New Gun Review: Masterpiece Arms 930DMG

New Gun Review: Masterpiece Arms 930DMG, the Perfect Home Defense Gun?

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The author heavily customized his MPA Defender 930DMG 9mm pistol. With the side-folding Sig brace and other accessories installed, he has a compact, maneuverable, and accurate home defense gun.

The MasterPiece Arms MPA Defender 930DMG is an Ingram-style firearm with a machined alloy grip contoured to accept easy-to-find Glock magazines. Chambered for 9mm Luger, the 930DMG is sold in a handgun configuration and it can be reconfigured as a short-barreled rifle but it is still handy in pistol form.
I wasn’t familiar with MasterPiece Arms until I read David Higginbotham’s review of the MPA 30DMG. At the time, I was looking for a dedicated home defense gun and it struck a chord — compact, customizable, rugged, dependable and surprisingly accurate. While David reviewed the 5.5-inch barrel version, I picked up the 3.5-inch MPA 930DMG, proceeded to add the accessories I wanted and ended up with a dynamite home defense system.

the MPA 930DMG packs a lot of 9mm power into a compact package, and the shown angled foregrip on the handguard gives you enhanced control over the firearm.

The Gun

Selecting the right gun can be an exercise in compromise. For concealed carry, you sacrifice firepower and accuracy for compact size and light weight. For a hunting firearm, you sacrifice light weight and compact size for power and accuracy. The purpose determines the compromises you make to reach your final choice.
The MPA 930DMG is obviously not a good candidate for concealed carry or the best option for hunting. Fortunately, guns are affordable enough today that we don’t have to settle. The guns I’d been considering for dedicated home defense were in the $1,000 range before accessories, which is one of the reasons I was still on the lookout. My budget had to include optics and other extras, so when I learned after reading David’s article that the MSRP on the 930DMG was $679 I was ready to buy.
Considering this is going to be a home defense gun, the bigger size and weight of the MPA Defender aren’t negatives here. The larger frame allows me to accessorize it for ease of use, accuracy, and comfort. What does comfort have to do with it? If you’ve ever shot a short-barreled 9mm indoors in the dark, you’ll know what I mean. It’s loud. The muzzle flash also makes short work of your night vision. The 930DMG, even with a suppressor attached, is still quite compact. Moving around indoors where there are walls, doors, lamps, and other obstructions, a compact weapon can be an advantage.
The 930DMG is both rugged and accurate. It’s a simple blowback design with a substantial receiver to handle the recoiling mass of the bolt and heavy spring required to hold the bolt closed under pressure. The weight of the firearm helps with felt recoil and the blowback action means it has a fixed barrel that contributes to accuracy.
What sets this series apart from MPA’s earlier guns is the angled and contoured grip that accepts standard Glock 17 mags. The lower receiver is machined aluminum instead of stamped steel. This makes it lighter, more ergonomic and in my opinion better-looking. MasterPiece also includes adjustable front and rear iron sights in addition to the flattop Picatinny rail for optics. These guns are available with Cerakote finishes in several colors. This one is in go-with-any-wardrobe black, although I also like the Tungsten Gray. Very cool. So let’s get into the details of how I accessorized this pistol for my needs.

The un-accessorized MasterPiece Arms 930DMG.

These holes are for the installation of the handguard.

The large hole is for installation of a sling swivel. The three smaller holes are tapped to accept the screws for the optional folding buffer tube assembly.

Installation of the handguard is much easier with the help of a long ball-end hex wrench. The barrel extension mounts to the barrel to protect your hand from hot gasses.

There is plenty of rail space to attach accessories, including the grip panels, laser pointer and red dot sight with the extended forearm installed. However, be sure not to put any sort of vertical foregrip on there as it will make it an “AOW”.

A Lasermax laser adorns the 12 o’clock spot on the handguard. A Burris FastFire III is on the flattop rail. The two side rail covers are from Damage Industries.

Specs

• Caliber: 9mm Luger
• Barrel : 3.5 inches, 1/2-28 threads
• Sling mount: Quick-detach single-point unit
• Magazine: Glock pattern, one 17-round mag included
• Height: 6.25 inches
• Width: 2.75 inches including bolt handle
• Receiver width: 1.375 inches
• Length: 8.5 inches
• Weight: 47 ounces/2.9 pounds unloaded

Complete Build

• MPA 930DMG: MSRP $679 ($630 street)
• Handguard with angled foregrip and barrel extension: $80
• Damage Industries rail covers: $10
• MPA folding buffer tube assembly: $90
• SIG SB15 arm brace: $140
• LaserMax laser sight: $129
• Burris FastFire III red dot sight: $226
• Total Cost: $1,305

For an in-depth look at the MPA system check out our earlier review. Here I’d like to focus on how to accessorize the 930DMG into the ultimate home-defense gun, and I don’t mean pumps and a scarf to match. My plan is to attach a suppressor make the gun safer and easier to shoot indoors.
While I wait for the suppressor paperwork to clear, I have installed the MPA barrel extension and short handguard adapter. These parts are available directly from the MPA website and ship fast.
The handguard attaches directly to the drilled and tapped receiver. I’d recommend a long, ball-end hex wrench to install the rail as the screws are a little off to the side.
There are four rails on the handguard and I put all of them to work. The bottom rail bears a Strike Industries Angled Foregrip which is included with the handguard assembly. Angled foregrips are not specially regulated and may be installed on a pistol without any tax stamps.
The interior diameter of the handguard is 1.375 inches across, wide enough to accommodate many 9mm suppressors. If it won’t clear the can I’ll find some way to make it work.
For comfort, I installed Damage Industries short grip panels on the sides along with a Streamlight weapon light on the right side.
The top rail sports a LaserMax laser pointer and Burris FastFire III red dot optic on the receiver. Remember, the purpose is for home defense and when you’re indoors, lasers really shine (pun intended) and I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy.
Should the laser fail, or should I not want to announce my exact location with the laser, the FastFire gives me an excellent secondary way to get on target fast. Installing the laser on the left side rail is another option which would allow you to use the iron sights if not a red dot scope or other optic.
To accommodate the flattop rail, the upper uses a side-mounted charging handle. The charger is non-reciprocating so you don’t have to worry about the knob interfering with your grip or stance.
MasterPiece Arms sells a folding AR-style pistol buffer tube which can be mounted to the back of the receiver for use with a stabilizing brace — or in the case of an NFA-regulated short-barreled rifle, a rifle buffer tube and stock, but that’s even more paperwork. There’s also a hole in the back of the receiver for a single point sling mount, but I prefer the folding arm brace approach.

A selection of ammo used in testing. All fed without a problem except for the SIG Sauer load. SIG’s hollow point has an unusually wide opening in the tip and the gun didn’t like it.

This is a typical 5-shot group from 7 yards shooting offhand, just a hair over an inch.

A 17-round mag dump using only the laser sight. The group is to the left because I hadn’t sighted it in completely.

10 rounds from 7 yards firing without the SIG brace, with just the buffer tube held against my side.

A 3-shot group using only Burris FastFire III offhand from 7 yards. This was without using the buffer assembly or brace.

Canting the 930DMG inward lines up your eye with the FastFire III red dot. This is a stable position for one-handed shooting.

At the Range

I tested the pistol with several types of ammunition including Hornady 115-grain Critical Defense FTX, 124-grain XTP and 135-grain Critical Duty self-defense loads, SIG 124-grain jacked hollow point rounds, Magtech 124-grain lead round-nose rounds and PMC 115-grain full metal jacket ammo. This covers a broad spectrum of bullet shapes and styles to test ammo feeding reliability with a wide range of ammo types.
The three Hornady loads are all hollow points, though Critical Defense and Critical Duty loads use a plastic flex tip which fills the hollow point to aid feeding and expansion. The SIG ammo has an extra wide hollow point, which can hang up on some feed ramps and chamber cuts, while the full metal jacket and lead round nose of the PMC and Magtech ammo are smooth.
The 930DMG handled everything but the SIG ammo. The edge of the wide hollow point got hung up on the feed ramp and caused failures to feed after the first round, every round. That’s a shame because I like the consistency and accuracy of Sig’s Elite Performance loads However, it’s not unusual for a gun to prefer certain ammo. The fact that everything else performed well means you have good options for a dependable gun right out of the box.

Impressions

This is a very easy gun to shoot accurately, especially with the MPA accessories, laser, and red dot sight. Tom McHale, another of our editors, recently wrote the 5 Best Guns for Bad Shooters recognizing that we don’t all get the opportunity to practice as often as we should. The MPA 930DMG, outfitted as this project gun is, would certainly meet most of his criteria.
The SIG brace and ergonomic pistol grip make one-handed shooting as easy as putting the dot on target and pressing the trigger. The trigger has a short take-up then breaks cleanly at an average of just about 4.25 pounds. I found the steadiest one-handed position with the SIG brace was to hold the gun pressed against my body with my elbow bent 90 degrees, using just the laser sight to get on target.
If you’re reacting to an emergency where you don’t have time to strap into the Sig brace, or where you just have a bare buffer tube, the same position works well with the brace/buffer tube trapped between your elbow and side. Provided your weak side hand is free, gripping the angled brace with your thumb wrapped around the top of the handguard makes it even steadier.

You can see the safety just above and in front of the trigger. I have average size hands and didn’t have a problem operating it with my trigger finger. It just requires a little training.

With a tactical light mounted on the right rail, you can easily operate the light with the middle finger of your support hand while operating the laser with your thumb.

You can operate the bolt and trigger with the buffer tube assembly folded, but it takes a little effort.

The buffer tube folds to the left only. It has a solid lockup when open.