Handguns are extremely convenient to carry, but when you need to take a well-aimed shot from more than a dozen yards there are some significant limitations. In a world where terrorism is usually perpetrated by single individuals and lone police officers are often the first to intervene, a standard GLOCK 17 might not be enough anymore. Looking to fill that gap, B&T is now releasing their USW or Universal Service Weapon, a handgun designed to be compact to carry, but expandable to fill the role of a pistol caliber carbine.

B&T’s USW is compact when folded and stowed, but with the push of a button a skeletonized stock can be deployed from the side of the gun to provide stability. The barrel is also threaded for B&T’s line of silencers (or whatever you have a stamp for). There’s a Picatinny rail for lights and lasers under the barrel, and extended magazines are available from day one.

On the back B&T has worked with Aimpoint to develop a slimmer and lighter version of their red dot sighting system for the back of the firearm. The red dot is attached using a Picatinny festooned bridge to the frame of the firearm instead of the slide, adding some height but B&T considers it more stable.

Since the bridge for the red dot makes it impossible to rack the slide normally there’s a set of cocking serrations on the front of the slide with raised edges to make it easier to grip and rack the firearm.

It doesn’t have the barrel length or other features to truly be considered a pistol caliber carbine, but it gives much more stability and accuracy than a handgun alone.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

50 COMMENTS

    • I see this as a useful weapon for a security detail/bodyguard. If the NFA were to be repealed, I might want one.

      • I could see security guard/bodyguard applications for this pistol. It would also make a fun range toy, and a decent home defense carbine.

        The review however makes it sound like this is something that police officers would carry on their bodies at all times, in order to deal with terrorists, or mass murderers. That doesn’t make any sense. A basic pistol, and rifle makes a lot more sense for the average police officer.

        • Just give me a select fire Glock 19, MP7, baby AK W/ fold stock, Kriss, P90, etc.

          Uzi, MAC-10, There are dozens of weapons for the role.

    • Exactly! Pretty much all police officers have access to a long gun these days. It may not be on their person, but is available in the vehicle. Grabbing your rifle from the car wouldn’t take any longer than unfolding all this “crap” on your goofy giant pistol.

      A friend of mine is a motorcycle officer. I specifically asked him if he carries a long gun on his bike. He said that he carries a standard 16″ AR15 on the motorcycle at all times.

      Also, it would be cumbersome to carry this huge, and snag prone getup in a holster on your body at all times. It may cost lives in a close quarters grappling type situation. This thing just seems too big, and too awkward to carry on the body.

      A basic service pistol would be far more useful for close range, and a real carbine would be far more useful for extended range.

    • I disagree – I think it’s a real problem (the need for a lightweight, compact weapon usable by plainclothes security personnel and/or rear echelon troops while being effective to, say, 150 yards), but this does not appear to be the solution. From what I can tell, they put a stock and an extended magazine on a pistol – but it’s still shooting pistol rounds from a pistol-length barrel. So, really, they combined the main drawbacks of a pistol (short range and anemic power) combined with all the drawbacks of a SMG/carbine (bulky and hard to conceal).

      The P90 and MP7 are previous attempts to address the same problem by trading size/weight for a longer barrel and a higher velocity round.

    • If a solution, it is over 115 years old. Did they sell well for Mauser or the Luger manufactures? I kinda thought they didn’t do well then either.

    • Step 1. Carry damn near any contemporary pistol these days that has a rail molded into the into the frame.
      Step 2. Find a quick-attach vertical grip you like; integrated light or laser optional.
      Step 3. Carry both pistol and grip separately and snap the grip to your pistol only if the SHTF and you have a moment to do so.
      Surely I’m not the only one who’s thought of this?

        • They sure did! And they would have words with any common peasant caught packing the “solution” being touted in this article, too – soooo….
          Maybe the NFA laws really need to be revisited?

  2. Yet another in a long line of “fine for me but NOT for thee” firearms unless you’re willing to jump through a pile of annoying hoops.

    • Does that mean that this was the weapon Glorfindel used to kill the Balrog?

      Did Glorfindel use this thing to fight off the Nazgul to help Frodo reach Rivendell?

      Uh Oh – I guess I just outed myself as a Tolkien nerd.

  5. A good alternative is a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum revolver with a six-inch barrel in single-action mode, for example. It’s very easy to hit tight groups at thirty yards or more even under stress because of the light trigger pull and ease of aim even with iron sights. You can put a red dot on it if you must, but that isn’t really necessary.

  6. I want American police to buy these by the truckload so that we can finally shred the ‘in common use’ argument for the nfa.

  7. So it’s basically a semi-auto only machine pistol… Yeah… the Warsaw Pact had this back in 1961 it worked about as well as could be expected.

    • Mr. Waverly? Napoleon?
      The UNCLE pistol was based on the P-38. Nice it pretty much stayed as a pistil.

      • Billy’s and Icabod’s thoughts were exactly what went through my head on reading this! I was just reading through the replies before saying them.

    • No that would go in the foregrip. You put a humbucker in the hip. And the trem goes on the buttstock. \m/

  13. Couple questions

    1. WTF??

    2. Why??

    3. How the hell do I conceal and holster that damn thing

    4. Whats the cost ( yeah its interesting enough I would buy one just to put in the vault )

  15. Reminds me of an interchangeable bit screwdriver with ratcheting head. Seems compact and multi-purpose, until you actually try to use it and find out it’s not worth a darn. Then you go back to your toolbox and get a real screwdriver.

    Really, would you carry something like this? Seems a bit awkward. And if you’re going to leave it in your truck/cruiser, then you may as well have an honest-to-God rifle and shotgun.

  16. A mermaid is the worst: When you want a girl, you’ve got a fish. When you want a fish, you’ve got a girl.
    This gun doesn’t have the power or accuracy of a long gun, and none of the convenience of a handgun.

  21. We sometimes see Glock carbine chassis in action in Ukraine. It’s as if an SMG still has its place.

    What’s surprising though, B&T already have a line of SMGs. This thing is smaller than Glock conversions and smaller than other B&T guns.

  23. Legalities aside this would be an awesome security detail gun, or possibly something for a survivalist in 10mm. It would certainly be capable of taking a deer and providing bear protection at that point.

  24. For longer engagements up to 100 yards, I would like to see a really light carbine based on a blowback operated semi-auto pistol. In other words add a super thin fixed stock and extended barrel to a minimally extended lower frame.

    Given that full size pistols right now weigh all of 1.5 pounds, I imagine it should be possible to add a novel skeletonized butt stock, minimal lower frame extension, and barrel extension to 16 inches for less than 1 pound. That means a compact carbine weighing in at 2.5 pounds. That would be quite comfortable to carry on your back ALL DAY.

    In other words, take the Kel-Tec SUB-2000 and optimize it for minimal weight. As it stands, SUB-2000s only weigh 4 pounds. I have to believe it would be fairly easy to remove 2 pounds with some changes to the design and some different material choices.

    • Notes:

      The lower frame extension would have to be just long enough to provide a hand rest and no more to keep weight to a minimum. Both the butt stock and lower frame extension/hand rest would have to be of some novel design that provides incredible strength/rigidity at the minimum practical weight — consistent with “reasonable” manufacturing costs.

      And it should have a decent set of iron sights (iron front post with brass bead and iron rear ghost ring — including two aperture size options) for rapid target acquisition and accurate shooting to 100 yards.

      Offer it in 9mm, .357 Sig., .40 S&W, and 10mm. It would be the ultimate self-defense firearm for ranges less than 100 yards. I can see loads of people buying them for a trunk gun, hiking gun, home-defense gun, security detail gun, you name it.

      And if buyers are really stuck on overall length, offer an 8-inch short-barreled option.

      Remember, having an overall length of 32 inches isn’t a big deal if it only weighs 2.5 pounds. And an overall length of 24 inches (with 8-inch barrel) at 2.3 pounds is even easier to carry around all day.

  28. Would be potentially useful if the moronic issues with the NFA didn’t interfere.

    You can have a pistol!

    You can have a rifle!

    But if you have both in one, you goin to jail.

  30. This would make a great pdw for a fighter pilot that is forced to punch out over enemy lines. It should be small enough to fit in a survival vest and offers greater effective range than a standard pistol.
    I think this would also be great for police work as you can wrestle a bad guy on the ground, go hands on, sprint or hop fences better than with a long gun. They don’t make retention holsters for long guns yet and the situation may require less than lethal force at the end of a foot chase.
    I think it is a great idea and well executed.

Comments are closed.