ICRW Berserker 9 Pistol

• Iron City Rifle Works’ shortest AR PCC
• ICRW Berserker9 billet receiver set
• A Nick Kurzawski design

Like almost anything else, the term personal defense weapon (PDW) might mean different things to different people. In the broadest semantic sense, a sharp stick might be regarded as a “personal defense weapon.” I can hear Grandpa now: PDW? What the hell’s a PDW? In my day we just called ’em guns.

For our purposes we accept the more general definition, centered around a concept developed by NATO in the 1980s: a compact firearm offering more impressive ballistic performance than a traditional pistol or sub-machine gun. So while among experts a PCC may not be technically considered a PDW because of the ammunition it shoots, for others a super-short shorty like this one might be considered an ideal personal defense weapon.

Enter Iron City Rifle Works (ICRW) out of Arizona USA. The build pictured here is a good example of the company’s fully assembled off-the-shelf AR pistol, called Berserker9. Several configurations are available for the Berserker9; this one is the 3”, meaning it runs with the shortest available 3-inch barrel. As one might deduce from the name, it’s a PCC build chambered for 9mm.

“The build is our style of small truck or home-defense pistol,” says ICRW’s Jason Williams. “It shoots a lot better than you would expect and is very easy to shoot in close quarters.”

Like other rifle and PCC builds based on the billet Berserker receiver sets, this one is a Nick Kurzawski design. Kurzawski was a premier firearms components designer and CAD engineer who produced innovative parts for ICRW, among other companies including Quentin Defense and Ascend Armory. These ICRW builds, including the AR PCC pistol pictured here, are part of his legacy.

“Nick was extremely talented and had huge influence on today’s market,” Williams says. “If you look at other companies you can see it on most high-end receivers.”

As for the company, ICRW made a name for itself circa 2016 with innovative bolt carrier designs, and ICRW BCGs have made their way into a number of builds featured on these pages. They are, for example, often a signature component in Violent Art Firearms builds (like the AR Max on page 38).

In addition to the company’s flagship line of S2 drop-in and G3 competition rifle BCGs, which feature high-tech, low-friction coatings like DLC and PVD, ICRW also offers a line of carriers optimized for pistol-caliber use, marketed under the name Redmohawk. The nickname comes from the red fin staked to the carrier up top where a gas key would go on a direct-impingement carrier group.

The Redmohawk 3.0, which forms the heart of this pistol, is the latest iteration of ICRW’s PCC-ready carrier and as befits a later-generation ICRW BCG is engineered with ever-improved geometry to be able to perform when being run at its hardest. We should note that ICRW cut its teeth in field and competition use, and the accumulated knowledge gained in real-world applications like these inform the engineering of their products.

One of the keys to product success is liberal use of advanced low-friction coatings applied to every one of their bolt carriers. Like their rifle BCGs, this PCC version is available wearing enhanced black nitride, “Blackdiamond” DLC, tungsten PVD, and others—including, as in this case, a gold-toned C4V PVD.

In addition to providing incredible good looks—which is not something that would normally jump out at you when it comes to an AR BCG—the various coatings imbue ICRW carriers with an inherent slickness they claim gets slicker over time. They also make the carrier easier to clean, which is especially helpful in a PCC application prone to running dirty in any case.

When ordering a fully assembled ICRW rifle or pistol, customers may consider various options or additions, including choices of braces or buttstocks, buffer setups, muzzle devices, trigger groups, grips, and various other accessories. Standard fare, however, is the proprietary receiver set, produced under ICRW’s Berserker brand, which are produced for standard rifle or PCC calibers and currently on offer outside of the complete firearm builds as a skeletonized set called Berserker LT machined from a block of 7075-T6 billet.

The upper is mated with the aforementioned 3-inch barrel and an abbreviated version of ICRW’s free-float handguard, which is approximately 4 and a quarter inches and envelops the standard Wraith Ti linear comp affixed to the barrel’s end. Like the receiver set, ICRW’s handguards are also marketed under the Berserker name and available in a variety of lengths.

The longer units—anything greater than this very-short 4-incher—feature very pronounced cutouts along their length, creating a sort of beam-and-strut structure that offers the minimum amount of critical material while still holding up to ICRW’s stringent strength standards. In spite of the radical skeletonized design, they offer quite a bit of utility in a long-ish Pic rail toward the front at 12 o’clock and m-lok slots around their circumference at 3, 6, and 9.

Several trigger options are available. This one uses a Timney AR PCC drop-in unit. Other user interfaces include the Breek Arms Warhammer charging handle located up top for bolt manipulation, standard equipment on Berserker rifles and pistols, and ICRW’s Iron Grip upgrade, a skeletonized billet aluminum pistol grip. Targeting is assisted by a Vortex Razor.

The standard Berserker9 lower is completed with an SB Tactical SBA3 pistol brace; this one, however, wears an SB Tactical PDW, which includes an integrated castle nut and end plate and imparts slightly more heft to the pistol than the SBA3’s more minimalist design. Regardless of what brace you go with, the receiver extension may house a standard ICRW buffer or a hydraulic buffer system upgrade by Kynshot for additional cost.

Berserker PCCs and rifles ship with a Type III anodize as the standard finish, but one available option is the custom finish pictured here. It’s a nickel-boron (NiB) plating, not Cerakote, done in a signature veneer ICRW bills as BattleScarred.

Contrasted with Cerakote, NiB may be applied in an extremely even layer so clearance issues are not a problem where tolerances may be tight. Some also swear by it as being more wear-resistant to other spray-on coatings and very resistant to corrosion.

Even with the brace extended this firearm is about as close to a handgun as we’ve seen an AR get, to be frank, but they’re available in a variety of barrel lengths tailored to a wide variety of tastes, all the way up to 16 inches, as well as in a 5-inch-barreled suppressor-ready version. Williams says the series has been a fairly hot-seller for the company, particularly overseas.

That said, ICRW has other future builds/collaborations in the works. We’re currently sworn to silence, but hope to bring you the goods when the time is ripe. Images by Jay Canter

Build Sheet – Iron City Rifle Works

Berserker9 Pistol Specifications
Caliber: 9mm
Capacity: 17+1
Weight Unloaded: 6 lbs (approx.) 
Barrel Length: 3 in.
Finish: ICRW “BattleScarred” NiB

Featured Accessories
Receivers: ICRW Berserker9 billet set
BCG: ICRW Redmohawk 3.0 
C4V PVD
Stabilizing Brace: SB Tactical PDW
Optic: Vortex Razor

Parts & Accessories: ICRW 4.25-inch handguard, ICRW Wraith Ti compensator, Timney AR PCC trigger, Breek Arms Warhammer charging handle, ICRW titanium trigger pins, takedown & pivot pins, ICRW billet Iron Grip, ICRW PCC buffer & spring assembly, 17-round Glock magazine

About the Builder
Iron City Rifle Works
Social: Instagram @ironcityrifle, Facebook @Ironcityrifleworks
URL: ironcityrifleworks.com