The Sphinx and the Mako
By MARJ LAW
How many of us remember a commercial where the slogan goes: “Hey Mikey! Try it! You’ll like it!”
That was a commercial for Life cereal many decades ago.
But how many of us like something so much that we want our friends to like it as well?
That’s how I feel about my Kimber R7 Mako. If someone comes to the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) range and they want to try out other handguns, I often offer the Mako as a great gun that is easy to shoot.
If anyone has an inclination to purchase another gun, they know it is best to try it out before they spend big money.
The Mako I found came with four magazines. Yes, four. And three of them have nice pinky extensions for those who have larger hands. With the gun’s low low price, I expected maybe two mags, but four was really a nice surprise. Mags for the Mako cost about $40 each, so in my opinion, this is a very good buy.
The Mako has a light trigger pull, is accurate, and this particular one came with a Crimson Trace red dot sight.
Personally, I find acquiring a good sight picture is much easier with a red dot than lining up 2 big white dots in the rear and 1 big white dot up front.
The grip has a light palm swell, unlike many grips which feel square and boxy. Very comfortable.
The Mako is quite sleek. Named after the Mako shark: “the fastest shark, clocked at nearly 50 miles per hour, it wields the strongest bite at 13,000 Newtons, and they’re big and smart, too. They can grow to about a ton, and they have the biggest brain-to-body ratio of all sharks,” says Jay Langston on The Truth About Guns.
The Mako is now my favorite handgun. It is striker-fired. Now, Joe has always liked Kimbers because they are 1911-styled and are hammer guns. We have a running discussion about striker versus hammer-fired guns. In the past, Joe has equated Kimber with hammer-fired. When he found out that my new gun was a Kimber, but is a striker-fired gun, well, he said: “No way.”
But yes, the Mako is Kimber’s very first striker-fired gun. I bet it handles so well because in departing from their usual hammer guns, Kimber knew they’d have to make it special.
It is. So now I’m big on “try it. You’ll like it,” when new friend Jim visits the WCSO range.
Joe and I watched as Jim fired and fired his own handgun. Wow! He made holes in the centers of all his targets.
It was impressive. We always notice other shooters. First, to see if they’re following safety rules, and second, because we’re just plain interested. And seeing this new shooter doing so well, then yes, we’re interested.
Inquiring minds want to know.
“What are you shooting?” I ask.
Jim is happy to show us his 9mm Sphinx. It’s a gun made in Switzerland. It’s larger than the Mako, but then, wouldn’t a Sphinx be large with a name like that?
The name Sphinx makes me thing of the Great Sphinx in Egypt. With the body of a lion and the head of a woman, sphinxes are symbolic of strength and wisdom.
Well, Jim is certainly shooting the heck out of it.
“I shoot my guns about 1,000 times before I clean them,” declares Jim.
I believe it. He sure shoots well repetitively. Jim, too, is happy to show his gun.
The 9mm Sphinx is bigger all around than the Mako. While the Mako has a 3.37 inch barrel, the Sphinx’s is 3.5 inches long. The Mako’s length is 6.2 inches while the Sphinx’s is 7.4 inches.
The Sphinx holds 15 rounds and weighs 28 ounces. My Kimber holds 10 rounds and weighs in at 19.9 ounces. The Sphinx is considered compact, and the Mako is more of a subcompact. The Sphinx is a hammer gun.
The Sphinx has a white dot front sight and an adjustable black rear sight.
“Would you like to shoot both handguns and see how they compare?” I ask.
Jim is interested.
He picks up my Kimber and shoots five rounds through it on one target and five rounds of the Sphinx on the other target.
He shoots my Kimber so well, I think I’ll wait until he’s back at his own stall before I’ll shoot it again. (Wouldn’t want to look bad.)
Jim had cocked the hammer of the Sphinx first, so he would be shooting in single action.
This way, he didn’t have a double action trigger pull on his first shot. According to Patrick Roberts on Ammoland, that double action trigger is pretty darn hard. “All of that said, my Sphinx SDP Compact is a fantastic shooter as long as you get past that abysmal double action.”
“How did you like the Mako’s trigger pull?” I ask him.
“Trigger pull and trigger travel on both guns is similarly easy,” he says thoughtfully.
“They both have a firm recoil and very nice grips. Actually, my wife finds the Sphinx’s slide too difficult,” he continues, “so she got herself a revolver. But I think she could handle the Kimber.”
The Sphinx’s slide is different in that it sits inside the frame’s rails instead of sliding on the outside of the rails like the Mako does. But it’s the heavy recoil spring that makes this larger and heavier slide harder to manipulate.
I ask Jim: “So, you like the Mako?”
“Yes. I’d especially like it for my wife. Since her major objection to my Sphinx is racking the slide, I think she’d like it!”
Later at home, I asked Joe if the slide is really that harsh. He brought out his CZ P-07 which is a similar handgun. I tried to pull back the slide. Didn’t work.
“Cock the hammer first,” suggested Joe.
I cocked the hammer, then tugged the slide. It was still too much for me. Better eat spinach and grow more muscle.
Jim tried the Mako and he liked it. It’s special and fun to share the qualities of a good handgun. It’s fun watching someone who’s a very good shooter, too.
Especially when it is 78’ out, the sun is shining, and there’s a light breeze at the WCSO range.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.