Review: Tisas Yukon C10 10mm
A commander-length 1911 10mm with bobtail? Yes, please!
So imagine my delight when I found out Tisas was doing a commander-sized, bobtail 1911 in 10mm -- God's own caliber. I've been a 10mm fan through the drought of 10mm love in the '90s after the FBI agents couldn't shoot it, so they moved to .40S&W. I had an original Gen 1 Glock 20, but the grip angle on Glocks is (for me) awful. I've had the Tanfoglio -- a pistol that was much maligned until people actually shot it, and which now you can't touch for a reasonable price. I have a Kimber Camp Guard (which I carry on trips into the woods, etc.) and a Chiappa Rhino DS40 that went to Aria Ballistics to bore the cylinder deeper for 10mm. So a carry-sized 10mm? Yes, please.
I had bought a Tisas Service 1911A1 a year or so before so that I could qualify for my CCW and found the pistol’s quality superb. I'd seen the 9mm version of the Yukon in the local gun store, and it equally well-done. (It’s turly amazing how good Turkish made pistols are…and how execrable their shotguns are.) So when I found the Yukon online for a reasonable price and bought it.
The Yukon C10 did not disappoint. It's a Series 70 1911, and the fit and finish are on par with most mainstream manufacturers. The lockup on the fully supported barrel is solid. There are no MIM parts, save the safety levers. Oh, yes -- ambi safety standard. Thank you, Tisas; you've outdone most 1911 manufacturers, already. It's got a gray Cerakote over a forgerd carbon steel frame and black forged carbon steel slide. The grips are G10 "sunburst" texture in gray. The slide stop and safety levers are black and complement the gray frame. The trigger and hammer are skeletonized and there's a good beavertail and memory pad on the grip safety. 25lpi texturing front and back on the grip, and an Ed Brown style bobtail. I will admit, I prefer the rounded bobtail of the Camp Guard over the Ed Brown style.
It comes with an good quality hard case, cleaning rod and brush, bushing wrench (that you don't need -- it's a standard spring cap set up), and two magazines -- again, beating most of the other manufacturers there.
So how's it shoot? Wonderfully. It's accurate and presents as a 1911 should: spot on target. The U-notch rear and fiber optic front sight work well and allow fast acquisition. The recoil...is stout. Compared side by side with my Camp Guard -- a standard Government model size -- the Camp Guard soaked up the hottest rounds (155 grain, 1650fps) and was mostly comfortable to shoot and quick to do follow up shots. The Yukon has more muzzle flip than most 10s do, and the recoil while not uncontrollable, does take some wrestling to keep it on target for follow up shots and was slower to do so. Still, Mozambique drills allowed two in the 9 ring and a center head out to 10 yards with reliability. I did note, however, the safety on the right side of the frame was cutting up my thumb prettily after 50 rounds.
We ran 250 rounds of various loads -- 135 grain frangibles that were more the short & weak style, 180 grain Blazer, and some of the 155 grain Texas feral pig killer ammo I have. No malfunctions other than a few failures to go fully into battery that were definitely the operator getting tired (and bleeding all over the size of the pistol from his thumb). Wear on the locking rings and the slide rails was about what you would expect for a trip out like this. There was some.
Accuracy was top-notch, function was nearly flawless -- and the flaws I can confirm were me after a few more trips out without incident. The fit, finish, and quality of manufacturer are as good as anything Colt, Springfield, or Kimber are putting out. At $720 before tax and shipping, is it worth it? Unequivocally, yes.