Pistol

The Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished looks like a pistol you should handle with white gloves. Don’t. This glossy, walnut-gripped 9mm delivered smooth cycling, a 0.99-inch best group and enough carry appeal to earn a spot in my everyday rotation.

Steyr built the ATD around a modular trigger system, redesigned controls and an optics-ready slide. It also includes an updated decocker, removable magwell and a 4-inch barrel.

The SIG P385 is not another P320 variation. We shot SIG’s new modular 9mm platform at SIG NEXT 2026 to see what its new FCU, low bore axis, recoil system and MagStrap grip actually bring to the range.

SIG just put the P211 on a serious diet. The new P211 Full Size and P211 Carry keep the double-stack capacity, single-action trigger and optic-ready architecture while trading the heavier configuration for an aluminum alloy frame and polymer grip module.

The SIG P226-X Agency takes the familiar P226 and turns up the performance with an integrated compensator, bull barrel, AX3 trigger and enclosed ROMEO-X optic. After shooting it at SIG NEXT 2026, this was the pistol that surprised me most.

SIG claims the P365-MACH3D can cut muzzle rise by up to 30 percent. After shooting its new MACH3D compensator and 3.4-inch bull barrel at SIG NEXT, the difference was immediately noticeable.

The Girsan Witness2311 CMX XXX does something a lot of compact double-stack 1911s do not: it actually shrinks the grip. Add 16+1 rounds, excellent accuracy, an $899 MSRP, and more than 400 rounds without a malfunction, and this little 9mm gets difficult to ignore.

Here are my top five night sights for handguns, in no particular order. Just for the sake of comparison, the sights listed are all for a Glock 19. If you have the proper tools, you can install these yourself, but professional installation is recommended.

The S&W Spec Series VI M&P 9 M2.0 Metal Compact pairs a ported barrel, Aimpoint ACRO P-2, metal frame, and roughly $985 in included accessories with genuinely fast, controllable performance. After several weeks of shooting and carrying it, the $1,899 package makes a stronger case for itself than the sticker price suggests.