u/Momoshoots

I really like this gun. Getting used to the recoil impulse and balance but it’s a sweet shooter. It has a soft impulse.

I upgraded to the Infinity HD trigger, big difference. Race gun feel.

I was already planning on posting my Vanta 9K review this week… and then yesterday happened. That review’s still coming, but I wanted to address this first.

I spent some time reading through the back and forth on Ben’s Instagram, and trying to pin what happened with the Vanta on him just isn’t accurate.

Ben knows what he’s doing with a gun in his hands. If you regularly watch his content, you know he takes us through the entire lifecycle of every new gun he gets: the unboxing, the initial excitement (or lack thereof 😂), the good, the bad, and the ugly as he works his way through 10k rounds. He did it with the Kimber, the Waltz, his HD pistols. This is normal operating procedure for him.

Sometimes a gun just has an issue. The particular Vanta in his hands needed some help. One gun having a problem doesn’t mean every Vanta has the same problem, let alone every gun Fowler makes.

To Ben’s credit, he said exactly that. And to Fowler’s credit, they stepped up and offered to make it right by building both the original owner and Ben a new gun.

People attacking Ben for having a bad experience, and those using the situation as an indictment of Fowler as a whole, are making the same mistake.

These are mechanical things. At the prices we’re paying for 2011s, we expect them to just work, but sometimes something goes wrong, and it happens to every builder eventually, no matter how good they are.

What separates the good ones isn’t whether a problem ever happens. It’s what happens next.
Stand behind your product. Make it right when something goes wrong. Fowler did that here. Props to them.

For what it’s worth, I picked up a Vanta 9K myself recently and have genuinely fallen in love with it.

Mine has been excellent, But that’s my experience. Ben had a very different one.

So where does everyone land on all of this drama, what are your thoughts? Chime in…..

The 2011 world has gone a little port crazy.

Every new release has more holes than the last. Two ports, four ports, eight ports, V-ports, chunk ports, hybrid ports, pick your flavor.

I’m not against a well-executed ported gun. One company out there has produced, what I believe, is the better balanced ported guns. Guns that track flat without turning into a concussion grenade.

But I’ve shot the whole spectrum now, from zero ports to Swiss cheese, and I’m starting to think there’s a tradeoff nobody’s pricing in.

Take the Dark Forge Kovert Reaper. Everyone says it’s fast, flat, and unreal to shoot. They also say it’s like setting off a howitzer in your hand. If both are true, are the perks worth the trade offs?

Maybe more holes really is the answer. Or maybe porting’s turned into a trend people follow because everyone else is.

Where do you land on this? Would love to hear from you.

I finally got my hands on the 5” Venom Customs. I aged a few years between placing the order and actually getting it.

Big shoutout to u/KOVERTPROJECTS for the W, and to my man Kraven… I mean Brady the Hunter 😂

Here’s some slow-motion footage of it cycling and spitting fire. This thing is hella ported 🔥

I’ll save my thoughts for the full write-up. For now, enjoy the eye candy.

There was a time when 2011s felt… affordable.

Okay, maybe “affordable” isn’t the right word, but you know what I mean.

Over the last three years, prices across the entire 2011 market have climbed fast. Take Atlas for example. A gun that retailed for around $5,900 a few years ago is now $8,600. That’s about a 45% jump.

And Atlas isn’t the only one.

When companies in the middle of the market move their prices closer to builders that do a lot more hand fitting and custom work, those builders raise their prices too. Then the companies below them follow. Before long, the entire market has shifted upward.

At the end of the day, it’s the consumer who’s paying the bill.

Is it rising manufacturing and labor costs? Is demand simply that strong? Is it the influencer culture where people getting guns for free tell manufacturers they’re “not charging enough?” shafting the rest of us, Or is this just capitalism doing exactly what capitalism does?

I’m genuinely curious where everyone stands on this one.

Have 2011 prices gotten out of hand, or do you think today’s prices are justified?

If you haven’t watched it yet, AJ put out a really solid video on flipping in the 2011 community.

Full video here: https://youtu.be/00JXqvMW8dk?is=xVAwRAzLoo37wkhC

It wasn’t rage bait, it was a thoughtful discussion that looked at the issue from multiple angles, and the comments ended up being just as interesting as the video itself.

I think one thing most of us can agree on is this: if someone is intentionally leveraging relationships with builders to secure guns solely to flip them for profit, they should be blacklisted. From what I’ve seen, most high-end builders already take that pretty seriously and are proactive about it.

Outside of that, though… life happens.

People lose jobs. Bills come up. Priorities change. Sometimes someone simply decides they want something else. Not every gun that hits the secondary market is part of some grand flipping scheme.

Either way, I’m glad AJ addressed the topic. I’m happy to see the community discussing it. Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts. Where do you draw the line? Is all flipping bad? Are you a flipper 😂 Chime in…

Just listened to Adam from Atlas on the 2ANLA YouTube channel and a couple of comments really stood out to me. ( https://youtu.be/khyuyfvBw-0?si=UAeokUpq0a6SptP4 )

He mentioned that only about 10% of Atlas sales go to competition shooters, with the other 90% going to collectors and enthusiasts.

He also said he believes the 2011 market is entering its high-end watch phase, where many people are buying these guns as collectible pieces.

Do you think the modern 2011 has become more of a luxury collectible?

Interested to hear thoughts from competitors, collectors, and the range warriors alike.

Not every day you end up on the range with three unobtainium builds: Infinity Baby Bones, Calvin’s Cherry, and a Venom Quad Port.

Cherry and Venom couldn’t feel more different, but somehow land in the same place, taking different paths to get there.

The Venom is aggressive. It wants you to run it hard. It dares you to go fast.

Cherry is smooth, very light, and like the venom waiting on you to push faster.

In both cases the dot just floats around, never leaving the window.

Baby Bones… that thing feels like it’s from outer space. It’s the cherry with an additional comp.

Amazing guns.