Finally got to take my new Arcus 9mm to the range. Had a very scary incident there that I will bring up on another thread. Bottom line on the review, the gun worked great and was very accurate for me. I'm very happy with the purchase.
Anyway, the Arcus Type 94 is a Browning Hi-power copy made by Bulgaria. I took out the atrocious magazine disconnect safety this morning with simple hand tools following the instructions on the www.fnhipower.com FAQ. Definitely improved the trigger pull, no more grating creep, just a clean break a little heavier than my 1911s. Someone wanted to know about the frame. It is solid steel with a brushed silver look, maybe stainless? The slide is black, maybe parkerized. I know very little about finishes.
I just got 3 South African 17 rd mags from CDNN and took along one of the chopped 10 rd mags that came with the gun. My ammo was Blazer and Fiocchi. First off, getting more than about 14 rounds into those SA mags was beyond me. VERY stiff springs. The mags come with a loader, but I think it caused more problems than it solved. Definitely going to have to let them sit loaded. Otherwise the mags are very solid and well made. They fit perfectly, but do have a thick rubber base pad, so are not well suited to CCW.
I had several failure to feeds when the SA mags were loaded past 12 rounds. Since it resolved when the mags had 12-13 rounds and the low-cap round functioned perfectly, I believe the malfunctions were due to the superman springs rather than the gun or an inherent incompatibility with the mags. Should resolve with some spring break-in.
The gun shot flawlessly and was very accurate for me. I'm no bullseye shooter and if you tell me to shoot at a target 25 meters away I'm going to laugh at you and get a rifle. So I did my shooting at 8-10 meters. I was able to keep all the shots from a 10+ rd string within the 6 inch circles on my targets, when shooting from an isosocles (however you spell it) grip at about 1 rnd a second. Thats as good as I can do with my 1911s and the HS2000 I brought along today (I can do a review of that if anyone wants). It's not ransome rest data, but pretty damn accurate for me. THose tiny sights actually worked pretty well, but are very hard to see around, so for defensive work, I'd get taller sights.
Overall, I put about 100 rounds through the gun, with no malfunctions other than a few FTFs when I had the SA mags loaded to 14-15 rounds. The gun was eating ragged holes through the target at my extreme self defense range of 10 meters. Good trigger pull without the mag safety. I did not experience any hammer bite, but did get my right thumb eaten up by the take-down pin on the right side of the frame (I'm a lefty). This happens on my 1911s as well. Nothing some dremeling won't cure. Still need to get an ambi safety, new grips, and better sights, but for $220, I'm very very satisfied with the gun. My BHP itch may have been scratched after all! LAter.
Anyway, the Arcus Type 94 is a Browning Hi-power copy made by Bulgaria. I took out the atrocious magazine disconnect safety this morning with simple hand tools following the instructions on the www.fnhipower.com FAQ. Definitely improved the trigger pull, no more grating creep, just a clean break a little heavier than my 1911s. Someone wanted to know about the frame. It is solid steel with a brushed silver look, maybe stainless? The slide is black, maybe parkerized. I know very little about finishes.
I just got 3 South African 17 rd mags from CDNN and took along one of the chopped 10 rd mags that came with the gun. My ammo was Blazer and Fiocchi. First off, getting more than about 14 rounds into those SA mags was beyond me. VERY stiff springs. The mags come with a loader, but I think it caused more problems than it solved. Definitely going to have to let them sit loaded. Otherwise the mags are very solid and well made. They fit perfectly, but do have a thick rubber base pad, so are not well suited to CCW.
I had several failure to feeds when the SA mags were loaded past 12 rounds. Since it resolved when the mags had 12-13 rounds and the low-cap round functioned perfectly, I believe the malfunctions were due to the superman springs rather than the gun or an inherent incompatibility with the mags. Should resolve with some spring break-in.
The gun shot flawlessly and was very accurate for me. I'm no bullseye shooter and if you tell me to shoot at a target 25 meters away I'm going to laugh at you and get a rifle. So I did my shooting at 8-10 meters. I was able to keep all the shots from a 10+ rd string within the 6 inch circles on my targets, when shooting from an isosocles (however you spell it) grip at about 1 rnd a second. Thats as good as I can do with my 1911s and the HS2000 I brought along today (I can do a review of that if anyone wants). It's not ransome rest data, but pretty damn accurate for me. THose tiny sights actually worked pretty well, but are very hard to see around, so for defensive work, I'd get taller sights.
Overall, I put about 100 rounds through the gun, with no malfunctions other than a few FTFs when I had the SA mags loaded to 14-15 rounds. The gun was eating ragged holes through the target at my extreme self defense range of 10 meters. Good trigger pull without the mag safety. I did not experience any hammer bite, but did get my right thumb eaten up by the take-down pin on the right side of the frame (I'm a lefty). This happens on my 1911s as well. Nothing some dremeling won't cure. Still need to get an ambi safety, new grips, and better sights, but for $220, I'm very very satisfied with the gun. My BHP itch may have been scratched after all! LAter.