The Avidity Arms PD10 is a super slim concealed carry gun that’s been 10 years in the making. Renowned firearms trainer Rob Pincus designed the PD10 from the ground up as a comfortable, concealable everyday carry gun whose features are based on his years of expertise.
The first prototypes were fired in 2015, but a setback delayed the project in 2017. COVID then set the PD10 back another few years.
One could legitimately argue that Avidity Arms missed the slim single stack trend of the mid-2010s. But I took full advantage of that trend, and I believe those guns still have value.
I also think the PD10 may be the best of the bunch. It not only shoots well and carries comfortably, but its features are sneaky good and not necessarily apparent at first glance.
So, let’s dive into why I like this gun, though it admittedly comes with a compromise or two, as all carry guns do. Avidity Arms provided this gun for testing and evaluation. I do get to keep it. That fact has no bearing on this review, as I will explain below.
Avidity Arms PD10 Specifications
- Calbers: 9mm and .30 Super Carry
- Capacity: 10+1 and 12+1
- Striker-fired
- Barrel Length: 4 inches
- Overall Length: 6.94 inches
- Width: Very Slim. See Below.
- Weight: 18.8 ounces
- Isonite Coating on most metal parts
Avidity Arms PD10 Philosophy and Features
The Avidity Arms PD10 is a feature-rich gun, though some of those features may not be immediately apparent. Frankly, it looks like a no-frills gun until you start digging into it and understanding the philosophy behind it.
Some carry guns have bells and whistles that make them look cool. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as they perform. My first impression of the PD10 was that it was rather “Plain Jane.” Again, nothing wrong with that. In fact, it made me want to take more time than usual with it so I could figure out the gun’s design philosophy. I suppose I could have contacted Avidity Arms and asked, but I wanted to do it myself and figure out why I should carry this gun or at least find a place for it in my system.
After two months of poking, prodding, shooting, and thinking, I reached a simple conclusion: The PD10 is a carry gun that has what I want, while dispensing with things I don’t need. It’s all business, with no fluff.
I said it’s feature-rich, and it is. But everything has a practical purpose. Even the little things that seem extra. And some of those things are under the hood, as with a good car. We’ll get to those. You carry the PD10 because it’s mission-focused, goes “bang” when you pull the trigger, and is built to last. That’s it.
The Grip Frame
The PD10’s most noticeable feature is the grip. It’s the slimmest pistol I’ve ever run. The owner’s manual and the Avidity Arms website say the gun is 1 inch wide. I have several guns that are 1 inch wide and I’m here to tell you that the PD10 is slimmer. I measured this pistol every way I could, and it’s a uniform 0.875 inches wide. The slide stop makes it 0.9 inches. There may be a slimmer 9mm pistol out there, but I haven’t seen it.
The grip itself is nicely textured, though the sides are absolutely flat. There is a palm swell on the backstrap, but I experience a slight gap between my palm and the grip’s side panel. There’s the first trade-off. The PD10 doesn’t completely fill my hand like most of my other handguns and I admittedly didn’t care for it at first. But I came around, which I’ll address when discussing performance and carry.
The magazine well is slightly beveled to aid reloading, and the butt features a cut on each side, allowing the shooter to firmly grasp the mag should it become jammed. Not that I experienced anything like that. The magazine floorplate also has an extended claw that allows manual extraction. Small but useful features that show a professional’s appreciation for redundant systems.
The trigger guard is large enough for gloved hands and dispenses with the unnecessary squared-off and textured front. Few people shoot that way anymore. A 3-slot 1913 rail allows for a wide variety of lights or lasers should you want one. The undercut trigger guard pairs with the prominent beavertail to provide a nice, high grip, which is enhanced by the slide’s relatively low profile.
The Slide
The milled slide is mostly smooth with deep rear cocking serrations. Some shooters may want serrations up front, but it doesn’t really bother me since I use the slide’s rear or the optic if I have one. One sneaky cool feature is that the rear sight is not only squared off, but curved forward to provide a very positive racking surface should you need it for that purpose. I dig it.
Speaking of sights, the rear notch is blacked out to accentuate the Ameri-Glo tritium font sight, which I love. I actually prefer tritium front sights to handgun optics, though I ran an optic on the PD10 for review purposes.
The slide is cut for the slim Shield RMSc and Holosun 407k footprint. I just happened to have a 407k red dot lying around, so that’s what I used. I love that I don’t need a mounting plate so I can get a low co-witness with the iron sights should the optic go down. Some plate-mounted optics don’t allow that, or the co-witness is so low that it’s useless anyway without suppressor-height sights.
The slide is beveled for easier holstering. That’s a nice feature. I mentioned that the slide itself is relatively low-profile, making the PD10’s bore axis a bit lower than some other guns. I compared the PD10’s slide profile to a Sig P320 and a CZ P-09 and found that it’s right in between those two.
Finally, I love the loaded chamber indicator. It’s located on top of the slide just aft of the breech. The indicator is not only visible, but you can easily check it with your support hand thumb for extra assurance in darkness or low light. Nicely done.
PD10 Controls
Like the rest of the gun, the PD10’s controls are low-profile and functional. The textured mag release is large, but it doesn’t stick out. Honestly, it’s right where I want it. It’s very responsive and ejects spent mags cleanly. The grip frame has a small protrusion to protect the button from being accidentally pressed while the shooter grips the gun. Unobtrusive but effective. This feature is present on both sides of the frame in anticipation of adding a reversible mag release on future generations.
The slide stop is not ambidextrous. Nor is it especially responsive as a slide release. I know that Rob teaches the manual slide release technique as opposed to using the slide stop that way. I don’t know whether that influenced the slide stop’s stiffness or not. I’ve seen it both ways from instructors and I can do it either way, so it doesn’t bother me. Your mileage may vary.
The trigger is good for a carry gun. If you’re looking for a competition trigger, this ain’t it. But I don’t want a competition trigger on my carry gun. The PD10’s trigger is Glock-like, with the blade safety, and has some travel, much like a Glock. The break is solid if not crisp, right at the back. But it isn’t heavy, pulling at about 4.5 lbs. The reset has a similar length and is tactile. I think the trigger is about where I want it for a high-stress situation.
Inside the PD10
I don’t normally write about what I find under the slide because there’s not usually anything worth covering. But I want to mention a couple of things here. Disassembly is exactly like a Glock and very easy with the takedown switches above the trigger guard. Nothing new there.
But two things jumped out at me when I field stripped the PD10.
First, the slide rails are huge. The steel front rails are much larger than my other pistols and the steel-reinforced polymer rear rails are also longer than most. Those robust rails tell me that this pistol was built for stability and durability.
Second, the guide rod is steel, not polymer. And it has some kind of steel attachment on the end that makes it more stable and, I suspect, stronger. This guide rod looks like it will take whatever you dish out.
Speaking of stability, the PD10’s tolerances are impressive, though not so tight as to make it unreliable. There’s no rattle and the operation is uniformly smooth. Well done.
Running the Avidity Arms PD10
The PD10 made several range trips as I worked out its philosophy. We shot it with an optic and without. I fired a PD10 in .30 Super Carry at TriggrCon in October. I generally liked it, but I only shot 10 rounds. 10 rounds aren’t enough to form an opinion.
My PD10 is chambered in 9mm, and the recoil is a bit heavier than the .30SC but not much. My co-tester and I fired several ammunition loads provided by our friends at Ammo-to-Go and Global Ordnance:
- 124-grain Sellier & Bellot FMJ (150 rounds)
- 124-grain Igman FMJ (100 rounds)
- 115-grain Magtech FMJ (100 rounds)
- 115-grain Federal American Eagle FMJ (100 rounds)
- 124-grain Federal Hydra-Shok JHP (30 rounds)
The PD10 was 100 percent reliable through every session. It was also quite accurate. We routinely held 2-inch groups at 7 yards on paper, but we did most of our work on steel via transition drills and playing with the dueling tree. We’re fortunate to have a well-equipped pistol range, so we like to do the fun stuff while introducing some competition.
PD10 Shootability
I was interested to see whether what I perceived as a less-than-firm grip would translate to reduced performance. But the PD10 surprised me. Once we got into the drills, neither of us really noticed the slight gap I mentioned earlier. I will say that the grip caused me to focus on good fundamentals, but I don’t see that as a downside. We soon got the feel and now we barely notice it. It’s just how that gun is and it’s no big deal.
Once I thought about it, I realized that I have that same attitude toward all my firearms. The PD10’s unique slimness was just something new. Not completely filling the hand is a compromise for concealability. But it’s only a small compromise to which we easily adapted.
The PD10 handled superbly thanks to the outstanding sight picture, long sight radius, and full-length grip. My other slim pistols are more compact. They shoot well but I like the 4-inch barrel and longer grip. The pistol transitioned well, and mag changes were fast and positive. It was soon holding its own with other guns with which we are more familiar. We enjoyed running it.
Capacity
The other compromise of slim, single stack handguns is capacity. The 9mm PD10 has a 1911-style mag that holds 10 rounds. The .30 Super Carry model holds 12. My Sig P365XL mags hold 12 rounds of 9mm. But all carry guns are compromises of some sort. The PD10 has a longer grip, barrel, and sight radius, while being 0.2 inches slimmer than the Sig. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is in some situations.
I like to think of small, or slim, carry guns as being small in different ways. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. They’re just different. I also see that as giving me options.
The PD10 provides me with a super slim profile that I don’t get anywhere else. I’m sometimes willing to trade capacity for concealability. I realize that this topic is mostly subjective. You may not be comfortable with the same compromises that I am. One friend whose opinion I asked on the PD10 said it’s a nice gun but not his “bag of donuts.” He prefers a beefier sidearm. That’s alright, and it’s why we’re fortunate to have many choices.
But I’m also thinking about picking up the Avidity Arms .30 Super Carry Conversion kit, consisting of the slide and barrel, to use with my 9mm PD10. I can also get the 12-round .30SC mags, or use the mags I have, which work with either one, though they only hold 10 rounds of each. COVID taught me to diversify my caliber availability, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to do that. I like having that option.
Carrying the PD10
I carried the PD10 around the house and yard using a generic holster. I can’t buy a dedicated holster for every carry gun I evaluate. The 18-ounce PD10 is noticeably light and the slim profile makes it unobtrusive indeed. A proper holster will make it even more so, especially if it has a cam system to torque the grip to the body.
I’m very pleased by how the PD10 carries. Good thing since that’s the whole point of this gun. The comfort, slimness, and performance combine to make a very capable personal defense firearm.
Odds and Ends
A few other things I want to mention about the PD10:
- The PD10 ships with an actual instruction manual. Not some pamphlet written by lawyers with sketchy diagrams and barely adequate copy. The manual covers the pistol, its features, processes, and even its history. There’s also a section where Rob discusses proper shooting fundamentals and safety procedures beyond the four basic rules. And the print is large enough to actually read. It’s very good.
- My PD10 was test fired before leaving the Avidity Arms facility and the spent shell casings shipped with the gun. I love that and lament that companies have gotten away from it.
- The gun also ships with a small bottle of Aegis lubricant. Nice touch.
- I don’t usually have a light on my carry guns, but I attached a Nightstick TCM-5B subcompact weapon light because I could. It fits the slim profile perfectly.
Final Thoughts on the Avidity Arms PD10
I wasn’t sure whether I would like the PD10. Ten rounds at a trade show range day doesn’t tell me much. But I was encouraged by the fact that Rob Pincus himself coached each shooter, including me, on how to handle the gun. It demonstrated his enthusiasm for and belief in the pistol. That alone made it worth a serious look.
Rob kindly sent me this gun despite his community being devastated by the Hurricane Helene floods in October. But kind or not, the gun still had to perform, and it did. I’m glad I took the time and expended the effort to understand this gun. I try to always do that but this one especially intrigued me because it seemingly flies in the face of current trends.
That the PD10 was purposely designed by a concealed carry instructor is now obvious to me. Every feature and detail was a conscious choice, as were some things that were left out. I appreciate that focus.
The PD10 will soon enter my system as a concealed carry gun. I just need to decide which holster I want to maximize its role. And I’ll need more magazines. Most of my handguns are range toys, and that’s fine. I want those too. But not this one.
If you’re looking for a low-profile, unobtrusive, reliable carry gun, the PD10 might fit your needs too. Only you can decide that. But maybe pop over to the Avidity Arms website and take a look. It might be just what you’re looking for. Even if you didn’t know it.
