2025 Handgun of the Year

The Springfield Armory Kuna possesses the handling qualities of a personal defense weapon (PDW), but it is a pistol. Subject to years of secrecy and development, Guns & Ammo’s staff got its first look and testfire of the Kuna during a 2021 factory tour of HS Produkt in Karlovac, Croatia. Between that visit and its public introduction on April 15, 2025, the Kuna was further enhanced with features derived from Springfield Armory’s input for the U.S. market.

A straightforward approach to design ensures that the roller-­delayed operating system is reliable. The roller temporarily locks the bolt into battery, which dissipates energy during recoil, eliminating the need for a heavy bolt or complex gas system. The side-­effect is a compact pistol that is light and easy to control.

The forged aluminum receiver features an integrated optic rail with hybrid flip-­up metal sights, and a rail on the endplate for the attachment of a pistol brace. (A variation of the Kuna includes a folding pistol brace.) The forend also includes M-­Lok attachment points for accessories such as lights and slings.

Precision shooting to the potential of the 9x19mm cartridge is made possible by the 6-­inch hammer-­forged barrel and flat-­face trigger, which exhibited a 5-­pound pull, and a short, predictable take-­up and reset. Making repeated accuracy possible is a muli-­port muzzlebrake to reduce felt recoil that is attached to a muzzle threaded 1/2x28. It can be removed and replaced for shooter wanting to suppress the Kuna.

Shooting the Kuna using either hand is possible due to the bilateral controls and ambidextrous features. Several of those features were engineered to be familiar for users of other Springfield Armory products, giving the Kuna complementary handling qualities. The AR-­pattern grip wears the same adaptive grip texture available on the 1911 DS, Hellcat and Echelon series, for example. When pricing competing semiauto PDW-­style pistols, we found the Kuna also had them beat.

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