Particulars
The Masada is a striker-fired pistol sporting a trigger pull between 5 and 6.6 lbs., pleasantly crisp and fairly typical of the genre. The gun weighs 23.5 oz. empty, which is amazingly light. There is the expected blade safety built into the trigger face.
All the pistol’s controls are mirrored on both sides of the handgun, including the genuine bilateral push-button magazine release as well as the slide catch. The cold hammer-forged 1-in-10″ right-hand twist barrel is polygonally rifled and set low to help mitigate muzzle flip. A deep beavertail thoroughly precludes contact with the reciprocating slide, and the frame maximizes the grip elevation. The gun comes with three wraparound backstraps to suit any conceivable hand size.
The beating heart of the Masada is its removable modular fire control unit. This component is easily extracted for cleaning or service, though care must be taken to keep track of the little spring in the back. Ask me how I know this.
The trigger must be pulled for disassembly but this cannot be accomplished until the slide has been locked back. This may seem a small thing, but I am personally acquainted with five serious injuries having stemmed from striker-fired handguns going off unintentionally because of little stuff such as this. The Masada is stupid-proof in this regard.
The magazine offers 17+1 of 9mm chaos on-tap. The trigger guard is large to accommodate gloves and the rugged, combat-style no-snag sights come standard, with fixed 3-dot tritium versions available as options. A pleasantly pebbled grip texture keeps things tight when sweaty or otherwise in distraction.
The slide features deep positive cocking serrations both front and rear, while the generous external extractor serves as both a visual and tactile loaded chamber indicator. The fiberglass-reinforced frame includes the expected Picatinny MIL-STD 1913 accessory rail on the dust cover. If there’s anything else you could want in a modern defensive handgun I can’t think of it.