THE MACBROZ BLOG

Full-size pistols just don’t excite me the way they used to. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. They still have advantages, and there are situations where a bigger gun absolutely makes sense. But when I’m spending my own money? Give me a really good compact. Because the handgun market has changed, and modern compact pistols have gotten so capable that I keep coming back to the same question: What am I really gaining by going full-size? Compact Used to Mean Compromise There was a

There’s a problem with 2011s. And no, I’m not talking about the price. I’m talking about what happens after you spend enough time shooting one. Because eventually, you pick up another pistol—and suddenly you start noticing everything. The trigger feels heavier. The grip feels different. The recoil impulse feels harsher. The controls don't feel quite as natural. The gun might still be great. But now you're comparing it to something you weren't comparing it to before. That's th

I love a good-looking gun. I’m probably the last person who should ever tell somebody that aesthetics don’t matter. I’ve had guns Cerakoted. I’ve changed triggers. I’ve swapped grips. I’ve added magwells, optics, extended controls, porting, and plenty of other things that absolutely make a gun look cooler. So this isn’t me telling you to leave every gun stock. It’s me saying something a little different: Stop building your gun for Instagram and start building it for what you

I've owned a lot of Glock 19s over the years. Gen 3s. Later generations. Different configurations. Different builds. At one point, the Glock 19 was one of those guns that seemed to constantly rotate through my collection. Today? I own one. And interestingly enough, it's a Gen 3 Glock 19 that's been completely customized. That probably tells you everything you need to know about my relationship with Glock. I never stopped respecting the Glock 19. It's one of the most proven, s

One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed in the 2A space over the last several years is that gun ownership has become a lot more intentional. For a lot of us, it’s no longer just about buying a firearm, putting a red dot on it, and calling it done. We’re building a system. That system might include the gun, optic, holster, magazines, belt, weapon light, range gear, replacement parts, training equipment, tools, and eventually the upgrades that make the firearm work better for t

For a long time, buying firearm optics followed a pretty simple rule: spend more money and you’ll probably get a better optic. There was some truth to that. Premium brands earned their reputations by producing optics that survived hard use, maintained zero, offered dependable electronics, and were backed by companies with proven track records. If you wanted something you could trust, especially for duty or defensive use, paying premium prices made sense. But the optics market

Yep. I zero my red dots in my garage. Well…sort of. Before somebody immediately heads to the comments to tell me that’s not how you zero an optic, let me explain. I swap optics around pretty regularly. Sometimes I’m testing something new. Sometimes an optic works perfectly fine, but I don’t like how it looks or feels on a particular gun. And sometimes I just decide I want to change something because, well, apparently leaving my guns alone isn’t something I’m very good at. Rec

For a long time, I was hesitant to get involved in competition shooting. From the outside, I had all the usual objections. The targets are static. You can look at the stage beforehand. You already know where the targets are. You get to plan your movement. None of that is realistic. None of that is how a defensive encounter would actually happen. At least, that is what I told myself. Then I finally started competing, and I realized I had been looking at it from the wrong persp