The grip frame and front and back straps are lightly stippled and afford more than adequate grip traction without taking the skin off your hand. The frame of the pistol is molded from fiberglass reinforced polymer, sports a very natural-feeling grip angle and includes three interchangeable backstraps that will accommodate most any size hand. The Masada ships with two easy-loading flush-fit 17-round magazines (or 10-rounder’s for communist bloc states), three-different sized interchangeable backstraps and optic-mounting plates that support the Trijicon RMR (or SRO), Vortex Venom, Leupold DeltatPoint Pro and SIG ROMEO1 platforms. For testing we mounted a Trijicon SRO, which, not surprisingly, occluded the open sights. The slide just forward of the rear sight has a flat machined into it to accept sight bases (five included) for the most popular red-dot sights: Trijicon RMR and SRO, Vortex Venom, Leupold Delta Point Pro and Sig Sauer Romeo 1. There are no loaded-chamber or cocking indicators. Staring at the top, it features a black nitride finished steel slide with front and rear cocking serrations a 4.1-inch, low-profile, bushingless, cold-hammer-forged steel barrel, polygonal rifled at a 1:10-inch twist rate dovetailed 3-dot sights with drift adjustable rear beefy external extractor/ejector and a striker-fired operating system with single captured recoil spring. An oversized trigger guard leaves ample room for gloved hands Both slide stop and magazine release controls are ambidextrous. Barrel is cold-hammer-forged and features polygonal rifling. The Masada uses a modular/removable, high-grade-steel trigger mechanism housing which also serves as the serialized component. Designed with input from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), it was developed to provide a robust and precise solution to modern battlefield requirements. Priced at only $480, the Masada has everything we covet in a fighting pistol, except night sights (which are available through Meprolight, an IWI subsidiary. It’s not often that a new striker-fired, polymer-framed pistol raises an eye brow around here, but the new Masada 9mm from Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) did just that. Sub-1-inch precision and an impressive feature set meet affordability

Masada 9mm magazine