welcome to today photo of the Day! Here we have a gun that became famous twenty years after its death. This is the Ruger PC4, and if it sounds familiar, that’s because the PC Carbine is another reworking of Ruger’s extremely popular takedown PC of recent years. Almost no one remembers the first time it happened.
Ruger made the original police carbine from 1996 to 2006 in two flavors, the 9mm PC9 and the .40 S&W PC4. The pitch was simple: An officer carries a Ruger P-Series duty pistol and a matching carbine in the patrol car with the same ammo and magazines. The PC4 was fed with the P-series .40 Mag. Some departments were purchased, among them the Maryland State Police, but the idea never took hold.
Under the skin it’s basically an enlarged, enlarged size of 10/22. Blowback action firing centerfire pistol rounds required a heavy bolt, so Ruger split the bolt in two and hung part of the mass in a weight below the forend to keep the gun balanced. It was as tough as anvil but heavier, plainer and more expensive than Hi-Point or Kel-Tec, so Ruger dropped it. Then pistol-caliber carbines came roaring back, Ruger revived the name, and became the new star. This is a forgotten ancestor.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Ruger Model PC4 Semi-Automatic Carbine.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/417/ruger-model-pc4-semiautomatic-carbine. Accessed 3 July 2026.
