I wanted a place to discuss my handguns and firearms in general. Everyone seemingly has lots to say about guns, so I promise you this won't be a rant blog.
I talked about the EAA Girsan Witness 2311 Brat a few days ago. Well, it is now released for consumption (meaning that it is now actually being sold).
I’ve checked the street pricing and, as of 11/11/2024, it is showing as $540 as a lowest-price (see pricing here). That’s not a bad price for such a gun, but I’m suspecting that it will have QC issues, as the other EAA Girsan Witness 2311 variants have all had issues when being reviewed by independent YouTube channels. I’d be very surprised if the gun actually does well, especially with it being a smaller 1911/2011, as the smaller versions can sometimes be difficult to develop.
We’ll see how well it does, but I’m not holding my breath for a good review.
I’ve been seeing a few YouTubers posting about the new 2011 from the collaboration between Fusion Firearms and Ermox, called the XP Pro.
Usually, the first thing out of someone’s mouth is, “It’s a Turkish import that Fusion put their name on” or some crap like that. This is a true collaboration. Just as when SDS Imports worked with Tisas to up their specification standards, Fusion Firearms did the same. If it weren’t for SDS Imports showing Tisas how to make the parts in the proper fashion using the proper specs, recent Tisas products would’ve been shitty. Fusion Firearms did the same thing. The CEO of Fusion Firearms used to own Dan Wesson and he later sold DW to CZ. He’s been working with Ermox, providing them with the proper specs for the parts and advising them on how the parts need to be made.
I’ve already seen the table-top video of the XP Pro by Graham Baates. This gun looks to be well-made. Yes, there are machine marks, but that doesn’t outright define a bad 1911/2011. The culmination of parts, fitment, and finish is what makes the gun a well-received product. My first thought was that the gun looks to puch way above it’s level, similar to how $400 Tisas 1911s match a gun twice their price. I think this gun is equivalent to a Prodigy. Many folks think that Apollo 11s are equivalent to Prodigies. They are not. From what I’ve seen, the XP Pro looks to be over-built, which means it’s probably going to make a great 2011.
Some things that stood out to me were the fact that the gun comes with two optics plates – one for RMSc and equivalent footprints and one for 507C and equivalent footprints. The plates have irons built into them.
Another thing is that the gun is all bar stock. There is no MIM at all.
Almost all the parts are interchangeable with other 1911s/2011s. About the only parts that are proprietary (by necessity) are the slide catch, the mag catch, and the beavertail, and those proprietary parts are necessary due to gun being built around Glock mags.
Additionally, the grip module (yes, this is a 2011) is all-metal. The gun is heavy, which means that this gun will probably be a recoil sponge.
There will be a comped version later on.
There will be a 45ACP version later on.
The grip angle is good – it’s not Glock-like.
The controls appear to cater to concealed carry.
TheHumbleMarksman has one, as well…he’s just waiting for time to begin conducting the review.
GBGun has his but he’s leaving the country for 2 weeks, so the range portion of his review will be on-hold until he returns.
I’d talked myself into not settling for another budget 2011, but I might have to buy this one (next spring). I’ve another 4-5 months for the kinks to be worked out and for the major channels to review the gun. If things are favorable by March/April, I’ll be grabbing the XP Pro (and possible another higher-end 2011 too).
There was a quiet release of the Kimber CDS9, which appears to be a smaller Kimber KDS9C.
This is not a 2011, though. As with the KDS9C, it is a double-stacked handgun that is very similar to a 1911. The biggest differences are that the barrel link is more similar to a CZ handgun, and the trigger is entirely different than a typical 1911, as it is hinged. This gun is more like a Kimber Micro 9 or S&W CSX.
There is no grip safety, either, which the KDS9C also doesn’t have.
The gun is optics-ready and the barrel length is 3.19″. The gun comes with 13- and 15-round mags. There’s also a version that has a threaded barrel, which also has a reverse two-tone color scheme.
The CDS9 has an MSRP of $1075, although I’ve seen street prices of $917.
As well, the KDS9C has no MIM. I believe the CDS9 will also be MIM-less, although I’ve seen nothing supporting that claim. It would be stupid of Kimber to have no MIM in the CDS9 when the KDS9C is MIM-less.
The Humble Marksman has a great review of this handgun. It shoots well and appears to be just as reliable as the KDS9C, of which I’ve never seen a video that shows unreliability. Most folks hang onto older opinions that Kimbers are not dependable. Again, I’ve seen no videos showing bad reliability with either the KDS9C or R7 Mako variants.
I will add this to my list of To-Get guns for 2025 and will watch as others review this gun.
What is this gun bringing that the other 2011 variants aren’t? Well, You don’t see all that many 2011s chambered in 45ACP, especially in Officer size and while having a bull barrel.
That price is definitely attractive and offsets the fact that it’s an EAA/Girsan offering.
I posted here that the Ultralight had to be sent back to Bul Armory for repair (again).
It is September 27th and I just got an email that the UL is on it’s way back to me. They received it September 11th.
The notes they provided:
The pistol underwent a full inspection where we made sure all the different components are within spec.
We then adjusted the main spring and test fired the pistol and the pistol works well as it should.
I’m kinda wary, as the pistol itself was working well when I sent it to them…the issue was that the grip safety wasn’t working properly.
It should be back to me on October 1st.
If it’s not fixed (as I suspect), I’ll stop carrying it. I may sell it to finance a different 2011. I may research to see if I can fix it on my own. Or, I may find a gunsmith that can fix it.
I may be overly worried about this, but I don’t think that the issue was a mainspring adjustment issue, especially since since Bul Armory has had the chance to fix this (twice now). I do not have any other 1911 or 2011 that has ever had this issue and I don’t believe mainsprings just loose adjustability out of the blue to the point that the grip safety stops working.
The grip safety was not stopping the hammer from falling.
This occurred back in January 2024 and I sent it back to Bul Armory then.
When I received it back, I tested it and the grip safety was functional.
Eight months later, I checked again, and the hammer is dropping again, although I’ve to hulk up on the trigger to get it to drop.
I went to Reddit and asked why this would be occurring and I got several answers. The first two were basically the same answer – that whoever built the gun removed too much material on the grip safety when fitting the part.
The last answer wasn’t really an answer…it was more of an accusation that I wasn’t engaging the grip safety fully, which excessively wore the part over time. I told the guy that that wasn’t the issue, and thanked him for his time. I highly doubt that was the issue, as I’ve to tightly grip the gun to control it and when I grip, the grip safety is disengaged.
Another guy chimed in stating that he’d had the exact same issue. He said he’d bought his gun from GP Arms, who was a Bul Armory importer up until a month or so before I bought my Ultralight. Gabe said that he’d seen the issue before with BA guns, and he fixed it. The guy said the issue never recurred.
So, this leads me to believe that this is indeed a manufacturing issue.
Keep in mind that the one-year warranty expired back in March 2024.
My options were to:
Get the safety pinned – not an option on a $1500 gun.
Find a gunsmith that could fix the safety – not an option on a $1500 gun.
Reach out to Bul Armory and explain to them that they “fixed” this back in January, only for the issue to recur eight months later. Ask them to fix it under warranty and if they won’t, ask them to diagnose the issue and if the cost was reasonable, I’d pay to have it fixed.
Fix it on my own – last resort option (would find a gunsmith before I did this).
I ended up reaching out to Bul Armory and explaining that whatever fix they applied did not work, that the gun was out of warranty but wasn’t when the “fix” was applied. I asked them to fix it under warranty since their fix didn’t remedy the issue. I explained to them that reliability was important to me, as the gun was a carry gun. I also asked that they ensure the gun stayed fixed this go-around and asked them if they needed to replace parts, to please do so.
Bul Armory honored my request. I sent the gun to them last week – they’ve had it a week, so far.
I’m carrying the Alpha Foxtrot while the SAS II UL is being repaired.
I will post an update once the gun has been returned to me.
The last time I posted about the Tisas Carry DS9, I’d only recently bought the gun.
That was back in February 2024. It is now June 2024. I’ve owned the gun right at four months and I’ve right at 1200 rounds through the gun! Yeah, it’s that much fun to shoot/own! And, of those 1200 rounds, it has only misfed one time. I was also able to shoot that same round from the gun after loading it back into the mag. It’s eaten steel cased ammo, lots of JHP, and lots of JHP that is considered good SD ammo. This may well make for a good gun for training courses. It can withstand gunk/carbon/dirt, too — I went maybe 400 rounds before I cleaned it, at one point.
Initially, I ran into an issue with the gun that I couldn’t ignore or adapt to. The gun had a trigger that was not only somewhat heavy, but it was difficult to work around. The trigger wall itself was super thick, to the point that I was pulling the gun out of target alignment when actuating it. The goal was to not modify the gun before I hit 1000 rounds. I made it to maybe 450 rounds before I decided that I had to either pay a gunsmith to make the trigger better or do it myself.
I ended up buying a 19 lb mainspring and a sear spring from EGW. The sear spring is what I thought would solve the issue. I actually pulled the OEM sear spring and looked at it. The OEM spring was bent oddly and didn’t have a lot of spring/give. It was also difficult to remove and re-install. I believe the main issue was the sear spring and I was correct – when I received the EGW sear spring, it immediately solved the issue. The new spring didn’t require any tuning, either. The trigger was a bit over 5 lb when I got the gun. By 450 rounds, it was at 4 lb 8 oz. The new sear spring didn’t change the trigger weight but did change the trigger wall. The wall was much more crisp after that upgrade.
I installed the 19 lb mainspring just to determine if I’d like the change. Initially, I didn’t like it. It made the trigger feel sloppy (added some slack). I put the OEM mainspring back into the gun. Oh – that’s also the first time I did something like that. I didn’t think I could do it without a workbench or clamp but I was able to replace it without issue. I ended up re-installing the EGW mainspring and the gun ended up wearing in – the gun’s trigger feels fantastic now.
I also did several detailed strips of the gun, just to look at the individual parts. I can verify that the gun has NO MIM parts. Not a single part is MIM. None of the parts, apart from the weird sear spring, has fitment issues. No, none are polished, but they’re standard parts and fit well enough.
After I crossed 1000 rounds, I decided to have a bit of fun with the gun. I ordered 14 lb and 12 lb flat recoil springs (from EGW). I thought they’d fit but they wouldn’t fit around the short guide rod. I ended up having to buy a full length guide rod (the requirement was I required a 1/4″ diameter rod), which came with a plug designed for use with a FLGR.
I installed the parts and was shocked again…the gun felt even better, just racking the slide. When I took it to the range, I was shooting quite a bit faster, while still being accurate. The lighter recoil spring makes the gun feel more manageable, control-wise. It seems to shoot flatter. The Prodigy comes stock with a 12-lb recoil spring and those guns shoot really well. There are more than a few videos that state the Tisas guns are over-sprung…I believe it’s true.
Another great thing about the gun is that iron sights will co-witness (1/3rd) with the optic. I’ve a Cyelee CAT that works well with this gun. This optic has been 100% dependable.
There are a few bad things about this gun, though.
The optics cut is crappy. Tisas CS is insisting that the issue isn’t that they’ve milled the optics cut wrong, but that the optics makers have milled their optics wrong. I don’t think that’s the case, as I tried two different brands (Holosun and Cyelee) and neither would fit well. I could see daylight between both optics and the slide. As well, both optics were factory zero’d to have the dot rendering generally within the center of the glass, but when I installed both, both dots were rendering super-high. I wasn’t the only person with this issue, either, and many of those folks complained that they couldn’t zero their optics because they ran out of elevation adjustment when trying to bring the dot down. I fixed my issue by using an optic ship (bought from Amazon). The shim allowed a better fit on the gun (no daylight between the optic and slide) and also allowed a lower shifting of the rendered dot. The shim doesn’t help everyone, though. Some folks stated they had to use two shims to get their optic to properly zero.
What’s funny is that Tisas keeps trying to dodge blame. Not only that, but folks keep insisting that Holosun is a cheap optic and that makes Holosun at fault. WTF. These aren’t EOTechs but they aren’t exactly cheap, either.
Tisas has a problem with milling in general. Initially, their single stacked 1911s had (and still do have) issues fitting standard 1911 sights. Part of this is because they’re avoiding licensing Novak specifications. Later on, folks started complaining that they couldn’t mount their standard-sized lights on the M1918 rail mount. Tisas stated that the rails will only mount small lights. This mainly affected their Carry line – they installed smaller rails for some reason. This issue migrated to their new line of Carry DS9s. Now there’s mounting issues with the optics and I know for a fact that it is indeed the slide milling that is the issue.
Those issues and the fact that Tisas didn’t jump to help folks means that I won’t be buying any other Tisas guns. There’s also another reason. I bought the Carry DS9 after already owning a couple of double stacked 1911s that cost over twice as much as the Tisas. Those two guns feel better and shoot better. They feel expensive. That’s not saying that someone with a DS9 won’t be able to outshoot someone with a SAS II UL. What I’m saying is that, no matter how much they make the DS9s cheaper, it’s still a cheap (as in cheaply made) gun. There are immediate and significant differences when comparing a DS9 to a SAS II UL, whether a person is just handling both or shooting both. No, most folks won’t cross-shop those two guns but I’m not the only person that has bought a DS9 after owning a Prodigy or SAS II UL or even a Staccato.
In summary, I didn’t need the DS9 and the SAS II UL almost certainly spoiled me. The DS9’s trigger will never feel like the UL’s trigger. The DS9 rattles. It has side to side play in the slide. The trigger is a bit sloppy. The DS9 right-side safety isn’t blended (it cuts my hand – my Tisas single stacked Duty 45 does the same thing and I ended up swapping in a single sided safety to save my hand). The DS9 isn’t bull-barreled. There’s the optics milling issue. That sear spring on the DS9 was shoddy. All of those 7-8 sentences I just typed is justification to stay away, in my humble opinion.
For those who don’t already own a 2011 or nicely crafted double stacked 1911, this gun is probably for you, as long as you remember that a cheaper gun is going to be built cheaper. There’s a reason why 2011s, up until recently, were priced at mid $1000. If you already own something twice the cost of a DS9 (or other variant), you’re going to be disappointed, unless you love to tinker.
So, I haven’t yet committed to yet another gun purchase, but I was bored last week and was perusing the EAA website and saw that they’re finally listing their Girsan Witness 2311 3.4″ (subcompact) on their product page. It’s sort of hidden, as you specifically have to manipulate their product menu to display it.
So, it’s using the same grip as their larger 2311s, which is interesting. It has that mullet look, which is similar to the Bul Armory SAS II UL. The MSRP of $999 is quite high, though, but all of the Girsan 2311s are at that price.
I’m interested, yeah. I was interested last year when they had it listed, but they pulled it off of their website for some reason and it’s only now showing up again.
Now, it has to get good reviews, too. The larger Girsan 2311s aren’t doing so hot since they were released, as they were either rushed to the market or they are just built like shit…the reviews of those aren’t really good.
LFA is supposedly releasing an Officer-sized 2011 too (as an Apollo). Now, those have been getting good reviews, although they have MIM (they’re working to make those guns MIM-free). I also remember TheHumbleMarksman showing, in a review, the failure of a slide release that was supposedly MIM-free, which is NOT good. I’d eventually like to see how well their 3.5″ gun does.
I asked the Tisas representative on the 1911Forum.com website if Tisas was planning to release ANY Officer-sized guns and they said, “No”. Later on, when folks were discussing it, someone said that they spoke to another Tisas rep and he/she said that it was being worked on! Now, if they can do one as a 2011, that would be awesome!
I’m sure there will be more news on this and when I see it, I’ll post an update!
I’ve been to the range twice with the Tisas Carry DS9.
I’ll share some information about the first range visit. I also suspected some of the things we discussed in my last post would be apparent during the first range visit.
The trigger had issues. The gun initially had a thick walled trigger. While the trigger itself wasn’t heavy, it wasn’t light either, so that’s a wash. The trigger wall was stiff, but I shot maybe 130 rounds from the gun, so the wall softened a bit. As well, the trigger is now lighter by 1 lb.
Between the trigger’s issues and the sights, I was having issues hitting where I aimed. I shot low (90 degrees low) with every shot — not low left, but directly low. I’m not sure how to use the U-notch sights, but I’m thinking they’re off by a bit, at least.
The gun didn’t hiccup at all during the first range visit. I shot a mix of ammo, some being HP, some being SD HP, and some being FMJ. The gun is flat-shooting, too.
When I got home from the first range visit, I sat while watching TV and kept racking the gun and pulling the trigger to get that thick wall to wear-in as quickly as possible.
When I went to the range next (two days later), I shot 187 rounds. Quite a bit of ammo was shot, some HP, some SD ammo, and a lot of range ammo. I had one fail to feed one one HP (I think it was Winchester range JHP). I put it back in the magazine and it feed and shot successfully.
The gun also shot a lot better, probably due to the trigger breaking in. Also, I man-handled the gun, as the first range visit, I was sloppy with gun control (recoil management and probably trigger control). My grouping were MUCH better this range visit.
I now have 317 rounds through the gun. The gun has yet to be cleaned, which says a lot, because I’ve looked in the gun and it’s pretty filthy. The rails were overly lubricated, which may have helped. I may clean it tomorrow, as I’m not intentionally trying to induce filth-related failures.
I also published a video. I’ll be producing a longer duration video soon. The short duration one below lacks some information (I had to make it fit into a 15 minute timeframe).
For some reason, I had a difficult time obtaining this gun.
First, I should’ve bought it from a different seller. The place I purchased it has a spotty customer service reputation and many folks that have purchase things from them have had bad experiences.
Second, the gun took a day to ship, as the seller created the pickup slip after the mail had been picked up for that day, so the package waited another day before USPS picked it up. USPS picked it up on Tuesday.
It was delivered to the my choice of gun store on Thursday, at 1:30 PM. The gun store sat on it until Friday (WTF). They texted me Friday morning (a bit after 10 AM) saying that the gun was ready and that I could come pick it up.
I went to pick it up at 11:30 AM. It took me 15 minutes to get there and then 15 minutes to complete the background check paperwork (I had to redo one form and redid another form two times). I gave the cashier my state ID and concealed carry license.
Now, normally, there’s maybe a 5-10 minute wait for me and then they tell me that the I passed the background check. I ended up waiting 40 minutes. I wanted to leave and thought that they’d call me when it was approved, but I didn’t want to do the paperwork over again (if I couldn’t come back until the next day) and didn’t want to be on the way home just for them to call me back in (or call me after I’ve arrived back at home). They called me just before I walked out.
WTF. It was a little bit busy, but I know damned well that I don’t have any dirt in my background. I’ve used this location two other times, and didn’t have to wait that long during those times. It was busy but it wasn’t 40 min delay busy. Either NICS had issues with their systems or maybe NICS itself was having a super busy day.
It was fucking odd waiting that long. I was running out of things to look at in the store. I almost asked what took so long, but I was so flustered, I knew I was going to pop off, so I just shut the hell up so that I could leave as quickly as possible. Also, their damned FFL transfer fee went up (it’s now $45…that’s kinda high around here). I was unaware until it was time to pay. Again, I just wanted to leave, so I didn’t say anything.
This place is an odd gun store. I’ve never liked using them for firearms transfers but they were close to home and my choices were limited (or so I thought). I asked some folks on Reddit about this place and apparently, they’re the d-bags of the local gun stores (I’m not sure what defines d-bag here). I’ve never had issues or conflicts with the staff there, but I swear, there’s something “off” about the place.
So, I will never visit that store again. There are other stores I can use to buy things. For firearms transfers, I found out from a Reddit user that my range (I’m a member) charges $15 for transfers, for members. I could’ve used them the past 3 firearms I purchased!! What’s cool is that I could have a gun transferred there (or buy one there) and then immediately go shoot it!
So, after I got in my car, I THEN checked the firearm. Yeah, they didn’t let me check it before I did the FFL paperwork, which is bad – the reason most GOOD places let you check the gun before you do the paperwork is because the paperwork seals the deal and if the gun is broken or is missing parts (like a magazine), you can decline the transfer because there’s something wrong with the product you bought. Of the three guns I had transferred there, they only let me check one of those three and that one check was after the paperwork was completed and after I’d paid for the transfer.
I checked to see if the gun was present and that I had the two mags that came with the gun. Then I closed the box and drove home.
I got home and looked at the gun. This gun is nicer than folks will expect. A lot of guys keep insisting that, since the gun is a budget (very budget priced) 2011-patterned 1911, there has to be something wrong with it, like shoddy workmanship of the gun, tolerance issues, etc.
The gun is a $900 gun (MSRP) that I bought for $700 (street price). It feels like (at very least) a $900 gun.
Fitment is good, not great, but again, it’s a $900 1911/2011. It’s also not bull-barreled, so fitment isn’t going to be as tight as a bull-barreled gun would (generally, bull barrel guns have better slide to frame fitment).
Finish is good – the slide is QPQ and the frame is Cerakoted.
It came with two mags. Most of the latest budget 2011s have been coming with one mag. Two mags are certainly better than one. The mags are Checkmate mags, which are Staccato-patterned. They are good mags (at least $65-70 each).
The sights are good and are dovetailed. I believe the front is Novak-styled (not actual Novak patterned, though). Tisas has been pinning the front sight up until recently. The rear is Glock-patterned, which is great and means there are MANY replacement options. As well, if you decide to use an optic, you don’t lose the rear sight when the optics cut plate is removed. The rears will cowitness 1/3rd! As they are, the sights offer a great sight picture. The rear offers a semi-wide rounded U-notch and the front sight is a contrast white dot.
The optics cut is patterned for RMSc, which means I can continue to run a Holosun. The optic mounts directly to the cut (no adapter plate is needed).
The gun has a titanium firing pin, which is great.
The grip is nice. It is easily nicer than the grip on my SAS II UL. What’s nicer? It has front strap checkering, even on the polymer grip module. The side texturing feels like it will be sufficient for shooting, while also not being overly aggressive in texture. I saw someone say they thought it felt cheap. That same guy owns a SAS II UL – THAT gun’s grip feels cheap and it’s an $1600 2011!
The trigger’s shoe is polymer, but there are high end 2011s with polymer trigger shoes (Staccato and Springfield Armory Emissary guns come to mind). The trigger is also not all that light (but not heavy either). I assessed the trigger twice – an average of 5 trigger pulls netted a first average of 4 lb 13 oz. The second group of pulls averaged out to 5 lb 1 oz. 5 lbs isn’t heavy but it isn’t light, either. The perfect weight for me would be high 3s and low 4s. The trigger wall is pretty firm, though.
I field stripped it (I also removed the firing pin), and checked each part. There are some tool marks, but it doesn’t have super ugly marks like the LFA Apollo 11 or the EAA Girsan Witness 2311 guns. This gun is MIM-less. There is not a single MIM part in this gun. My Tisas Duty single stacked 1911 that I bought 2 years ago has some MIM – you can clearly see the cast lines and stamps on those parts.
The plan is to take it to the range tomorrow (or more like, today, as it is 2:30 AM right now).
I may even carry this gun, as it doesn’t feel big to me and fits in all of my 1911 holsers (those that accept railed 1911s, at least). I can conceal the grip well, too.
So far, there isn’t much to not like about the gun. In fact, I currently have no dislikes.
If Tisas does an Officer sized 2011, I’m going to buy it…there’s no question. If they follow the same recipe that they used with the Carry, a smaller 2011 is going to be an instant hit.
I’m currently working on capturing video footage for the gun that I will eventually share on YouTube.
