The Checkmate, in my experience, need tuning. A new stronger mag spring probably won’t hurt anything either.
All three of my CM mags developed a pretty good gap between the top round and the next round in the stack as the rounds were loaded. Maybe not a big deal when running FMJ but I did have some nosedive feed failures with JHP.
After the feed lips and the tube bodies, as shown in several videos from Atlas Gun Works, they feed fine now. Rounds stack one on top of the other nicely with no huge gap.
MAC and Tisas guns are starting to pop up online. The MAC is running $950 or a Grand. The Tisas is more in the $750-$800 ballpark. This makes either gun a better value than the Girsan.
MACs are popping up now. Several people posting on TOS and a few other sites have these pistols and are happy with them. There might be some variance in triggers (from about five to six pounds) although these could probably also be variance in trigger pull gauges.
The only thing generally negative right now is the sights. For whatever reason these guns are shipping with standard height sights on the pistol and also on the RMR plate. As a result the sights are too low to be seen with an RMR or Holosun installed.
SDS Imports (MAC’s parent company) says they are working on additional plate and sight options but nothing is available currently.
This would not seem like a big deal but the Tisas sight cuts are apparently unique to Tisas guns. They may look like Novak cuts but are reportedly just different enough to be hard to work with. With that said it may be possible to fit some taller irons off a Prodigy or a Staccato. We’ll have to wait and see how some people deal with this.
The RMR plate does have its own built-in rear sight that’s reportedly a Glock pattern. I haven’t seen anything yet about how well a Glock rear sight may fit.
hoping to see someone do a comparison between the mac, tisas and lfa apollo 11 compact pistols. looking for a new 1911ish double stack in the 4-4.25 version. didn’t like the prodigy and my staccatos are too big for carry. lol
already flush in staccato mags so not looking at the oracle
Just guessing since I haven’t seen all these. But I’d guess it would break down about like this:
Tisas Carry. Commander size gun with short dust cover. Some users posting that TLR-1 or X300 won’t fit. Maybe the Night Stick TWM-30 or one of the other full-size duty lights will fit? TLR-7 seems to fit okay.
Tisas Duty. Essentially the 5" version of the Carry. It should be better suited to running a full-size handgun light.
Both the Tisas guns are reportedly cut for the RMSc or Holosun K footprint. Both are supposed to have a Glock rear sight cut so taller/shorter rear sights should be easy to find. Front sights are probably a different story. Tisas is apparently using something close but not that close to a Novak front sight dove tail. Both Tisas guns are pretty basic. No mag well, bushing barrel, no bilateral safety. Probably good entry level for someone 2011 curious and/or someone who wants to dabble in parts swapping.
MAC 9 DS is probably a solid gun for the money. So far only available as a 4.25" gun but the rail is a little longer so these work with bigger handgun lights. Rail still a little shorter than the Staccato P for some dumb reason. Surely MAC could have easily made the rail longer by half an inch just in case? In any case, these guns seem pretty decently outfitted. All steel with no MIM parts. Bull barrel. Ambi safety. Aluminum mag well. These will probably give about 90% of the Staccato experience at 40% of the price. Some owners have already swapped out the factory grip for the Staccato C2 grip without any fitment issues. The only negative at this point is that the included irons aren’t tall enough to be seen when an optic is attached. So far also only available with an RMR optic plate. Additional plate and sight options coming in 2024. In gun time this probably means 2025 or 2026 before options are actually available…
LFA. They just announced a short “commander” version. Unknown yet if this is a commander length stroke or a government stroke. Cut for RMSc or Holosun K. The LFA guns seem to be doing okay but are filled pretty much entirely with MIM parts for those who hate MIM. General fit and finish is reportedly not the best. You get what you pay for. But American made for those who don’t want to roll the dice on a Turkish gun. Probably best as a US made version of the Tisas. Shoot a bit and then decide what parts to replace to tailor it to the individual user.
says they fixed alot of the issues with the government size when making the commander. It’s actually listed as 4.15" barrel.
I actually got the email from LFA to order one. Maybe I’ll be the guinea pig for this one.