The MAC JSOC 1911: The Best Kept Secret In The 1911 World?

A lot of us recognize the name MAC and instantly time travel back to a different era – for me at least, the iconic photo of LTC Bob Brown on the cover of Soldier of Fortune with a suppressed MAC-10. As wild as those stories were, the story of the formation of Military Armament Corporation (MAC) and its founder, General Mitch WerBell III, is even wilder.  Like the true genius he was, he excelled in a large number of fields not limited to the military world but business and engineering as well, designing a number of highly effective suppressors one of which for his MAC-10 sub machine gun. But, as time would go on, the MAC name would fade into obscurity until today, being brought back as a subsidiary of SDS Imports out of Tennessee.

While the business of buying and selling corporate names is a fascinating one, more interesting is what’s currently being done with it. One example is the new JSOC 1911. Its my understanding that the design behind the JSOC is to take the match grade improvements made on the early 1911s ran by Delta as documented by Larry Vickers – a match grade barrel, hand fit components, checkered front and rear straps, ambidextrous safety, beveled mag well, adjustable LPA rear sight and Bomar brass dot front sight, into an affordable package. I picked one up after being fascinated by the concept and being very familiar with the 1911, I was anxious to give it a try.

First, the fit and finish is top notch. I was highly skeptical of the guns coming from Turkey and this one is no different. But I was willing to roll the dice and I’m quite surprised by the results. Out of the box the slide to frame fit is tight – not as tight as my old TRP Operator, but tight nonetheless. That’s a good thing in my mind, because while an incredibly tight fit is good for competitions, it doesn’t always make for the most reliable package. The break in process for my Operator back in 2009 was just over 1k rounds before it ran smooth and its still finicky on mags, unlike my GI Spec Rock Island that runs like a champ no matter what you feed it. The slide action was smooth and the barrel linkage certainly feels polished. Out of the box the trigger is excellent, breaking cleanly around 4lb with a very crisp reset. Everything feels well put together and there’s no rough MIM parts to cause any grittiness in the safety, slide release or mag release.

The questions most people have regarding the 1911 are always first, how accurate is it and second, how reliable does it run? In my mind 1911s are a lot like old Harleys, those that appreciate them love to talk about them and a lot of that talk centers around how to make them run the best. They may not be your daily driver but its a passion that only those who get it understand. I’m happy to say that in 400 rounds I experienced just one malfunction, a failure to lock the slide to the rear on an empty mag, from a Wilson Combat mag which has given me issues in the Springfield TRP Operator as well. The other Wilson Combat mags, Chip McCormicks, and the new mags from Never Unarmed ran flawlessly.

Accuracy is where it really counts, and that’s one of the big selling points behind 1911s and their continued popularity to this day. The LPA sights are a huge improvement over the old GI sights and even the Novaks which are generally the standard for irons these days. Irons have to be dialed in to the shooter for precision accuracy, and while I’ve ran these on my Operator for many, many years now, they still impress me with how accurate they can be with the applied fundamentals. Even in this era where most of us are EDCing weapons with red dot sights, I certainly don’t feel undergunned with these irons at all. The accuracy was there – backed up to 50m and that front brass bead was easy to pick up.

Overall I’m incredibly impressed with this package for $750. It might just be the best kept secret in the 1911 world currently. You’re getting a lot of bang for the buck and I have no concerns carrying this everyday. In fact, I think I will for a bit while enjoying a fine cigar. General WerBell would approve.