first thing let’s do is go ahead and drop our magazine, which it takes standard AR mags. Check the chamber, and the gun’s empty.

It does come with one P-Mag, which, you know, those are very plentiful, but it’ll take any AR-15 magazine. Again, it’s a mil-spec lower, but it has this really cool jackal that is actually laser etched into the lower. But again, any mil-spec lower will work with the Jackal upper.

And you can get just the upper to go on your existing AR-15. Now, when the Jackal first came out, a lot of people were comparing it to Brownells BRN-180. It is a short-stroke piston system, so it’s going to have some different features to it.

But it also will attach to any mil-spec lower. So, they’re somewhat comparable, but with the long-stroke piston system, it’s just a different setup. It’ll have a different feel to it.

Now, this is in pistol form, has a 10.5-inch chrome moly vanadium barrel. It’s 4150 steel, and it is black nitrided. It does have the SB Tactical triangular brace, and this is foldable.

We’ll take a look at that in a second. One of the big pluses for this is this is a monolithic whole upper receiver. And that means that your Picatinny rail from front to back is one solid piece.

It allows you to put optics anywhere on here, and it’ll retain zero. And being a piston gun, we have our charging handle right here. And it is non-reciprocating, so you don’t have to worry about your hand being in the way.

But instead of having that charging handle toward the back, which you have on your standard AR-15, you have it up front. And this is removable to the other side. We’ll look at that when we break it down.

It has your standard A2 birdcage. Here we have our gas system. It is adjustable, has four different settings.

And so, you can get it for your weaker loads. You can work it up to more high-pressure 556 loads. Then you can tune it in to your suppressor.

And it’s easily adjustable. Right here, you just turn it, and you can set it to the settings. And so, that first setting is going to be for your standard 223 loads, steel case loads, and then you can just work it up.

And it just allows you to have better reliability. Now, you do have a diagram of the four different settings for your gas system, and it’ll tell you what is recommended for each one. But it also comes with another gas plug, with a spring and a detent.

And this is for suppressors. If, for some reason, that the number four position is not really working, you can install this plug, and this will give you an additional setting for your suppressors. There’s so many different suppressors out there, so this really gives you an option.

There’s no instructions with this. It’s just included in the package. And you also get a Jackal sticker, and you get some Otis BioCLP.

Now, we have M-lock at nine o’clock, six o’clock, and three o’clock. And then we have vent holes that are all along the sides. And this just helps to keep it cool.

Also, vent holes here. And one thing about a piston gun, especially up front, is it will get hot. And so, this just gives it more air to breathe.

The lower handguard is removable. It actually acts as a heat sink. And when you’re grabbing it, it doesn’t get too hot, especially when you’re doing mag dumps.

And your standard DI rifles will get hot as well. But because we have the gases pouring out the front, it does get a little bit hotter than it does with the DI gun. You have QD ports here, and also here.

Now, the styling on here is definitely what, to me, Palmetto State Armory is working toward. And with the dagger, with the ROC 5.7, they’re really putting in a nice line of firearms. And so, it has a lot of nice styling on it.

One thing that is not compatible with the AR Lower is your bolt release. And it’s really thinner to accommodate the thicker receiver up here. But when you purchase an Upper, it comes with this bolt stop.

And guys, again, one of the things about this is that it has all the controls of your AR-15, and yet you have that long stroke piston. One of the big advantages of a piston gun is you don’t have to have a buffer tube with spring. And so, this way, with this rear adapter on the back, it has a Picatinny rail.

You can attach any kind of brace, stock, whatever you want to. Or you can remove the adapter, put a buffer tube on here, and you can run any kind of stock on a rifle version or an SBR. Now, you have your ejection port right here.

And guys, I’m going to tell you one thing about this rifle is it’s really super smooth. And that’s usually with piston guns. We do have a shell deflector right here.

Now, here we have an AR-15 direct impingement. This is a BCM. It’s in 300 blackout.

It has a nine-inch barrel. And so, you can see, I mean, it is a little bit shorter if we put it back here to the receiver. But of course, obviously, they make the 10.5-inch barrels for your AR.

And while this is smaller here, with this buffer tube, unless you get some kind of stock adapter, you have to have this buffer tube. Palmetto State Armory Jackal, we can fold that in, and we’ve got a much smaller package. Even with a longer barrel, it’s much smaller.

So, one of the things about a piston gun is that it makes it great for a car gun or backpack. It makes it really easy to stow away. And then, you can fire it this way.

And that’s one of the things that you can’t do if you have a DI gun with an adapter. And so, we can just pull it around. We’re ready to fire.

Or again, we can just leave it closed, and we can fire it that way. Now, one of the things about this SB Tactical Brace is that when it comes out, it locks up really solid. But then, when it comes around, there’s a detent that holds it into place.

So, it’s not going to flop open. And so then, easy just to pull around, and you’re ready to go. Now, one of the things about a DI gun, though, is they’re considerably lighter.

You don’t have the piston system going. I mean, there’s a lot that goes on in the front of a piston system gun. And so, it’s just going to make it inherently heavier, but it does put a lot of the weight out toward the front.

And really, when it comes to recoil, it mitigates a lot of the recoil being toward the front. It’s a whole different recoil experience with both of these guns. But honestly, I mean, there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do about the weight.

It’s just there. One thing, too, about a standard DI AR is your charging handle is here at the back. And so, if you’re going to manipulate the gun, you’ve got to come back and pull it.

With the Jackal, or with most of your piston system guns, you can just pull this back. And then, you know, it makes it a little easier to manipulate here. And then, of course, obviously, you can switch it to the other side if that works better for you.

And a lot of guys like that AK pull around and just pull it back. Personally, I like it right here. And considering we have the long stroke piston system in the Jackal, you know, it’s going to be really super reliable.

It really mimics a lot of the same features that your AK-47 has, even to me, over the short piston systems. They’re robust, but they are, again, heavier. And that’s one of the things.

They’re very smooth action. But one of the big disadvantages of a standard direct impingement gun is that you have this buffer tube that pushes the gases. And then, the gases actually force the bolt carrier and bolt all the way back into the buffer tube.

That means that all these gases are going to be dumped right here in this area. So, it gets really dirty. And if you’re shooting a lot, I mean, it does.

It gets dirty. There’s a lot of cleanup that takes place. With your piston guns, a lot of the gases are actually expelled out the front.

And so, you have them expelled here and here. There’s little gas that comes all the way back into the action to the bolt carrier. There is some because of the piston coming back, but most of the system gets right there toward the piston.

So, these are a little cleaner to run as far as back here where your bolt is. And two, that gives you some advantages when you’re using suppressors. Suppressors with a direct impingement gun, once you clamp that on, it forces even more gas to come back down the tube.

And, you know, you’re going to get that gas, which a lot of times it ends up in your face. And so, some people call it freedom gas, but it does. And so, wearing I-Pro is a must, which you should be wearing I-Pro anyway, but it will bring those gases back more toward your face.

Now, to be honest, we have shot quite a few rounds through here with a suppressor. It has a suppressor adapter on here and it shoots very well, but definitely it’s going to give you more gas back toward the rear. And it’s going to just be more cleanup.

Now, while the long stroke piston system is going to be very reliable, if you do have some kind of issue, it’s a lot more difficult to repair in the field. With your DI guns, I mean, you know, you can have some pretty catastrophic failures, but even with parts, you can fix them. I mean, if the gas tube goes, you can pop it out.

If you have a spare, you can put it in. You can switch out the bolt carriers. I mean, there’s a ton of things you can do with the AR-15 system.

And so, it makes it really easy. In fact, of course, obviously, guys build these like crazy. One of the things about this is it just is a different dynamic.

Yes, it’s going to last longer. Typically, you have, again, a very robust system, but if it does fail, it’s going to be tough. And really, that’s just one of the advantages of a DI gun.

But just like the AK-47, it’s the same thing with it, but those things are almost indestructible, but they can have problems. So really, when it comes to the DI versus the piston, again, there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but a lot of guys are really excited about the piston guns. And one of the things about the Jackal that it comes in at a really reasonable price.

Now, usually, I’ll wait toward the end of the video to talk about it, but these are coming in at $1099, and that’s the price. If you want to get just the upper, it’s $649. And so that way, you can add a piston system to your standard AR-15 lower.

And typically, if you know anything about SCARs or MPX or SIGs, I mean, those prices can be astronomical, but this really brings it down to more of a reasonable price. Now, again, with the BRN-180 short-stroke piston, those are actually made by PWS and FN products. We have an FN products, and we’ll be putting some testing between these two just to check out the reliability, to check out some of the way it feels with the recoil, and just kind of give you guys an idea.

So that is coming up, which I think that’s going to be pretty interesting to find out the differences. Now, the weight on the Jackal is just under seven pounds, including the magazine, take away the optic. Compared to this BCM DI-300 Blackout, this comes in at 5.7 pounds.

So you have a considerable weight increase with the piston system, and that’s just part of the system. Now, the optic we were using is one of the primary arms SLX-1X Micro Prisms. These things are incredibly robust and strong.

And it does have the ACSS G2 Cyclops radical, which is excellent. I really highly recommend primary arms. We really appreciate Fiocchi for sponsoring the ammo, all made in the USA, one of the largest suppliers of ammunition in the country.

And we’re going to be shooting some 55 grain full metal jacket, and we have a bunch of Magpul P-Mags, and we have Robbie Wheaton over here helping out, loading up the mags. Magic thumbs. Magic thumbs.

It’s so smooth. And, you know, I love DI guns. And no doubt, there’s a lot of advantages to both, whether it’s the piston or the DI gun.

One of the things about DI is you can fix it in the field, typically. If you have a real problem with a piston gun, it’s going to be a little more difficult to take care of. But with the P-Mag, you can fix it in the field, and it’s going to be the same.

One of the big pluses for a gas piston system is how smooth it shoots. And you can see, I mean, it’s just a so smooth shooting. Of course, the charging handle, you know, being up front, it makes it fast to load.

But yet, you’ve got the AR mil spec lower that gives you all the controls that you’ve always experienced. So it’s real easy to transition to this rifle or pistol in this place. And it does have one of the braces on it.

And one of the great things is because it doesn’t have a tube here, you can just pop this over. And it allows for folding stocks without having to get some kind of adapter. But it shoots AR mags.

I mean, you’ve got M-LOK rails, you’ve got Picatinny all the way out front. So, I mean, this is really an easy transition to a piston gun. And plus, it’s not really heavy like some of the other piston guns.

But guys, I’m telling you, it’s so smooth shooting. I’ll tell you, Palmetto State Armory, they are really putting together some great products. All right, to field strip the firearm, let’s go ahead and drop our magazine.

We’re going to check the chamber again. Just like your standard AR-15, there’s a pin right here. Just push it through.

And then we can drop it, open it up. And just like your standard AR, you just push this pin through. It’s a little tight.

There we go. Pop that off. And now we can remove our upper receiver.

Got the hammer, trigger system. This is all standard AR-15 mil spec. Not a bad trigger.

Now the mount for the buffer tube typically would. There is a plug right here. And so this is an addition to your upper receiver.

And it does come with the upper if you purchase it separately. Now to disassemble the upper receiver, you have your recoil system right here. And so you push it in and you let it come down.

Similar to the AK-47, except in the opposite direction. And then we’re just going to pull this right out. And this is your recoil spring and your guide rod.

Next, take your charging handle and just go to the rear and your bolt carrier will come out the back. And then you just pull it out. I mean, this is definitely reminiscent of your AK-47.

Has the same type long stroke piston and you have your piston set up right here. And this is where a lot of the gases will stay. And then of course we have our bolt assembly right here.

Now here with your charging handle brought all the way to the rear, this will just pull right out. And there’s an opening right here that you can’t reach when the bolt is in here. And so you can take this and you can just turn it around.

And then here on the other side, just slip it in and it’ll connect to this other side. But now that we have it out, we’re just going to drop the cradle right out. So the charging handle just fits like this.

And then when you’re getting it, you have to kind of line, just make sure it’s lined up okay. But it is steel and it’s going to fit in there really nicely. Now the bolt carrier is a little bit of a hybrid of an AR-15.

And you can see it has this cam pin right here. And we also have a small little cotter pin. And we’re going to take this out for our firing pin.

Firing pin comes out the back. Then we have our cam pin and it just pulls right out. A little different than your AR-15 cam pin with that little flange on the outside, but easy enough.

And then of course your bolt comes out. And that looks a lot like an AR-15 bolt. We have seven lugs.

You have your extractor and your ejector. But unlike the DI system, there are no rings. And so very simple, but yet very robust.

Reassembly, just drop in your bolt, line it up with the hole and drop in your cam pin. You want to make sure your cam pin is faced in vertical direction when you put in your firing pin. Just like that.

And then we’ll just return our cotter pin. And you want to make sure that the cotter pin is recessed down in here. If not, if it sticks out, it’s going to catch.

But here, simple and I like simple. Now for reassembly, we want to take our charging handle sled. There’s two grooves that are right here.

You want to make sure it goes into the proper place up at the top. And you want to put the holes where the charging handle goes in first. So we’re going to go ahead and slide it in.

Next, we’re going to take our bolt carrier group and we’re going to find it and we’re going to go ahead and start lining it up. Want to make sure that the cam pin is in that down position because if it’s not, it won’t close. Just line it up.

Now, before you let the bolt go all the way home, you want to bring back your sled and get it lined up for your charging handle. And then we’ll go ahead and place it in here, line it up on the other side. And once it’s in place, it’ll freely move.

So I go ahead and put that forward and go ahead and push your bolt all the way through. It should glide all the way home where it locks in. Take your recoil spring and return it.

And when you get to this place right here, you’ll notice this little platform and this fits in the upper receiver. It’s what locks it into place. And right here, there is a corresponding little key that’ll fit.

So you’ve got to put some tension on this to get it to fit in there. There you go. And once it locks in, it’s done and it’ll fit right just like this.

So you know, when that is retained, that you have it in place. There’s no two ways to do it. Next, we’re going to return our upper receiver and put in our takedown pin.

And as always, check for function. And we’re good to go. Now with your standard AR-15 direct impingement system, the gas comes through the barrel as the gun is fired and gases travel through a hole in the barrel right down this tube.

And when it gets to the receiver, it pushes against the gas key and puts gas down in here. You have some ports that push the gas out, but it forces the bolt carrier into the buffer tube. And here we have a buffer and spring and it all works together.

And then it forces it back into battery. With your long stroke piston system, the barrel, the hole in the barrel is right here. It goes up into the gas system, which pushes and forces the long stroke piston back into the receiver.

And it travels with this recoil spring. Very similar to the AK-47. And so the bolt is not pushing gas all the way through it like it is with the DI gun.

The gas mainly comes out the front. There are a little bit of gases that escape into this area, but it’s very minute. But the bolt is a lot heavier.

And so that’s just going to give you added weight to the But the bolt also rides on the interior of the receiver with these rails. And so it honestly gives it more of a smoother shooting experience. So guys, if you’ve been looking at piston-driven firearms and you just see the prices can be extremely expensive.

It’s really nice to see Palmetto State Armory coming in with the Jackal. These retail for $1099. And while that is a considerable amount of money, in the world of piston-driven guns, that is a bargain. And so I’m really excited about seeing what Palmetto State Armory does in the future.

Of course, this is in the pistol form. Maybe more calibers. We’d like to see a rifle for sure.

I’ll tell you guys, Palmetto State Armory has really started moving in a direction to brand their company. And it’s great to see these type firearms coming out of PSA. And again, we really appreciate the opportunity from Palmetto State Armory to check this out.

I mean, this has been a lot of fun. It is a smooth shooting firearm. And yet we have all the same controls of your AR-15, which I am definitely used to.

Be strong. Be of good courage. God bless America and Long live the Republic.

 

-Don