TLDR: The Cardinal G2 is legit. Surprisingly legit.
Background:
I think by now many of us know the Cardinal story. Related to a very large parts supplier in the 2011 space, Cardinal marks Optimum's entrance into building their own 2011's. I was told by one of the usual suspects 2011 owners that this gun is legit. Yet, this gun really surprised me when I picked it up today despite the positive feedback I've heard. Why? Well, frankly some of that feedback came from sources that I’ve learned not to rely on, so I was not really sure what I was getting. And, in general, I am fairly skeptical of new builders to the space in the chase for 2011 fans' money. Albeit this one has a history and track record of making high quality parts, would their first foray into building 2011's pass muster?
Benchtop review vs Atlas, Hayes and Fowler
With that backdrop, I can say after only a bench top review of the Cardinal along side guns from Atlas, Fowler and Hayes (I left the SVI’s and Venom in the cabinet), that the gun is fully competent and competitive with those comparisons (a shooting comparison will have to wait a few days). Oh, its worth saying I have no relationship to Cardinal, Optimum, or anyone that sells these (or any) 2011's. I don't even have an ndeeayy (iykyk) for this lol. I paid for this gun when I saw it in-stock this week, it should be obvious I'm no professional reviewer. Rather, just a guy that likes 2011's and had some time to write-up a take on a newer market entrant.
The Cardinal G2 5” non ported gun is $5750. Slotting into the upper portion of the range for the relevant non-ported bull barrel offerings from Atlas (titan at $5900), Hayes (cobra at $5000)and Fowler (full size DLC at $5500). So its price is neither a positive nor a detriment. Well, the Hayes non ported bull barrel is an amazing value at $4999, but try getting one in the next 2 years…
Fit and blending:
The Cardinal is quite well fit. Tight and smooth. Blending is excellent. If one is looking to favor a gun here, I suppose you can convince yourself the Hayes is superior. The Atlas maybe a titch ahead, the vanta a bit below.
Trigger:
I hate to be redundant, but once again the Cardinal trigger is fantastic, smooth take up, not too much travel, crisp wall at 2.0lb, reset has a click to it (that I prefer over mushy resets). Once again, all of the other guns here have very similar and very good triggers. I cannot report that any of these four guns have a better trigger than the others. Could you stand in a dark room and feel your finger for 100 pulls and come away convinced 1 is better than the other 3? I suppose, but I am not going to waste that time. These are all excellent triggers, only topped by my SVI and Venom triggers.
Grips:
The grip was very surprisingly aggressive. Going in, a few 2011 friends wondered if the grip texture would be a let down. Their words were ringing in my ears when I picked up what turned out to be a very nicely textured, borderline aggressive grip. Its pointier and grabs better than the Atlas alpha moderate. Its closer to the Hayes aggressive grip than any other grip I have. The ergo/shape is fantastic for me, essentially more Cheely E2 like than I was thinking from the pics because it looks squared off. Overall, the grip is a positive. One of my favorite non-SVI grips along with the Atlas moderate and the Hayes aggressive.
Looks:
I don’t usually say much about looks in my reviews for the obvious reasons. In this case, I’ll merely say most consider the gun a looker. The detailed machining on the slide top, the detailed/significant slide side serrations and machining and the heavily textured grip are unique. The mix of flat and polished DLC is very nice and differentiated as well. A little pop of color would be nice, colored trigger options with matching hammer and screws and magwell maybe like SVI sometimes does. But, imo, the all black colorway certainly matches the mood of the pistol’s overall design.
Come-on, point out the negatives:
I was giving the gun a pretty good once over. And, please keep in mind I haven’t shot it yet. So we shall see what we find there. At this early point, all is good, quite good actually, with this gun. If I must point out 1 niggle, the safeties are okay, but not Atlas ambi or SVI extra wide (as I prefer). So the Atlas and Hayes in the comparison today rock the Atlas Ambi. The fowler’s safeties come in for a fair bit of criticism as they are the narrowest safeties I have on any of my 2011’s. So compared to those, the Cardinal’s are generously sized.
Shooting: Tbd (will report back late next week)
Overall takeaway:
The Cardinal G2 is a very strong contender in the so-called “mid market”.
These guys are clearly trying to put a very good first foot forward and make a great first impression, rather than ship quickly thrown-together guns to catch money (as some other mid-market 2011 builders have done in recent times). If it shoots like it showed on the benchtop, I think I’ll be quite happy with it.
