For more information visit SwarovskiOptik.com.

Israeli Weapons Industries (IWI) recently released its new full-sized striker-fired handgun: the 9mm Masada. Named for a mountain fortress overlooking the Dead Sea, it is IWI’s first foray into striker-fired pistol — but you’ll recognize the feel of an IWI gun right away, and it won’t require a mortgage to purchase.

The glass-infused polymer grip fills the hand and comes with three different backstrap sizes to customize the feel of the textured grip. The Trigger guard is undercut and a little oversized for gloves.

An intriguing feature is that all the controls are ambidextrous. There are slide catches on both sides, and even the magazine release button is ambidextrous. No, the mag release isn’t swappable to the other side: it works from both sides all the time out of the box. Plus, it has front and rear slide serrations.

The trigger seems crisper than most and is listed at about 6 pounds. The trigger mechanism is actually the serialized part of this gun. That means it can be removed and placed in a different grip frame or with a different slide without an FFL. The trigger also houses the gun’s only safety mechanism.

It has 3-dot sights and the sights are steel. It is optics-ready and ships with four plates for the most popular optics: RMR, Delta Point, Vortex, and SIG’s ROMEO. There’s also a Pic rail under the barrel for accessories.

The barrel is 4.1″ long. This is intended as a duty-sized weapon. The barrel is cold-hammer forged with polygonal rifling with a 1:10 twist. It is also fairly low-mounted to reduce barrel rise between shots.

IWI’s new striker-fired polymer-gripped Masada has been shipping since last summer and the great news is that it is relatively inexpensive. Full MSRP is just $480, and it’s much lower than that on the street.

For more information visit SwarovskiOptik.com.

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