By Eve Flanigan

STANCE: The New Carry Gun from Savage Arms

February 28, 2022

Stance-muzzleblast

A company that’s been making only long guns for its lengthy existence recently released its first handgun. Stance is the name of a new semiauto from Savage. Its target market is the concealed carrier.

Incorporated into the Stance are numerous in-demand features for a carry gun, plus some extras we’d normally expect in subsequent-year line extensions. It’s chambered in 9mm and ships with two magazines, one of which holds seven rounds. The second mag holds either 8 or 10 rounds depending on the package. The Stance is quite compact, with a 3.1-inch barrel. It has a sporty, ported, recoil-taming slide, significantly textured grip, ambidextrous magazine release and slide lock, and interchangeable grip panels for easy, semi-custom operation. There are two choices of sights: tritium or traditional three-dot, all of snag-resistant, rear sight-driftable design. A factory-installed Viridian laser is another package option. A thumb-operated safety is yet another option. Easy field stripping is built into the design.

Stance-Black-Laser-Bolt-7-round

Every Stance has a black Melonite-treated slide. The lowers on this striker-fired gun are offered in black, flat dark earth, and gray. Color varieties are normally a second-year offering, and ported slides often come even later, but Savage has clearly been watching what the hottest sellers are and decided to offer these features from the outset. Experienced shooters will appreciate that the trigger has a moderate pull and clear, palpable reset, making the Stance suitable for serious marksmanship training.

What the Stance doesn’t yet offer is an optic-ready version. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that as an new addition in 2023. And if current gunmaker trends are an indication, next year maybe there’ll be a slightly larger, still compact Stance, maybe with a threaded barrel.

As a person who watches concealed carry trends closely, it looks to me like Savage has a respectable and useful pistol on their hands. Although I’ve not yet had the chance to handle a Stance, I anticipate that Savage has applied the same excellent understanding of ergonomics shown in their rifles to this pistol. As the first handgun coming from a company that’s been solidly in the rifle/shotgun realm for decades, time will tell if the Stance will last as a latecomer to a very crowded market. Even Mossberg, having released their first carry gun in 2020, is a few strides ahead of Savage. Their MC series pistols are now in their second edition. From where I sit, the only drawback of the stance is its modest capacity. A decade ago, eight rounds in a sub-compact would’ve been considered a healthy capacity. But today’s micro-compacts from, for example, Sig Sauer, Springfield Armory, and Taurus have raised the bar for capacity expectations. Time will tell if the Stance has staying power.