armoury
G&G SMC-9 CARBINE
and like
the Uzi,
the H&K
MP7 and
the B&T
MP9 (and
others), it
has that
wonderful
“hand
meets
hand” style of reloading and the 50BB gas
magazine (you can also use standard 27BB
GTP-9 mags) supplied with the carbine is
styled perfectly to make the most of this.
That said, the SMC-9 does pose a
little challenge when it comes to actually
holding onto it, as that 7” M-LOK rail at
the sharp end is occluded a little by the
ambi charging handle. Now I haven’t got
the biggest of hands but I found it hard
to get a good control hand grip, and I feel
that the inclusion of some form of folding
foregrip “a la MP7” would have been
a good addition. This is a totally minor
niggle though, as the SMC-9 is perfectly
shootable as is and it’s the “shooting bit”
where things really get fun!
I set the SMC-9 up with .20g BBs for
chrono and got a pleasingly consistent
and perfectly playable 1.04-1.07J/335-
340fps over the course of the magazine
on NUPROL 2.0 “Green Bottle”. I have
seen warnings on some retailer websites to
keep an eye on this, as there are different
SMC-9 variants for different countries to
fit with legal and site-imposed power limit
variances, so do check on this carefully
with your favourite shop before you buy!
And of course, with any gas-powered
platform you need to keep an eye on this
power if the temperature starts to soar, as
the Whirl Cylinder Valve will certainly help
you in the cold, but won’t stop that gas
heating when it gets hot!
As much as the SMC-9 is a stunning
modern design and a lovely thing to
behold, at the end of the day it’s the
“shooty bit” that’s all-important
and if anything, it shoots even
better than it looks! As I stated
earlier, for me the SMC-9 steps into that 10
to 30m void where I have to lay down my
DMR and draw my pistol and, as I’d hoped,
at those distances it absolutely rocks! Once
you’ve set the “muzzle hop” with the
clever little tool that you’ll find secreted
behind the pistol grip to your chosen
weight of BBs (0.25g worked well for me),
at 10m it’s deadly accurate on semi-auto,
which makes it an absolutely ideal CQB
tool. However, where my pistol would start
to fade a little beyond 20m, the SMC-9 is
still bang on the button. On the 30m range
using the standard flip-up sights I was still
happily hitting sandbags at the furthest
extent and this is with a 220mm, 6.03
inner barrel. My thoughts are that with a
bit of fettling the power is certainly there
to reach further and when you hit that
“giggle button” for full auto, I swear you
will have a smile a mile wide.
So, has the SMC-9 that G&G have been
teasing me with for so long been worth
waiting for? Oh yes it has, it 100% HAS!
Although this is classed as a carbine and
indeed what many have referred to as a
“carbine kit”, as it essentially contains the
GTP-9 as the “driving force” it is so much
more than that. I would put the SMC-9
firmly into SMG/Machine Pistol territory
and if, like me you love an Uzi or an MP9,
then you are going to downright love the
little G&G!
At the time of writing this review I’ve
been talking to Rick at G&G about their
new TR16 SBR 308 MKII (I’m aiming to
mod one of these to semi-only for DMR
use in our long-term test pool), which
looks to share the same modernistic styling
as the SMC-9 and I’m thinking already
about a jolly three-way featuring the SBR,
the SMC-9, and the GTP-9. I can totally see
that “big boy” with a good optic on it for
distance use, with the SMC-9 as a backup
and the GTP-9 as a “failsafe”, plus with
the latter pair sharing magazines for ease.
This to me sounds like a perfect all-rounder
setup and one I intend to work on!
For now though, I’ll conclude by saying
that I do completely love the SMC-9 and I
sincerely hope that G&G will make further
additions and steps forward with this
hybrid style of platform. They obviously
have the tech know-how, have nailed
performance in terms of gas efficiency and
range and have wrapped that all up in one
superbly attractive package. What’s not to
love?
My thanks go to G&G (www.guay2.
com) for providing this sample for
evaluation and to NUPROL for facilitating
this as my country’s G&G distributor. AA
“AS MUCH AS THE SMC-9 IS A STUNNING MODERN DESIGN AND A LOVELY THING TO
BEHOLD, AT THE END OF THE DAY IT’S THE “SHOOTY BIT” THAT’S ALL-IMPORTANT AND
IF ANYTHING, IT SHOOTS EVEN BETTER THAN IT LOOKS!”
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