Steyr M9-A1 Overview

The Steyr M9-A1 is my latest purchase and may just have ended up becoming my favorite striker fired pistol to shoot. It is so easy to run, from the triangular sights to the trigger with the soft takeup and crisp break, this pistol lends itself to being very easy to shoot, even for those who tend to struggle with the fundamentals.

Steyr is one of the oldest firearm manufacturers in the world and has been doing it for a while, and it shows. Though it isn't family run like Beretta, and it hasn't been doing it as long, it still has an impressive history for quality and mass production of weapons and guns. The Steyr AUG is probably the only gun people think of when they are asked about the guns made by Steyr. I know that I was one of those people a while back. I figured that the company was kind of like Eugene Stoner and how it was a one hit gig company with their iconic bullpup. This was far from true, and in fact, Steyr is among the many top quality manufacturers you will find on the gun market.

The Steyr pistols have been around for a while, and they have been adopted my some military forces and police agencies where they have served reliably enough for over 15 years. The reasons why this pistol has eluded the American market for so long is a mystery to me. I feel like this pistol is for me, what the Glock is for others. This pistol is perfect, simple, basic, and so easy to run. And it does it all for the same price as the Glock, if not a little less. Now there is one issue, and that is the fact that until it gets more popular, the Steyr is not going to be too readily available on the market. Gotta create a huge demand for production to be encouraged to ramp up. Steyr has four different models to help cater to different demands, which I think is pretty cool, because this pistol and its design works with almost any situation.

The thing that marks this pistol as its own design is its sights. The front sight is huge. when staring down the sights, the front sight jumps out at you. My wife and a fellow writer/shooting buddy, don't have the best of eyesight, and they found the sights to make shooting easy since there is no guesswork on where on the front sight the round will impact. That is how you should think of the sighting system, instead of some quirky new system. The front sight points right where you are going to hit as long as you pull the trigger without disturbing your sight picture.

The chassis system that this pistol employs and utilizes, makes this pistol a step better. This makes it to where there is no need for tools in order to detail strip the frame of this pistol. When you remove the chassis, you see how simple the trigger system really is. I have never seen an angled sear and striker combo before, so this pistol is new to me in several ways. The chassis system really isn't as intimidating as I would have thought. It is very simple and doesn't have too many small parts. The walls of the chassis are thick, and sturdy, inspiring me to be very confident in a long service life.

Now a couple of the other things I wanna discuss are the grip and the slide serrations. Very basically, the slide and its serrations are very reminiscent of the CZ P-07/09 pistols. it is short, but not as aggressive. I have not had any issues with getting a good grip on the slide for a good power stroke, but if you intend to slingshot the slide, this may be a concern for you. Now as far as the grip is concerned, it is smooth with very little help in the way of texturing. Though there is a single finger groove to keep the middle finger high on the grip, under the trigger guard. I find the smooth grip to be a big reason why people tend to like these pistols. The grip being smooth, yet secure in the hand, is a surprising quality that can't be underestimated. the slight horizontal serrations on the front and back give just enough grip on the 111 degree grip to make it secure in a firm grip.

With these few specific subjects, I feel that this pistol is the perfect striker fired pistol for me at the moment. Other people may feel differently, and that is fine. But do yourself a favor and look at different guns with a clean slate and don't compare them to other guns you were comfortable with, but instead see how they perform with your skill level at the moment. If you do this, you may find that guns like the Steyr M9-A1 are best suited for you and people of all skill levels.