The market is flooded with options for concealed firearms and the people who swear by their favored subcategory. You have your old-school full-sized carry guys, the wheel gun warriors, the compact faithful, and the modern subcompact tacticians. Whatever you carry should work for you, because the gun you carry is better than the gun you leave at home. For me personally, I like to carry in the subcompact class. Even breaking it down to this subclass of firearms, you’re spoiled with choices from Glock, Sig Sauer, Springfield, Smith & Wesson, Taurus, and the list goes on, but there are even more options out there. Every brand will have its die-hard loyalists who will shout their praises and opinions at you. However, what should really matter to the individual is what works best for them as far as budget, comfort, and personal preferences. That being said, it’s not always easy to test out new firearms, especially ones that might not be as well-known; your ability to try new guns out is often dependent on what your circle of friends already owns and what your local ranges have out for loan. Enter the Masada Slim Elite from IWI. Not the most well-known brand to the average shooter, however, not a brand to be discounted in the least.
The Masada Slim Elite
Let’s start with covering the basics of this pistol. The Masada Slim Elite is a striker-fired polymer frame 9mm pistol. It sports a 3.4” barrel with the dimensions of 1.02” width, overall length of 6.25”, and a height of 4.88”. The Elite comes with a 13-round and a 17-round magazine. This pistol is optic-ready, has a picatinny rail for weapon lights, a flared mag well, and 3 different sizes of backstraps to adjust to your personal preferences. The size puts it in the same area as the Glock 43x, Springfield Hellcat Pro, and the Sig Sauer XL – all of which are varying degrees in dimensions from each other. While this isn’t rewriting the rules of a subcompact, the backstrap options and flare mag well are nice bonuses when looking at this size comparison. It is a modular design with a removable FCU; however, at this time, the only additional frame I’m aware of is the Commander from Mischief Machine (if you are unfamiliar with these guys, give them a look, awesome stuff.)
Ok, now that I’ve covered the basics, this gun is solid. I was impressed immediately with the ergonomics of this firearm. Right out of the box, it just felt comfortable in my hands, plenty of room for the palm of my support hand, a nice textured ledge for my thumb to rest on the frame, and a nice texture that is apparent to the touch but not overly aggressive. From the first round fired, I was sold on the feel of shooting it, with a barrel that dances on the shorter side, the recoil was extremely minimal and quick to realign back to the target for follow up shots. The trigger pull is smooth as butter with a solid wall, crisp break, and extremely short reset. I’ve run a little over 1000 rounds through the Masada Slim Elite so far. I’ve used a mix of ammo, including Blazer, Winchester target rounds, and BPS, all of which have run flawlessly. No malfunctions of any kind.
While not as readily available as some of the other bigger brands, it’s a fairly easy-to-find pistol for purchase online. Looking at online retail is between $410 and $460, which makes it aggressively competitive in its weight class.
The Cons
Now, there is no such thing as perfect, and the Masada Slim Elite does have some downsides. Being that it (in my opinion) is criminally underrated, accessories are a bit scarce. It’s a carry gun, so what does that mean? Holsters. It is the elephant in the room for the Slim Elite. IWI does offer an option for light-bearing and non-light-bearing on their website from LAG Tactical and ANR Designs, respectively. Both companies also have offerings on their own sites to customize your belt clip and wing options. The good folks at Havok Holsters are working on a design for it as well and sent me a prototype that I’m enjoying. There are a few other brands out there starting to make more holster options, so you’re not as limited as you once were for options. The other con for me is the learning curve in field stripping the pistol to clean it. There is a disassembly lever, which is more like a sliding cover for a take-down pin, similar but not quite like a 1911. The video IWI provides on YouTube with instructions showing a man pulling the pin out with their fingers, I had no such luck with my fingers and had to bust out the needle-nose pliers. Reassembly took me longer than I will admit in writing the first time until I found that holding the gun upside down helped, as the barrel tends to drop a bit when lining up the slot to put the pin back in. Now that I’ve done it a few times, it seems simple, but some were learning their system.
My New EDC
Frustrations aside from learning the reassembly process, I cannot praise this gun enough. At this price point, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a firearm with this level of features with the modular design, optic cut, swappable backstraps, and Picatinny rail. The IWI website has replacement internals readily available, extra magazines at reasonable prices, and fast shipping. Something that can’t be said about all manufacturers. This pistol has become my new EDC, replacing my P365 XL and making that a nightstand firearm. If you see one of these out in the wild at your local shop, buy it. No questions asked, pick it up if you have the chance, and see why I personally think this gun is the best kept secret in concealed carry firearms.
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