I ran into an ad for this gun in one of the gun magazines I get (don't remember which). I was intrigued by the message it carries. You'll notice in the pictures that the entire Bill or Rights (summarized) has been laser etched into the slide. In addition, it has "THANK YOU, U.S. SOLDIERS" engraved on the frame, and "PROUDLY AMERICAN" etched on the extractor. And finally it has "IN GOD WE TRUST" and "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" etched on the slide top.
I began doing some checking and found that this gun is the brain child of one Jim Pontillo, founder and head of a small company by the name of FMK Firearms. FMK, by the way, stands for "For My Kountry". Yeah, I know. But Ford Motor Company has FMC sewn up. The pistol is called simply the "9C1", which is shorthand for "9mm Compact #1". When checking out FMK, the first thing that comes to light is the fact that the they are located in southern California, where the gun, which is 100% American made, is manufactured.
Now, there is just something about the idea of someone manufacturing a semi-automatic handgun, right in the heart of anti-gun Commifornia. And not just any gun. One that clearly displays the Bill of Rights, as well as other patriotic messages. I don't know about you, but it makes me want to stand up and holler "Way to go dude". Talk about thumbing your nose at the establishment. Well, it interested me enough to plunk down $425 and pick one up.
So enough said about the patriotic stuff. What about the gun itself?
I read on another forum, where it was referred to, by more than one person, as a "cheap Glock knockoff". I love people who make judgmental comments about a gun they have obviously never seen first hand. Yes, it has some Glock elements. The slide release, for example, is straight Glock. This means the gun can be taken down, very quickly, with no tools. And you end up with no pins, levers, or other small parts that can easily get lost. Why anyone would have a problem with that, I don't know. And the internals, are Glockish in appearance and assembly. But the operation is completely different. First of all, it is a full double action only trigger. The striker is not held partly cocked, as in the Glock. Pulling the trigger draws the striker back and releases it. As a result this gun has one feature that the Glock does not, which I like. You can double stroke in the event of a misfire. Every pull of the trigger fires the striker. No need to cycle the slide.
The fact that this is a fully double action gun gives it an attribute some may not like. It has a very long and hard trigger pull. My trigger pull gauge maxes out at 10 pounds. Out of the box, it pegged it every time. I spoke with the company and they said I had a very early gun (#382) and they had made significant improvements in the trigger pull on later guns. They offered to rework it for me, but I opted to put my gunsmith skills to work, and do a smooth and tune on it myself. Basically, I polished all the bearing parts in the trigger mechanism, resulting in a lighter, smoother trigger. I got it down to a consistent 9 pounds. Now, keep in mind this is designed as a defensive firearm. According to the company, the long, firm trigger pull is intentional. It eliminates one possible source of accidental discharge. Some will like that. Some won't. Oh, and the trigger has an embedded safety tab. Yeah, I know, like a Glock.
The general ergonomics are excellent. The gun fits my hand perfectly and is very comfortable to hold and to fire. The back strap is soft, shock absorbing material, which contributes to the comfort. The gun also points very naturally. It is very quick to put on target. And I really like the design and location of the slide release. It is quite large, yet sits very flat against the gun, offering absolutely no snag points. It can be easily stroked, without having to change your grip on the gun. I like that. Unfortunately, this is offset by the position of the magazine release. The release button is recessed into the leading edge of the grip. Which means you can NOT depress it while holding the gun in a normal grip. Which defeats the excellent design of the slide release. I like a gun that allows me to remove the magazine, slap in a new one and release the slide, without changing my grip on the gun. The magazine release is plastic and I'm experimenting with ways to extend it.
On the subject of aiming the gun, the 9C1 takes a rather interesting departure from the norm in terms of sights. The sights are not adjustable, and resemble normal three dot fixed sights. But they are not dove tailed into the slide as is usually done. Instead they are designed so as to be easily changed, without the need for special tools. As shipped the gun comes with an entire set of sights, in various positions. The front sight comes in three different heights. The back sight comes in five different left/right settings. I can't comment very much about the practicality of this, as I haven't had to use them. The installed sights are dead on. More on that in a minute. I do know that fans of night sights (I don't like night sights) won't be happy, because they can't get night sights for it. You'd have to ask FMK if they intend to offer night sights for it as some time. I can say that the equipped sights are extremely visible and easy to pick up.
OK, time to talk about safety features. Since this gun is manufactured in Commifornia, it had to adhere to the state's harsh and restrictive gun laws. One of these laws require the gun to pass very rigid safety tests, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I've bought other guns which have not undergone any safety testing and were downright dangerous to use. The gun has no manual safety. The long, hard trigger pull is its primary safety. And when the trigger is released, the striker spring is fully relaxed. It is NOT going to fire by accident. And I already mentioned the trigger safety. And finally accidental discharge is ruled out by a very large and robust firing pin safety, which is trigger operated. When the trigger is released, the firing pin cannot move forward. One of the tests this gun had to pass was a drop test. Three different test guns are loaded with a blank cartridge and dropped onto concrete from six different orientations. Knowing that this gun can absolutely NOT fire unless the trigger is pulled, gives me peace of mind. There are many guns today I can't say that about. Which brings us to another safety feature that some may not like. It has a magazine disconnect. It will not fire when the magazine is out of the gun. The big down side of this is that the disconnect lever, which is under spring pressure, rides against the side of the magazine. This means that the magazine will not drop when the release is pressed. You have to pull the magazine out. Frankly, this is not a problem for me. But I know a lot of people won't like it. The good news is, if you prefer, the magazine disconnect can be easily disabled by simply removing its spring. The gun will still function perfectly, and the magazine will drop like a rock when the release is pressed. Oh, and one last safety feature, required by Commifornia. There is a loaded cartridge indicator. When there is a round in the chamber a bright red tab sticks out of the back of the slide.
Well, having said all this about the gun, we come down to the real test. How does it shoot? I've had some mixed results, which seem to be related mostly to the fact that I got a very early gun, which the company admits, has some issues. One problem I have not encountered, which is probably one of the most common problems with automatics, is feed issues. None whatever. It eats anything. From normal FMJ rounds to big gaping "flying ashtrays". Light, heavy, it doesn't matter. Everything feeds. The problem I have encountered is failures to eject. This occurs with certain types of ammo. It will leave the empty in the chamber about one time in ten. Yeah, that's a lot. Having said that, I note that this only happens with certain types of ammo, usually with lighter loads in the 95-115 grain range. 147 grain loads function 100% of the time. Which is good, because that is what I like to use as a defense load. I always prefer the heaviest bullet available for a given caliber. But when shooting at the range, or plinking, I like the lighter (and cheaper) ammo. So I want to get this fixed. The company sent me a new extractor, which I have installed in the gun. I haven't had a chance to shoot it since, so I'll let you know if this solves the problem. As I said, the company says that the early guns did have ejection issues and these have been corrected in later guns. We're working on getting it corrected in mine.
That takes care of reliability. What about accuracy. I have one word. WOW! I have several pistols in my safe which have wet dreams about shooting as well as this gun does. Shooting offhand at 7 yards, I can routinely make groups under an inch. Even with the hard trigger. It puts them where it points. Period. The reasons for this are two fold, in my humble opinion. One, the barrel is quite heavy. I would call it a match grade barrel. The second reason comes down to the obvious precision in the design and machining of the barrel and the slide. The fit between the barrel and the slide is nearly perfect. As good as I've seen. And lockup is tight. And I do mean tight. There is zero play when the barrel is locked up in the slide. When the slide is in battery, there is no play in the barrel. None. This means that each time the slide cycles the barrel locks up in the same spot. Thus the accuracy.
One thing I haven't mentioned is the magazines. I don't know who makes them, except that they are American made. They appear to be very well made. Like the gun, they had problems with early magazines, which have been addressed. The early magazines have red followers. The newer ones have white followers. Mine were the early type. The sent me free replacement followers and springs for mine. Oh, and they are single stack, ten round magazines. Now before you yell "What the f**k?", remember where the gun is made. They are currently negotiating with Commifornia to produce a fourteen round magazine to be sold outside of the state. One interesting feature is that the large plastic base of each magazine has a loading tool built into it. You can use the base of one magazine to assist loading another.
And finally, if I have one real gripe with this gun, it all revolves around one word….plastic. Yes, the frame is polymer, but I don't have an issue with that. Almost all modern firearms have gone this route. The problem I do have is the internal components that are made of plastic. Parts, that in my humble opinion, should be steel. The first, and the one that bothers me the most is that the striker tab which engages the sear. The sear is steel. The tab is plastic. The company insists this is 100% reliable, but I can't help but question the ability of this crucial part to stand up to the wear and tear if the gun is used very much. The idea of steel wearing on plastic, under significant spring pressure, bothers me. I also feel that a steel to steel match here would provide for a smoother action, which would help with the gun's trigger pull. The other part that really bothers me is the rear slide guides. They are plastic. I'm told that the prototype guns had plastic front and back. But the front guides had a tendency to crack, so they replaced them with steel ones. But the rear guides are still plastic. As anyone who has fired one knows, the slide action on a high powered automatic is VERY violent. As with the striker tab, I question the ability of these plastic guides to stand up under heavy use. Especially given that, like the striker, they are bearing on steel. And finally, the guide rod. It's hard to fault this as pretty much all current guns go this route. But I don't like it. I discussed this all with the company and was told that this complaint has been voiced by more than a few people. The company is working on a revised model of this gun, the 9C1B, which will have, amongst other things, all steel guides, and an all steel striker assembly. But this has to go through Commifornia's red tape and get certified before they can produce it. So no word as when the new model will actually be available.
All in all, I'm quite pleased with this little gun. I would give it a B+. Very good, but with room for improvement. If I can resolve my ejection issues, I'll upgrade it to an A-. But since those problems only occur with certain ammo types, I wouldn't hesitate to use this gun for self defense in its current state, if its loaded with the right ammo. While the plastic parts are a concern for me, I won't downgrade the score for this reason, as I have no proof that these parts will ever actually cause problems. It just bothers me. I'd have to use the gun a lot more than I have to be able to judge that fairly. And of course, I have to give the gun extra credit for the important messages it carries. Like I said, its makers are standing up and boldly thumbing their noses in the face of the anti-gun, anti-American establishment. And that I like.
