Photo: Palmetto State Armory
By: Friedrich Seiltgen
Copyright © 2024
ABOUT PALMETTO STATE ARMORY
South Carolina-based Palmetto State Armory is one of America’s largest manufacturers of AR pattern weapons and parts. Based in Columbia, S.C., PSA has a mission to “Sell as many guns to as many Law-Abiding Americans as possible.” PSA business has exploded in recent years with the introduction of the Dagger pistol, the JAKL rifle, and many other designs, along with their manufacture of AK-47 rifles, pistols, and parts kits. How do they do all this and keep prices reasonable? They have a family of five other companies producing parts, so they have ownership in every step of the process. They also carry other manufacturers’ products and are a one-stop gun shop!
The leadership team at PSA consists of its founder, Jamin McCallum, and CEO and competitive shooter Chad Wylie. McCallum is an Iraq War vet, and his thoughts on freedom and the 2nd Amendment get right to the point:
“I’ve seen what a society looks like when it falls apart. It’s really, really bad. That’s why our mission is to maximize freedom, not our profits. We want to sell as many AR-15 and AK-47 rifles as we can, not to make a massive amount of money, but to put them into common use today.
I don’t want my legacy to be that I made a lot of money; I want it to be that this company produced the maximum amount of freedom. And so, we work every day to do just that. Make high-quality firearms at a price that makes them affordable to the most people possible. Then we back them with a full 100% lifetime warranty.
If we can do that, I can sleep at night.”
GLOCK CLONES
Glock is perhaps the most popular pistol worldwide, and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, several manufacturers are building Glock clones.
THE DAGGER
The Dagger pistol is taking the Everyday Carry crowd by storm. It’s a compact Glock 19 clone that is available in several configurations and highly customizable, as most parts are interchangeable with Glock factory and aftermarket parts. Palmetto State Armory has several pages on its website dedicated to Dagger parts such as barrels, slides, triggers, and much more.
THE FRAME
The polymer frame features an ergonomic grip with aggressive texturing, a flat-faced trigger, and a striker block safety and trigger safety.
THE SLIDE & BARREL
The stainless steel slide features the new Extreme Carry Cuts, which offer smoother edges to the rear and front of the slide to help with a faster draw without snagging the holster. The slide is optics-ready with a Doctor footprint optic cut and is finished with Black Cerakote. The barrel is stainless steel with a 1:10 twist rate, finished with a DLC coating, and may be threaded depending on the model.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Striker Fired, Semi-Automatic
Caliber: 9mm
Magazine capacity: Standard 15 Rounds
Sights: Front sight is an Ameriglo 2XL Tall .350”/rear sight is an Ameriglo 2XL tall .429
Barrel Length: 3.9 Inches
Overall Length: 7.15 Inches
Height: 4.78 Inches without magazine
Width: 1.28 Inches
Weight: 22.4 Unloaded
MSRP: $349.99 to $399.99
URL: www.palmettostatearmory.com
THE VERDICT
The dagger is definitely worth buying. It is of excellent quality, low cost, and highly customizable. Speaking of low cost, PSA offers special buys with its daily deals. At the time of this writing, they were offering a Dagger RMR pistol with five 27-round and five 15-round PMAG magazines and a pistol bag for $449.99!
That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”
Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response. His writing has appeared in RECOIL, Soldier of Fortune, The Counter Terrorist Magazine, Off Grid, American Thinker, Homeland Security Today, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International.
Contact him at [email protected].