Featuring a 5.5-inch barrel, Colt-pattern 32-round magazines, and an SB Tactical Honey Badger brace on a three-position receiver extension, the new Saint Victor PDW from Springfield Armory is maneuverable and uncompromising. 

Quick Summary: Sporting probably the best brace I've felt and using a common ($30) double-stack steel mag that gives it a very SMG vibe, this new AR-9 from Springfield knocks it out of the park and fits in just about any bag big enough to hold a laptop.
 

Table of Contents
 
Overview
The Specs
Features
Trigger
Reliability
Accuracy
Pros & Cons
Conclusion
 

Overview

Springfield introduced its first 9mm blowback action Saint Victor model AR in late 2022 with a Melonite-coated 16-inch CMV 1:10 twist barrel, ambidextrous safety, nickel-boron-coated flat trigger, and a standard GI-style charging handle. In a departure from the widespread use of Glock double-stack mags for 9mm PCCs, the Victor carbine accepted 32-round Colt SMG stick mags, which are widely available. We've evaluated these carbines in the past and found them to deliver on the range. 

Since then, the stick-magged 9mm PCC proved popular, with Springfield responding to customer feedback by delivering more compact models, including an 8.5-inch and a 5.5-inch pistol outfitted with an SB Tactical SB-A3 stabilizing brace. The 5.5-incher, in particular, taped out between 20 and 22.5 inches due to the adjustable receiver extension.

Going even more compact, the new Saint Victor 9mm PDW sticks with the 5.5-inch barrel, while its SB Tactical HBPDW brace paired with a short buffer system shrinks the overall length to 18.5 inches while feeling much more solid. 

And that brings us to this:
 

For full disclosure, Springfield Armory provided this Victor PDW pistol for review purposes. All testing was done on this one gun, which has been under evaluation since February. 

Features
 

Trigger

The new Springfield Saint Victor PDW ships with a Nickel Boron-coated flat-faced trigger inside a bowed B5 Systems polymer trigger guard that allows fat/gloved booger hooks. It has a crisp, if heavy, 6-pound break after an immediate wall and has a short and solid reset. 

Some of that trigger in action:
 

Reliability
 

Accuracy

With the flat-faced trigger, you can run the PDW fast and, experimenting with positions and grips, can find a sweet spot with accuracy coming from stability – key on a 6-pound pistol. We found ourselves fishing around with the support hand placement and the brace, finally finding we had the most steady and repeatable point of impact-meets-point of aim by running the PDW with the brace all the way collapsed and welded almost solely to the cheekbone without any contact to the shoulder, with the support hand pulling back on the front of the magwell rather than pushed out to the stop. 

Thus: 
 

When getting dialed in with the brace and grip, we found that softball-sized groups with an Aimpoint PRO/QRP2 2 MOA dot at 15 yards and 25 yards to be no issue. 
 

You can push back on the range with the Saint Victory 9mm PDW once you get your shooting positioning right. 

Conclusion

If you want a solid and utterly dependable 9mm PDW platform that can live in just about any bag that stands 19 inches high, this is it. The tolerances are tight. It is well thought out. It has a vibe. 

About the worst you can say is that it is hefty by comparison, about a half pound heavier than a Kuna, which has a softer recoil and is a little cheaper. Plus, when you first load those Colt-pattern sticks, take your pre-workout because you have to work on it to get to 32. After a while, they break in, but you have to climb that hill first. 

Still, if you are looking for an AR-9 platform that can fit in almost any bag, here you go.