Shadow Systems Created A Compact 9mm You Need To Carry

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Elite Elements

Shadow Systems pistols are known for their great ergonomics, well-designed optic-ready slides, and excellent accuracy. They are premium pistols that command premium prices, but by all accounts, they are well worth those prices. The new MR920 Elite pistol highlighted in this report has several elite elements.

First, its stainless-steel slide has been given a lot of attention. The company proudly brings notice to the forward-angled cocking grooves at the front and rear of the slide. As our photos show, there are four on each side up front and six on each side at the rear. Each one measures 0.98 inch wide. Shadow Systems says these “front and rear directional serrations are optimized for manipulation under stress and designed for a smoother draw.”

Interestingly, the top flat area of the slide between the front sight and the ejection port also has six stylish and effective angled cocking grooves. I can’t think of another everyday carry pistol that has grasping grooves on the top of the slide. It’s very unique.

The slide also has “weight-optimizing” (as Shadow Systems puts it) window cuts on both sides. They are readily visible in the accompanying photos because they allow the bronze-colored barrel (more about it later) to be seen. The contrast is striking.

The slide is stylishly thinned in various areas, including where the cocking grooves are located, and this thinned profile is functional as well as aesthetic. It enhances manual operation of the slide.

The slide of the MR920 Elite also features Shadow Systems’s patent-pending multi-footprint optic cut. With this system, the pistol doesn’t need an optic-mounting plate between the optic and the slide. The optic screws directly to the slide, and the cut will accept multiple popular red-dot optics from EOTech, Holosun, Leupold, Shield, SIG, Swampfox, Trijicon, TRUGLO, and Vortex.

Another nice touch on the MR920 Elite is the fact that the slide’s optic cut is low enough that standard-height sights can co-witness with the optic. (Shadow Systems’s other pistols also have this feature.) Readers may know that many optic-ready pistols need higher-than-standard sights in order to co-witness with the optic, and I think it’s quite convenient that Shadow Systems guns don’t. However, due to its high body, the Leupold DeltaPoint Pro will not co-witness with the MR920 Elite’s standard-height sights. Of course, the MR920 Elite’s sights are tall enough to accommodate a suppressor being threaded onto the muzzle of the barrel.

The slide’s finish is black nitride, and the slide’s edges are rounded (some shooters call the treatment “dehorning”). As I said earlier, this pistol is expertly engineered for the utmost in ergonomics.

As for sights, the MR920 Elite’s rear sight is dovetailed into the slide behind the optic cut, and it is all black with a 0.152-inch-wide square notch and fine horizontal striations on its face. The back of the sight has coarse striations on it. The pistol’s fixed front sight has a green-outlined tritium dot, and the front sight post is 0.140 inch thick and 0.252 inch tall.

The 416R stainless-steel match-grade barrel is special, too. It is 4.5 inches long, and it’s spiral fluted and threaded at the muzzle to accept a suppressor. It comes with a thread protector, and as mentioned earlier, it is bronze colored, with the finish being the rugged and durable TiCN.

The polymer frame features a recoil-control ledge formed into the dustcover for the support hand that is designed to help control muzzle flip in rapid fire. The dustcover also features an accessory rail with one cross-slot.

The grip area of the frame features aggressive and effective texturing (strategically located on the sides, frontstrap, and backstrap, as well as on the frame above the trigger guard), but it’s not so aggressive that it bites the hand. I found it to be comfortable, and I like the sort of tacky feeling it exhibited.

The pistol is engineered for interchangeable backstraps, and it comes with two extras (for a total of three). They are used to match the grip angle to the individual shooter’s natural point of aim, and they are very easy to swap out.

The grip frame also features a flared magwell; an extended, upswept beavertail; and a trigger guard undercut for a high hand hold. The trigger guard is squared, and it has texturing on the front side. The grip circumference straight across from the trigger guard measures 5.63 inches.

The trigger is polymer, and it has a safety lever built into it. The flat, smooth fingerpiece is 0.37 inch wide. The pull feels like a typical trigger on a striker-fired pistol, but I think it’s less “spongy” and slightly lighter than the norm. Our sample’s trigger pull averaged exactly 5.0 pounds over five measurements with an RCBS trigger pull scale. There is the expected amount of take-up, but let-off is crisp, clean, and consistent. There were just 6 ounces of variation over those five measurements. And I couldn’t detect any overtravel.

The magazines hold 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition. They are polymer and made by Magpul. They have removable polymer baseplates and polymer followers. For customers who live in areas where magazine capacity is limited, 10-round versions are also available.

The MR920 Elite comes with the two extra interchangeable backstraps I mentioned earlier, the tool for pushing out the retaining pin, several optic-mounting screws and compression spacers that go in front of and behind the optic (recommended but not mandatory), a tube of Loctite, a padlock-style gun lock, an extra magazine, and an embroidered and zippered soft carrying case with an internal pocket and elastic slots for five magazines. Oh, and the pistol fits holsters for the Gen4 Glock 19.

Elite Performance

After putting the MR920 Elite through our standard shooting evaluation protocols, I can say that it is a darn good shooting pistol. It was comfortable to shoot, and its accuracy was excellent.

I fired nine different 9mm factory loads through the MR920 Elite, and the results are listed in the accompanying chart. As you can see, bullet weights and styles ranged from Norma’s 108-grain MHP to Federal’s 150-grain HST, and in terms of accuracy, the pistol preferred the Hornady Critical Duty 135-grain FlexLock ammo, achieving an average of 2.75 inches. That’s for three, five-shot groups at 25 yards fired from a sandbag benchrest. The average velocity for that loading out of the 4.5-inch barrel was 1,113 fps.

The second-best ammunition in the accuracy department was the Black Hills 124-grain JHP. It averaged 2.95 inches, and its average velocity was 1,157 fps. Tied for third place in terms of accuracy were the HSM 115-grain XTP and the Remington Golden Saber 124-grain JHP. They averaged 3.00 inches, and their average velocities were 1,250 fps and 1,122 fps, respectively.

My current favorite 9mm factory load for pure fun shooting is Federal’s 150-grain HST loading because it is so soft shooting. In my experience shooting scads of 9mm pistols of all sizes, the load is not usually the most accurate in any given pistol, and that was the case with the MR920 Elite; however, it was reasonably accurate, averaging 3.25 inches. Its average velocity from the 4.5-inch barrel was 914 fps. After tallying up all the individual groups and averaging them, the pistol’s overall average accuracy was 3.27 inches.

I must point out that almost every single five-shot group I fired had at least three shots clustered together in an area measuring between 1 inch and 2 inches. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, my mediocre shooting skills obviously don’t do this pistol justice. I simply can’t shoot well enough to demonstrate this gun’s accuracy. Take it from me, the potential for exceptional accuracy is here.

Just to be thorough I also fired the pistol offhand with a bunch of miscellaneous 9mm ammo (loaded randomly into the magazines), and I had zero malfunctions. All rounds fed, fired, and ejected cleanly. An everyday carry pistol that is this well designed, has such elite ergonomics, and produces this kind of excellent accuracy truly is the best of the best. 

MR920 ELITE SPECS

• MANUFACTURER: Shadow Systems LLC shadowsystemscorp.com
• TYPE: Striker-fired autoloader
• CALIBER: 9mm Luger
• MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 15 rounds
• BARREL: 4.5 in.
• OVERALL LENGTH: 7.13 in.
• WIDTH: 1.53 in. (at magwell flare)
• HEIGHT: 4.75 in.
• WEIGHT, EMPTY: 20.9 oz.
• GRIPS: Integral to polymer frame
• FINISH: Black nitride slide, bronze-colored TiCN barrel, black polymer frame
• SIGHTS: All-black drift-adjustable rear, green-outlined tritium-dot front
• TRIGGER: 5.0-lb. pull (as tested)
• SAFETY: Trigger lever
• MSRP: $989

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