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Chambers Custom PHAT WMG-R 2019
- Surprise Break
- Jan 15
- 9 min read
Disclaimer:
I do not recommend a 2011 style pistol for everyone’s choice for every day carry. 2011’s are what I would consider an experts carry pistol. It is an expert’s pistol because one must always know the status of the safety. Carrying a pistol without manual safeties gives people one less thing to worry about as they are experiencing duress during the literal fight for their life. That is where simple striker fired polymer pistols that lack active safeties shine.
The carrying of 2011 pistols for duty or concealment should be the choice of a highly experienced professional who can subconsciously operate the manual safety without thinking about it. The pro to carrying a pistol with a safety is if you are disarmed, providing the safety is still on, you will not be immediately shot with your own gun unless they are familiar with your pistol. This will buy you time to continue your fight.
“You should not have a favorite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much as fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.”
-Musashi
As an instructor, I think that it is important that we remove ourselves out of our comfort zone to familiarize ourselves with the gear that students bring to class. Over the years, I noticed that double stack 1911’s are becoming more popular. After shooting a Staccato XC, I figured I would venture out and purchase a 2011 which is what they call double stack 1911 pistols.
Some research went into what 2011 to buy. After figuring out the XC from Staccato would cost me around $4k, I decided I would take a deep dive in my research and check out custom 2011 makers. Chambers Custom builds custom 1911 and 2019’s (what they call 2011’s) in their shop in Crete, NE. After learning that Steve Fisher of Sentinel Concepts had a few of Joe Chambers pistols, I reached out to him to see what he would recommend. Steve recommended I get the 2019 PHAT WMG-R. A couple weeks later, I ordered that exact model plus some extras.
What I ordered was an all-black 2019 PHAT WMG-R with a Holosun 509T, Modlite PL350 and six 20 round MBX magazines. I also told them to zero the Holosun at 25 yards after mounting it. The total came to $8,200. Just shy of ten months later, I received the pistol at my local gun store: MM Defense. This was easily, the tightest hand fit, one gunsmith-built pistol I have ever handled. The slide pulled to the rear smoother than any other pistol I have handled. I could not get the slide to rock back and forth against the frame at all. Even my Wilson Combat EDC-X9, another high-end pistol, has minimal play. The fit was also tight around the top of the barrel. It had no play when pressed down towards the frame. The pistol was heavy but evenly balanced.
The first time I shot it, was September 1, 2022 according to my first Facebook post regarding the pistol. Between then and at the time of this writing, (1/14/2026) it has had at least 3,000 rounds through it. That is a modest estimate, as I would say that number is probably closer to 3,500. My first shots can be seen on video if you look back through our Facebook and Instagram pages. The first shots yielded a very accurate pistol, making hits at 25 to 50 yards an easy proposition. The pistol is as accurate as the ammunition you shoot through it.
As this is a pistol, I had to seek out holsters for it. For concealment, I wanted an appendix carry holster and a behind the hip holster. For the appendix holster, I found that Tenicor made one that will fit my Chambers set up, the Velo Lux AIW. Of course, I also bought a AIWB single mag pouch. For the behind the hip holster, I got with my friend Brandon from SharkTac Holsters. He made me a Versatac IWB holster, along with an open top duty rig for my war/duty belt that utilizes Safariland’s QLS attachment. I also bought a single and double Versatac Mag Pouch from him. None of my choices have let me down.
Besides shooting the Chambers recreationally and carrying it occasionally, in 2023, I took Mad Ducks 1911 Part 2 training class. It did not disappoint. Since then, I shot it in practice and decided at the end of 2024, that I best dedicate a full year to it. Why not 2025? I took the Chambers when I attended YeagerFest at Tactical Response in January and Shooter/ Fighter Matrix 2(5) with Sonny Puzikas later in July. At both trainings I got a rash of shit for bringing a high end 2011. Both training schools recommend Glock’s or your favorite company’s version thereof. Excuse their inability to appreciate craftmanship. I also demoed drills for all pistol classes that I taught except for Defensive Revolver and a private lesson using my Chambers. It stayed reliable throughout.
When you order your pistol, Joe Chambers calls you to ask what is the purpose for your pistol. As I did not rule out this pistol being used for duty and concealed carry, Joe recommended the trigger pull to be around 4-1/2 pounds. I took his advice. The first time I pressed the trigger I would have guessed it be around three pounds. There is very little take up when pressing the trigger to the wall, approximately 1/16 of an inch. After the wall, the shot breaks after another approximately 1/16 of an inch. After the shot breaks, resetting the trigger is short, approximately 1/8 inch of an inch, making fast accurate follow up shots’ commonplace.
The sights on my pistol are blacked out iron sights. The rear sight notch is forward of the optic, which is how I prefer pistols with optics on them. Blacked out sights are less busy when trying to find the dot. During this, your eyes do not get distracted by the sights compared to night sights, which can be distracting.
The Holosun 509T features three modes and is mounted towards the rear most portion of the slide. I prefer the optic be mounted more rearward as it is the first thing the eye picks up while drawing the pistol. When the optic is forward of the rear sight, one naturally tries to line up the sights instead of focusing on the target and superimposing the dot on where they intend to shoot. I typically chose the circle and dot reticle but you can also toggle between dot only and circle only by holding the minus button down ten seconds until it changes modes.
The Modlite PL350 is a large blinding, weapon light. At 1350 lumens and 54,000 candelas, the light illuminates the whole downrange area allowing you to positively identify everything the light it is pointed and know what they are up to. It operates with a simple switch that allows you to turn the light to constant on with the press of your offhand thumb either up or down. Both directions yield the same results.
This pistol has two active safeties on it. Active safeties are those that require the shooter to manipulate something other than the trigger to enable the pistol to be fired or keep it from being fired. One of them is a grip safety which is easy to take off by simply gripping the pistol properly. The other is a thumb safety which positively clicks into position and stays there until moved by the shooting hand thumb. Up is safe. Down is fire. Both safeties operate as they should. When the operator fails to take the safety off under duress, the pistol does not fire. I made sure to reprove this lesson to myself a few times in Sonny’s class unintentionally.
The magazine release is in a position where my hand does not have to come out of a shooting grip to depress it. I have never accidentally bumped the magazine release during drawing, holstering, or firing the pistol. It is in the standard American style position on the left-hand side of the pistol just rearward of the trigger guard. It is actuated by the shooting hand thumb so long as you are right-handed.
The slide release is perfectly recessed into the side of the frame. It is big enough to use during administrative tasks such as locking the slide to the rear and small enough to prevent one from accidentally depressing it or pressing up on it during firing. I typically do not use slide releases when reloading a pistol. I come over the top of the pistol and grasp it with my support hand to pull it all the way to the rear and release when both hands are available. During one hand reloads, I tend to use the slide release as that is the best option providing the slide is already to the rear. For one handed stoppage clearance, I also use the slide release to lock the slide to the rear in the case of a failure to extract. Due to the size of my Chambers on any single hand occasion, I must adjust my grip to reach the slide release.
In the case of those speed demons who always hit the slide release during reloads, good luck. My large hands could not reach it with my shooting hand thumb. One must use their off-hand thumb or significantly change their grip to be able to reach it with their shooting hand thumb. If you are a lefty, this is difficult as the pistol does not have ambidextrous controls.
Let us talk capacity. With 20 round MBX magazines, the likelihood of a mid-fight reload is slimmer than most full size 9mm pistols. I still think carrying at least one spare magazine is a good idea. At first, the magazine springs were stiff making getting the 20th round a chore. As the magazine springs have weakened slightly, round 20 goes in a lot easier now.
Within the last 500 rounds, the slide does not lock to the rear on an empty magazine with Defiant 115 grain practice ammunition or Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P ammunition. This problem remained after cleaning all the magazines. This detail is not a make or break for me, but is for some as when the slide locks to the rear on the last round fired, it is a visual indicator that you need to reload. When you get a click and the slide is forward, most will perform a tap rack immediate action remedy thinking the problem was a stoppage. With this gun and an empty magazine, pulling the slide all the way to the rear still fails to lock the slide rearward. Due to this, when I get a click instead of a bang with the Chambers, I just reload the gun.
Joe Chambers was contacted due to this issue. At first, Joe ascertained what ammo I was shooting. After ruling that out, Joe directed me to clean the magazines. This did not correct the problem as noted above. Joe and I believe the issue is the magazine springs may need replaced, as otherwise, the gun runs fine with quality ammunition. It occurs with all six magazines I have. I will be reaching out to MBX to see what they say regarding the matter.
The other downside to the Chambers is its ammunition preferences. It prefers full power 115 or 124 grain ammunition. The gun is not reliable with 147 grain ammo. When I asked Joe about this, Joe confirmed that high quality ammunition in 115 or 124 grain is required to push the heavy slide all the way reward. Joe recommended S&B, Norma or Magtech ammo in either grain weight. In my experiences, the pistol worked fine with Magtech and Defiant 115 grain ammo. The pistol also proved reliable with Defiant 115 grain TCX and Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P defensive ammunition. I have yet to try Norma or S&B ammunition through mine.
Now for my closing thoughts: If you want a custom 2011 style pistol and you plan to feed it high quality ammo, then the Chambers PHAT WMG-R is a great choice. I bought it because I was tired of shooting plastic striker fired pistols all the time and wanted to see what all the hype was. This pistol is not over hyped and is worth every penny. Despite being heavy, I enjoy carrying it. Until someone coughs up $9K for it and all its accessories, I will gladly keep it. Like most of my guns, it is for sale to those who are willing to pay me what it is worth.
This pistol gets four out of five stars. It lacks five because it is ammunition sensitive and the noted magazine issue above. For a pistol and magazines of this price range, that is a huge let down.
For more information on the pistol, see these videos on YouTube that Brandon from Sharktac and I posted a while back.
Until next time, remember the fight is not over until the threat thinks it is over.
-Kyle
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