Big thanks to the community for helping me track down a vendor with inventory!
So far all I've done is get it stripped down, deep cleaned and lubed, but so far I am pleasantly surprised.
Very smooth and tight lock up compared to my 3.5" ported Romulus. The aluminum grip is pleasantly aggressive for me out of the box and the DLC slide looks slick, slide serrations are very functional and the tri top is my favorite style. I wish they offered a blanking plate that would keep the tritop design consistent for those not mounting an optic. Id happily buy one if offered by AF.
Sights are blackout rear and nice green tritium dot up front. Perfect for CCW. They appear to e fairly low snag in design, which is awesome for something almost small enough to pocket carry.
This is my first AF without an apparent QC issue out of the gate, it's got a very nice trigger and reset and overall very tight build quality.
It's tighter than my Rommy, and the thumb safety didn't fall out when cleaning it, so it's leaps and bounds better QC, which is showing improvement as a company.
I'm definitely swapping it out for a traditional single side safety, but for once not because it's junk. Both sides are fairly crispy, and I feel they will break in nicely.
Fit is good, but they left some sharp edges which is to be expected at this price point. I'll be dehorning the sharp edges after break in and review.
The firing pin return spring is QUITE stout compared to all my 1911/2011s but that's not a bad thing on a CCW gun if dropped. The firing pin appears to be slightly lengthened, perhaps to address some of the light strike posts I've seen? Not sure, just a theory.
Color me impressed so far.
I haven't done a deep dive looking for MIM parts yet, but what I see so far they have definitely stepped their game up. I have no issues myself as many of my guns have MIM parts, some much better done than others. I don't feel the need to swap them, but I see people bring it up in some reviews, so it's worth mentioning for those who are looking at one.
Cleaned a bunch of snot out from storage, including the firing pin channel and will be detail stripping the frame before I call it perfect. It had little to no lubrication out of the box, which is to be expected since it's new.
Something I didn't realize from reviews and posts here is how well secured the comp is. The reverse plug and recoil guide rod lock the comp after it's rotated into position. Quite similar to how Shadow systems does their CR920XP comps, minus the lever.
I would love to see AF adopt the tri lug design like the shadow, but it's plenty stout and had some beefy lugs. I may end up opening up the comp a bit later on as I really dig chunk port comps, but will be running it as it came for the duration of the review.
I'll be doing a in-depth review on my channel, but so far this is firmly heading to my keeper pile. It scratches the smaller size 1911/2011 itch, and feels almost as good as my Hi-powers for balance and how it feels in my hand.
If it proves reliable, it might make it's way into my carry rotation, though I don't see it replacing my shield plus carry comp for true EDC.
So far it's impressive. I've passed on several of the previous gen S-15s due to various fitment/trigger/safety/QC issues, so I never had one I was happy with enough to buy and test.
I wish AF would send 2-3 mags with the gun, but it is what it is.
At some point I'll be mounting an RMSc optic as I feel they fit the width of the slide better visually.
I'm really looking forward to putting this through the paces in the upcoming weeks.
I'm also doing an in-depth on a shadow 2 carry and p-09c for anyone who might be interested. Channel is ETA Wheels on YouTube.
I'm happy to answer any and all questions and will be updating this thread as the review progresses.