Savage Stance Review [Field Review]

Savage Arms is no longer just a rifle company. They expanded into semi-auto shotguns and now handguns. Handguns aren’t entirely new to the Savage Arms world, but it’s been about one hundred years since they produced one. We got our hands on the latest, the Savage Stance, and here’s what we think. 

Choose Your Stance 

Savage Arms chose a wise genre of handgun to get into. The duty market and the competitive market are tough sells. Instead of jumping right into that market, they took a hard look at the concealed carry market and decided that was a market they could play their hand in. Admittedly that market is huge and encompasses everyone, really. People who carry a gun on duty and compete likely want a concealed carry pistol like the rest of us. 

Thus the Stance was born as a compact, single stack, 9mm handgun. It’s rare to see a new single stack in a world ruled by Micro Compacts like the SIG P365, but Savage placed their bets. The Stance utilizes a design most of us are very familiar with. It’s a semi-automatic, polymer frame, striker-fired pistol. The weapon comes with a flush-fitting seven-round magazine and a slightly extended eight rounder. Savage has already stated they also intend to bring a ten-round magazine to market. 

Savage brought out various models of the gun with a seemingly endless list of SKUs. They have options with manual safeties options without manual safeties. We have standard sights and night sights, multiple frame colors, and models with integrated laser aiming devices. You have quite a few options. I went with a pretty stock standard model with manual safety and standard sights with an FDE frame. 

One thing that does make the Stance stand out is the chassis system. This removable chassis system is the firearm and can be removed from the frame with very little drama. Once removed, you can swap grip frames, use different slides, or whatever without the need for a new gun. The real magic is in new frames that can alter how the firearm handles, looks, and feels. 

Savage Stance Features

1 Glock 43 Sight Compatibility 

2 Removable Chassis 

3 Slide Lightening Cuts

4 360 Degree Grip Texture 

5 Ambidextrous Controls 

Savage Stance Gun Models 

Taking the Stance Out – Our Take

The Stance perplexes me. It has great bones and a good foundation with a few kinks to it, like a good house with a bad roof. The roof in this mainly revolves around the trigger. For a striker-fired gun, it’s not great. Sure, worse triggers exist, but the Stance let me down. It’s stiff, heavy, and spongy the whole to the barely detectable wall and through the softish break. The reset requires the trigger to reset entirely to the front before it resets. 

It’s not necessarily bad enough to hamper the accuracy to unacceptable levels, but I’m betting the accuracy would be better with a good trigger. It’s okay, and you’ll hit your target. Headshots and ringing small gongs weren’t a problem, even under speed. At 25 yards, a fist-sized group is entirely possible. 

The day sights included with the Stance feature a white two-dot rear sight with a bright orange front dot. They catch the eye, contrast well, and are easy to see against the target. 

I fired the MPTC Back-up gun qualification and landed every shot in the A-zone of an IPSC target within a variety of time standards. This includes single-hand and off-hand shooting, shooting from behind cover, and close retention shooting. 

Good Bones

The good foundation established by the Stance is ergonomics. The 360-degree grip texture forms an outstanding and ergonomic grip. This thing clings to your hand, and when the gun recoils, the grip doesn’t slide in and out of your hand. It’s a fantastic grip texture with an awesome overall design. 

The grip angle and shape provide a lot of comfort to the hand. At the top of a grip, a small scallop sits and makes it quite thin and easy to grip. It embraces the hand. The Stance comes with two backstraps to accommodate hands, both large and small. 

The controls are completely ambidextrous. Not reversible, I mean true ambidextrous. The magazine release, the slide lock, and on my model, the manual safety are all entirely ambidextrous. The safety and slide lock sit deep inside the frame. I’m not partial to manual safeties on carry guns, but the Stance’s safety isn’t particularly offensive. It’s small but decently easy to access. 

The slide locks are just that. They lock and won’t make great releases. They are set too deep into the frame, and you have to use the slingshot method during a reload. That’s fine with me because this is one of the only small guns where my big thumbs don’t pin down the slide locks and render the last round hold open. Every time the last round is fired, the slide locks to the rear with the Stance. 

Pewing and Powing 

The Savage Stance’s ergonomics and design make the weapon very shootable. Like most small 9mms, it has a little snap to it, but it’s entirely controllable and easy to fire rapidly with complete control. The Stance makes it easy to put lead on target. The big sights cling to the eye and make it easy to move between targets and accurately engage. 

The Savage Stance is a very competent and capable weapon that performs when called upon. It’s designed for concealed carry use, and in that realm, it keeps up with most of the current carry guns. Sure, the single stack 9mm seems to be a dated concept, but that doesn’t make it obsolete. 

In terms of reliability, the gun doesn’t choke. The MPTC Back-Up gun qual requires lots of reloads, and I shoot in a very sandy environment. The magazines caught their fair share and by transitive properties, so did the Stance. The springs and follower got real gritty, and I could feel some of the sand in the slide. However, the gun didn’t fail or show any signs of tapping out. 

Price-wise, the Stance comes in with a $479 MSRP. That’s fairly high for a single stack 9mm. For just a little more, the newer and more ammo-efficient micro compacts. Although, that seems to be the same price as single stack 9mm guns like the Glock 43. 

Savage Stance Pros and Cons 

Savage Stance Ammo

Savage Stance Starter Pack

So what’s next? Well, if you decide to get the Savage Stance, you’re going to need to pick up some must-have basics. Here’s our recommendation for what you need to get started.

• Gun Cleaning Kit: Otis All Caliber Elite Range Box on Amazon or build your own personalized cleaning kit with premium components.
• Shooting Glasses: All it takes is one piece of rogue hot brass, and you’ll learn the importance of shooting glasses. But not all glasses are built the same. See our recommendations for the Best Shooting Glasses.
• Hearing Protection: Firing a gun without wearing proper ear pro can be very dangerous and detrimental to your hearing. Find out the best hearing protection for you in our full length review.
• Storage: Check our our article on the Best Biometric Gun Safes
• Targets – If you’re wanting a great resource for shooting practice or zeroing your optics on your optics rifle or pistol, download our FREE Sighting in Targets below.

With the basics outta the way, let’s jump into some cool accessories you might want to consider when purchasing your Savage Stance

Savage Stance Upgrades and Accessories

There’s a bunch of different options available to accessorize the Savage Stance. However, if we had to choose only a few options… Here’s our picks.

Savage Stance Accessories

1. Streamlight TLR-7 Weapon Light		White LED produces 500 lumens IPX7 Waterproof Low Profile	Check Amazon
2. Pineworld Biometric Gun Safe		Reliable Biometric Scanner Sturdy and Well Built Cheaper Than Most Biometrics	Check Amazon
3. Decibullz Custom Molded Earplugs		Great In-Ear option Custom molded – super easy and comfortable NRR: 31	Check Amazon
4. Outdoors Steel Resetting Target		Rated For . 38 – . 44 Caliber Pistols High Visibility Targets Reset Without Walking Down Range	Check Amazon

HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR Savage Stance

Not only do you need to keep your firearms safe and secure, you’re also going to need to know how to take care of it. While scouring the internet, we came across this excellent video;

Important Links And Manuals For Your Savage Stance

For more info regarding the Savage Stance, check out the following resources:

• Savage Stance Manual
• Savage Stance Printable Spec Sheet