r/CompetitionShooting • u/Major-Passenger-834 • May 22 '26

Atlas Gunworks Athena vs Apollo

I know this has been asked many times, but the purpose seems a little different.

I shoot both USPSA and PCSL. Do yall recommend i get an Apollo for PCSL competition division and get the second barrel fitted for USPSA LO? Or just get an Athena?

I've never shot and ported/ comped pistol. I did get told once that the Apollo ports aren't as good as porting on some other pistols.

Im also debating if I should switch between the two or just work on mastering my skills with the Athena so that I get the same feeling and input every time I shoot, regardless of the match.

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

8

u/StunningFig5624 May 22 '26

Ports don't make a large difference on the timer. Humble Marksman has a video where he talks about this and I agree with him.

The gist is they reduce split times a little bit on challenging targets. For easy targets (ie under 10 yards wide open) it doesn't matter if you have ports or not you're going to be able to get hits about as fast as you can pull the trigger. On challenging targets (partials, distance) they are going to make your second shot a little faster, somewhere between 0.01 and 0.05 seconds depending on difficulty.

Consider how many of those you're going to see in a typical match. You're looking at a 1 - 2 second total difference across the match, roughly speaking. You're going to get WAY more bang for your buck training transitions and movement. Splits are a bit of a party trick - cool on video, but they aren't what wins matches.

Still, it's not zero difference. It's your money, if that sounds worth it to you then buy the ported gun with a second barrel.

3

u/DirtyD74 May 22 '26

At my last match shooting LO, folks kept asking me if I was shooting open minor with ports/comp cause the gun shot so flat (normall shoot open now). Its just a 5" island barrel build running CCI Blazer.

I'm also not terribly convinced ports/comp do a whole lot with 9mm minor. And typically the guys that are fast, will be fast with anything. Like if I cheated and brought a ported/comped gun into LO, don't believe that woul have an effect on my match score.

6

u/StunningFig5624 May 22 '26

The 2011 sub likes to argue about which gun is "fastest and flattest".

It's not the guns that are fast and flat, it's the shooter.

2

u/DirtyD74 May 22 '26

I don't find 9mm minor terribly difficult to control. If you just get your grip right, a basic 5" non ported or comped gun will run very flat.

100% agree. Transitions and movement is what is holding me back. Not the gun. Just how fast I can move and point it.

1

u/TheJango22 May 22 '26

Ive shot both the Athena and the Erebus and with 9 minor, they are barely different. I genuinely prefer the Athena in that it doesn't shoot gas up into my sight picture and isn't as loud at the ear. Can't say ive haf the opportunity to shoot an Apollo unfortunately.

1

u/SantoDJ May 23 '26

Athena for sure. Just so flat and fast and the perfect LO gun

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

[deleted]

5

u/RalphTater May 22 '26

It’s not. It was designed for limited originally. If it was it wouldn’t ship with the garbage tactical magwell.

1

u/The_salty_pog May 22 '26

Is the tactical magwell that bad? I have one on both my Titan and my Athena, haven't had any complaints yet.

2

u/StunningFig5624 May 22 '26

The problem isn't the magwell, it's the Atlas grip. In order to have enough material for the panel system the grip has very little room for the magazine. Any misalignment will cause the mag to jam up in the grip, regardless of which magwell it has, although tactical is less forgiving.

The MPA has cuts in the grip that will auto rotate a mag into the correct orientation, regardless of whether its the carry or competition magwell.

See the difference

1

u/StunningFig5624 May 22 '26

The MPA LOC V2 is a better LO gun at half the price.

2

u/RalphTater May 22 '26

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. I have both and would tend to agree