The israel weapon
industries masada

The IWI Masada offers everything you could want in a modern polymer-framed combat pistol. Sporting state-of-the-art materials science along with a generous feature set leaving literally nothing on the table, the Masada is what other polymer pistols aspire to become. Considering the deep well of tactical experience from which this gun draws, it’s no surprise it’s this awesome.

History

Masada is taken from the Hebrew word metsada, meaning fortress. Built by Herod the Great atop a massive mesa overlooking the Dead Sea between 37 and 31 BC, Masada is frankly overwhelming up close. Sporting a 13-foot casemate wall, ample storehouses, an armory, a palace and cisterns sustained with rainwater, the fortress of Masada was deemed nigh impregnable.

After the Romans destroyed the Second Jewish Temple in AD 70 the Jewish Sicarii rebels fled to Masada with their families and provisions. The Romans were not known for their tolerance so they mobilized the Tenth Legion Fretensis and laid siege. At the time, 967 Jews took refuge in the fortress. Over 15,000 Romans and auxiliaries constructed a series of forts on the plains around the plateau. For three months the Romans laboriously built a siege ramp, absorbing arrows as they went. On April 16, AD 73, the Romans finally breached the wall with a battering ram.

Inside the fortress the Romans found all the buildings save the storerooms ablaze and 960 of the 967 inhabitants dead by their own hands. Only two women and five children remained alive. The Roman commander Lucius Flavius Silva was so moved by the spectacle he let these last seven survivors go free. These Jews would sooner die than live subject to Roman tyranny. In the history of mankind this is likely the world’s most egregious example of raw unfiltered defiance. It is this spirit inspiring the newest Israeli handgun.

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.

Shooting Thoughts

The low bore axis and high grip conspire to keep recoil in check, so follow-up shots are fast and clean. The triggers on all striker-fired handguns compress a striker spring, so there’s an inevitable wee bit of springy take-up, even on the great ones. The Masada’s trigger weight and personality are really about perfect for a combat tool.

There’s a scant taper at the base of the grip handy in the immensely unlikely event a magazine gets sticky. Though the magazine buttons are a bit on the small side, the magazine on our test gun shot out of the grip like a greased eel. Reloading drills are fast as a result. The switches are all just the right size for quick manipulation without being so large as to be cumbersome, or risk inadvertent activation.

The metal three-dot sights strike a nice balance between speed and precision. They are both sufficiently tapered as to slide out from underneath clothing quickly and painlessly. Jacking the slide either to charge the weapon or close the action over a fresh magazine is reliable and positive. The corners are all lightly melted to keep from unduly abrading things.

I like the fire control unit. Your great grandchildren’s children will not wear anything out on this gun, but it’s nice to be able to tidy up the gun’s entrails without having to earn an engineering degree first. I am continuously shocked whenever I strip down my carry guns and find a clothes dryer’s worth of accumulated pocket lint in the inner workings. The modular nature of the Masada helps you keep this inevitable entropy in check.

Final Thoughts?

Every concierge, schoolteacher and information desk person I encountered in Israel carried a gun. Israel suffers more than its share of terrorist actions, but none of them last very long. Sadly, I fear this is the new normal for our own country as well. The upside is these guys really know how to make effective weapons.

Every bit of the IWI Masada is designed for real-world combat use. The gun is bet-your-life reliable, and the controls and features are just right. With an MSRP of only $480 the Masada is also a fantastic bargain. wThe fortress for which the weapon is named represents history’s most glaring example of patriots giving the ultimate middle finger to the forces of tyranny. The Israelis know their guns, and the Masada is the product of two millennia of combat experience.

For more info:www.iwi.net

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