With all of the frustration and disappointment I had with the Staccato HD P4, I decided to sell it and use the funds to purchase a couple of budget 2011 style handguns. The ones that appealed to me the most, other than the Springfield Prodigy, were the Alpha Foxtrot Romulus 3.5" Comp and the MAC 9 DS 4.25" Comp.
I like the overall aesthetics of these two guns, but from previous experience with working on customer guns I knew that they would need some trigger tuning and their grip modules would need some major work to make them look and feel good. I wanted to retain the use of all the factory parts to refine these guns just to see what could be accomplished with sticking to a tight budget. I also removed the included magwells on both guns so that they are more carry friendly. Since they are both budget guns, I outfitted them both with the newest optics and lights from Olight that have gained popularity recently. The OSight C is very similar to the Holosun 508T, but it has a slightly larger window. The Olight PL Turbo has really good light output and fits into my existing weapon light indexing holsters that are specific for the Streamlight TLR-1 HPX. These budget optics and lights may not have the same long-term reliability and durability as the more well-known brands that I would normally go with, but you can't beat the performance that you get for their price.
AF Romulus Pros
I went with the polished DLC version of the Romulus because... why not. I was impressed with the Romulus' overall fit and finish as well as how the thread-on compensator block is captured. The compensator is just loosely threaded onto the barrel, which is actually 4" rather than 3.5", and does not require thread locker or set screws because it uses an extended recoil spring reverse plug to keep the comp centered. The gun also came with a decent trigger pull weight right out of the box even with MIM components, but it had just a little bit of disconnector hang-up, which I was able to easily eliminate with some sear spring tuning. The included optics mounting plates (RMR and RMSC) fit so well that they have to be gently tapped into place on the slide. The front sight post is a Glock style front sight, so changing that out is very easy if desired.
AF Romulus Cons
The thing that I don't like about the Romulus, other than the grip module, is the cocking serrations on the slide. They aren't aesthetically pleasing to me, and they are very shallow and do not work well for racking the slide especially with the slick polished DLC coating. It also came with some extra wide controls, which I don't really like with my high grip, so I just thinned them down and refinished them as I've had to do with most of my other 2011 style guns. I also had to fit the thumb safety to the sear a little better as it was dragging slightly. The grip module is an obvious clone of the Springfield Prodigy grip module with some subtle styling changes, but it's made out of a cheaper polymer than the Prodigy grip module and the factory texture is not very good at all. I was able to do my RFV Tactical texture work on the grip to dramatically improve its appearance and feel.
MAC 9 DS Pros
The MAC 9 DS comes with a black nitride finish, which is an excellent finish for the gun's price point. The extended controls are just the right size for me and nicely dehorned. The coolest feature of the MAC 9 DS other than the barrel's compensator port is the front cocking serrations on the slide that have window cuts within the serrations. This is a very aesthetically pleasing feature that is also very usable for racking the slide. It also includes an RMR optic mounting plate that uses the same AOS optics mounting system as the Prodigy.
MAC 9 DS Cons
Compared to other 2011 style guns, the MAC 9 DS feels "clunky". It has a completely different sound and feel to it when you rack the slide back and forth, like it's made out of a cheaper metal. As with the Prodigy, the AOS optic plate fits a bit loose onto the slide and uses very small mounting screws, so I mounted it using my epoxy method that I use for the Prodigy. The grip module is an obvious clone of the Staccato Gen 2 grip module using cheaper polymer with a less-than-ideal texture design, and it even uses a Gen 2 style mag release button. The mag release button was extremely stiff, so I had to cut a coil and a half off of the spring to make it feel normal. Instead of texturing the factory grip module, I opted to buy, texture, and install a Tisas grip module, which is virtually identical to the MAC grip module but without the large and deeply indented logo on each side. The trigger out of the box was not that good despite having non-MIM components and it had a really bad disconnector hang-up. It was also very hard to rack the slide with the hammer down, so I did my typical trigger tuning and installed a 19-pound mainspring to lighten things up.
With my trigger tuning and grip texture work, these two guns look and perform really well. Their comps reduce muzzle flip nicely, and they are both running reliably with my reloaded ammo and off the shelf factory ammo. I'm definitely happy with them both, but it is obvious to me that they are both lower quality guns when compared to my more expensive 2011 style guns, and I still rank the Springfield Prodigy as the best "budget" 2011 style gun.
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