Honor Defense Honor Guard
A Sub-Compact 9mm For Knowledgeable Shooters
Honor Defense
Honor Guard is a sleek sub-compact made for
concealed carry with several no-snag features.
The packaging of Honor Defense makes it obvious they’re a patriotic company.
I know we have plenty of fun here, but today, I’m going to get a tiny bit more serious and talk about a good gun.
Honor Defense is a patriotic gun manufacturer exemplifying the finest of American engineering and craftsmanship with a line of handguns designed by shooters, for shooters. Experienced gun aficionados and novices alike, will appreciate these features.
Human nature makes us seek comfortable and efficient ways to perform any task at hand. Undeniably, a single-stack, polymer-framed gun is easier to carry concealed than your full-sized pistol. A gun on your person is more valuable during a time of need, than your double-stacked dynamo sitting at home.
Ambidextrous slide locks and magazine releases are
standard features adding to the Honor Guards versatility.
Designed For Concealed Carry
Concealed carry with a sub-compact pistol is a natural, more comfortable way of being armed. Honor Defense knows this and it’s why today’s current trend is reverting back to single-stack pistol designs.
Honor Defense built a beauty of a single-stack shooter with the concealed carrier in mind. Let me explain the features Honor Defense utilizes to make the Honor Guard a top concealed carry sub-compact pistol.
A bright orange dot front sight makes for quick target acquisition.
En Garde With Honor Guard
Honor Defense opened its doors three years ago, but don’t let that fool you! They build their guns with features others only wish they had, but don’t. With input from a Federal firearms instructor, a Medal of Honor recipient and a female self-defense instructor, just to name a few, the Honor Guard was designed from the ground up. The Honor Guard is a single-stack, polymer framed, striker-fired 9mm pistol. Capacity is either 8+1 or 7+1, depending on which steel magazine is used.
White 2-dot tapered rear sights make sight picture
a breeze, along with smooth drawing.
Excellent Innards
Each Honor Guard starts with a stainless steel striker housing machined by Coonan Firearms. A stainless steel striker-block safety is used; making for a tough, corrosion resistant firing system that won’t fire unless the trigger is pulled.
A target match barrel is used, sporting a 15- degree convex crown, assuring top accuracy. Custom stippling on grip and above trigger guard promotes a positive, slip-free grip. The guide rod is also stainless steel.
Sights are steel and snag-free in design with a tapered rear to assure smooth drawing. Rear sight has a flat, leading front-edge, allowing one handed slide manipulation on belt or other object, while front sight is enhanced with large orange dot.
Two backstraps are included, ensuring a custom fit, full palm swell, or flat 1911 style. Full slide serrations continue from the sides, over the top, for quicker, more positive grip during racking or press-check.
The magazine release and slide-lock are both ambidextrous, having controls on both sides of the gun. The slide-locks are recessed, making them snag-free. Utilizing an overhand grab is necessary when manipulating the slide, as you should, during stressful shooting scenarios.
No tools are necessary to easily breakdown your
Honor Guard for cleaning and inspection.
Safe, Tool-Free Takedown
Takedown is achieved with the slide locked rearward and turning the takedown lever downward. Releasing the slide allows it to come off, without pulling the trigger. This safety feature is priceless, as I’ve witnessed several negligent misfires from people not checking chambers for a live round during pistol breakdown for cleaning. It happens!
A polished stainless steel chassis ensures smooth operation. The chassis is easily removed for cleaning, or swapping frames, of which you have 10 color choices, by simply twisting the takedown lever out of the frame and then pushing up on the trigger. The trigger itself is smooth in design and pull was a measured at 6.5 lbs.
The Honor Guard is accurate as Tank’s targets show. Shooting
was at 50 feet with three different types of ammunition.
Snag-Free Design
The Honor Guard is shaped and contoured for a total snag-free design. Even the muzzle end of the slide is tapered to accommodate easier holstering. It’s made for concealment, but is brought quickly into action with these features. Recessed slide-locks are kept to minimal dimensions, so they won’t snag while drawing. Every pistol is +P proofed and made of 100% USA parts. A veteran assembles every pistol. Lifetime warranty.
Honor Defense, Black Hills and handloads from
Tank were used in the testing.
Shooting The Honor Guard
This sub-compact is a shooter! I shot Honor Defense ammo, along with Black Hills 115-grain TAC-XP +P ammo, and lastly, some 124-grain copper plated handloads to round things out.
The Honor Defense load consists of a 100-grain copper bullet that has a center-drilled hollow-point and has an advertised velocity of 1,300 FPS. This load was the winner in the accuracy department. 1.5” groups at 50 feet were the norm. The Black Hills load was slightly bigger, going about 2-2.5″. Handloads consisting of mixed brass, 124-grain copper plated cast bullets seated over 4.5 grains of 231 ran about 3″.
Overall, the Honor Guard is very accurate and reliable. No malfunctions occurred shooting over 250 rounds.
The polished stainless-steel chassis is easily removed after
wiggling the takedown lever out and pushing up on the trigger.
Specs
The sub-compact Honor Guard is 6.2″ in length with a 3.2″ barrel with 1:10 rate of twist and weighs 22 ounces. Pistol height is 4.6″ and width is .96″.
Last Word
The Honor Guard is a well built, accurate pistol made in America, by American veterans, using American made parts! It’s comfortable to shoot and carry and is my new EDC gun, well at least one of them. MSRP is $499, but real market price is much less. For more info: www.honordefense.com
