Merc M11 Custom Auto

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atek3

atek3

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did anyone see the review of the Merc M11 Custom Auto in the latest issue of GunPorn (I don't remember which mag it was.)


atek3
 
Saw it. Nice pics and an interesting design. I really like the idea of each part having a spring dedicated to it instead of relying on a split leafspring that works two or three parts.

Is it worth 3k+? Not in my opinion. I'm not saying that it isn't a great gun, and wholly reliable, but it isn't that attractive and isn't chambered for .45acp as I understood the article. If they bring the price down to under 1.5k, I'd consider adding one to the arsenal just for kicks.

Very interesting, but....
 
I can't see spending 3k+ on a gun that looks like the love child of an Accutek and a Hi-Point, no matter how many man-hours of loving hand labor went into building it. :uhoh:
 
I don't know. It depends how well it shoots. And of course, what my net income is. :) I think it looks cool.

This is a gun for people who drive fancy cars from Italy and have pools inside their houses.
 
links?

is there an online copy of the magazine that I can check out?

thanks,
sch40
 
This is a gun for people who drive fancy cars from Italy and have pools inside their houses.
Click to expand...

...and own seeing eye dogs. ;)

is there an online copy of the magazine that I can check out?
Click to expand...

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that if you can't spring $5.95 for a newsstand copy of AH, then this prob'ly ain't the pistol for you. ;)
 
Thanks Tamara :p

I guess what I really meant to ask was what magazine this was from (I'm online much more often than by a newsstand).

This article brought up a question I've had for a while, though: what's the point in using a gas system in a pistol? I've heard that some people clean their Desert Eagles every 50-100 rounds or else it malfs.
 
I'm making up new insulting adjectives just by looking at it. "It's chimp-tastic! Scrotaliscious! Combat Spam!"
 
Random ramblings..

Y'know, just found something out last night. My shooting pal had to finally give up on his gas gun conversion and demand a full refund from the outfit that made it. (Is this the same company as the gun on the AH cover? Reckon so..) Problem after problem. One small caveat though: His was made on a long slide Springfield Armory, rather than a standard 5" gun. Although, at SHOT last year, the Gas Gun folks showed proto guns in several calibers as well as barrel lengths. Of course, all display guns have to do is look good and not fall off the display board...
 
Gas can be good. The P7 series is uber-reliable with its gas system.


Of course, we won't talk about Rogaks...:uhoh:
 
Just a bit more, and I'll stop..

Since I've only been around one of these Gas Gun 1911s, I'll spill what little I know and go back to reading. My friend Oliver had a pretty detailed thread about his long-slide Springer .45 that had been converted to gas, over on The 1911 Forum. Try doing a search starting a year or so back if anybdy's interested in more particulars. Now, as the ever gracious and oh-so-with-it Tamara just mentioned above, these Mercs are being made by a different outfit than Ollie's gun. Same designer, though.....As far as Oliver's gun, it just always seemed to have a slide that was going too darn fast for the mags to keep up with. And yeah, lots of fixes were tried, both by the gas system maker, and a knowledgeable FLG or two later on. For my part, hope whoever's building these things now isn't still relying on the brass/bronze gizmo inside; boy did that look battered in a short time.
 
I learned two valuable lessons when I bought my Kahr P9:

1. Don't be the first one on the block to buy the next new thing.

2. The gun rags get the "100% reliable" guns - YOU WON'T!

By most accounts Kahr has finally worked out the bugs in their polymer guns, but it took them a while, and they had a lot of "Beta-Testers" like me as unpaid staff.

There's NO WAY IN HADES I would even CONSIDER buying one of these "Merc M11" boutique handguns, no matter WHAT the gun writer says. I simply don't feel like entering the crap shoot of testing some guy's overpriced prototypes, at my expense. (Besides, to my eyes, that thing was so ugly I felt it should be called the "JANET RENO")
 
Opinions over aesthetics aside, Craig has done something to address the concern that many gun folk (including quite a few THR members) have about new gun designs. Instead of giving us another rendition of a 1911, CZ, or Beretta clone, he has created a new design from a clean slate. How many threads have people suggesting that the field of handgun design is stagnated by the perpetuation of conventional Browning or Walther (Beretta, etc) inspired handguns, and lament the limited number of pistols that stray from these mechanisms. We compare at length the relative firing characteristics of Brand A vs Brand B based on bore axis, feed angle, grip angle, sights, and locking mechanism, etc. Threads often cite (and not just ones by the extremists, ala WR or Handy) the cheapening of modern production handguns, demonizing, often rightfully so, the use (depending on your particular adherance to old world construction) MIM, Plastic, and "drop-in/no fit" parts.

While some of the features like the grip safety or gas delay have been seen before, there is little new under the sun when it comes to handguns, and it is the combination and execution of these elements that is indeed innovative. Craig set out to deliver the lowest bore axis, straightest feed angle, (what he considers to be the) optimal grip angle, etc, using the best materials available, and manufacturing techniques that maximize strength rather than economy. No MIM parts, No plastic, No machining short cuts. All this seems admirable when one considers how easily Fred could get by just by churning out trick 1911s. Whether or not he accomplished any of these goals is up in the air as of now. Yet here we are bashing it for being ugly and expensive, before anyone in the mainstream has spent any trigger time with one.

Expensive? Sure. Prototypes are expensive, as are small production runs of just about anything. The price will most likely come down as the number produced increases. I can sympathize with those who have been burned buying products in the past that were less than 100% functional. Unfortunately, customers like you are a necessary evil. Someone had to buy the first refridgerators, Ford Model Ts, Glocks, etc. Pre-release testing cannot hope to uncover all the flaws inherent in a design, nor can every design be tested by the military or Govt agencies before it hits the streets. This is where the manufacturer must standby their design and make things right. Sometimes that includes giving back the cash and reengineering the whole design.

As for it being ugly, I find, for example, that Glocks are the most plain, boring, ugly gun this side of a Hi-Point. Yet they work, well, and that is a beautiful thing. I hope those who think that "Life is too short to live with an ugly ___" mindset find happiness with whatever design they find more appealing to the eye. I'm more of the "My life is too precious to live with an unreliable safe queen" type. I'm not pawning my 1911's, CZs, P7's or what have you to get one just yet, but I will reserve judgement of the value of the MERC until I get my grubby little mits on one. I do, however, wish that caliber list included .45 ACP :D
 
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