An affordable and reliable long-slide 1911 chambered in 10mm? Why, yes, please!

Girsan gives the people what they want with the MC 1911 S Hunter. The gun comes loaded with enhanced features and runs reliably on the range with brass- and aluminum-cased ammo.

Better yet, it comes at a pocket-friendly price with reliable eight-round Czech-Mate magazines, which are also reasonably priced if you want to stock up on mags. Here’s how it performed in my testing.

Quick Summary: Girsan’s MC 1911 S Hunter in 10mm is reliable, accurate, and very affordable for a long-slide 1911. While a bit heavy and large, I had no issues at the range and found the design easy to shoot well without bothersome recoil. 

Table of Contents

First Impressions
Features
Specifications
Reliability & Accuracy
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts

First Impressions

Imported into the U.S. from Turkey by EAA Corp., Girsan specializes in affordable clones of various classic firearm designs, ranging from the 1911 and Beretta 92/M9 to the Hi-Power.

Girsan covered the Hunter in a nice, earthy Barrett Brown Cerakote finish and stretched out the nose to make it a 9.75-inch long-slide variant.

I personally love the Barrett Brown finish and the deeply grooved, black grip panels complete with the Girsan medallion. Despite the gun’s size and chambering, it feels nice and authoritative in the hand. 
 

The slide ran smoothly right out of the box, and Girsan elongated the ambidextrous thumb safeties to make them easier to use. Other appreciated refinements include a fully adjustable rear sight, a grip safety with a raised memory bump, and an exaggerated beavertail. 

All in all, it’s a good-looking firearm that proved to have some shooting chops on the range. 
 

Features

Internally, the Girsan MC 1911 S Hunter has the guts of a classic short-recoil-operated 1911. The most notable difference is the elongated slide, which gives this long-slide 1911 an intimidating overall length of 9.75 inches and a weight of 2.68 pounds.

Girsan decked out this affordable firearm with enhanced features. There’s a long-hole hammer, an accessory rail with four slots of Picatinny, an exaggerated beavertail, and an elongated magazine release button. 

The blacked-out rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation, and the front sight has anti-glare cuts with a dovetail groove if you want to adjust it or swap it out for a high-visibility alternative. 
 

The skeletonized trigger breaks at 5.5 pounds on my gauge. It’s a nice trigger, as you would expect from a 1911 design, but it’s not refined. Still, I much prefer this trigger to most budget-friendly options on the market.

While not fully ambidextrous, the MC 1911 S Hunter does offer ambi manual thumb safeties that are elongated for ease of use. The grip safety also features a memory bump, which is definitely a preferred feature for me because it makes it much easier to operate the manual thumb safety without breaking your contact on the grip safety.

Additionally, Girsan did right by the end user and used Check-Mate magazines that are both affordable and reliable. 
 

I do wish this model came with more than one magazine, but at least additional magazines are reasonably priced from Check-Mate. I bought two additional ones to run with this gun to limit my reload times during testing, and they have had zero issues in the MC 1911 S Hunter.

Finally, this long-slide 1911 boasts angled front and rear slide serrations and deeply grooved grip panels. This gives the grip a very positive feel in the hand, and it enhances the gun’s attractive looks.
 

Specifications

Here’s a breakdown of the basic specs for the MC 1911 S Hunter.

Reliability & Accuracy

Girsan’s MC 1911 S Hunter is a large and heavy gun, but it doesn’t feel overburdened in the hand. I found it pointed well, and its weight helped soak up the recoil.

I spend most of my time shooting polymer-framed guns, which means I don’t shoot 1911 platforms very often. In fact, this is the first 1911-pattern pistol I have reviewed in about a year. 

Even so, shooting at 10 yards during my first range visit, I was easily able to get a nice group. 

Here’s how my first targets turned out.
 

Adjusting the sights on the fly is very easy and just requires a small flat-head screwdriver or spent shell casing. If I had to whine and complain about something, it would be that this gun lacks an easy optics solution, and I think the targets would shine even better with a pistol red dot. 

I also took a stab at some more precise shooting with my Birchwood Casey Battle at Sea targets. 

Reliability was similarly impressive. I’ve shot 400 rounds of a mix of aluminum-cased 200-grain Blazer, brass-cased 180-grain Blazer, and brass-cased 180-grain Sellier & Bellot through this gun over multiple range visits. 

I had no issues with any of the three types of ammo, and a big part of that is likely thanks to the quality Check-Mate mags. 
 

Pros & Cons

Here’s my short list of the pros and cons for the Girsan MC 1911 S Hunter.

Final Thoughts

I’m not a 1911 collector or fanboy by any means, but I found myself really drawn to the looks and feel of the Girsan MC 1911 S Hunter. The earthy colors, long-slide profile, and overall feel of the pistol are all wins in my book.

The fact that it comes at a very reasonable price point for a 10mm 1911 is a bonus, as is the fact that the gun runs reliably and shoots well. Frankly, this one will hopefully stay in my collection now that testing is done, so I can enjoy it on some future adventures.