When Trailblazer Firearms (makers of the LifeCard pistol) first announced their interesting new “folding” 9mm rifle last fall, it was called the Pack9. They’ve since re-christened it as the Pivot for reasons that will be obvious in the video below.

We talked to Trailblazer’s Adam Voigt at the POMA Shooting Sports Showcase and he gave us the quick pitch on the new ultracompact Pivot’s innovative design.

I put a few round through the Pivot and it’s light, comfortable and, extremely easy-shooting, as you’d expect. Adam said he expects the first Pivots to ship in about 90 days.

SPECIFICATIONS:

  • Caliber 9mm
  • Length: 20.9″ closed, 26.7″ to 29.7″ firing
  • Weight: 5 lbs
  • Integrated Picatinny Rail
  • Telescoping Stock
  • GLOCK magazine compatibility
  • Ambidextrous manual safety
  • MLOK slots
  • Threaded barrel
  • Direct blowback operation
  • Shipping: about 90 days
  • MSRP $1,795

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32 COMMENTS

  2. While I certainly wish the very best to all firearm manufacturers, that MSRP of $1795 is a total nonstarter. I would be surprised if they sold 500 units total.

    • Absolutely, it seems they’re trying to make flu prices a feature, not a bug. Not that I’m intrigued by a PCC in the slightest. Not while I can put together a nicer than this B1k AayR in the same footprint for less $$$.

      That’s a definitive hard nope from someone who is not adverse to spending a good deal where it’s called for, for which this doesn’t reach the bar. Not even as a range toy.

    • That price is insane, I just built a sweet 300blk BCM for 1500 and it is way better in every way than that abomination. Also, why is it so outrageously ugly?

  4. For $800, maybe.

    For nearly $1,800, that’s a hard pass…

  6. It’s cool and all, but that price for what my Ruger PCC takedown already does in 9mm. If it was around $7-800 I might just jump on it.

  7. This is the same company that wanted me to unfold a pistol before I can shoot it? No thanks. Twice.

  8. No doubt it’s innovative and will get the job done however the price is wrong for me and by design it appears the trigger is connected by a long rod. The other day TTAG had a writeup about a polymer 9mm AR lower for less than $200.00. For the Pivot MSRP that’s 3 complete AR 9mm carbines.

    • Also length collapsed is just barely short enough to fit in a normal backpack. I researched hundreds of backpacks a while back.

  9. For that price it better blaze one hell of a trail.
    Did this gunm get the 4n1/2 star 10 day return to sender rating?

  10. Looks like a slightly-better-engineered Sub2000. I got a Sub2000, because I thought they looked cool, and would make a good “bug out bag” gun. The fit and finish is . . . mediocre to crappy. (Kel-Tec triggers have a well-earned reputation for being crap – and I can testify that is true.).

    I did the full M-CARBO upgrade, which REALLY improved the gun. But, even with that, and adding four G17 mags and a couple of Glock 33 round mags, I’m still well under $1000 (plus a couple of hours of work). It’s a nice gun, for its purpose (a small, folding carbine that will fit in a backpack), reasonably accurate out to about 100 yds. (seems to shoot about 2.5-3 MOA at that distance IF you are concentrating on what you’re doing and using decent ammo). Fun as HELL to shoot.

    One of my sons has a Ruger PCC chassis model, which is sturdier, a little more accurate, and a fun gun to shoot, but isn’t nearly as easy to carry, and weighs damn near twice as much (but Rugers tend to be pretty reliable). I would take either of those over this over-priced item.

    • And like 99% of all S2K owners you soon realize in short order that the folding feature is a very poor tradeoff to losing the capability of an optic. That’s why Extra EP9’s are selling like hotcakes. It’s 4 pounds, $450, optic ready, reliable, and short enough.

      • The tradeoff is completely unnecessary. They should orient the hinge 90deg to fold sideways.

        Or just replace the stock with a brace, shorten the barrel to something more proportional for 9mm, and do away with folding entirely.

        • Or just replace the stock with a brace, shorten the barrel to something more proportional for 9mm, and do away with folding entirely.

          And that’s exactly what Extar did.

          The problem for Keltec is that their current design needs a rear tube for recoil and it’d be an interesting filing with the ATF that a slight mod of their current stock to a blade with the addition of a velcro strap it would now be deemed a brace.

          Oh well, I dumped my S2K during the recent panic for a stupid high price and plowed the money back into an Extar. It’s a nice introductory gun for when I take newbies to the range.

        • I like the EP9, but the length imposed by its mag-forward design is proportionally larger for a pistol than a full-length carbine.

          Rather than a “problem”, Kel-Tec’s recoil tube – being required for function like an AR’s – should be more defensible than (for instance) a 9mm AK variant where a brace is stuck on the back just like a stock. Even if braces were completely outlawed with no grandfathering, you could shoulder it with (or without) a rubber tip / sleeve.

  11. I’m all for innovation but a CZ Scorpion pistol with a folding brace is shorter and cheaper, sorry not sorry. I’m not seeing any benefits to this design. Good effort though, feel bad for the company. I would be more interested in the platform as is without the spinny spin. It looks cool and seems like a pleasant gun to shoot. Getting rid of the spinny would also drop the price.

    • I agree, I prefer subgun styles, either SBR or braced, though that second option may be more difficult pending ATF action.

      This rifle just seems odd, but I guess they were focused on the rifle, not pistol rules, so it needs a 16″ barrel and overall length of 26″ unfolded. I wish the article showed it folded, I think it is around 20″. Any folding gun is a compromise, most are really small folded and thus not that great unfolded, like their trailblazer pistol. With the stock and pistol grip sticking out when folded and only shrinking 6 inches this doesn’t seem too revolutionary as the pivot doesn’t get as small as a takedown or the sub2000.

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