First Look: Honor Defense Honor Guard

One of the newest players in the concealed carry gun market is Honor Defense, a small company with an innovative, modular design that emphasizes versatility and reliability. The flagship gun of the Honor Defense lineup is called the Honor Guard.

The Honor Defense Honor Guard is a striker-fired single-stack 9mm with a 7+1 magazine capacity. An 8+1 extended magazine is included with the purchase of every gun. The size and weight of the gun are designed with concealed carry in mind.

Unloaded, the Honor Guard weighs 22 ounces. Barrel length is 3.2 inches with an overall length of 6.2 inches. The total height with a 7-round magazine is 4.6 inches, and the pistol measures .96 inches in width. Trigger pull is measured at 7 pounds with a short reset.

The Honor Defense Honor Guard is designed with options to fit most any shooter. The magazine release and slide lock lever are ambidextrous across all designs, and the gun is available with an optional manual safety.

The pistol also comes with unique grip texturing that is designed to ensure a firm grip across all possible surfaces on the frame. The Honor Guard also features wraparound serrations on the front and rear of the slide and includes interchangeable backstraps in varying sizes.

The Honor Defense Honor Guard was designed with the input of professionals and veterans who highlighted particular features they would like to see in a carry gun. These features included snag-free sights that are ramped in the rear to ensure a smooth draw.

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In the event that a one-handed rack is necessary, a flat face on the front of the rear sights allows a shooter to grab onto a solid surface to rack the gun. The front sight is orange to stand out against the two white dots on the rear sight in order to facilitate target acquisition.

In addition to the sight design, input from industry professionals led to the design of another offering by Honor Defense: the FIST frame. FIST is an acronym for Firearm with Integrated STandoff. The FIST frame incorporates an extended rail beyond the front of the slide.

The benefit of the FIST frame is that it ensures that the slide will stay in battery in a close-quarters self-defense situation. If the front of the gun is up against an attacker, putting pressure on the front of the gun will not move the slide out of battery, ensuring that the gun can be fired.

The Honor Defense Honor Guard was tested by the company for durability and reliability with 17 different types of SAAMI-approved ammunition and is +P rated. In addition to the sub-compact Honor Guard, a long-slide version will also be available.

An additional emphasis that Honor Defense puts on its products is the fact that every part of the gun is made in the United States from domestically-sourced material and is assembled by U.S. military veterans.

The suggested retail price on the Honor Defense Honor Guard is $499. The sub-compact and FIST frame versions are shipping now. The long-slide and manual-safety-equipped options will begin shipping in Fall 2016.