I  used to have one of the gen 2 rifles and I really regret trading it. Now I have a strong urge to get one of the pistols and make a short-barreled rifle out of it. I’m looking for some real world experience regarding reliability, handling, and generally just how feasible it is. I already have a bunch of other roller locks and I love the platform. I’m also curious as to which barrel length would be more useful. That is, retaining some semblance of worthwhile ballistics out to around 100 yards. Frankly, I can’t see further than that so what would be the point.

I'm thinking the 12" barrel is the best for 7.62x39mm for good ballistics if you plan on using it for hunting ever. Otherwise the 8" barrel is more fun.

I have both the PTR offerings, the 32K (12") and 32P (8") and both are great guns.

Personally from a shooter perspective, I like the 8" version better but there are some drawbacks specifically surrounding the PDW telescoping recoil rod arrangement that that 12" version doesnt suffer from.

1. Its a pain in the ass to graft the collapsing recoil rod from the pistol backplate to A3 stock if you are going to SBR it and want the factory collapsing stock.    The good news is that hkparts now carries a PTR specific PDW A3 stock ...which they didnt when I bought my gun. The downside is that the PTR PDW A3 stock from hkparts  is pushing $500 with shipping.

2. The PDW collapsing recoil rod is more fragile.  I have broken one personally and I have seen at least two others that have broken at the roughly the same spot as well.  My recoil rod graft to A3 backplate operation was a void warranty maneuver so PTR wouldn't/couldn't trade me out for a new stock as they didn't have any to give nor would they work on it...but PTR did send me the replacement telescoping parts I needed to fix it.  However the repair was a milling and TIG welding operation.   Knock on wood so far so good.

3. If you plan to using either as a sear host the locking lever spring in the PDW carrier is weak and allows for bolt bounce.  I suspect they weaken the spring to allow the gun more margin with weaker ammo.  I had to replace the PTR spring with a standard HK G3 locking lever spring and its run thousands of round in full auto since then.  Probably not an issue in semi-auto only mode depending upon your plans.

The 12" version, I dropped a standard G3 stock on it (since it doesn't use the telescoping recoil rod arrangement) and it ran full auto without a hitch right out of the box.

The downside is the 12" just doesn't balance as well as the 8" and the cyclic rate in auto is a touch slow/choppy for my taste where the 8" seems to be just right.

I don’t plan on doing anything auto and it’s doubtful that I’ll ever try and suppress it. If I choose the 8 inch version, I’ll have to keep it in the pistol form and use A brace. In Maryland an sbr  can’t be less than 29 inches and I don’t think  the 8 inch version will meet that. I feel like I read somewhere that I might have to change the locking piece for better reliability in the short barrel but I can’t remember where .

Basically, I’m looking for a solid but maneuverable 30 cal. That I can have fun with and repell boarders with.  I have a B E Meyers M60 flash hider that should tame the fireball.

Jb,
 Will  the different recoil rod in the 8 inch keep me from using the Ghillie bear buffer?

You won't have to mess with the locking piece in my experience.

I dont see why you couldnt run Jeff Walters/PCS heavy G3 style buffer, however I am not sure if it will offer much improvement.  Given how lightly both guns recoil I question how hard the carrier assemblies even come into contact with the stock endcap/buffer.  At times I am not sure if the K versions carrier even contacts the stock end cap/buffer at all.

The telescoping recoil rod is all in the "rod assembly" itself and doesn't interact with the buffer so you can install Jeff's heavy buffer into the stock below it should you choose to.  I believe Jeff's heavy buffer only fits the full size stock though.

The good new is my PTR32 PDW with the A3 stock is 29.5" with the stock fully extended to the end of the barrel so should meet your Maryland SBR requirements and even more so if you permanently attached your flash hider which adds another inch or more.

If you want fireballs the 8" is the way to go and if you really want "fireballs" than move up to the 51.

Video of my PTR 32 PDW

http://tinypic.com/r/avq53n/9

all of the above

the 762x39 will do a little better in a 12" gun vs a 8" less than 100yrds it wont matter but it something to think about. I took the 8" for the fireballs, a 12" would be better in a HD/SHTF scenario.

I encountered all of the problems JB had, new sping for f/a, had to chop/mod a couple back plates to get a hk21 stock on there. No need for a different LP but I did modify the mag well for drums

yes the heavy buffer will work but you dont need it. I used a HK21 buffer and the recoil vs the standard was negligable

They are awesome guns



I post this in all 32 threads

Thanks for the answers guys, that info is exactly what I was looking for. I’ve thought about it for a while but admittedly, I’ve seen that video more than a few times and it’s not helping.

Didn’t see it mentioned but mine is a bit picky with mags.  So I’d buy a 10 pack and test which ones work well in your gun

Good point.

Mine are also picky about which steel AK mags will lock up and/or run properly.   I have accumulated more steel AK mags than I would ever want/need and it was a pain to keep track of which ones worked and which ones did not in the PTR hosts.

The Magpul AK mags that came with the guns ran flawless for me.  So instead of trying to keep track of which steel AK mags work/didn't work, I just went out and bought a dozen of the Magpul gen 2 AK mags and have those dedicated to the PTR hosts.

@jbntex

Will the complete choate folding stock, from hkparts, work without any mods for the ptr32p???

As long as you get the correct one it should work fine.

This one should as its set up with the telescoping recoil rod and will work.

https://www.hkparts.net/shop/pc/PTR-PDW-Folding-Stock-9p14348.htm

This one won't work as its standard G3 only.

https://www.hkparts.net/shop/pc/G3-91-PTR-Folding-Stock-9p1950.htm

My full size could be a A little picky with mags also. But I too found it ran like a sewing machine with a P mags. I did the same thing and bought a bunch just for that gun.

Anyone know the oal of the 8 in version with an A2 stock?

31.25" OAL with a clubfoot stock.