For the last several years I've been searching for a nice 9mm carbine. For most of that time one critical criterion was Glock magazine compatability. I briefly owned a Keltec Sub2000 but sold it to pay for another gun that I've also sold since then. When Ruger released the PC carbine I grabbed one and thought I'd found my ideal PCC, but for some reason I just never liked it. I think it was the combination of weight and overall length that just didn't match up with my notion of a PCC.
After selling the Ruger, I decided to be a little more flexible with magazine requirements. That of course led me to the CZ Scorpion. I own a P-01 which I love, so the Scorpion was a logical choice. While trying to narrow down my choice between carbine, pistol and the new Micro, I ran across a relatively new offering from Grand Power. Grand Power is a small company in Slovakia that has been producing solid handguns for about 15 years or so, and they seem to have a pretty good track record, so I started doing some research on their 9mm PCC pistol variant called the Stribog.
Immediately the Stribog began checking all of the boxes on my list of requirements. It has a polymer lower but the upper is machined from one big piece of aluminum with MLOK slots on both sides, with a continuous picatinny rail on the top and a small section on bottom which is large enough for a AFG or weapon light. One nice feature is that functional front and rear sights are integrated into the rail, and can be flipped up at anytime. All of the controls are ambidextrous, the trigger is compatible with AR triggers (with minor fitting), and it has a functional LRBHO. The charging handle is reversible and does reciprocate, but as a right handed shooter I run it on the right side and it doesn't bother me at all. Grand Power offers a back plate ($50) allowing one to install an AR receiver extension, which I used with a Tailhook brace to make the Stribog a much more functional weapon. The barrel is 8.5" long and comes threaded 1/2 x 28 and I may add a linear compensator in the future. The pistol grip is integrated into the polymer lower, but fortunately Grand Power set it at a less severe angle than the Scorpion, and I would've left it alone in any case.
It came with two 20 round magazines, and I purchased two more 20 and two 30 round mags. So far I've ran almost 200 rounds of 124 and 115 grain FMJ with zero malfunctions of any kind, and the LRBHO worked perfectly. The trigger isn't great, but I'm going to hold off on working it over until I have at least 1000 rounds through it; at about 50 yards my nephew and I were dinging 8" plates just about as fast as we could pull the trigger so it's acceptable for now. Although a small RDS would be a perfect match, I have astigmatism so I'm running one of the new Primary Arms 1x Cyclops prism scopes. It sits just a hair higher than I'd like, but otherwise it works well. I currently have an Olight PL-2 Valkyrie weapon light on the bottom pic rail, and it works well both as a light and a functional hand stop.
Overall, I am very happy so far. It's a very solid weapon with just enough heft to make it a pleasure to shoot. At around $725 out the door it is priced very competitively, and for a little more the brace adds immensely to its functionality. I will update the thread as I continue to put it through its paces, but for now I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good alternative to the Scorpion. For those who don't like reciprocating charging handles, Grand Power says that a non-reciprocating model is on the way.
After selling the Ruger, I decided to be a little more flexible with magazine requirements. That of course led me to the CZ Scorpion. I own a P-01 which I love, so the Scorpion was a logical choice. While trying to narrow down my choice between carbine, pistol and the new Micro, I ran across a relatively new offering from Grand Power. Grand Power is a small company in Slovakia that has been producing solid handguns for about 15 years or so, and they seem to have a pretty good track record, so I started doing some research on their 9mm PCC pistol variant called the Stribog.
Immediately the Stribog began checking all of the boxes on my list of requirements. It has a polymer lower but the upper is machined from one big piece of aluminum with MLOK slots on both sides, with a continuous picatinny rail on the top and a small section on bottom which is large enough for a AFG or weapon light. One nice feature is that functional front and rear sights are integrated into the rail, and can be flipped up at anytime. All of the controls are ambidextrous, the trigger is compatible with AR triggers (with minor fitting), and it has a functional LRBHO. The charging handle is reversible and does reciprocate, but as a right handed shooter I run it on the right side and it doesn't bother me at all. Grand Power offers a back plate ($50) allowing one to install an AR receiver extension, which I used with a Tailhook brace to make the Stribog a much more functional weapon. The barrel is 8.5" long and comes threaded 1/2 x 28 and I may add a linear compensator in the future. The pistol grip is integrated into the polymer lower, but fortunately Grand Power set it at a less severe angle than the Scorpion, and I would've left it alone in any case.
It came with two 20 round magazines, and I purchased two more 20 and two 30 round mags. So far I've ran almost 200 rounds of 124 and 115 grain FMJ with zero malfunctions of any kind, and the LRBHO worked perfectly. The trigger isn't great, but I'm going to hold off on working it over until I have at least 1000 rounds through it; at about 50 yards my nephew and I were dinging 8" plates just about as fast as we could pull the trigger so it's acceptable for now. Although a small RDS would be a perfect match, I have astigmatism so I'm running one of the new Primary Arms 1x Cyclops prism scopes. It sits just a hair higher than I'd like, but otherwise it works well. I currently have an Olight PL-2 Valkyrie weapon light on the bottom pic rail, and it works well both as a light and a functional hand stop.
Overall, I am very happy so far. It's a very solid weapon with just enough heft to make it a pleasure to shoot. At around $725 out the door it is priced very competitively, and for a little more the brace adds immensely to its functionality. I will update the thread as I continue to put it through its paces, but for now I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good alternative to the Scorpion. For those who don't like reciprocating charging handles, Grand Power says that a non-reciprocating model is on the way.
