The Next Step in My 2011 Journey: A Custom Stealth Arms Platypus

Another pistol is officialy on the way. This one is not a newly released firearm, but it is completely new to me: the Stealth Arms Platypus.

The Platypus has been on my radar for a while because it takes two things I already enjoy and combines them in a way that very few pistols do. It delivers the controls, trigger and familiar grip angle of a double-stack 1911-style platform while feeding from magazines originally designed for one of the most common pistols in the country.

Yes, my Platypus will run Glock 17-pattern magazines.

That combination is ultimately what made this pistol too interesting for me to ignore.

What Is the Stealth Arms Platypus?

The Platypus is Stealth Arms’ double-stack pistol built around the traditional 1911 platform. It maintains the familiar 1911 grip angle, single-action trigger and manual thumb safety, but its frame is specifically engineered to accept either Glock 17 or SIG P320 magazines.

The magazine system must be selected when the pistol is ordered, and the two versions are not interchangeable. Mine is being built around Glock magazines.

Calling it a traditional 2011 is not completely accurate from a technical standpoint. A traditional 2011 normally uses a separate grip module attached to the frame. The Platypus instead uses a one-piece aluminum frame and grip. For most shooters, however, it occupies a very similar space: a high-capacity, double-stack pistol with 1911-style controls and shooting characteristics.

The frame is machined from 7075-T6 aluminum, the slide is made from carbon steel, and the barrel is made from 416R stainless steel. The standard trigger is generally set around four pounds, although Stealth Arms offers lighter trigger configurations through its builder.

Mine will be the 4.25-inch Commander-size model.

That size was intentional.

I have learned repeatedly that compact and Commander-size pistols tend to fit my hands, concealed-carry needs and overall purpose better than full-size guns. I want something that can realistically be carried while still offering enough size, capacity and controllability to perform well during competition.

The commonly listed dimensions for the 4.25-inch version are approximately:

• 4.25-inch barrel

• 7.92-inch overall length

• 5.62-inch height

• 1.34-inch width

• Approximately 28.7 ounces unloaded

• 9mm

• Single-action operation

Exact weight and dimensions may vary somewhat depending on the selected slide, barrel, safety, magwell and other custom options.

Why Glock Magazines Matter

The Glock-magazine compatibility is one of the biggest reasons this pistol stands out.

Traditional double-stack 1911 and 2011 magazines can be expensive. They may also require tuning, maintenance or experimentation to determine which magazines a particular pistol prefers. That does not automatically make them unreliable, but it adds another variable—and another expense—to owning and competing with the platform.

Glock magazines are already widely available, comparatively affordable and offered in numerous capacities by both Glock and aftermarket manufacturers.

Stealth Arms says the 9mm Platypus has been tested with OEM Gen 3, Gen 4 and Gen 5 Glock magazines, along with magazines from manufacturers such as Magpul and KCI. Its current compatibility guide includes factory 17-round, 19-round, 24-round and 32-round options, along with competition-oriented choices such as the MBX 140mm 22-round magazine.

For me, that creates several advantages.

First, I can obtain a large group of magazines without spending what I would normally expect to spend building a competition-ready collection of 2011 magazines.

Second, Glock magazines are available nearly everywhere. If one gets damaged, lost or dropped into the dirt repeatedly during a match, replacing it should be relatively easy.

Third, it gives me an opportunity to evaluate how well an affordable and widely supported magazine ecosystem performs inside a pistol designed to deliver a more premium shooting experience.

I plan to order a variety of Glock magazines through Brownells and put them through extensive testing. I want to try factory magazines, extended capacities and different configurations to determine what runs best for concealed carry, USCCL and other competitions.

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One of the Most Customizable Pistols Available

The magazine compatibility may be the practical attraction, but the customization experience is what makes ordering a Platypus genuinely different.

Stealth Arms allows buyers to design the pistol through an interactive online builder. Instead of choosing between a few predetermined factory configurations, buyers can select the styles, shapes, colors and finishes of individual components while watching the pistol change onscreen in real time.

Depending on the current options available, buyers can configure areas such as:

• Barrel and slide length

• Slide cuts and serrations

• Dust-cover and rail configuration

• Grip texture

• Trigger style and pull-weight range

• Thumb-safety configuration

• Magazine funnel

• Iron-sight height

• Direct-milled optic footprint

• Threaded, standard or compensated barrel options

• Individual Cerakote colors and accents

• Custom serial-number options

The optic cuts are machined directly into the slide rather than relying on a universal adapter-plate system. Stealth Arms currently supports multiple popular footprints, with sight-height recommendations depending on the optic selected.

There are plenty of firearms marketed as customizable, but that often means choosing between black and tan or deciding whether the pistol comes with an optic cut.

The Platypus builder goes much further.

You can create something restrained and practical or build a pistol that looks completely unlike anything else at the range. That level of factory customization is rare, especially within this price category.

It also means this will not simply be another production pistol entering the lineup. It is being built specifically for me, my preferences and the way I plan to use it.

The Downside: That Wait Is No Joke

There is a tradeoff for ordering a pistol with this level of customization.

The wait can be brutal.

As of July 2026, Stealth Arms lists an estimated 10-to-12-week lead time for solid-colored custom pistols and approximately 17-to-19 weeks for backfilled designs, meaning components that use more than one color. In-stock pistols generally ship much faster, but ordering from the builder means waiting for your specific configuration to be machined, finished, assembled and tested.

Those estimates can change from week to week, and Stealth Arms directs buyers to the product page for the current lead time. Full payment is also required when the custom order is placed.

The lead time is crazy—but I also understand it.

This is not simply a warehouse employee pulling an existing black pistol from a shelf. The major components are machined in-house, the selected finishes have to be applied, and Stealth Arms says every gun receives performance and safety testing before shipment.

Waiting will not be fun, but receiving a pistol built around my exact selections should make the arrival much more rewarding.

Why the Platypus Has Become So Popular

The Platypus has developed a strong following because it addresses several common complaints surrounding the double-stack 1911 market.

It offers extensive customization, familiar 1911 controls, widely available magazines and a starting price below many semi-custom or premium 2011-style pistols. Stealth Arms currently lists the Platypus with a base price beginning around $1,400, although the final price rises as options are added.

Owner feedback has frequently praised its accuracy, fit, reliability, trigger and grip options. High-round-count discussions include shooters reporting thousands of rounds with relatively little maintenance, while others have reported successful use with different recoil springs and lower-power competition ammunition.

The feedback is not universally perfect—and it should not be.

Some shooters prefer the extra weight and long-term wear characteristics of a steel frame, especially for a dedicated high-round-count competition pistol. Others have questioned how the aluminum frame and Cerakote finish will look after extended use. There are also owners who simply prefer the modular grip construction and traditional magazine system of a true 2011.

Those are fair considerations, and they give me even more reason to test mine hard.

I do not want to judge the Platypus exclusively from online praise. I want to see how the fit, finish, frame, magazines and internal components hold up after real concealed carry, training and competition use.

I Finally Shot One at GunCon 2026

Until GunCon 2026, my interest in the Platypus was largely based on its specifications, reputation and unusual design.

Then I finally shot one.

The moment I picked it up, I understood why the pistol had generated so much attention. It felt natural in my hands, the grip geometry worked well for me, and the overall shooting experience immediately felt familiar.

More importantly, I had the opportunity to shoot the factory compensated model.

It felt great.

The compensator noticeably helped manage recoil and muzzle movement, making the gun easy to control and enjoyable to shoot quickly. Other shooters at GunCon came away with similarly positive impressions, with the Platypus being described as one of the smoother-shooting pistols available during Range Day.

That short experience was enough to move the Platypus from something I found interesting to something I genuinely wanted to add to the lineup.

Mine will not be ordered as the factory compensated version, though.

Of Course, It Is Getting Ported

Anyone who has followed my pistol projects already knows where this is going.

The plan is to have the 4.25-inch Platypus custom ported.

Porting has become a consistent part of how I set up pistols intended to balance concealed carry and competition use. Rather than extending the overall length with an attached compensator, a properly executed porting package can help reduce muzzle rise while preserving the compact footprint that attracted me to the 4.25-inch model in the first place.

The factory compensated Platypus gave me a preview of how well the basic platform responds to additional recoil management. Now I want to find out what the Commander-length version can do after receiving a custom porting treatment.

The goal is not to build a pistol that only looks good online.

I want to create a genuinely useful setup that can be carried, trained with and run hard during matches.

The Testing Plan

Once the Platypus arrives and the porting work is completed, it will receive plenty of opportunities to prove itself.

I plan to use it in USCCL, other local competitions and regular range sessions. I will test it with multiple Glock magazines, different magazine capacities and a range of ammunition.

Some of the questions I want to answer include:

• Will Glock magazines deliver the reliability advantage people expect?

• Which magazines and extensions work best with the gun and magwell?

• How does the 4.25-inch model handle after custom porting?

• Can it realistically serve as both a concealed-carry pistol and a competition gun?

• How does the aluminum frame hold up under a serious round count?

• Does it offer a meaningful advantage over my traditional 2011-style pistols?

• Where will it ultimately rank against my Staccato C2, Alpha Foxtrot Romulus and the other compact options in my lineup?

The Platypus is unique because it represents a different branch of my ongoing 2011 journey.

It provides the trigger and controls I have come to appreciate, the compact size I regularly prefer and the magazine support of a Glock. On paper, it checks nearly every box required to become one of the most practical pistols in my collection.

Now it has to prove it.

Stick around to see the complete build, the custom porting process, the first range sessions and how it performs in competition. We are going to find out how the Stealth Arms Platypus holds up, how reliably it runs with Glock magazines and whether this unusual combination can outperform some of the other pistols already fighting for a place in my carry and competition lineup.