The world of the Glock clone seems to be rapidly growing. Everyone has a Gen 3 clone these days, much to the chagrin of Everytown for Gun Safety and their quest to make machine guns possessed by criminals double-plus illegal.
TriStar, a company primarily known for importing Turkish shotguns, is now getting into the Turkish handgun game with the APOC.
I’ve been burned by Turkish shotguns in the past, but my experiences with a few Girsans have shown me that their handguns seem to be okay. My experience is limited, but I’ve expanded it a little bit by taking the APOC for a spin around the gun range a time or two.
The Gen 3 clone market is absolutely saturated by new guns coming out of the woodwork. The RXM has probably been most remarkable, but it’s far from the only one. The APOC is a Glock 19-sized gun, which seems to be the most common of the Glock clones.
This is a fairly plain pistol. It comes with a front rail for accessories, front and rear slide serrations, high-visibility sights, and two 15-round magazines. It’s sadly not optics-ready, but people shopping for a budget gun likely aren’t looking to spend another couple of hundred dollars on an optic.
Still, I feel like optics-ready is becoming one of those standard features, and I’m surprised it’s not present on this gun.
Another Glock Clone
A lot of these Glock clones use a 1911-like grip angle, which was first popularized by Polymer 80’s frames. This isn’t present with the APOC; it’s the standard Glock 19 grip angle. The grip is heavily textured with an aggressive, clingy texture that’s quite nice.
The sights are metal, which many of us will appreciate. I’ve had more polymer iron sights break than red dots. The rear sight is two big green orbs, and the front sight is a big red orb. They do catch the eye well, and are very large.
The APOC comes in four colors, including Black, FDE, Green, and Sniper Grey. Each comes with an optional magwell and two 15-round magazines.
The APOC In the Hand
The APOC clings to the Gen 3 Glock design in a few ways, like the grip angle and lack of ambidextrous controls, but makes a few departures. The grip texture, as mentioned, is much more aggressive and hand-clinging. The finger grooves are gone.
The magazine release is larger than the old Gen 3, substantially so. It’s massive, easy to reach, and makes groping magazines easier. The slide lock stays micro-sized and easy for me to pin down with a thumb’s forward grip.
The Gen 3 Glock 19 I own will often give me a light dose of slide bite, but that’s not present on the APOC. It’s a nice relief. The trigger guard has some slight changes that make it more comfortable to get higher on the grip, and it doesn’t give me that stretched hand feeling.
The APOC uses a trigger-dingus safety, but it doesn’t rub the tip of your finger when turning a lot of money into even more noise. The frame is also a hair longer than the Glock 19. On a standard Glock 19, my pinky touches the magazine base plate and often pins it in place when I hit the magazine release button. The slightly longer grip keeps that from happening with the APOC.
When stripping the gun down, I noticed the slide action is stiff, somewhat gritty, and putting the slide back on is a little tricky. I feel like I have to press too hard to get it to lock. A little lube on the rails helped, but I get worried about the force it takes to get the slide back on the gun.
At the Range With the APOC
Right off the bat, my gun was shooting high and right. I can accept that I’m not a perfect shooter, but this was six inches high and four inches right. The rear sight was drifted way too far to one side. I quickly adjusted the rear sight with a punch and percussive maintenance to center it.
I’m still hitting to the right, so I adjusted it a little more, pushing it past the center point. The front sight looked fine. I fired another group, and it hit where I wanted it. Then another, still fine, then a third, and I was high again. I checked the front sight, gave it a wiggle, and found that it was loose.
A trip home and the application of a Glock front sight tool fixed that issue. Finally, the APOC was consistently hitting where I wanted. The big sights make it easy to find the sights and start shooting. The contrast between the red and green sights is nice, and their size and bright nature make them easy to track.
At 15 yards, keeping rounds inside a B8 target didn’t prove difficult. At seven yards, I kept most of them inside a two-inch dot, but not all of them. As I stepped back to 25 yards, I found the large front sight obscured my gongs. I could hit a ten-inch gong more than I missed, but it was tough when you can’t see the target.
Running Recoil
The thick, blocky grip does help your hand absorb recoil and make the gun a bit softer shooting. It’s far from snappy and easy to control. The sights settle back down naturally at the same point of aim. Shooting rapid strings of fire isn’t difficult, and the gun’s easy to control.
At seven yards, I can fire six rounds as fast as possible and create a group that’s centered in an ISPC-sized A-zone in a group smaller than my palm, for defensive shooting that’s enough control to keep rocking and rolling.
The grip texture helps prevent sliding and movement, even when the hands get sweaty. I used to hate the Glock-style grip, but as I’ve become a better shooter, I’ve seen its benefits. The APOC keeps those benefits while making a few slight tweaks for ergonomic purposes.
Worth the Squeeze
APOC runs reliably, but works best with Glock OEM or Magpul magazines. The included magazines are fine, but they fell victim to the sand that makes up my range after a few reloads. After a few reloads, sand entered the magazine, and one of them needed some tap, rack, and bang love to get the follower to rise. After cleaning, the problem disappeared.
The APOC has an MSRP of $359 with a street price of around $285. That’s fairly low-priced, but can it compete on the modern market? I think the price needs to drop to around $250 to $225 to be a serious competitor.
The Ruger RXM is less than $100 more and is optics-ready, has more modularity, and is from an American company.
Specifications
- Barrel Length – 4 inches
- Weight – 1.63 pounds
- Caliber – 9mm
- Capacity – 15
- MSRP – $359
Accuracy – ***
It shoots straight, well, once I fixed the sights, it appeared to shoot straight. While I eventually got on target, the large sights make longer-range shooting difficult.
Ergonomics – ****
The small improvements over the classic Gen 3 design help the APOC stand out in a sea of Glock Gen 3 clones.
Reliability – ****
The gun’s reliable, but you’d be wise to invest in better magazines if you treat your guns on the rougher side. One magazine fell victim to the sand on my range, and the follower didn’t always raise high enough.
Where To Buy
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