Category: double-stack

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1911 2011 9mm Alpha Foxtrot Attila double-stack

Thoughts To share Regarding Alpha Foxtrot and the Attila

I’m still in the process of shooting 1000 rounds through the Alpha Foxtrot Attila. I’m at 702 rounds, so far.

What I’ve been wondering is, why is Alpha Foxtrot not sending T&E Attilas to the firearms press (press and influencers). I think that’s odd, because they’ve been doing it with their other guns – the Romulus and AF S15.

I wonder if they’re having issues with this gun, to the point that they’re not sending the gun to influencers to review. If things were that bad, you’d think they’d not have them within public circulation. I’m not sure things are that bad, but AF not sending out test guns is odd.

As well, there were no YT entities reviewing guns that they actually bought, which I also think is odd.

Another oddity is that AF’s product page for the Attila is bare of details. That page has no gun stats and no indication that the gun is in public circulation.

I have the honor of being the first non SHOT Show reviewer of this gun, but the second would be GBGuns on YouTube.

Here’s is review of the gun.

While I’ve had the gun a few months, I only had one of his issues with my gun.

He reported and demonstrated that only one of his two safety levers worked – the right-side lever worked intermittently. I had that issue, as well. Also, I know of two other owners that had the same issue. I detail stripped the gun (to document which internal parts are MIM) and noticed the ambi safeties were easy to remove (usually they are not easy), and that immediately grabbed my attention. I’m thinking that maybe the parts weren’t installed correctly because when reassembling the gun, it was difficult to align the two levers to install them, which is normal. The right lever was functioning.

His other issues were that the gun wasn’t accurate and upon further investigation, he found two issues: 1) the barrel and comp had exessive play, which would affect accuracy – a possible barrel lockup issue; 2) there were copper marks on the inside of his comp – they appear to be bullet strikes.

Another issue he had wasn’t with the gun but was with AF’s customer support. They initially said that they wouldn’t conduct warranty work on the safety since it was deemed an intermittent issue – that doesn’t even make sense, because a safety needs to work every time you enable/disable it. The also initially didn’t want to investigate it for possible lockup issues. They asked him to send a video showing the issue. He sent a portion of the review footage of him troubleshooting the issue and he thinks they noticed that he was a YouTube entity. They changed up and wanted to see the gun to remedy all of the issues.

This is both embarrassing to me and also quite hokey for AF.

I’m a GBGuns Patreon member. There are a bunch of us. We donate funds so that GBGuns can conduct his reviews. Every so often, we vote on guns for him to review. I was one of the members who voted for this gun. I’ve this gun, as well as the AF S15 and, since GBGuns hadn’t ever reviewed an Alpha Foxtrot, I wanted to see his thoughts on the gun. I never considered that he’d receive a bad gun. So, I felt bad. Now, rationally, there were like 40+ others that also voted as I did, so this isn’t something I needed to take blame for, but I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about the AF brand, so I was taken by surprise since I’ve rarely heard of this many QC issues with a particular verion of S15.

Also, I was somewhat shocked at how Alpha Foxtrot handled the situation. They only agreed to take the gun in for repair when they suspected that GBGuns was a YouTube entity. I could have issues with mine – would they refuse warranty work in such a case? I’m not a huge YouTuber or influencer. While I think I trust my particular gun, if I have issues with it, I’m doubting that Alpha Foxtrot would fix things – not after seeing what GBGuns experienced. And they still need to fix that gun’s issues.

As well, GBGuns said that manufacturers that do this are untrustworthy and that gun makers such as Bul Armory wouldn’t do such a thing. Yeah, well, they did with me – remember that grip safety issue that I have with my Bul Armory Ultralight? It was sent to them twice and the problem always recurred after 60 days or so. It happened a third time and I opted to not send it back – it’s obvious that they either refuse to fix it or are unable to properly fix it.

I’m sure there are other folks with similar CS stories regarding other brands, too. I say this because I think that all gun makers have times where they fail to get it right regarding warranty committments. I don’t expect every manufacturer to be perfect but I do expect them to support my request within the limit of the warranty. A good gun with bad warranty support = bad gun, in my opinion. If the gun maker comes off as sour or non-accomodating but eventually fully repairs your gun, that’s a bad gun. Having one very bad experience is going to sour the whole overall experience.

This is also the second time I’ve seen AF make decisions based on influencing. It seems as if they’d rather focus on appeasing influencers/entertainers than anyone else. Awhile back, I was speaking with one of their marketing folks in the AF subreddit – he said he wanted to help me and was considering sending me something but wanted to see my YouTube channel first. I wasn’t sure why he was asking, but I provided him the URL to my channel and afterward, he ghosted me. I’m sure he was going to offer to send me a T&E gun but saw that I’ve less than 1000 subscribers and decided that I wasn’t worth it.

AF has always had very weak CS. It made it difficult to advocate for them in the past.

So, I’m going to stop advocating for AF because I’m starting to see that they’re kinda shady.

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1911 2011 9mm Alpha Foxtrot Attila double-stack

The Alpha Foxtrot Attila’s Frame Inserts Are Pinned

I posted a 5-6 minute video that shows that Alpha Foxtrot has reinforced the frame inserts on the Attila. I noticed that they pinned it not long after I bought it, but hadn’t looked at the pinning until now. Here’s the video.

This is good news and is also somewhat important to know, as it shows that Alpha Foxtrot is aware of issues and are trying to fix them.

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1911 2011 9mm AF1911-S15 Alpha Foxtrot Attila double-stack range visit video

Alpha Foxtrot S15 vs Alpha Foxtrot Attila At 10 Yards

I’ve a quick video of a comparison shoot between the AF-S15 and the AF Attila.

Note that I’m aware that this isn’t a fair comparison, as one gun isn’t optics-read and the other has an optic (that will greatly affect shooting results, as you can see here).

This was at 10 yards. That’s not a long distance but I’m shooting at small targets. The S15’s hits are on the left and the Attila’s hits are on the right. There’s 15 shots per target.

I’m able to shoot the Attila faster and be more accurate, mainly due to the optic, but probably really due to a culmination of new updates that the Attila has that my particular S15 doesn’t. The results might differ if I had an optic-ready S15.

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1911 2011 9mm double-stack Fusion Firearms

Pre-order of the Fusion Firearms XP 3C Is Now Available

Yeaaahhhhhh. I’m buying it.

I’ll be watching upcoming reviews of this gun. I’ve some extra G19 mags, too.

I can either preorder or wait until it’s readily available and pull the trigger then. I think I’ll wait until it’s readily available and buy from KY Gun Co, like I did with the XP Pro.

I’ll be focusing on a purely black gun this time around.

I’m excited!

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1911 2011 9mm double-stack double-stacked Fusion Firearms XP Pro

I’m Still Evaluating the XP Pro, But Here Are A Few Video Snippets!

I’m just under 700 rounds through it. At the 1000-round mark, I’ll collect my thoughts and conduct a 1000-round assessment.

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1911 2011 double-stack double-stacked Prodigy DS Springfield Armory

Shooting Self Defense Ammo From The Prodigy DS Compact

I visited the range yesterday with several goals in mind.

I wanted to test other self defense (SD) ammo from the Prodigy DS Compact so that I can know of other JHP options.

I also wanted to zero the Holosun 507K that is now attached to the gun (removed it from the Ultralight since I’ve stopped carrying it).

I also wanted to shoot the gun with the Streamlight TLR-7X attached.

As well, I wanted to see if I could finaly use the SIG Connect OHD training app at the range.

For ammo, I brought

  • 25 rounds of Barnes Vor-TX 115-gr JHP
  • 25 rounds of Federal Premium HST 124-gr JHP
  • 50 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 124-gr JHP (I only shot 15 rounds of this)
  • I also shot 50 rounds of Blazer 124-gr FMJ.

I ended up shooting more SD ammo than I did range ammo.

There were no failures to feed or extract.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve cleaned the gun (I usually run a bore snake through the barrel, though). I’ll maybe clean the gun tomorrow.

I’m currently at 771 rounds.

I spent half the range session zeroing the 507K optic to the Prodigy DS Compact. I think I like the Cyelee optic better – I’ve grown used to the green dot. If I end up not adjusting well to the 507K, I can always switch to something else…I’ve been eyeing the Cyelee Wolf EDG. I’ve also been thinking of the Viridian RFX-44 (which is an RMSc-footprinted and closed emitter optic). We’ll see.

I finally got the OHD training app to work. I’ve been trying to get it to work the past 6 or so months. It’s been requiring a network connection to work, but the firing line at the range doesn’t have Wifi or network connectivity. After testing a week ago, I decided to let the app developers know of the issue. At first, they insisted that there was an issue on my end, but after showing them that I could reproduce the issue and that it was an app issue, they backtracked and said it was a bug within the app. They said they’re fixing the bug.

They gave me free 30 days of premium access to the app. I’m not sure I’m going to continue to use it, as it has limitations. One limitation is that it won’t register impacts when the impact lands on a prior impact point. As well, the targets I printed are 8.5 x 11 and at 15+ yards, those are difficult to use if firing quickly – I’m used to shooting at man-sized targets when shooting afar. I suppose I can try to shoot printer paper up close, but even then, that’s rather small when shooting quickly, no matter the distance.

My next goal is to research how to easily carry an extra magazine. I’d recently bought the QVO Tactical Flex Connector, which is a side car for use with their More Discreet holster. The side car contains a mag holder. I tried to carry using that holster and didn’t like the side car at all…it’s extra bulky, which I don’t like. It makes me feel pregnant, as the attachment portion of the side car pushes out further than the actual holster itself. So, for now, I’m back to carrying an extra mag in my cargo pocket.

I’ll need to order more range ammo soon, as I’m quickly burning through the 1000 rounds I recently bought. One thing: I’m not sure if I like the Blazer 124-gr ammo that I recently purchased – it doesn’t seem to be as accurate as the Magtech 115-gr ammo I’d used prior to the last purchase. Yes, I know that the point of impact will change between the two weights of ammo, but I think I prefer the Magtech better, as it generally hits where I’m aiming (which isn’t always the case with this batch of Blazer).

I’ll continue to post updates.

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1911 2011 Bul Armory double-stack Prodigy DS SAS II Ultralight Springfield Armory

Current Status of Assessing The Prodigy DS Compact

I believe I’m ready to switch over to carrying the Prodigy DS Compact. Right now, I’ve begun to use the Tenicor Certum to carry the gun, but will eventually remove the Streamlight from the Ultralight so that I can install it onto the Prodigy DS – I’ll need to do that to use the More Discreet holster.

I might remove the HS507K from the Ultralight, as well, and install it onto the Prodigy DS, but that would mean that I’d have to re-zero the optic for use on the Prodigy.

I also tested more Hornady Custom XTP 124-gr ammo with the gun. The gun has shot 49 rounds of that ammo. One round of that ammo didn’t feed. I unsuccessfully tried 3 times to get it to feed. When I looked at the round (I still have it), it appears that the projectile has a defect that is making the round out of spec. There are also barbs on the case lip. This is not an issue with the gun. This is also not an issue with that particular box of ammo. Sometimes things aren’t perfect, manufacturing-wise – shit happens. As long as the whole box of ammo wasn’t flawed, it’s OK.

I also bought another box of Speer Gold Dot 124-gr (we now have 2 boxes of that) and a box of Federal HST 124-gr – I’d been using Federal Hydra-Shok but my ammo store was out of that model of ammo. I have not yet tested the Speer GD and the Federal (Hydra-Shok OR HST) through the Prodigy DS, but at least we know that the Hornady Custom XTP works.

I now have 656 rounds thorugh the gun. There have been no feed or extraction issues. The gun is accurate. The trigger has lightened but I also slightly tuned the sear spring (although I did that after the trigger felt that it lightented a bit). Still, the trigger is nowhere as good as the trigger on the Ultralight. The springs are heavier in the Prodigy than the Ultralight, too. I’ll address that after I’ve reached 1000 rounds (will probably add lighter springs, although this is probably a mainspring issue).

Once I’ve begun to carry the Prodigy, I’ll begin the process of finding a gunsmith that can fix the grip safety issue on my Ultralight. I think I might have to send it somewhere reputable, though…there aren’t all that many 1911 gunsmiths around here, and I’m not willing to muck with the gun since I don’t know where to begin.

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1911 2011 9mm double-stack Fusion Firearms XP Pro

The Platypus Isn’t the first to use Glock Mags!

One thing I folks keep saying when I’m reading discussions about the Fusion Firearms XP Pro is that it’s a copy of (or is similar to) the Platypus 1911.

It is not a copy nor is it similar.

Firstly, the XP Pro is actually 2011-patterned. The Platypus is not – it is Para-patterned and is actually a 1911.

Stacatto trademarking only applies to companies that manufacture guns, but I can call it a 2011 because I’m not a gun maker and it IS essentially a 2011. Just as a Ruger AR-556 is considered an AR, although it isn’t branded by Armalite (it is), the XP Pro is considered a 2011, because it is.

Some folks also use the argument that 2011s that use Glock mags aren’t really 2011s. The mags do not define the pattern. What defines the pattern is that 2011s consist of a frame and a grip module.

As well, the Platypus isn’t the first 1911/2011 to use Glock mags. The Alpha Foxtrot S15 holds that trophy. No, the S15 isn’t a 2011, but neither is the Platypus, right? 🙂 The Platypus is the first to use Glock 17 mags…not Glock mags outright, though. The first 1911/2011 to use Glock mags IS the S15.

The Platypus and XP Pro are nothing alike. The only thing they have in common is that they use G17 mags and are chambered in 9mm.

Using Glock mags is besides the point. Anyone hanging onto that gimmicky “It takes Glock mags!” mantra doesn’t know WTF they’re talking about. You’ll see a shitload of folks on YouTube titling their videos with “It takes Glock mags!”, and many of those folks are competent, but they’re also purposely titling their videos that way so that they can gain views.

Yes, there’s a purpose to using Glock mags – they’re super cheap while also being durable. As well, most folks own Glocks and many folks have lots of Glock mags, so they can reuse those mags with this gun instead of having to buy 2011 mags, which usually are priced in the $60+ range.

The XP Pro is more attainable than the Platypus, as there’s a LONG wait list for them at Stealth Arms. As well, the XP Pro is arguably the better gun. Yeah, the Platypus has many custom options and a fancy customization page, but again, it’s not actually 2011-patterned and Fusion Firearms is also ramping up lots of custom options (they only just started making the XP Pros).

I’ve seen videos of folks attempting to compare the Platypus with the XP Pro and they NEVER compare an XP Pro (straight from the factory – no mods) with a base Platypus (straight from the factory with no mods). IMO, the best thing to do (if forced to compare them – again, they’re not on equal footing, so I think the comparision is unrealistic) is to compare a BASE Platypus with an XP Pro. I’ve yet to see anyone do that, but they’ll sure as hell compare the XP to a built Platypus.

I’m not trying to take away anything from folks who may desire a Platypus, but I’m all about fair comparisons and know enough of things to realize that by the time you customize a Platypus with desireable parts, it is no longer an equal comparison with an XP Pro.

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1911 2011 Cyelee double-stack Fusion Firearms Optic XP Pro

The Cyelee Chameleon Has Been Mounted Onto the XP Pro!

To secure the plate adapter to the slide, use the short screws that came with the gun. I’ve used blue thread locker here, but some folks use red. Note that, to remove the screws, the red will require heat to be applied to the screws – the heat will dissolve the thread locker.
These screws were pefect. Anything longer than this will not screw onto the adapter plate. Max torque is 15 in-lb. Don’t red thread locker for these screws…use only blue!

I’ll let you all know when the optic has been zero’d and how it performs. This optic was highly recommended by competition shooters. I’m certain it will carry well, too.

Note that the optic was LONG in length…it’s the longest of all the Cyelee optics but also has the biggest view port. I thought it wouldn’t fit well, but it fit as if it were made for the gun.

The dot is 8 MOA, which some folks think is too big. It’s designed to lessen brightness of the dot, to lessen the effects of astigmatism — that is why the dot is 8 MOA. I’ve heard that it shoots fine at distance (and I’ve also heard that some folks have issues shooting this dot at distance due to the large size of the dot).

The battery is housed on top of the optic’s deck, between the glass and the screws.

The irons offer co-witness, as well. IMO, though, my RFX45 would offer excellent co-witness with this gun’s adapter plate, as the optic sits low already…it’s a pity this will not fit onto the adapter plate.

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1911 2011 9mm double-stack Springfield Armory

Will Be Picking Up Prodigy DS Compact This Evening

This gun came to my FFL in record time.

I ordered it from Gunprime LATE Thursday night. Gunprime processed it Friday around noon-ish and UPS picked it up that afteroon. UPS usually processes gun on a 2-day timeline, so, Monday and Tuesday were the transport days and they delivered it today (Tuesday around noon).

I was ready to wait for XCal to take a day or two to process it, but they sent me a text a few minutes ago saying it was ready for pickup. Wow! That’s exceptional, time-wise.

So, I’ll be heading out to XCal after work (maybe 6 or 6:30 PM) to do the background check, which shouldn’t take all that long to do.

As I’ve never used XCal as an FFL, I’m not sure what to expect. One thing that annoys me about FFLs is that I’ve been to more than a few that want you to process the background check without even looking at the gun. The problem with that is that the gun could have flaws (gun won’t cycle, or gun has massive scratches, for example) or might not have what was purchased (a mag, for example)…if they won’t let you see it and you do the paperwork first, it’s your gun, literally sight unseen. The gun isn’t yours until you perform the transfer (from FFL to you). Prior to that, the gun is being transferred from FFL (store) to FFL (store).

So, yeah, I’m excited. I also ordered three more mags from LockedLoaded.com, as they had them on sale for $37, vs the MSRP cost of $60 each.

I also scheduled a range visit for Wednesday evening…I’ll perform an initial assessment of the Prodigy DS then.