Little Big Gun
I’ll be frank with you. I normally have practically zero interest in micro .380s. Am I impressed by the engineering expertise in getting a bullet this size into that small a package? You bet. Do I think the power-to-size ratio of these teeny, tiny guns is amazing? Without a doubt. Do I carry one? Nope. I prefer to upsize to a 9mm pistol and call it a day. And I’m always right about everything, right? Right?
My biggest problem with most of the tiny .380s out there is a side-effect of their biggest advantage — their small size means they don’t handle or shoot like bigger guns. As I was handed a 911, I noted how it just “felt” right. In fact, it struck me as being a little brother to one of Springfield’s full-size 1911 pistols.
It started to dawn on me I might actually be wrong about these little guns.
The advantages of the 911 are more than skin-deep. This pistol has a lot of features you would expect to find on a big gun. The sights on the 911 are really nice, made up of a tritium dot front sight with a thick greenish ring around it, matching a rear sight with two thin white-ringed tritium dots. The rear sight also has the very fashionable “cocking ledge.” What you get is a high visibility front sight as well as a fully night-capable three-dot sight system. Very big-gunnish.
How about the bane of all tiny carry guns — unusable micro-sized (or non-existent) controls? Not here. The 911 comes with a frame-mounted ambidextrous safety along with a true slide stop lever. Yep, this one locks open on an empty flush-fitting 6-round mag — or the also-included Mag X-Tension 7 rounder. Just behind the locking block of the barrel’s a tactile loaded chamber indicator, and the grips are really nice textured G10 panels with matching texturing on the front and backstraps of the aluminum frame.
So you’ll get a grasp of how small this pistol truly is, it has a short 2.7″ barrel and an overall length of 5.5″, weighing in at 12.6 oz. empty. It has a compact height of 3.9″ with the flush-fitting mag — while the extended one only adds about 1/2″ more.
Breaking My Rule
I was so enamored by the little 911 I was willing to break my own taboo and try it out as a carry gun. Although the all-black model was certainly a looker, I couldn’t pass up the two-tone model with the natural stainless steel finish. I was delighted to find it came with a nice zippered case with a detachable pocket holster inside. Very nice touch. Apart from buying ammo, this gun’s ready to go right out of the box.
I took it to the range with some Black Hills, Federal and SIG SAUER defensive .380 ammo to run it through the wringer. The pistol ran like a champ with all the hollowpoint ammo, and I was getting good offhand groups at seven yards in the 1″ to 2″ range. Even rapid-fire groups stayed inside a group the size of my fist.
Now was the time to really step outside my comfort zone — I was going to carry the 911. I used the included pocket holster and carried the gun for a week in front pocket carry mode. I’m not there yet on carrying a cocked-and-locked pistol in a pocket, so I had it with an empty chamber and off-safety. The compact little 911 disappeared in my pocket and was light enough to be comfortable all day. I did some practice draws and was able to clear it from the holster and my pocket consistently.
After having tried out the 911, I can say with all honesty if I need a deep-cover carry gun I can hide away easily, this would be one of my first choices. And if you are already a .380 aficionado, I’m sure you’ll find the 911 practically irresistible. It made me reconsider my opinion of these little guns, so that has to be worth something, right?
