I'm behind on writing this review, but I took it to the range last Sunday and ran another 700 rounds through it. I used Herter's 115gr this time and she ate them all with ZERO issues and wanted more. Ran her easy for the first 250 then hard for the remaining 450. I did slow fire, rapid fire, double taps, Mozambique drills, full mag dumps, and qualification tables and could have done more. You can spend much more on a 2011 platform, but at the price point, you can have a great 1911 DS pistol and with a very modest investment in parts, time, and effort, one can easily elevate this pistol to another level. A friend of mine who is a manager at my range/pro shop always gives me feedback on how my guns feel. I agree with his assessment that my MAC-9 is on another level over the Prodigy and can definitely run with those higher priced offerings. I did notice my range now has two MAC 9 Comps (a 5" and a 4.25") for sale. They've noticed how often I've been bringing my MAC 9s to the range over my other pistols. Again…MAC, please improve the grips out of the box on all the MAC-9s and these will be at the top IMHO. The Safariland 6378RDS - ALS® Concealment Paddle Holster molded for the O-light Valkyrie PL-Pro light I use on this pistol along with the O-sight C are a winning combination. I would definitely buy this if MAC came out with a DS .45 cal....hint...hint!

This was my third MAC 9 DS...already owning both the 4.25 comp and non-comp versions and replaces my Tisas DS 9mm Duty. The good: love the lightning cuts as being standard on these pistols, three different trigger shoes, flared magwell, AOS optics plate included. Accuracy was spot on out of the box. The bad: as with my other two MAC 9s, the action was stiff and would bind at points. The breach face has a flat angle where it meets the disconnector causing additional binding in the action. The extractor was also too loose from the factory causing F2F and FTE issues during the first 250 rounds (Fiochi 124gr FMJ). I gave up on that range outing at that point and confirmed this issue during cleaning. During my next range outing, the fiber optic insert in the front sight fell out at some point during the next 500 rounds. The stippling on the grip is sub-par in my opinion. My remedies: Like with my 4.25 comp, I polished the rails, adjusted the angle of the breach face and disconnector allowing for a less impactful strike and smoother transition into battery. The action is so much smoother now than it was in factory configuration even after a total of 1250 rounds of break-in. Like my other MAC 9, I chose to match the rates on my Staccato P and stippled the grip in a dragon skin pattern. I’ve put another 500 rounds thru it and she definitely “runs” now and I’m very pleased with the final results. To remedy the optic plate screws issue, I replaced the factory optic plate screws with torx head plate screws available for Prodigy. The C&H Precision screws and the screws that came with my Osight C did not adequately allow for mounting the plate or optic without grinding down the screw heads to make them flat on the plate. The screws I got for the Prodigy were flat mounting and I have no concerns about the optic coming loose again. Like my 4.25 comp, I gave it 4 stars because, like my other MAC 9s, I some fixes were necessary to what was a great pistol for the price and with a minor investment I was able to make it so much more refined and run without issue. This will be an occasional carry, definitely home defense, range work, and competition weapon for me.