Savage dipped into the world of handguns once more after over a hundred years of being both a rifle and shotgun company. Savage has released two handguns, one is a modern 1911, and the other is the polymer frame Savage Stance. The Savage Stance is a striker-fired, polymer frame pistol that chambers the 9mm round. It’s designed to be a subcompact pistol and offers itself up to the world of concealed carry pistols.
Specifications and features
The Stance is your basic single-stack 9mm handgun. It’s fairly thin at .92 inches and light at 21.6 ounces. The barrel is 3.2 inches long, and the gun’s overall length is 6.2 inches. It holds eight rounds of ammunition, and additional magazines bring the capacity up to ten rounds. The Stance is anything revolutionary, and it’s designed to be a fairly simple single-stack 9mm handgun.
Some of the features that stand out include the removable chassis system, which allows for the ability to use different frames/ Although Savage hasn’t released any new frames or components that I’m aware of. Savage does make a variety of models, including black, grey, and FDE, but there is only one grip design.
One of the smarter moves by Savage was making the sight compatible with the Glock 43. There is always plenty of Glock sights out there, and you can pick and choose from a wide variety of sighting options. The controls are also ambidextrous, and we even get an impressive grip texture.
A Stance On Ergonomics
What the Stance has going for it is excellent ergonomics. The grip texture is impressive and gives you 360 degrees of gripping, a rough texture that locks the gun into your hand. The controls are ambidextrous. The gun has a safety or no safety option. The safety on that model is very small but not tough to press down and turn off. It’s placed on the frame for easy activation.
I have no complaints with the grip and find it to be comfortable in my hand and adequate. There is nothing crazy that stands out. The slide is heavily textured and easy to rack, or well, normal to rack. It’s no S&W EZ series gun. Users can swap the rear grip panels to make the weapon better accomodate their grip size. It’s a nice touch all around.
The slide lock is set deeply into the frame and is not easy to use to unlock the slide. This is a gun that requires a slingshot-style technique when you reload. It’s not all bad, and as a big-hand dude, I rarely use the slide lock to release the slide anyway.
At the Range
The Stance handles like most single stack 9mms at the range. The recoil is there, but it’s not painful or crazy. It jumps a bit, but with some practice, you’ll have no problems controlling the gun. What I really like is the grip texture. It’s aggressive. It digs in and makes keeping the gun in your hand easy. You can control the gun, keep it on target and keep firing fast and accurately. Keeping control of the Stance won’t be an issue.
The sights stand out too. The big front sight shines a bright orange, and it’s easy to pick up and get on target. The bright sight and large size of it make it easy to track and to follow and to reacquire if you lose it. In terms of accuracy, I can put adequate lead on target with ease. Creating hand-sized groups at 25 yards isn’t tough.
With that said, your trigger isn’t working to help you. It’s a spongy, long, somewhat heavy trigger. The Stance’s trigger requires it to be fully released to reset, which is annoying. The Stance’s trigger needs some serious cleaning up.
In terms of reliability, I had zero issues. I fed it a diet of 115-grain rounds that included steel and brass cases as well as aluminum-cased loads. It chewed through whatever I tossed at it. I even did a number of speed reloads where the magazines hit the sand and still functioned without complaint. It chews through ammo and functions as reliably as a modern pistol should.
Where The Stance Fits
That’s a tough question. It’s a new gun that seems out of date off the pop. The single stack nine has given way to the micro compact. The MSRP is over $450, but the street price is coming down to around 250. At that price point, the Stance offers a fairly attractive budget firearm that performs better than most other guns at this price point. As a budget handgun, it’s a great choice. It might not be modern, but it’s dang sure affordable.
