Steyr has been known to me as one of those cult companies.  A friend let me shoot his once and then wiped it down and tucked it away.  I don’t mean of course that Steyr is a cult, but that those who own Steyrs love them deeply.  It’s been my experience that such cults are a good thing.  I enjoyed my teaser experience with his Steyr and began looking for more.

As an alternative brand they can’t be found everywhere and Steyr slipped to the back of my mind.  Recently I’ve had the opportunity to try not one, but two Steyrs.  The first of which is the S9-A1.

What most people remember about the Steyr pistols are their trapezoidal sights.  As demonstrated in the video they can be very quick to align.  The concept is simple and works.  Glancing through the rear sights your eyes want the triangle front sight to be level and centered.  While the front sight is a bit larger than average, there is plenty of space on either side of it to still see your target and not lose it behind the sight.

The grip is incredibly ergonomic for my large hands and likely works great with gloves for those with smaller hands.  One side not not mentioned in the video above is that Steyr now offers an alternative to the locking system shown.  There is a hit that converts the locking system to work with handcuff keys, something more of us are likely to carry around than the special Steyr spanner tool.

Specifications seen below are taken directly from the product page:

If you’re thinking that those numbers look a lot like what’s become the new hotness in the carry market you’re right.  Steyr has quietly had the answer all along.  I’ll get this pistol along with its big brother out to the range soon for a complete review.

Cover image photo credit: SteyrArms.com