Springfield Armory Saint Victor PDW Gun Review

The new Springfield Armory Saint Victor PDW. Let’s check it out. (Available Here)

 

Guys, I’m a big fan of your pistol caliber carbines, especially in pistol form. They’re small, they’re compact, they’re easy to carry. There is a number of different designs and styles from all over the world. It’s really because they’re so popular and we have a lot of choices.

But one of my favorites is an AR style, AR9 style, little PDW. And this is the Springfield Armory Saint Victor PDW, personal defense weapon. It’s small, it’s in nine millimeter, it’s in that AR style to it, has all the same controls, all parts compatibility with your AR9s.

Small little pistol brace on the end, which this one is really impressive. We’re going to take a look at it. It’s one of the SB Tactical HB PDW braces and it is collapsible.

But one thing that really kind of astounded me was that they went to the Colt pattern magazines, which is different from a lot of your polymer. And there’s something about this full steel magazine, it just gives this to me a little bit of class. There’s a lot of cool features.

One is it’s a five and a half inch barrel and it has this compensator that is removable so you can put a suppressor on it. But overall, when I got this, I’ve seen a bunch of these PDWs. This is very impressive.

And I want to give Springfield Armory a huge thank you for including us in the launch and sending the Saint Victor PDW for this review. Springfield Armory Saint Victor. You know, Springfield Armory released their Saint series a number of years ago, actually 10 years ago.

Solid AR. I mean, they did a lot of upgrades to it. I mean, AR-15s, whether it’s 556 or 9mm 308, it’s a saturated market.

So when Springfield Armory decided to do it, they wanted to offer some things that were a little higher grade. Then with the Saint Victor, things went up even more. So there are some upgrades to the Victor series, but yet they keep that same AR-15 proven design platform.

It’s a solid foundation. Now this is in the 9mm. It’s what I like to call a PDW.

Very compact, very short, small, great for tight spaces, great for a truck gun, great if you’re going camping, hiking. What you need for something very small and yet very capable. So first off, one of the things that really surprised me was we have a Colt pattern magazine.

These are steel, they’re solid, they’re Proveman, and they’ve been around for a long time. And there’s something about this that just gives this, to me, a little bit of sturdiness. So while the Glock mags are great and I love them, it was just nice to see a difference.

And then we’ll check the chamber, go ahead and make sure the gun is unloaded, and it is. TACPAC, it’s the ultimate monthly tactical gear subscription. Every month they deliver a box filled with useful professional grade equipment from top brands so that you can focus on training, preparedness, and tactical excellence.

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Check out TACPAC. Guys, this is good quality gear and I was thoroughly impressed. Again, first thing I noticed was this Cerakote finish.

I mean, it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a tungsten gray finish. Sometimes when you get Cerakote finishes, it’s almost like they’ve been just applied.

This, for some reason, just really melts into the frame, the gun, the receiver. I mean, it just looks beautiful and it matches very well with the hand guard. But that’s one of the things that I just really was impressed with is that beautiful finish.

Now there is an anodized finish underneath and that adheres to the metal and then the Cerakote, it just seals it. But it gives it a very rich look to it. There’s a lot of things to talk about with this pistol, which it does have a brace.

And so we’re going to start with the brace and it has one of the SB tactical and this is the HB PDW. And you have your lever, which is actually actuated on the other side. It is silver.

And so then you just pull it out. It has three positions. And so you can line this up however you want to.

Of course, you have your brace to go around your arm and your strap. Nice rubber cap on the end. And we have very sturdy arms.

Of course, they are metal and we have a cheek riser right here. And when I first shot this, I had my cheek actually in front of the cheek riser. And that is not as comfortable, but this just allows you to get right up there on your red dot on your optic and be able to see it.

Now it does have just your standard charging handle. You could add an ambidextrous, but it is just the regular GI charging handle. And then we have Picatinny all along top on the handguard.

It is T-marked. The handguard is a free float. It does have that locking system that is Springfield Armory.

So it’s going to make it really rock solid. It’s going to keep your barrel, which is a five and a half inch barrel, chrome moly vanadium. It’s double metal night finish.

So they put a finish on it and they go back over it, which gives it lubricity and it just really helps protect it. We have this drum muzzle brake on the end and you have your ports out the front. So if somebody’s standing beside you, they’re not going to get hit.

And it has fluting all around it. Now this is obviously removable. So you can remove the muzzle brake.

We have half by 28 threads and you can put on a suppressor. But the suppressor is going to have to be fairly narrow for nine millimeter because of the handguard. So if you have a really thin, small nine millimeter, it actually fits into the handguard, which I think is pretty cool.

We do have a hand stop here at the front. And of course that’s going to be much needed because when you get that grip up front, you don’t want to go past the muzzle. Now we have a short abbreviated dust cover and this is because it is nine millimeter.

And of course you have your shell deflector. Magazine release has a fence around it, which is typical. And we really don’t have a lot of beveling around the magwell.

There is a cut just to kind of give it a little bit. But then with these magazines, the way they’re rounded off, they go in pretty easily. Again, guys, I love these Colt pattern magazines.

And then we have our safety selector, which is that 45 degree throw. And of course it is ambidextrous, a little bit larger lever on the other side, standard bolt release. We have a B5 systems.

This is a 13 degree grip and it’s their type 53P grip. So it kind of gives you more of a straight in instead of that angle that you have on your standard AR. And a lot of times on the shorter, smaller ARs, you will have that more lesser degree grip.

And the texturing on the grip is very well done. Front strap on the sides, the back is smooth, but there’s a little bit of texture right here as far as just the polymer itself. Then we have a B5 systems trigger guard.

We have a flat face trigger. It has been nickel boron coated, which the parts are as well. We’ll look at it when we break it down, but it just gives it more lubricity and it’s just smooth.

Now the trigger is not a super competition trigger, but it’s more of a combat style trigger, more of the mil spec. So we have very little take up. In fact, it’s very little.

And then we have a nice break, not a super crisp break, but not bad. And then check for reset real fast. I mean, obviously this is a nine millimeter PDW.

So you’re not really looking for a performance target trigger. Let’s check trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge and Brownells. Four pounds, 11 ounces, four pounds, 9.3 ounces.

Pretty consistent. Now the upper and lower receiver are forged. They’re 7075 T6 aluminum, which is mil spec.

And it’s more of your premium aluminum alloy. And again, these do have the type three hard anodized finish underneath. And then on top we have this really cool Cerakote.

And we do have QD points right here on the HB PDW brace as well. And here’s a little better look at the release button. You do have serrated lines and it just pulls out again.

This is three position. And man, it collapses down to a really nice small package. Now the Saint Victor is a nine millimeter blowback design.

And there are some that are radial delay blowback and kind of roller lock type systems, which are great. One thing about standard blowback is that it’s very reliable. It’s very proven for many years.

Now let’s check the weight with the magazine inserted. Five pounds, 14 ounces. Now with the stock collapsed, 18 and three quarter inches and fully extended 23 inches.

It does not come with any kind of sight system. You can put backup sights. And of course, this makes it perfect for a small little red dot or like we were using the little baby ACOG one and a half power.

Those things are awesome, but they’re pretty expensive. Even if you put a small red dot on here. I mean, it really works well.

And with the cheek weld, I mean, it just lines up very nicely. It doesn’t have to be really high up on the receiver. And for this small package, I like that because it is very compact.

Big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring our ammo. All made in the USA. One of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country.

We’re going to try the Lula loader. We tried it a minute ago. We’re going to see that first round.

You have to kind of slide it in and in the subsequent rounds you push down. So it’s a little different. Yeah, we can’t get the Maglula to work, but we can definitely just push them.

They push straight in. A little bit tough to get in, but I’m sure this is a brand new mag. So once we put some rounds through it, it’ll lighten it up a little bit.

All right guys, Saint Victor from Springfield Armory. This is their nine millimeter and guys, I’ve done a lot of PDW styles. There’s a lot of cool options, but this is extremely cool.

Has the AR-15 or AR-9 design to it. Uses the Colt pattern magazines, which was a surprise for me. 32 rounds.

I love this HB PDW brace from SB Tactical. Guys, seriously, I mean this is beautiful and it has this cheek weld on it and you really need to get your cheek up here. At first, I was putting it toward the back.

We have a little ACOG on here. One of the baby ACOGs and it just fits well. The tungsten Cerakote finish is beautiful.

We’re going to shoot it with a suppressor later. We’re just kind of doing this first just to get the initial review, but straight grip. So it gets that really PDW style to it.

I love the 45 degree fire control and it’s ambidextrous. I’ll tell you guys, this thing is awesome. When I pulled it out of the bag, I was like, wow, that is pretty cool.

But you know, it’s funny to have these Colt mags that are all metal. I mean, we’re getting used to all these polymer mags and so this just kind of takes it back a notch. It gives it a little more sense of sturdiness, but it’s got those standard AR-15 type controls, which makes it really nice.

Now, it does have this hand stop and I’ve been shooting it, putting it up to the hand stop, but even back here, just gets that in. But this way, you’re not going to go past and get out. But this is a five and a half inch barrel.

And then you have this really effective compensator on the end, threaded half by 28. So you just take the comp off and you can put a suppressor on it. And I’ll tell you, I really had a great time with this.

And every time I bring it out, whoever sees it, it’s like, wow, that is the coolest looking thing. And it is. Load on Sunday, shoot through Monday.

I mean, this thing will do it. Love Springfield Armory. They make really great ARs.

Their Saint series, Victor series is great. But this is a little bit outside the box, but man, I love it. I mean, this is just a great little truck gun, self-defense, home defense.

Put a suppressor on it and it’ll make it really sweet. Springfield Armory, good job. All right, guys, for disassembly, of course, first thing we’ll do is drop our magazine, check the chamber, gun’s empty.

First, we have to bring our stock fully out. And that way we can get to our takedown pin. Push through, pull out from the other side.

Open it up. Now let’s go ahead and remove our charging handle and our bolt assembly. Next, we’re going to take our pivot pin, and it is a little tight, so we may have to have some help.

And we’re going to use our bench block, just tap it right out. Man, that is tiny and that is really lightweight, especially without the bolt carrier. Well, here you see the nickel boron on the trigger group.

And that’s, again, just going to make it slick. It’s going to make it easy to clean, and it’s just going to give it a very smooth pull. We do have a shortened buffer system here in the back.

Of course, it only comes to here, but it’s optimized for nine millimeter. Everything else, I mean, of course, you have your ejector coming up, which is typical for your nine millimeter, and we have a block. We do have an Accutite tensioning system, and that will give you just a little bit better upper and lower receiver fit.

Of course, the fit and finish, everything inside looks really good. And of course, the AR is really easy to disassemble. When it comes to the bolt and bolt carrier and your barrel, that is the heart of the firearm, especially when it comes to the AR.

These are HP and MPI tested, which HP stands for high pressure, MPI is magnetic particle inspected. Some AR companies will do a batch. They’ll just check certain ones, pull them out, Springfield Armory test each one.

That just watches for any kind of stress fractures or anything that could possibly be in the metal. And the bolt carrier is 9310 carpenter grade steel. Now we have a metal night finish on the bolt carrier assembly, and we have our gas key, which is not a gas key because this does not have the direct impingement, but we have those staked, which is typical.

Then we have our bolt, which is integral with the bolt carrier. So we’re going to go ahead and take out our firing pin. So here’s our firing pin retainer pin.

And the firing pin came out because there is a spring, and it’s one of the things that began about nine millimeter. This is chrome plated, just gives it better lubricity and it keeps it cleaner. But the bolt again has been integrated into the carrier itself, so it’s not something you can just pull out, which is typical for your nine millimeter.

So we’re just going to return our firing pin. You want to make sure that stays clean so we’ll get it into place. Now, because of that spring, it’s going to ride up a little bit.

So you’re going to have to push it down to get the firing pin retainer pin in. And so we just put it in. What this does is it captures the firing pin from just coming out.

There we go. And you’ll want to see just a little bit of the firing pin coming out of the back. Now for reassembly, we’re going to bring our upper receiver back over, and there it goes.

We’ll take our charging handle, we’ll go in a little bit until we find the notches and then it slides in. And then you want to take your bolt and bolt carrier, go ahead, insert them all together, close it up, get your takedown pin, reinsert our magazine, check for function, and we’re back in business. Now keeping your firearms maintained and cleaned is vital.

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And we want to thank Otis for being a sponsor of the channel. Guys, it comes in a really nice case. Of course it is padded.

You have a couple of magazine pouches. These are designed for your standard AR, but these magazines work. And of course you have a lock.

On this one, we have our magazine. We also have a tool for the SB tactical brace and has more of a castle nut. And that just makes it if you need to take it off for any reason.

And then of course we have straps and then we have our PDW and we had these Velcro straps that lock it into place, which is going to make it nice. As you can see, I have this fully extended and I still have plenty of room. So a really cool little package.

And we get a Velcro patch, which will go on my patch wall. And I mean right now. MSRP is $13.99. Market price will be typically less at your local gun shop.

What are some pros and cons? First off, it’s just a very quality made, and I’ll tell you this Cerakote finish, the tungsten gray is absolutely beautiful and the finish is very well done. It’s a very nice coating on it. And I think that has to do with the anodizing underneath.

The HB PDW is excellent. I mean, this is really a great system, nice cheek riser. And of course you have your cutie points and it’s steel and it’s going to hold up extremely well, three position.

The five inch barrel is really small, but then you put on the drum comp and it makes it just come out perfectly past the M-lock rail. And of course you can take this off and you can put on a suppressor or for that matter, a different brake. Colt magazines, that’s a plus and a minus.

I would say a plus because they’re really sturdy and it gives you a very solid feel to it, but it is a little bit heavier and typically they’re going to be more expensive, but they’re available in a lot of places. These magazines have been made for many, many years and really I like this choice. This is really cool.

And there’s something about it when you pick this up. It gives the whole thing a little more quality for some reason. No beveling in the magwell, but honestly you don’t really need it.

Flat face trigger, very well done. Nice brake, four and a half pounds. The B5 systems, whether it’s their grip, and I love that more straight, actually just 13 degree angle, and their trigger guard texturing on the grip.

It just really adds to this firearm. Forged upper and lower, chrome molybdenum. You know, a lot of this is on your standard AR, but this is really a step above, especially for your AR-9 type system.

And guys, here is the thing with Springfield Armory, is the market was already flooded and they decided to make something just better. Same foundation, but with a lot of user features that really make this even a better firearm. And I don’t want to forget about the 45 degree short throw safety selector.

Easy to shoot, nine millimeter, and it’s a little cheaper, and plus it just fits in that very small compact package, and that’s probably the best part about this little PDW. So guys, we have a lot of choices with the PDW style firearms. They’re compact, they’re small, they’re easy to put in a truck or self-defense, really tight spaces.

Just makes it really easy and compact to carry and transport. And guys, we’ve reviewed a ton of these. I mean, there’s a lot of different styles.

One of the things I like about the AR controls is everything is right there, and I know how to work on it. I know how to add accessories. I know how to do all that with these, so it makes it very simple.

But again, the St. Victor PDW really stands out even in that market. There are a lot of things about this that make this a very cool option for your PDW. And again, a big thank you to Springfield Armory for sending the St. Victor PDW for this review.

Be strong, be of good courage, God bless America, long live the Republic.

 

-Don