r/legoguns

Hi all,

this is an important amendment for the PDW contest. Some people think that guns chambered in .308 can reasonably be called a PDW because they *technically* perform the role of one.

The issue with PDW is that it is a somewhat vague term that covers a wide range of gun types, from autopistols to certain carbines. So that is why I am making this in order to try and add some guardrails and make the builds more comparable to one another.

1: if the weapon was ever officially classified as a PDW, it’s a PDW. An example of this would be the honey badger, a PDW chambered in .300 BLK.

2: if it’s chambered in anything greater than an intermediate cartridge, it isn’t a PDW. Shortening a battle rifle chambered in 7,62x51mm, a round used in some sniper rifles, should not classify it as a PDW.

3: if the weapon rivals the length of a full length rifle, it isn’t a PDW. PDWs are supposed to be compact weapons. If we don’t include this, you could technically argue that an M16 is a PDW (yes, some people unironically have argued that guns nearly a metre long are PDWs)

4: a lot of SMGs are PDWs. They fit a lot of the criteria most people agree on when it comes to classifying PDWs. This means that you can submit an AKS-74U (a gun officially classified as an SMG) for the contest, and it would be a valid submission.

5: shotguns are excluded because… they’re shotguns.

6: everything from the earlier clarification post still applies. They need to be self-loading and must be able to be fired from the shoulder to qualify.

due to the vagueness of this contest, we most probably won’t do a PDW contest in the future, instead focussing on more specific gun categories.

Not everything is a PDW. A PDW should be self-loading and designed to be fired from and aimed from the shoulder to qualify as one so I recommend to take down your posts if it doesn't qualify and do something that adheres to this

guns are trash just pure trash

Welcome to the second contest of 2026. The theme for this contest will be PDWs.

There are not any constraints on realism. The gun can be fictional, and can fire any cartridge while still being a PDW size weapon .

Digital and real life builds will be ranked separately. There will be 2 awards and 2 winners.

Builds will be judged based on their looks. If for whatever reason you want to put a shooting mechanism in your build, you can. Just keep in mind that such mechanisms often detract from the overall look of the gun.

There won’t be a material prize, this means it won’t be money. Instead, the winners will get a custom user flair for the subreddit, and a custom tag on the discord (if they’re on there).

The winners will be determined by the amount of upvotes their posts get.

That’s all, happy building. You will have until the 3rd of September to make something.