The Girsan MC 28 pistol sold by Zenith is something that really intrigued me at SHOT 2017. I was one of the first ones to reach the Zenith booth at Range Day and had the privilege of trying out some of the new toys coming out. Finding out more about these Turkish-born delights made me want to learn and experience more. I did not do that well at range with this pistol due to wind and range with a few flinches that would make a new shooter look talented.

SITUATION

The MC28 is not a new offering from Turkey, but it seems that it is not a very popular one. Zenith is having a closeout sale on the MC28 SA and the SAC models. The SA model is basically mirroring the size of the full size M&P pistol with a few design differences. These pistols were not very big sellers for Zenith for whatever reason, even though the price point was in the low $300 range, which is drool worthy already. Now Zenith is cutting that by a third and selling them for $100 less. So now you have an M&P with upgrades and a good package for HALF the price.

Zenith has made it clear in their closeout sale that they are dropping this pistol due to lack of sales and are gonna focus instead on their MP5 clone line and their roller delayed blowback line, as well as the better sellers. They are also going to be cutting import of a few 1911 models and shotguns that I thought would be good sellers.

Zenith is being asked by certain dealers to sell out their whole stock of MC28 pistols to big companies as of late. This would be good for Zenith so they can get a quick profit, but bad for you since these companies would sell them at a higher price around what the M&P goes for. Why? Because they can. Not cool. So for me, I am going to get an MC28 SA while the prices are in the low $200 range.

DESIGN

The MC28 design is very similar to the M&P to the point that it can share parts like barrels, Apex trigger kits, sights, and most internals. The difference is in the right side only slide stop, the grip that is better textured for retention in slippery conditions, the magazines, and the whole kit that you are getting( three magazines and the pistol takes CZ75 mags, cleaning kit, speed loader, and a big red box with cool features and cutouts for each item.

Girsan designed the MC28, much like the TP9 series, to mirror the parent pistol, the M&P, in overall design and reliable function. But you can tell that the Turkish manufacturers like to take the license and then add on their own designs to improve on features that they felt needed help, and make it their own design in some ways. Also I found that the quality of machining and manufacturing even beat out the parent pistols as well. The funny thing is that foreign pistol designs tend to show more pride of manufacturing than most domestic pistols.

I appreciate this mindset of taking a proven design and just twisting some of the controls and cosmetics. It ends up helping answer the issues some people had with the parent pistols to begin with. With the price being almost half of the parent pistol with a few enhancements and great interchangeability, I feel that this is an underestimated design. Even with these pistols being cut from import, you can easily maintain them with M&P spare parts for as long as you wish. Also Zenith is on call to take care of you in the first 5 years and potentially longer should you have premature issues.

CONCLUSION

I for one intend to grab one of these pistols and will proceed to test and review it. Grab yours before they get bought out and sold for twice the price. The only way to get them to import these pistols again is to start demanding them again. So if you want one, get one, or start telling Zenith that you want one. The more demand, the more willing they are gonna be to invest.