The polymer firearms market has become flooded over the past few years with hundreds of backyard Glock-smiths. Some of these polymer custom shops are producing great work, and others need to just pack up and close shop. One thing is for sure, though, there is a third-party custom polymer pistol shop for everyone’s budget. Specifically, MAC Defense Industries and its MAC19 come to mind.
MAC Defense Industries Provides the Finest with the MAC19
Unfortunately, very few small shops truly care about making great guns and focus on the tacti-cool side of things more than the functionality of the pistol they are creating. MAC Defense Industries of Woodstock, Georgia, is definitely not one of those tacti-cool cake decorating shops.
The MAC Mindset
MAC Defense is a small-town yet forward-thinking weapon manufacturing company. For this reason, the company focuses on building excellent combat-ready pistols for every budget and every shooter.
MAC Defense was formed with a specific mission in mind. The founder, Will McEliece, wanted to build a company that gave amazing value and unmatched customer service. In addition, he wanted to give customers total control of their builds.
MAC Defense Industries is a true one-stop custom shop that will take your existing gun and make it unique and better. Or it will build you a ground-up custom gun that is built 100% for you and your exact needs.
MAC Defense offers its customers many options to assist everyone in getting a truly custom firearm at an affordable price. Their “Now and Later” plan allows you to pay half of your order total at checkout and pay the balance of your order total upon completion of your build. They also offer the “Prime Series,” which is for the crowd that wants it yesterday.
They have custom hand-built blasters in stock and are ready to ship at an affordable price. If you contact MAC Defense, you get to speak directly with the person building your firearm.
I met Will at SHOT Show 2019, and after speaking with him for just a short time, I could see his passion for building custom guns that work for the end user and not just guns that look cool. This is what definitely set him and his company apart from much of the competition. I decided I needed to get my hands on my own custom MAC Defense Industries blaster and see what the hype was all about.
The Custom-Built Difference
I decided to order a custom MAC19—MAC Industries signature firearm. The MAC19 is a turn-key, performance-based pistol package. The design is for shooters who seek value but don’t want the hassle of dealing with various vendors and the headache of part compatibility issues.
This package allows MAC Defense to build in value, dollar for dollar, when compared to traditionally building a weapon system. Designed to function as a unit, MAC uses quality components from trusted manufacturers. They are then hand-fit to MAC Defense Industries’ extremely high standards. Form follows function, as every detail of the MAC19 has a tangible purpose allowing it to function as well as it looks.
The 100%-complete Polymer80 Gen 3 frame is expertly finished, tuned, and serialized before they apply the special sauce—full MAC Defense stippling, deeper gas pedals, a large beavertail, and a double undercut triggerguard. This all amounts to an impressive ergonomic improvement over factory frames.
You get to choose from four standard texture options. I chose to roll with the hybrid recessed borders—cut high in the front and low in the back. Pretty awesome and kind of like a mullet. My choice of the Swamp Donkey texture is the most aggressive and oddly named texture MAC offers. I also had MAC drop their Tactical Pontoon Elite Marksman trigger in the frame.
Optic and Suppressor Ready
The MAC19 Billet Slide comes standard with a Trijicon RMR Optic Cut, aluminum RMR cover plate, and titanium sealing plate. The Gen 3 slide is machined from 17-4 stainless steel with much tighter tolerances than factory slides. MAC Defense adds aggressive and very functional front and rear serrations, and they finish the slide off with Cerakote’s Elite Series Coating.
Each slide is hand-fit to the frame for a truly precision-built gun. I opted to have my AmeriGlo H-429 suppressor height sights mounted with the rear iron forward of the Trijicon RM06 Type 2 (3.25-MOA).
I also added a True Precision stainless threaded barrel, which looks incredible against the Elite Blackout Cerakote of the MAC19. It also functions great. Adding an advanced proprietary broach-cut design provides increased accuracy potential.
The MAC19 is Fight Ready
The MAC19 arrived, and I immediately needed to see if this pistol shot as well as it looked. I am not a huge fan of Glocks in general. Although I like their reliability, I don’t really like the grip and just have never shot them all that well. The MAC19 changed all that.
MAC does a great job making a Glock not so Glock-like while keeping the reliability Glocks are known for. One thing was for sure, it definitely felt a lot different than a stock Glock 19 in the hands. But does the MAC Defense Industries MAC19 shoot any differently? The answer is very simple, “yep.” The MAC19 is measurably more accurate than a stock G19.
Generally speaking, I was hitting roughly 25 percent better than a stock GLOCK with the MAC19. The MAC19 ate everything it was fed, with only one malfunction out of 1,500 rounds of various ammunition. I believe the malfunction was due to the ammo, as it was a failure to eject. The HSM reloaded cartridge seemed to have expanded and jammed the gun up.
I fed the gun Hornady Critical Defense, Sig Sauer V-Crown Elite Performance, The Hunting Shack FMJ, Aguila FMJ, Barnes Tac-X PD Defense, and even some reloads from A-1 Premium Ammo.
A Much Better Feel Than a Stock Glock
The gun was very well-balanced and just felt so much better than a stock Glock. With tighter tolerances, a crisp trigger, and the addition of the Ameriglo sights, I was shooting very impressive 10-yard groups.
The best group at this distance was under 1 inch and was shot with the Barnes Tac-X PD Defense rounds. However, all of the various rounds I threw downrange with the MAC19 showed very similar results at all distances.
This gun is designed to be combat-ready, so I decided to see what this gun would do at 50 yards just for the hell of it. I was able to put 15 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense, Aguila 124-grain FMJ, and Barnes Tac-X PD on an 8-inch target at 50 yards. Fifty yards is 150 feet, in case you were wondering.
I find these results very impressive for a midsize pistol. Like I said before, the MAC19 is a battle-ready pistol that is built to take on any challenge and designed to win any fight.
Everyday Carry
Due to the impressive results at the range, I decided the MAC19 was definitely a pistol I would take into any fight and added it to my EDC arsenal.
Finding a holster for a Polymer 80 frame is not the easiest task, unfortunately. It took me a little while to find a good holster to carry the MAC19. I finally headed over to the Legacy Firearms website and picked up two different holsters: the Cronus for IWB carry and the Epsilon for OWB carry.
The Legacy Firearms holsters are incredibly well-built and feature hand-finished Kydex. Legacy only uses the best materials and hardware, and every holster is meticulously hand-finished, creating a Kydex holster that stands way above the competition. Carrying the MAC19 in both Legacy Firearms holsters is a breeze. The holsters grab the MAC19 and held it tight yet still give an easy draw in any situation.
Carrying the MAC19 really gives you a sense of security. I know that this gun will handle anything and everything I throw at it in any scenario I may find myself in. The very stylish and actually usable front and rear serrations on the slide, along with the unmatched strength of the Trijicon RMR, give the user a gun that can be racked off anything in every way possible and still function flawlessly.
The Swamp Donkey stippling grips the hand very well without tearing apart your palm, and the MAC Defense Trigger is very smooth with an incredible reset.
The MAC19 Can Fit Any Budget
Overall, the MAC19 is a well-built pistol that can be customized to meet any budget. MAC Defense Industries is not just another custom Glock shop. They take extreme pride in every single gun they touch. The personal pride taken in every MAC Defense product truly shows once the end user gets their hands on their gun.
Between their “Now and Later” payment program, the “Prime Series” guns, and their ability to affordably work on your personal gun, MAC Defense has found a way to be able to get their guns in anyone’s hands.
For more information, please visit MACDefenseIndustries.com.
This article originally appeared in the June/July Gun Annual 2022 issue of Tactical Life magazine. Get your copy today at OutdoorGroupStore.com.
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