A Seraphim review-- sort of.....
This is going to be short and perhaps more than a bit sloppy as reviews go. First I have to reveal that while I've been a Seraphim owner since late April, neither of my two pistols has fired a shot. I ordered and received my Archangel 45ACP first and shortly after got in touch with Joby and his army of highly-tuned business partners and got a 9mm Warfighter into the air and across the country to Ontario.
My first impressions of both pistols was that they are simply an excellent value and not to be confused with "cheap" as the fit and finish is excellent. I have a very critical eye when it comes to superstar pistols as I own several handguns in that category. My Night Hawk Custom and my SIG P-210 Legend can't be faulted from an aesthetics perspective; both my Tanfoglios are extremely competent gaming guns. Needless to say the financial investment in these guns is substantial.
That said, I have to look quite carefully to see any place on the Seraphims that is substandard or detrimental to solid performance. Of the two pistols, the Warfighter is a bit tighter but that doesn't say that the Archangel is sloppy in any way. Having admitted that my guns haven't fired a round, there is no expectation that performance won't be entirely in line with the quality of manufacturing on these guns. Even in the case of the magazine shipped with the Archangel, the quality is exactly the same as the mags that came with my $4k NHC. I have about 14 magazines made by Act-Mag and haven't had a single failure in four years of banging them on concrete floors and dipping them in the mud of two countries.
I bought the AA to serve as a "project" gun. At the time, I had just finished upgrading my second Tanfoglio with all the top quality parts that came with my first Tanfo which is one of the Xtreme line. I was so pleased with the results, that I had to try doing the same with a 1911. I started with very limited skills and very few of the specialist tools needed for a "trigger" job but whether it was bravery or foolishness I plunged bravely forward. My investment in tools was somewhere in the order of $125 which bought me a sear jig, some files and a selection of fine and superfine stones. The knowledge came from a few books, YouTube videos and some great help from Matt who I now hope is Executive Vice President of Technology and Engineering at Seraphim's world headquarters. Matt walked me through a couple of "noobie" stumbles with the gun and was a pleasure to talk with several times. Matt's attitude and communication skills scream passion for the toys we boys and girls love.
Initially I pretty much stuck with stock parts while working with the AA as I wanted to see how far some cleanup and polishing would take me. Using the jig and with a bit of help from Matt, I did a basic DIY trigger job and clean up on the gun and upgraded just the trigger itself which I have since had to reverse. The high-end trigger I bought from Wilson was a little undersized for the AA frame and it could deflect and bind with use.
With many pleasant hours involved in disassembling the gun and putting in back together many times, I got the trigger to a very respectable four pounds and could have gone lower. The advanced trigger allowed me to adjust both pre-travel and overtravel to very closely emulate the trigger on the NHC. Overall I was very pleased with the results and have since gone further.
My only real complaint and it was not just with the Seraphim was the monstrosity of the full length guide rod. About half the 1911 world if not more agree that they are a step backward in the care and feeding of the pistol and at the worst can be downright dangerous as slipping during the breakdown can launch the plug and spring with alarming force through flesh and bone and maybe a neighbor's wide screen TV. It had to go and I decided on staying with a FLGR but getting a more manageable version from EGW which included the latest and greatest flatwire spring and different plug with an extended nose designed to fit flush with a thick flange bushing. Since I was going to order from EGW anyway, I also ordered a custom bushing which on installation really tightened up the barrel lock. All the theory says that this should make for a more accurate pistol when I get around to shooting it.
When the Warfighter arrived, I replicated all my handiwork on it with the same very satisfying results. The trigger is now around 4.25 pounds, clean and crisp. The warfighter inherited the magwell from the AA as I had purchased a very nice EGW unit for it while ordering the other goodies. Now both pistols have magwells which is the way the world should evolve. Both guns also have sets of very nice VZ GatorBack grips with the new thumb cut which was the only change made to appearances.
Naturally with my obsessive mindset in full bloom, I couldn't stop with all that fun and frolic and just installed a Cylinder and Slide ignition set on the AA and both guns are close to perfect for my purposes. It must be obvious that the process has been a great deal of fun at a time when I needed a recreational break from real life which had been pretty demanding for months.
I really enjoy everything that goes with my gun enthusiast lifestyle and mindset. A big part of this pleasure comes from dealing with the fine people who live in our gunny world. Notably this included the great folks at Seraphim who have extended themselves more than once trying to satisfy the bundle of obsessive and compulsive characters that live in my head. I really appreciate what Seraphim have contributed to the Canadian gun owner community and beyond.
This is going to be short and perhaps more than a bit sloppy as reviews go. First I have to reveal that while I've been a Seraphim owner since late April, neither of my two pistols has fired a shot. I ordered and received my Archangel 45ACP first and shortly after got in touch with Joby and his army of highly-tuned business partners and got a 9mm Warfighter into the air and across the country to Ontario.
My first impressions of both pistols was that they are simply an excellent value and not to be confused with "cheap" as the fit and finish is excellent. I have a very critical eye when it comes to superstar pistols as I own several handguns in that category. My Night Hawk Custom and my SIG P-210 Legend can't be faulted from an aesthetics perspective; both my Tanfoglios are extremely competent gaming guns. Needless to say the financial investment in these guns is substantial.
That said, I have to look quite carefully to see any place on the Seraphims that is substandard or detrimental to solid performance. Of the two pistols, the Warfighter is a bit tighter but that doesn't say that the Archangel is sloppy in any way. Having admitted that my guns haven't fired a round, there is no expectation that performance won't be entirely in line with the quality of manufacturing on these guns. Even in the case of the magazine shipped with the Archangel, the quality is exactly the same as the mags that came with my $4k NHC. I have about 14 magazines made by Act-Mag and haven't had a single failure in four years of banging them on concrete floors and dipping them in the mud of two countries.
I bought the AA to serve as a "project" gun. At the time, I had just finished upgrading my second Tanfoglio with all the top quality parts that came with my first Tanfo which is one of the Xtreme line. I was so pleased with the results, that I had to try doing the same with a 1911. I started with very limited skills and very few of the specialist tools needed for a "trigger" job but whether it was bravery or foolishness I plunged bravely forward. My investment in tools was somewhere in the order of $125 which bought me a sear jig, some files and a selection of fine and superfine stones. The knowledge came from a few books, YouTube videos and some great help from Matt who I now hope is Executive Vice President of Technology and Engineering at Seraphim's world headquarters. Matt walked me through a couple of "noobie" stumbles with the gun and was a pleasure to talk with several times. Matt's attitude and communication skills scream passion for the toys we boys and girls love.
Initially I pretty much stuck with stock parts while working with the AA as I wanted to see how far some cleanup and polishing would take me. Using the jig and with a bit of help from Matt, I did a basic DIY trigger job and clean up on the gun and upgraded just the trigger itself which I have since had to reverse. The high-end trigger I bought from Wilson was a little undersized for the AA frame and it could deflect and bind with use.
With many pleasant hours involved in disassembling the gun and putting in back together many times, I got the trigger to a very respectable four pounds and could have gone lower. The advanced trigger allowed me to adjust both pre-travel and overtravel to very closely emulate the trigger on the NHC. Overall I was very pleased with the results and have since gone further.
My only real complaint and it was not just with the Seraphim was the monstrosity of the full length guide rod. About half the 1911 world if not more agree that they are a step backward in the care and feeding of the pistol and at the worst can be downright dangerous as slipping during the breakdown can launch the plug and spring with alarming force through flesh and bone and maybe a neighbor's wide screen TV. It had to go and I decided on staying with a FLGR but getting a more manageable version from EGW which included the latest and greatest flatwire spring and different plug with an extended nose designed to fit flush with a thick flange bushing. Since I was going to order from EGW anyway, I also ordered a custom bushing which on installation really tightened up the barrel lock. All the theory says that this should make for a more accurate pistol when I get around to shooting it.
When the Warfighter arrived, I replicated all my handiwork on it with the same very satisfying results. The trigger is now around 4.25 pounds, clean and crisp. The warfighter inherited the magwell from the AA as I had purchased a very nice EGW unit for it while ordering the other goodies. Now both pistols have magwells which is the way the world should evolve. Both guns also have sets of very nice VZ GatorBack grips with the new thumb cut which was the only change made to appearances.
Naturally with my obsessive mindset in full bloom, I couldn't stop with all that fun and frolic and just installed a Cylinder and Slide ignition set on the AA and both guns are close to perfect for my purposes. It must be obvious that the process has been a great deal of fun at a time when I needed a recreational break from real life which had been pretty demanding for months.
I really enjoy everything that goes with my gun enthusiast lifestyle and mindset. A big part of this pleasure comes from dealing with the fine people who live in our gunny world. Notably this included the great folks at Seraphim who have extended themselves more than once trying to satisfy the bundle of obsessive and compulsive characters that live in my head. I really appreciate what Seraphim have contributed to the Canadian gun owner community and beyond.
