A 16-shot capacity meets vintage class in Springfield’s newest SA-35 4-inch model, which brings compact carry wrapped in polished carbon steel and checkered walnut.
We were among the first to cover the reintroduction of the classic (and then-recently retired) Browning Hi-Power by an American gunmaker when Springfield introduced the SA-35 in 2021.
Since then, the SA-35 line has grown and evolved while retaining the improvements to Mr. Browning’s original design, with a chopped-down 4-inch compact model performing nicely in a review we published in April.
With its more Detective-length, the “Dick” SA-35 4-inch is very slim and actually makes a good carry gun
Now, the company has added a 4-incher with an eye-catching polished blued finish on its carbon steel frame and slide. We’ve been passing it around the office for the past few weeks to get a sneak peek.
Drink it in, folks.
This new SA-35 features a polished blued finish on its carbon steel frame and slide, giving the durable forged components a deep, lustrous appearance. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Complementing the polished steel are attractive walnut grip panels with natural grain and finely cut checkering for confident purchase.
As with all SA-35 pistols, its 4-inch barrel features improved feed ramp design for reliable function with modern defensive ammunition and is forged for durability and strength. It ships with a branded zipper case.
Made in the U.S.A., the SA-35 features rugged forged steel parts for strength and durability, improved ergonomics and enhanced controls, a factory-tuned trigger, modernized Tactical Rack rear and white-dot front sights, an improved feed ramp design, and an increased 15-round capacity in the flush-fit magazine.
The polished 4-inch SA-35 compared to the standard matte-finished model.
The SA-35, especially in this new polished version, salutes the appeal of the “wood and steel” era of arms making.
And yes, it shoots. This is two magazines running the BHP classic Mozambique failure drill at 10 yards. In all, we put just over 300 rounds through the pistol right out of the box without fail.
Don’t sleep on this one as a carry gun if needed. With its twin 15-round flush-fit steel Mec-Gar magazines, superior accuracy, excellent single-action trigger, and wide holster availability (see Commander-sized 1911 fits), it makes a lot of sense.
And if nothing else, it can be something of an “instant” heirloom.
Like you need an excuse for some extra steel…
The MSRP of the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished (Model HP9205) is $799, the same as the matte-finished variants.
Earlier this year, we had Chase with EAA in the GDC studio as a podcast guest and got the lowdown on the company’s Windicator series of European-made wheel guns– which they have been importing for 30 years.
“I mean, they’re just tanks,” he said. “And look, I mean, there’s no denying that Germans make some great firearms. And they have a very deep history in making really, really, well-made firearms. For sure. So it’s just cool to see those out there. And people kind of, you know, they’re neglected. People sleep on them. They do. They 100 percent sleep on them.”
Produced by Hermann Weihrauch Revolver GmbH in Mellrichstadt, Germany – about 30 miles from the legendary Thuringian firearms-making and gunsmithing hub of Suhl – Weihrauch dates back to 1899. Btw, for those curious, you would pronounce the name “Vyre-owk” with a hard “ch” on the end. Really put the sauerkraut into it. Likewise, “Windicator” is likely a take on the maker’s last name blended with Vindicator, using the German more V-like pronunciation of the W.
After origins as a rifle maker, the company introduced its HW Arminius series revolvers in the 1960s, named for a Teutonic hero of the first century AD famous for slapping around the Romans at the Teutoburg Forest.
Imported and sold in the U.S. under a variety of brands (e.g., the Dickson Bulldog and Herter’s Guide Model) and by assorted firms (F.I.E., LA Distributors, etc.), the revolvers were a staple in hardware stores and gun shops coast to coast for generations.
An HW Arminius .32 in the Guns.com Vault and an FIE ad on the series from 1976. For reference, the quoted $120 price is $725 in today’s dollars.
EAA has imported assorted double-action Weihrauch revolvers into the U.S. under the Windicator name since at least 1993, later adding Bounty Hunter–branded single-action wheel guns from the same factory.
Today, EAA sells the Windicator in both .38 Special and .357 Magnum, in 2-, 4-, and 6-inch formats, and in blue/black or nickel (not a misprint). As snubby fans, we opted to review the blue/black 2-inch .357 (770130), right off the boat from Bavaria.
The EAA Windicator 2-inch .357 six-shot double-action revolver. Weihrauch catalogs this model as the HW 357 T. (Photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It is beefy for a snub, tipping the scales at nearly 29 ounces, unloaded. By comparison, similar six-shot .357s such as S&W’s $1,300 Model 19 2.5 Carry Comp weigh 33 ounces, while the $900 Colt King Cobra Carry 2-inch is billed at 26 ounces.
The snub 2-inch Windicator is a medium-frame, not a small-frame, revolver. It feels closest, in the author’s opinion, to his Fink’s Custom (at Gunsite Academy) chopped-down S&W 2-inch K-frame.
For full disclosure, EAA provided this Windicator revolver to Guns.com for review purposes. All testing was done on this one gun, which has been under evaluation since early May.
What we found:
It takes K-frame speedloaders.
It was dependable over the course of 500 mixed rounds of .38 and .357
It has a very stout double-action trigger that you need to take your pre-workout to run at the range.
It is affordable.
The only big rock we could toss at the $400~ Windicator was its very limited aftermarket support (no grips, can’t change the sights, virtually no parts). But EAA carries a lifetime warranty if something goes wrong (by comparison, Colt runs a three-year warranty).
With that in mind, if you want to upgrade your snub with different sights and accessories at some point, you may want to look toward a Colt or S&W. The closest six-shot .357 Mag snub we can find in the Windy’s price range is the Diamondback SDR, which runs nearly $700.
If you want a basic .357 (big) pocket gun that will go bang and you don’t anticipate upgrading, the Windicator is a, well, win.
Florida-based KelTec continues its established trope of delivering strange yet intriguing new guns to the market, introducing the SUB-SDP last week.
The pistol, dubbed the “Nub Sub” in the company’s own marketing materials, is based on the KelTec SUB2000 folding carbine, made into a pistol format and sporting a stabilizing brace instead of a stock on a shorter extension tube and a 6-inch barrel.
Set up to take Glock-pattern 9mm double stacks (i.e., G17, G19, G45), the base model ships with a Magpul 15-round magazine. Weight is 3.57 pounds, while the overall length goes from 10 inches with the pistol folded to 17.7 inches when extended.
While at first the Nub Sub seems funny, compare it to similar products such as the Flux Raider, which costs two to three times more, and the laughing slows.
It may not stop, but it at least slows.
Plus, you have to love the release video, done by the folks over at Offensive Marketing.
Glock debuted the new Generation 6 models late last year, and we’ve evaluated the popular G45 variant over the past few months– with some interesting takeaways.
Any conversation about the Glock 45 that is longer than a fortune cookie scroll needs to start with the G19X.
Debuted in January 2018, the Gen 5 (ish) G19X was originally developed as Glock’s submission for the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System trials before being adapted for commercial sale. The company’s first “crossover” design (hence the “X”) blended a full-size G17 grip with a compact G19 slide assembly and a hybrid frame with a G19-length dustcover to accommodate it.
Just nine short months after the debut of the G19X, Glock delivered the Gen 5 G45 to market, which was basically a black G19X with some very minor tweaks.
Announced at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, the G45 was billed as the perfect duty gun, blending all the best attributes of the G19 and G17 while adding Gen 5 features to boot —front slide serrations, ambi controls, a modular backstrap system, and the Glock Marksman Barrel. It soon became a smash hit in Glock’s catalog, especially after optics-ready MOS models were introduced in 2019.
Then Glock ended its Gen 5s in place of the transitional Gen V last November, then announced the new (and MOS-less) Gen 6 guns just a confusing month later.
We’ll get into it more below, but in a nutshell, the Gen 6 brings a different slide, internals, and trigger system but keeps everything dimensionally the same (so legacy holsters still work) while delivering a much better optics mounting system than MOS while retaining the same manual of arms and being reverse compatible with existing 17+ capacity double stack 9mm mags.
The new Glock Gen 6 G45. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
As with other G45s, it is a hybrid design with a compact slide assembly and full-sized frame.
Full 1,800-word review over in my column at Guns.com
Introduced in 1955, the original Bodyguard snub was a shrouded-hammer, alloy-framed Airweight .38 revolver that later became the Model 38, while its steel-framed counterpart was the Model 49.
The original Smith & Wesson Model 49 Bodyguard J-frame. Using a shrouded hammer with an accessible spur, it was DA/SA
Then, in 2014, the M&P Bodyguard .38 hit the scene with some significant changes, including a different internal lock work, an ambidextrous cylinder release, and a frame made lighter via the magic of polymer. Further, while the previous Bodyguard models were double-action/single-action with a humpback frame and shrouded hammer whose top spur could still be manually cocked, the new revolver was DAO with no access to the hammer.
In short, it was Smith’s answer to the Ruger LCR, which had entered the market as a DAO snub in 2009.
By 2026, the new Bodyguard 2.0 retains the core appeal of the original while adding several modern features, all in a 14.2-ounce package that carries five rounds of .38 SPL +P. You still have the ambi cylinder release and a lightweight uni-body design that comes from a mix of alloys and polymers, but you have several improvements from the circa 2014 design that we’ll cover below.
For now, let us meet the new Bodyguard 2.0 .38:
With a 1.875-inch stainless-steel barrel and a one-piece aluminum alloy upper frame ending in a polymer boot-style grip, the new Bodyguard 2.0 keeps the weight down to under a pound. Plus, it does not have an internal safety lock. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
An ambidextrous, center-mounted cylinder release allows for straightforward operation with either hand, supporting intuitive use for both right and left-handed shooters.
The MSRP on the new S&W Bodyguard 2.0 is $449, while a Crimson Trace laser-equipped model runs $549, prices that are typically lower at retail.
Quick summary: An evolution of a design that has been chugging along for three quarters of a century, the newest Bodyguard model has better sights, trigger, and ergonomics than its predecessors while keeping just about everything that made it popular in the first place.
Meanwhile, Last Resort Tactical’s R.A.C. (Rapid Access Carrier) mimics the size of a medium-sized bifold wallet and keeps the speed loader (s) indexed for quick, consistent draws. Better than having a speed loader floating around in your pocket.
Beretta and Ernest Langdon have teamed up on what could be the penultimate Model 92 series defensive pistol.
The new 92G Elite Combat LTT is just stacked with competition-grade features. Standard is an Elite LTT slide and frame, LTT G10 grips, and a chrome trigger with an ambidextrous G-series slide-mounted decocking lever. Then comes the Toni System improvements in the form of a single-port compensator and flared magwell, along with a trio of Toni System +4 magazine extensions to give the user three 22-round magazines out of the box.
But as the man says, “wait, there’s more.”
Additional features include a black threaded barrel, a fiber-optic front sight, an extended disassembly lever, and DLC-coated hammer and sear. Lots of attention is put to updated ergos, with enhanced frame beveling and front strap checkering, some very aggressive front slide serrations, an extended mag release, and an accessory rail.
Roll those images.
The overall length of the new Beretta 92G Elite Combat LTT is 9 inches with the Toni comp installed on the 5.1-inch barrel, giving it a sight radius of 6.1 inches.
Weight is 36.2 ounces, unloaded.
Grip width is 1.3 inches, while overall height is 6.45 inches.
The compensator and flared magwell work together with Toni System +4 magazine extensions to enhance recoil control and increase reload speed.
The Toni System comp is removable, leaving an extended threaded barrel that is suppressor-ready
The new Beretta 92G Elite Combat LTT ships in a clamshell plastic box with three magazines, each with TS +4 extensions.
So how much does all this functional beauty cost?
The MSRP on the new Beretta 92G Elite Combat LTT is $1,299, closer to $1,198 at dealers.
That’s actually a screaming deal when you consider the much more vanilla 92G Elite LTT II has an MSRP of $1,249 and does not come with the three Toni System mag extensions (which run $45 a pop), the TS comp runs another $100, and the magwell another $100.
For 25 years, Springfield Armory and Croatia’s HS Produkt have partnered on polymer-framed, striker-fired handguns, starting with the XD series, followed by the popular Hellcat, and, since 2023, the modular Echelon. We’ve reviewed the full-sized 4.5F, 4.0C Compact, 4.0C Comp, and 4.0FC crossover, and we’ve had little to criticize.
They perform reliably.
We’ve put over 5K rounds through assorted Echelons during reviews since the pistol was released and never had a notable problem with these guns. They run. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Springfield has also gained meaningful traction for the Echelon in law enforcement. In December 2024, the St. Louis County Police Department, with nearly 1,000 officers, adopted it as its duty pistol under a $2.1 million contract, reinforcing the company’s claims about the pistol’s reliability and performance. The Echelon has secured other major law enforcement contracts as well, and abroad, the Spanish National Police have chosen it as their standard duty sidearm.
What do you get with the Alpha?
Based on the G19-sized Echelon 4.0C Compact, which is likely the company’s most popular offering in the series, the new Alpha is the same gun at its core.
The new Springfield Armory Echelon Alpha 4.0C is a 15+1 capacity 9mm with a 4-inch barrel. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Weight is 24 ounces unloaded. The Vortex Defender ST red dot shown installed is not included.
It utilizes the same Central Operating Group, a serialized stainless-steel chassis that can be easily swapped to different sized/styled polymer grip modules. The striker-fired pistol disassembles without having to pull the trigger.
It is optics-ready with Springfield’s Variable Interface System, which enables direct-mount capability for more than 30 optics directly to the slide without the use of adapter plates.
The MSRP on the Echelon Alpha is $599, which is a good bit less than the $710 ask on the standard Echelon models. Keep in mind “street price” at retailers will likely be even less.
Featuring a removable chassis system for easy grip frame upgrades and a 14-shot capacity, Ruger has a new LCP Max on the block, powered by Magpul.
The two companies in 2024 brought the innovative RXM 9mm pistol to the market, which uses a serialized Fire Control Insert that is independent of its Enhanced Handgun Grip, or EHG, allowing the flexibility to be easily swapped into different grips. And by different we both size (full, compact, subcompact) and color, all inside the Glock Gen 3 9mm double stack ecosystem.
You can see much of the same potential modularity on the newest Ruger LCP Max. Debuted this week, it uses Magpul’s new EHG .380 grip frame with a Fire Control Insert chassis. It carries a new style slide that mimics the RXM’s aesthetic, and includes a S&W Bodyguard pattern Tritium front sight with a drift-adjustable rear.
And it weighs 11.2 ounces, unloaded, which is about half as much as the Walther PPK, which offers a 7-shot capacity.
The new Ruger LCP Max. Note the Magpul EHG RG380 grip frame with 3/4-scale TSP texture. (Photos: Ruger/Magpul)
Overall length is 5.35 inches with a 2.8-inch barrel. With the extended 13+1 round magazine – new to the platform – height is 4.78 inches. The pistol has a slim, 0.75-inch-wide slide assembly.
Compared to the standard 10+1 shot LCP Max, seen right, the new Max stands just 0.66 inches higher and is 0.18 inches longer. The weight is less than half an ounce different.
The newest LCP Max is the first that uses a serialized Fire Control Insert chassis, which can be removed by the user with basic tools.
At launch, Magpul plans at least three extra colors (black, FDE, olive drab) for the EHG380 grip in addition to Ruger’s standard Stealth Gray. Replacements, sold via Magpul, will be $39. You can bet that other aftermarket grips will also soon be in the works.
Other standard features include a tabbed trigger safety and a manual safety. It ships with both a flush 10 rounder as well as the extended 13-shot magazine as shown above.
“This launch is just the beginning of what Ruger and Magpul have planned for the LCP Max, underscoring Ruger’s commitment to innovation and consumer choice,” says the company.
The MSRP on the new Ruger LCP Max with the Magpul EHG RG380 grip is $449, which is a $50 bump from the standard LCP Max. I would imagine the price at your local shop to be closer to $375.
We have one inbound for a review, so stay tuned for more on that subject.
The 13+1-shot Browning Hi-Power, introduced in 1935, was the first “wonder nine” and a worldwide classic for generations until the company finally put it to bed in 2017.
Then came a few companies to fill the void, with EAA offering a Turkish-made clone by Girsan and Springfield Armory, in 2021, debuting the SA-35. We evaluated the latter and found it a very faithful salute to the classic 1960s/70s C/T-series BHP in terms of aesthetics, but with the bonus of several subtle improvements to boost performance.
Now, Springfield has whittled down the gun by about an inch in length while keeping everything else, akin to the old Argentine FM Hi-Powers seen on the consumer market in the early 1990s
You know, these guys:
Both the standard and “Detective” FMs were readily available once upon a time, as noted by this circa 1992 SOG ad in The Shotgun News.
However, Springfield didn’t just redo the Detective concept, but did it better done with several notable changes and flush-fit 15+1 round magazines.
I just posted a review on the new gun today as the embargo lifted.
The new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch runs a steel frame, slide, and barrel, hitting the scales at 29.8 ounces unloaded. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Overall length is 7.1 inches, while the height is 4.8 inches.
The SA-35 4-inch, left, compared to its 7.8-inch full-sized brother.
The difference in length is just under an inch, while the weight savings are about two ounces.
When compared to a 4.25-inch Commander-length 1911, in this case, Springfield Armory’s Operator AOS Commander, the SA-35 4-inch comes in both noticeably shorter and thinner.
We found the SA-35 4-inch to fit common Commander-sized holsters we had on hand, such as this Falco Langdon Timeless Open-Top IWB.
Mossberg is known for their shotguns, but actually started off in 1919 making pistols, the .22LR Brownie pistol.
A four-shot break-action pocket gun with a rotating firing pin, some 32,000 of the little Brownies were cranked out before 1932, when Mossberg closed out the classic popgun and moved on to bigger and better things.
Fast forward to 2019 and, in celebrating the company’s 100th anniversary, Mossberg reintroduced a handgun, the 9mm MC1sc subcompact.
Front and rear slide serrations, an optional manual safety, 7+1 9mm capacity. The MC1sc had a lot going on
Offered in four models with an ask of between $425 and $526, it was slow going for the MC1sc, which was not surprising.
The company revamped the design with the double-stacked MC2c the next year, with a price between $490 to $595, depending on the model.
While it reviewed well, Mossberg never put in the effort to really advertise it, and it remained a sleeper option with a tough uphill climb against arguably better (or at least more recognizable) pistols that had a cheaper acquisition point.
So, it should surprise no one that the MC line disappeared from Mossberg’s site altogether around January, leaving only a few parts and magazines available for purchase.
The problem is, with so much market share already invested deep in the Ruger LC9/EC9, S&W Sheild, HK VP9SK, and the G43, I feel like this pistol will get about as much love as the Taurus AR15 or Remington R51.
Maybe an MC3c is inbound? Probably not. The polymer-framed handgun market is swamped.
Either way, it looks like you can widely pick up a new-in-box MC2c for around $325, and used models for less, which probably aren’t that bad of a buy– just be advised you will likely be on your own for support.
