I’ve long been fascinated with the idea of pistols with detachable shoulder stocks and carbine conversion kits.
At SHOT this year, I got to look at a couple of different kits from FAB Defense. The AMP Pistol Conversion Kit particularly caught my eye. It allowed you to use a pistol with a red dot sight already mounted. Many of the other kits out there won’t work with a slide-mounted optic.
I arranged to get one for T&E and have been working with it for the past few months now.
The AMP Pistol Conversion Kit
FAB Defense’s AMP Pistol Conversion kit consists of a polymer chassis that will accept a variety of service style handguns. While many pistol conversion kits come with a brace, the AMP has a side folding stock. So to use it in the US, you would need a pistol that has been registered as an SBR. Since I happened to have a Glock 17 that I’d Form 1’d in the past, that was the platform I intended to use.
I also had a Glock 45 trainer with red dot that I could test the AMP with. I picked it up from American Safety Mold folks at the SHOT Show. It’s perfectly molded and works in all of my Glock holsters. It also locked into the AMP perfectly. I’ve used it quite a bit for practice drills since SHOT.
The AMP chassis is a modular design that uses three replaceable adapters. You can change and mix the different adapters to adjust the AMP to different handguns. The list of possible handguns includes: Glock: 17/19 , 43X/48, Walther: PDP 4″” Models, IWI Masada
SIG: 365X Macro , P320 Compact , P320 M18X, Taurus: G3/G3c, CZ: P07, 75 P01, P10C
Bersa, Ramon, and the HK VP9. You buy the AMP with one adapter but other adapters will be sold separately. That way you can swap out between different handguns that you own.
It is worth noting that the system engages the rails of the pistol frame. So you do need a compatible model that also has a dust cover mounted accessory rail. You’ll also note that all of those pistols listed have either compact or standard service length barrels. The charging handle engages the front of the slide to rack it, so it is spaced to work with those sizes. A longer slide pistol like a Glock 34 or Glock 17L will not fit in the AMP chassis. Same for a shorter slide like a Glock 26 or 27. They’re too short.Trust me, I tried it.
FAB Defense designed the AMP with an open upper design. That allows for slide mounted optics and taller than factory iron sights. There are M-LOK slots on both sides of the handguard portion of the chassis for mounting lights or other accessories.
The kit comes with an angled MG-9 forward grip that also holds a spare magazine. An optional Picatinny rail is also provided that you can mount on the top cover of the chassis. It’s handy if you don’t have an optic mounted handgun. Or if you choose to use a different optic anyway.
Unlike a lot of other conversion kits, with the AMP you don’t need to add any parts to your pistol. The charging handle is build into the left side of the chassis and engages the front of your pistols slide.
The stock is L shaped with an integral grooved butt plate. It closes by means of a button located on the left rear of the chassis. It folds to the right side and does not lock in the closed position. You can adjust the stock angle by removing the two screws that secure it to the hinge mechanism.
The AMP Pistol Conversion Kit is available in 3 different colors: Black, OD Green, and FDE. MSRP is $150.00.
The AMP Pro
There is also an AMP Pro Kit that has the same basic chassis with some additional add on features. The Pro is an enclosed design, but it’s tall enough to fit a pistol with optic or tall iron sights. It has an 8.6” aluminum Picatinny rail that goes the full length of the upper.
The Pro also comes with a QD sling swivel, flip up back up sights, and a bungee sling. There’s also a special backpack that has space for a full AMP-PRO kit with extra magazines, as well as additional gear. MSRP on the Pro kit is $299.00.
Installing Your Handgun into the AMP
To install your handgun into the AMP Pistol Conversion Kit push the two assembly locking buttons to remove the handgun adapter (the beaver tail looking piece) from the AMP. Then tilt the handgun and slide it forward into the handguard so the handgun’s accessory rail securely engages the Rail Adapter inside the AMP.
After that you slide the handguard adapter back into place, ensuring that it catches the beavertail portion of the pistol frame. The two buttons on either side will snap into place on the chassis when fully installed. You should be able to tug on the pistol and ensure that it’s solidly locked into place.
It’s actually a pretty easy system. It takes longer to explain how to do it than it does to actually do it. I’ve used a few other conversions kits over the years and this is probably the fastest and simplest one I’ve used. The fact that you can just pull your gun from the holster and insert it directly into the chassis without having to add any additional pieces makes things easy.
Ergonomics and Function
To test the AMP kit I used the Gen 3 Glock 17 SBR. I used it with the factory slide as well as a Patmos optics cut slide. The slide was mounted with a green dot Gideon Rock optic. You can use the dot sight by looking through the channel of the forend. There’s a catch though.
While you absolutely can use the red dot on your pistol, or even your iron sights for that matter, you have to adjust the angle of the stock first. The AMP ships with the stock in an in line configuration. In that position you can’t get your head low enough to see the sights mounted on the pistol. I didn’t figure this out immediately.
Oddly enough, if you read the PDF instructions that can be found on FAB Defense’s website though, they explain it. Simply remove the two screws holding the buttstock to the hinge assembly and you’ll see there are a series of notches on the stock tang. Those let you pick a an angle that works best for you. Just reinsert the stock at your preferred angle and reinstall the screws.
If you plan on mounting an optic directly on the AMP you have to first attach the included Picatinny rail. With a sight installed on the rail, the stock in the straight in line configuration works fine.
With your pistol installed the AMP has something of a subgun configuration to it. It’s light and compact, but gives you more stability than a pistol on its own. You get the same three points of contact that you’d get using a rifle. The shoulder stock, cheek weld, and off hand on the foregip
Range Testing
Recoil with a 9mm using the AMP is negligible, and accurate follow up shots are easy. At 25 yards I shoot significantly better with my Glock 17 using the AMP than shooting it on its own. Out past 25 yards the difference is even more significant.
You can also shoot the AMP with the stock folded and still access all of the controls without issue. While not as stable as using it with the stock unfolded, you still get that forward grip for extra stability.
It’s worth knowing that you can pull the AMP out of your pack and and engage even if don’t have time to immediately deploy the stock.
While I like the idea of using a pistol with a slide-mounted red dot on the AMP, I will say that I found the configuration with a sight mounted to the chassis to be faster and more comfortable to use.
Your head seems to be at a more natural position with the inline stock and Picatinny-mounted optic. You also have a much better field of view around the handguard-mounted sight. When you use a slide-mounted sight, you’re looking through the tunnel of the handguards.
I mounted another Gideon optic on the Picatinny rail for that portion of my testing. I used a Judge XL Reflex Sight. The XL features a large 28mm x 22.5mm lens and a 6 MOA dot. It was very fast to pick up. Despite the comparatively big sight window, though, the optic is still compact and lightweight.
The side-mounted charging handle works well and is easy to use. If you’re right-handed at least. Even if you’re a left-handed shooter, I found that if you tilt the gun to the right while it’s on your shoulder, it’s relatively easy to reach over the top and use the charging lever.
Reloads using the AMP are fast as well. Since you’re using the handgun’s regular grip, the mag release is in its usual, familiar location. You can drop the mag while pulling a spare magazine free from the foregrip. This allows you to do a reload from the shoulder without ever having to reach for your belt to pull a mag from a pouch.
If you leave something like a Glock OEM 24-round magazine or Magpul 21-round magazine in the gun, and have a Glock 19 magazine in the foregrip as a spare, that gives you a minimum of 36 rounds onboard the platform.
Easy To Store and Carry
The AMP is compact with the stock folded. You could easily tuck it away in a pack or messenger bag. I used my 5.11 RUSH 24 2.0 Backpack. The AMP fits inside the main compartment with a 20-round Magpul mag in both the pistol grip and storage grip. I still had plenty of room for other gear.
For range use, I packed the AMP into my Tuff Possum Gear Mini Trunk Duffel. I had plenty of room for the AMP, spare mags, hearing protection, and other gear I was using that day. It would be a good setup for taking back and forth to your vehicle, too.
The Trunk Duffel’s usually come in Coyote Brown or Ranger Green, but I grabbed a run that they did in Nemesis camo a few months back.
Practical or Not?
The FAB Defense AMP Pistol Conversion Kit is one of the fastest carbine adapters on the market. It has a minimum of parts, and readily accepts a wide variety of handguns with the proper adapters. The base price of $150.00 is certainly way less than buying a separate PCC carbine too. Plus, you can leave the AMP in places where you wouldn’t want to leave an actual firearm. If it did get stolen from your vehicle or camp it costs a whole lot less to replace than a full firearm. And the perp only gets away with a hunk of plastic, not an actual gun.
The rub is that, in the US, you need to Form 1 your pistol to use it. Now, after January you’ll at least be able to do that without paying the onerous $200 tax just to exercise your rights. If you already have an SBR’d pistol, it’s an easy decision. Otherwise, you may want to wait until January. With any luck though, one of the numerous lawsuits in the works will strike down the NFA altogether. Then we’ll be able to use a system like the AMP without any additional cost, or paperwork. Which is as it should be.
Where To Buy
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