U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)– Savage hasn’t produced a pistol in like, a century or so. The old Savage Model 1907 was all kinds of cool, so they had a lot to live up to with the Savage Stance. Although, if Savage brought the Model 1907 out, I would love to have one, just saying Savage. Anyway, the Savage Stance is a fair bit more traditional than the old 1907. The Stance is a polymer frame, semi-automatic, subcompact, 9mm pistol.
Savage is aiming the Stance at the concealed carry market. In the world of micro compacts, this is the first time single stack 9mm we’ve seen in a long time. In a big wide world of pistols, the Stance might have a hard time finding its footing, especially if the gun just doesn’t run. So let’s hit the ground running and find our Stance. (Sorry, but I won’t apologize for my puns.)
Breaking Down the Savage Stance
The Savage Stance comes in three different colors, either all black, with a gray frame, or an FDE frame. It’s 9mm only and comes with two magazines. One is a flush-fitting seven-rounder, and the other is a slightly extended, pinky rest-equipped eight-rounder. Savage promises to release a ten-rounder in the near future.
The Savage Stance takes an interesting design influence from SIG. The gun features a removable chassis system. The chassis contains all the guts of the frame. By law, it’s the serialized portion and is legally the gun. Popping the chassis out would allow you to use different slides and grip modules. In the future Savage plans to release different grip models. Rumor has it we will see a bigger grip module, as well as a rail-equipped model.
Savage offers the Stance with or without a manual safety, as well as with or without a laser. I have the safety-equipped model, and it’s obviously sans laser. The barrel is 3.2 inches and made from stainless steel, and the overall length is 6.2 inches. At 22 ounces, it doesn’t tip any scales.
What About the Ergonomics?
The Savage Stance seems like a plain jane single stack 9mm with a few neat features, and to be honest, you can’t understand a gun until it’s in your hand. What you might not notice is the fact the Stance comes with truly ambidextrous controls. The magazine release, safety, and slide lock are all ambidextrous.
A very nice tough we rarely see on handguns. Sure this and that might be reversible, but a truly ambidextrous pistol is rare. Those controls are also subdued and inserted deep into the frame. This helps make the pistol snap-free for deep concealment. That being said, the slide lock is just that, a lock. Good luck trying to release the dang thing, but in all fairness, it’s designed to lock, and you should release via the slingshot method in a fight.
Since the slide lock is subdued and inserted into the frame, it’s one of the very few guns in which my thumbs don’t pin down the slide locks. On most guns, especially small guns, the slide locks are useless due to my big thumbs. With the Stance, they serve their purpose.
The super small safety isn’t terrible. It is very small but can be pretty easy to engage with the swipe of a thumb. I tend to prefer the safety-free models of guns. The Savage Stance certainly doesn’t need the manual safety, but it’s available for those who prefer it.
An 18-degree grip angle is very 1911-like and is plenty comfy. Users can switch to a small or large backstrap to better fit the gun to their hand.
Shooting the Stance
What captured me and really surprised me about the Stance is the grip texture. The Stance wears 360 degrees of aggressive grip texturing. Your hand absolutely clings to it, and when you go bang, the gun stays put. Shoot it slow, shoot it fast, shoot it with one hand or two. It doesn’t matter, and the fun stays put. The grip design is very comfortable and quite thin. It’s long enough to fill the hand and provide a decent high grip.
You can chew through a rapid-fire burst of rounds, and the gun doesn’t move inside your hand. It’s surprising and very well done. The Stance has your typical small 9mm recoil, so it’s controllable and easy to keep on target. That grip texture certainly helps keep the gun on target.
Shooting Straight
The sights appear to be Glock 43 sights. They might be backward compatible. Stance ships with either standard sights or night sights. I have the standard sights. They are a high contrasting three-dot set of sights that feature an orange front sight and two rear white dots. You’ll never confuse which dot is which.
Seeing the orange dot and getting it on target quickly won’t give most shooters a challenge. A good presentation will put that dot right where you want it, and you’ll dang sure see it. It’s huge! Perfect for concealed carry engagement ranges.
The trigger does leave something to be desired. It’s a long trigger pull that’s heavy and spongy. The reset is very long, and you’ll release the trigger fully before it resets. I’ve had worse, but I’ve had a lot better too. The trigger is below average but not entirely terrible. With a little practice, I shot perfectly acceptable groups at 15 yards.
At 25 yards, I scored accurate offhand headshots on a Birchwood Casey 3D target. I started slow but ended up picking up speed without losing accuracy. The Stance will get the job done, but the trigger does certainly affect the weapon’s overall accuracy. For concealed carry purposes, it’s more than enough, but there is certainly room for improvement.
Taking a Stance
The Savage Stance delivers a capable concealed carry handgun. It feels a bit outdated in a world of micro-compacts with flush-fitting 10 round magazines. While the pistol proved to be reliable, with excellent ergonomics, the trigger left something to be desired. All in all, it’s not a bad pistol. I’d say it’s above average with a number of features worth noting. I hope Savage produces new grip modules new magazines and continues to evolve the Stance lineup.
Along the way, maybe Apex can clean up the trigger for us! Savage seems to be doing a lot of new things, from the Impulse straight-pull bolt action to the Rneegauge, they are a company on the move, and the Stance is one more step forward.
About Travis Pike
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
