Live Free Armory Apollo 11. The Eagle Has Landed!

[Tokarev]

Or more like the pigeon has flown the coop...

I picked the Apollo up about an hour ago from my local dealer. It has been down there a couple days but I didn't have time to pick it up until today.

Let's start with the good:

The pistol's overall fit is decent. Frame to slide fit is actually pretty snug. The bull barrel fits tightly at the muzzle end of the slide. There's just a bit of play in the barrel at the ejection port.

The ambi safety snaps on and off nicely. No extra downward travel when the safety is off and good spring tension.

The silver/gray finish looks good. I think it says Cerakote on the website? It looks like matte stainless steel.

The gun comes in a pretty nice black zippered bag. One mag and then the usual trigger lock nonsense, etc is included.

The rear sight is square notch and nicely serrated. The front is a high vis dot. I think it is a Night Fision product.

The slide stop does not appear to be MIM. Nor does the hammer. I haven't had the gun apart other than taking the slide off.

Okay. Now the bad:

The grip module is weird. It is 3D printed from what others have said. It has a weird almost ashy appearance and has left a slight black residue on my hands. It doesn't fit the frame all that great. There's a visible gap between the frame and grip around the frame tang below the thumb safety.

The trigger is pretty crunchy. I haven't put a pull gauge on it. I'd guess it is four or five pounds so isn't terrible in that regard but it has plenty of crunch and a bunch of overtravel.

The rear sight is not centered in the dovetail. It is off to the left. Evidence of sight-in at the factory or just not centered during assembly?

There are some machine marks visible inside the dust cover. Nothing horrible.

Only one mag? Really? They can't throw two Checkmate mags in?

The ugly:

The hammer drops to half cock with the safety on when the trigger is pulled. It is too late now to call LFA and see about getting a shipping label for warranty work. I'll call them tomorrow morning.


Overall look:



Note the rear sight:



The weird texture of the grip:



Gap at the frame and module:

[Trooper224]

My LGS became a dealer a while back and they showed me their initial sample. I was distinctly not impressed.

[bofe954]

Looks like a Fusion thumb safety-

https://fusionfirearms.com/1911-ambi...cking-sear-pin

Looks like a red dirt trigger. I'd be interested to know if it has the pretravel screw in the trigger bow.

The hammer is too generic looking and I can't place the slide stop, but it looks nice. Might be decent small parts.

Prodigy grips are only like $50 right? I wonder if the mag release and trigger would be compatible...

[Tokarev]

Looks like a Fusion thumb safety-

https://fusionfirearms.com/1911-ambi...cking-sear-pin

Looks like a red dirt trigger. I'd be interested to know if it has the pretravel screw in the trigger bow.

The hammer is too generic looking and I can't place the slide stop, but it looks nice. Might be decent small parts.

Prodigy grips are only like $50 right? I wonder if the mag release and trigger would be compatible...

LFA has been moving away from some (or all?) of the MIM parts from what little I've seen posted by others. I'm not going to pull the gun all the way apart yet since it needs warranty work. But the small parts that I can see look alright. The ejector is machined.

I'm pretty sure a Prodigy grip module would fit. Or an MJD. I'll look at options after I've gotten the gun back and have had a chance to shoot it.

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[Tokarev]

My LGS became a dealer a while back and they showed me their initial sample. I was distinctly not impressed.

For $860 it would probably be hard to find fault if the hammer didn't drop.

Even though I haven't shot this yet I'd already say it is a better value than the Girsan which falls right at the same price. For another $50‐$100 a person can get a MAC which seems to be a better gun all around. And then for $50‐$100 less a person can get a Tisas. But the Apollo is American made for whatever difference that might make.

Anyone can launch a turd. My mind won't be made up until I have dealt with LFA's customer service people.



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[RevolverRob]

Any hammer follow when dropping the slide? Where is this thing made?

[Bernomad]

Anyone can launch a turd…



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That is excellent!

[Tokarev]

Any hammer follow when dropping the slide? Where is this thing made?

No. But the recoil spring isn't heavy enough to drive the slide home with much authority. I am going to say it is nine pounds.

Made in Melbourne, FL.

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[Tokarev]

I called LFA this morning and then sent a follow-up email per the customer service rep's instructions. Standing by now for a response and shipping label.

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[seand1111]

Hello, new here and joined because of this thread.

I can confirm most of what you say.

OOTB the trigger was very heavy, but like you say, easily remedied. I do believe it was a red dirt trigger. And to the other poster, yes, it has the pre-travel screw in place, on the right side in mine.

Grip module is trash at best. Its just pure junk. I thought I might like it at first, but after holding it for a few hundred rounds, it because very pliable in my hands. It has no metal inserts in the grip for the screws and instead comes with a couple of washers.

My sear pin hole and sear pin (also used as the guide for the ambi thumb safety) was not properly inserted and it was all mangled up. The hole was not counter sunk, so it looked like someone beat the pin into the hole to get the thumb safety to interact with it. Not being new to 1911's in general, this was an easy fix and I counter sunk the hole and replaced all parts with a left side only TS. Not really a fan of ambi anyhow and was planning to replace it.

Interior components are great. Fire control parts are great. Nothing MIM in it.

Now, back to the grip module. Like I said, it was trash. So, yes, you can put a SA Prodigy grip on it. I just fit one to mine yesterday. You can also run a Staccato Gen1 and Gen 2 grip on it (don't have pics of the gen2 i used to have on it). The prodigy grip took a bit of fitting, but not as much as the Staccato gen2 grip. The stock mag catch will transfer over to the Prodigy grip with no fitting required. Though, it does not have the contour that the factory SA P has. I might try to find a factory one later.

Grip to frame fit is very nice, but it should be since its a bit of a custom fit. There are a few frame contours that I still need to blend the grip with, but I will do that when i get the GS in and blend it.

The stock LFA grip safety does not really fit the Prodigy grip well. In fact, it really didn't fit the Staccato grip well either. There is a ton of slop side to side on (I dont recall if there was this much slip in the factory LFA grip or not). I also had to remove about a millimeter from the bottom of the GS to properly fit it to the SA P grip. I probably removed about a 1/2mm when I was fitting it to the Staccato grip. I ordered a new oversized EGW GS this morning and will custom fit one and re-cerakote the frame and GS afterwards.

Shooting it. It not as accurate as my SA P 4.25", but I think I can get it there. It shoots "OK" OOTB and it has a very light spring from the factory. I do believe it might have been a 9lb. I was getting failures to return to battery using very weak range ammo. I initially test all my pistols with weak ammo first. I initially went with an 11lb spring and was still getting some failures. So, settled on a 13lb spring and it now runs like a champ using the cheap ammo.

Some pics



Frame and Prodigy grip module fit.


Factory LFA mag catch in Prodigy Grip