First time having manual brakes, are mine bad?

Hah, beat me by a minute.

Only a minute!

I should clarify though, I still think the OP needs to troubleshoot his current system first because it sounds like something else is going on. For the long run I think the 15/16” master cylinder is the way to go, but even the factory master cylinder should allow for stopping the car without extraordinary effort. The OP should try to identify the issue before just throwing a ton of parts at it.