Category: 1911

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1911 2011 Fusion Firearms Optic XP Pro

So, I was bored and did this —

I’ve a Viridian RFX45 that I bought a few years ago. I’d tried to fit it to the XP Pro back then but there were issues. To install it, I’ve to stack a plate upon a plate. Luckily, the irons will still co-witnesses through the glass (only just — I can even see the dot on the front iron sight). Oh, and I had a devil of a time finding screws to secure the Acro plate to the Fusion plate.

This particular optic is a closed emitter unit. I haven’t been using it, and it’s better than not using an optic, in my opinion. I do like the 407C’s view port size better, though.

UPDATE (10/19/2026): I went to the range yesterday evening and shot just under 100 rounds through the XP Pro. The Acro plate came loose twice (yeah, it had blue threadlocker applied to it 24 hrs before), so I stopped shooting it. I’ll try Vibratite next – hoping that works, but if not, I’ll look into getting some different screws to secure it (the screws are very small and have very little threading – I’d actually anticipated that they would loosen). Better yet, I may just purchase another optic. The RFX45 did extremely well, though, which is a pity that the plate won’t stay secured to the Fusion Firearms RMR plate.

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1911 2011 ammo Fusion Firearms Remington XP Comp XP Pro

XP Comp Has Crossed 1000 Rounds!

Last week, I was able to cross the 1000 round goal line with the Fusion Firearms XP Comp.

As well, the last 149 rounds were Remington 124-gr FMJ (green/white box), which I’ve discussed here. There were no failures to fire/feed/extract, nor were there any failures to return to battery.

The gun is very nice to shoot. I believe it’s the finest of all my 2011s. Yes, it’s even better than my Bul Armory, but, of course, it’s going to shoot better than my other 2011s since all of them are smaller in size (and are not compensated).

Now that I’ve reached the 1000 round goal, my next task is to remove the firing pin retaining pin. I’m not currently able to remove it. I had the same issue with the XP Pro but was able to remove it with some effort. I refitted it once I removed it. I’ll be doing the same with the XP Comp. The firing pin stop plate can be more easily removed by removing the optic or optic plate – you can tap the top of the stop plate to remove it.

I still need to decide on which gun to focus on next. I’m not really caring to put 1000 rounds through the Kuna. I’m probably going to chose a gun that is close to the 1000 round goal. The Bersa Thunder Plus currently has 773 rounds through it. The PSA AK-V has 740 rounds through it. My Glock 19 Gen 4 has 679 rounds. The Beretta PX4 has 621 rounds.

I’m leaning toward choosing the Beretta, but it would be nice to have the AK-V cross the 1000-round threshold, and it’s not far from that goal.

On another note, I’ve found that the Alpha Foxtrot Attila, while it will shoot the Remington 124-gr ammo, it hits maybe 2″ higher than other ammo (at 10 yards). I was curious about that, so I shot 15 rounds of Federal SD ammo (which is 124-gr). That ammo hit where I was aiming. That is annoying, as I just bought 1000 rounds of that ammo. I do not want to purchase a second set of 9mm ammo for use with the Attila, so I may just shoot it regardless of the issue.

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1911 2011 9mm disassembly Fusion Firearms XP Comp XP Pro

I Was Finally Able to Remove The Firing Pin Stop From The XP Pro!

I’d posted in the past my disassembly issues with the Fusion Firearms XP Pro – here and here.

In both of those posts, I elaborate on my frustrations with being unsuccessful in removing the firing pin stop.

There was a guy on Reddit that posted about his experience with this – the post is here. He explained how he removed the firing pin stop.

I was going to mimic his steps but noticed that I could attempt to remove it from the top of the slide. A few weeks ago, I’d removed the optic from the XP Pro (to use it on the XP Comp). When I removed it, I noticed that the top of the firing pin stop protrudes upward. I thought I’d try to remove the stop from the top, since it was easily accessible.

I was finally able to remove it!

I removed the rear sight plate and got a big-tipped brass punch, using it to tap hard on the top of the plate. It was tricky since I had to also push in the firing pin when doing it. Three hard whacks got it loosened and it was easy to fully remove after doing that.

I spent the past 2 hours filing the stop plate so that it wouldn’t be so difficult to remove in the future. It was a total PITA – LOTS of filing on that part just to get it back on without a hammer and punch. It’s snug but nothing like out of the box.

I’m still evauluating the XP Comp, and I’ve the optic dialed in, so I’m going to wait until I’m done testing before I do the Comp.

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1911 2011 RIA Rock Island Armory Rock Ultra Tac Ultra

I Asked RIA-USA to Build A 2011-Pattern Firearm!

I checked my email this morning and saw that RIA-USA had sent me a survey. I usually don’t get much from them, but I have bought handgun items from them the past few years.

They basically asked me what gun(s) I had, which I told them. I’ve a Commander-sized TCM that came with 22TCM and 9mm barrels. I’ve a Rock Ultra Commander. I also have a Rock Ultra Government double-stacked 10mm. All three are the slate-gray parkerized variants, which I love. They’re extremely utilitarian but shoot well! I’ve hangups about the 10mm, though, but that’s just me.

They also asked me if I’d had any issues. I explained that I have an issue with the Rock Ultra Commander – the front sight came off and I can not get it back on. I’ve never asked for support, but I may do that soon, as the gun shoots great and I’d like to keep shooting it.

They also asked me what I think they could offer their customer base. While I know they already make double-stacked 1911s, I said I’d like to see an RIA 2011. If Live Free Armory or Tisas could do it, RIA-USA could also do it. I asked them to make a 2011-stype handgun that takes Glock mags – if they did that, I’d definitely buy it. I also stated that it would have to be under $1000.

We’ll see what they do with that suggestion!

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

I Was FINALLY Able To Obtain Support From Fusion Firearms!

Back in April, I tried to reach out to Fusion Firearms. I was unsuccessful. Why was I trying to contact Fusion Firearms? My XP Comp came with two RMSc plates instead of an RMR and RMSc.

I tried to reach out to them several times, without success, so I gave up. I had to remove the RMR plate that I was using on the XP Pro so that I could use it on the XP Comp.

Last week, I tried again, using their online support system. This time I was able to get through to Tyler. I had included a picture of the two optic plates that came with my XP Comp, which was enough to get him to send an RMR plate to me.

The RMR plate arrived yesterday. I will eventually use it on the XP Pro, once I obtain another RMR optic. Speaking of which, I might actually just get another RMSc-footprinted optic. There are a few RMSc optics that have large windows now. I just need an optic with a large view-port, as that’s what I prefer.

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1911 2011 9mm Alpha Foxtrot Attila handgun

The Alpha Foxtrot Attila Now Has Over 1000 Rounds – Video Posted

This video details my ownership experience with the gun thus far.

1082 rounds have been shot out of the gun. There have been no feed/extract issues. There have been no reliability issues whatsoever.

As well, due to YouTube being extremely tyrannical, I’ve taken extra steps to ensure my videos are compliant with their terms of service. Because of that, there’s a banner being depicted when embedding the video into this blog post. This is something I can’t avoid. Apologies.

Below is the Rumble link. Although I’d rather use Rumble (to counter YouTube tyranny), YouTube gets far more traffic. I’ve had little success in getting my Rumble-posted videos to gain traction.

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1911 2011 9mm Fusion Firearms Glock 17 magazines XP Comp XP Pro

RWB Glock 17 Mags Are Too Tight Of A Fit For Fusion Firearms XPs

I bought a few extra Glock 17 magazines for my Fusion Firearms XPs – the XP Pro and the XP Comp. They arrived today.

I’ve a handful of KCI magazines (not the sets that came with my XPs). While they fit, I don’t like them, as the springs are really weak. They’re weak straight out of the packaging.

Well, I’ll give it to the KCI mags – at least they actually fit into the gun. The RWB Glock mags do not fit. I can get them maybe halfway inserted before they bind.

To be fair, I think Fusion Firearms built their XP guns around the KCI mags, as this is a common problem – the mag well is rather tight.

They fit now, though, because I took sandpaper to them. They fit, but they look like ass, even after using smaller grit sandpaper to lessen the coarseness of the scoring. They won’t drop out of the gun – I have to pull them out (they pull out with a very small amount of effort). Over time, they’ll wear-in.

This weekend, I’ll try to visit some local gun shops in an effort to obtain a few more mags. I don’t have time to order a different brand, as today is 6/26 and the new laws take affect on 7/1.

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1911 2011 9mm Alpha Foxtrot Attila double-stack

My Thoughts 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 his 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 Alpha Foxtrot Attila range visit

Quick Update on the Alpha Foxtrot Attila Experience

So far, the experience has been surprisingly uneventful.

I’m at 702 rounds – a couple of range visits and I should be crossing over 1000 rounds!

I practiced doubles tonight, at 5 and 7 yards. The groupings were good. Was starting from low ready (indoor range, no timer). The gun is controllable. There wasn’t as much issue with Glock knuckle this go-around, but I only shot 105 rounds through the gun during this range visit, as I also shot the Kuna and AK-V.

I also shot it at longer distances this range visit, trying to test accuracy. While I can hit decently at range, the groupings are wider than, say, when I do the same with my XP Pro (which is a bigger gun).

The optic hasn’t moved since attaching it.

I’m actually carrying it now, too. It carries well. I’m using the Tenicor Certum and Velo4 when carrying it. I’ll eventually use the QVO More Discreet with the Attila.