TriStar Arms APOC PRO
- Graham Baates
- 14 hours ago
- 5 min read
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TriStar Arms is a brand more shotgunners than handgunners are familiar with. They're known for providing high-value firearms at reasonable prices. TriStar Arms is also respected as a company who is involved in the creation of the firearms they import; giving manufacturers feature lists and helping develop the gun rather than simply shopping for something to import as most importers do. While perhaps not-so-well known for handguns, TriStar Arms was once the importer of Canik and also took over importation of Metro Arms' fantastic 1911 pistols for a while after Eagle Arms closed down.
The APOC PRO is indeed another "Glock Clone", but like most out there is not a true clone. The APOC PRO offers more features, better ergonomics, and a lower price than the original patent holder. In my mind a true "clone" would be a one-for-one copy of Glock's now classic design. Glock did a great job of making their pistols ubiquitous, but was so slow to respond to consumer preferences and design advances that a massive aftermarket industry not only spawned, but these days most educated consumers know the "real" thing is a classic, but guns like the APOC PRO offer more for less.
Who's it for? With a threaded barrel and magazine well, compact core size, and the ability to accept most of the plethora of Glock-compatible parts, and market price below $400 the TriStar Arms APOC PRO could easily be a do-all gun. Run it as shipped and enjoy a little extra velocity and hand real estate, or swap in an unthreaded barrel and strip the magazine well for a compact carry gun. Keep it around as an affordable camp gun, or use it as the bones for your next Glock-pattern custom build.
Take a look at this latest addition to the Glock-pattern world in the tabletop video below. Rumble Link
Specifications
SLIDE MATERIAL: STEEL
FRAME MATERIAL: POLYMER
CAPACITY: 15
LENGTH: OVERALL 7.78”, SLIDE 6.85”
HEIGHT: 5.04”
WEIGHT: 22.58OZ W/ EMPTY MAG
WIDTH: OVERALL 1.35”, SLIDE 1”
TRIGGER WEIGHT: AVERAGE 4-5LBS
TRIGGER RESET DISTANCE: AVERAGE .125”
BARREL LENGTH: 4.55”
MSRP: $399
Prices around the web as of 11AUG26
Click links for current pricing and availability
With a basic understanding of the TriStar APOC PRO it was time to hit the range and see how the gun performs. To keep things fair, as always, the GBGuns Range Protocol was used so that this gun could be evenly compared against the over 500 handguns reviewed in this manner.
Cold Shots: Truly our first shots through the gun.
Full Magazine +1: Suprisingly some modern guns still struggle with this. It's a test of how much play is in the magazine as well as how the slide cycles with pressure. This is also when I do my best to learn the trigger.
Multi-Mag: For firearms using common magazines a variety of aftermarket magazines are tested for ease of insertion, function, and drop-free. With the TriStar APOC PRO magazines from AC Unity, BUL Armory, ETS, Glock, Mec-Gar, no-label Korean, and UltiMag were tested.
What's For Dinner™: A test to see what ammunition the gun will eat. Does the gun feed the round from slide lock, will it cycle and feed another round of the same type, does the slide lock to the rear on empty, and is there any notable point of impact change with different loads.
For this gun the following ammunition was used:
Priced and linked where found at the time this article was written
100gr Hornady Critical Defense Lite $23.46 / 25 at Target Sports USA
100gr S&B XRG SCHP $11.73 /25 at Target Sports USA Full Review HERE
115gr Wolf Steel Case $10.99 / 50 at Target Sports USA
115gr Nickel-plated Magtech Steel Case $10.57 / 50 at Target Sports USA
115gr EcoBullet $19.99 / 50 direct from EcoBullet Full review HERE
124gr Wolf Brass-plated Steel Case $11.27 / 50 at Target Sports USA
124gr Federal Syntech $16/55 / 50 at Target Sports USA
124gr HotBrass $25 / 50 direct from HotBrass Full Review HERE
147gr Federal Premium LE HST $27.59 / 50 at Target Sports USA
165gr Scorpion FMJ $18.39 / 50 at Target Sports USA
Range Ammunition was Fiocchi 115gr $282.99 / 1000 at Firearms Depot
Sights & Trigger Control: on a 6" spinner target at a distance of 12-ish yards. We got this from Titan Great Outdoors and use it to gauge how learnable the trigger is and usable the sights are for forced, timed, precise shots.
Practical Accuracy: Five shots from a distance of seven yards at a one inch target. This isn't so much about printing a tight group as it is a culmination of the shooting experience and time for to collect thoughts prior to making a conclusion.
After Shots: Final impressions and reflections from the range session.
You can watch the entire process for the TriStar APOC PRO in the Shooting Impressions video below. Rumble Link
Ammunition seen in Shooting Impressions video was made possible by our Patrons and supporters of our ammunition savings account through Ammo Squared.
On the Range I was mostly pleased with the TriStar APOC PRO. I too am a bit fatigued by the abundance of Glock-based guns out there, but the Glock became a classic for reasons, and these post-patent guns all seem to do something a little differently, and better, than Glock ever did in the decades they sat on the same design.
With the APOC PRO we get improved ergonommics, recoil mitigation, and stellar accuracy all while retaining the same user-friendly simplistic design. There were some hiccups on the range with the gun not going fully into battery a couple of times and I noted the lockup was extremely tight. The slide not fully closing could be resolved with break-in, hotter ammunition, a stiffer recoil spring, or possibly something as simple as more lubrication. We'll take the gun out to the range again when Anna's recovered and able to shoot, and I suspect the issues will be be gone. For the price point I consider the APOC PRO a very competitive option.
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