Girsan MC1911SC Ultimate 2000 Round Challenge: Day 1

The MC1911SC Ultimate is a compact, officer-length 1911 by Turkish manufacturer Girsan, imported by EAA. Built on a forged aluminum frame, it boasts a number of nice features, including contoured surfaces to eliminate snags, an extended beavertail, extended ambidextrous safety, conical barrel for more positive lockup, G10 grips with a capacity window cut in the side, adjustable rear sights, and an optional red dot optic.

For a MSRP of $723, and an out-the-door price of roughly $550, there’s a lot to like, provided the pistol proves reliable.

The 9mm pistol I received was one of two prototype, non-production-line models, the other being the .45 ACP. It shipped with the carry optic attached, and five Mec Gar 7-round magazines.

Day one of testing was at Blogorado in Secret Location, Colorado. Conditions were a sunny and pleasant 63 degrees with 14% humidity, elevation of 4500 feet. I field stripped the pistol, added a film of Break Free to the barrel, bushing and interior slide, and a drop of oil to the hammer pivot, disconnector, and slide rails, and hied forth to see how she shot.

A bevy of various 9mm ammunition was generously supplied by Lucky Gunner, and I started with Federal Syntech Range 115gr ammo, which Federal says should be moving around 1130 fps. Chrono work was set for another day, so I’ll take their word for it.

First off, Mec Gar magazine #3 shit the bed on round #23, causing a failure to feed. It also tied up the gun, refusing to drop free. Peering into the open chamber revealed that the mag follower had jammed about halfway up, refusing to feed further rounds. While the capacity window in the G10 grips did seem rather gimmicky to me – who is going to look at the side of their pistol in a gunfight? – it did allow me to diagnose the problem immediately. The magazine spring had slipped out of the capacity window on the side, binding the magazine in the magwell. Removal of the grip panel on the right side allowed me to fiddle the mag spring back into place, and get the gun running again.

Since it was a magazine failure, I’m not ready to blame that one on the gun. Magazine #3 was removed from the rotation and the test continued.

I experienced one other failure to eject on round #70, magazine #2 with the Federal Syntech ammo. A total of 100 rounds of Federal Syntech were fired with no other issues, other than a failure to lock back on the last round with several magazines. I’d list which ones, but it seemed to be an issue that was not limited to one magazine. Whether it’s an issue with the gun or with Mec Gar 1911 magazines, only time will tell.

The test continued with Fiocchi 147 gr JHP, listed by manufacturer with a muzzle velocity of 975 fps. There was one failure to fire when the slide did not go fully back into battery on round #18 (118 rounds total), from magazine #1.

Also, the front sight blade on this pistol fell right the hell off somewhere between rounds 143 and 150. The sight was found on the firing line, undamaged, and both the front sight dovetail and the plastic sight itself seemed to be okay to visual inspection. It’s just a plastic insert in a standard dovetail, with no tension screw or staking. I’ll Loctite it back on before the next day’s testing.

That’s 150 rounds with one failure to eject (#70) and one failure to fire (#118). 1850 rounds to go.