The Nighthawk T4 is still recognizably a 1911, but it has a lot of design changes that make it unique.
Nighthawk T4: https://www.nighthawkcustom.com/t4
Buy One: /nighthawk t4
The very first pistol I ever shot was a Colt 1911. I’m pretty sure it was WWII era A1. I was a senior in high school at the time, and had one magazine worth of .45 ACP and a target about 25 yards away. If you had asked me before I shot it what I thought of the gun, I’d have told you it was the greatest gun ever, and that I was about to put seven rounds in a hole the size of a dime.
I didn’t. I shot the old pistol and felt let down. Not only did I miss with most of the shots, but I had a hard time holding the thing. And the controls were impossible to reach. I should say that I was much smaller than I am now, but still–I’d expected the experience to cement my life-long love of the 1911.
I didn’t shoot another one for 15 years. In that time, I shot everything else I could get my hands on, but I’d all but given up on the old single action. When I finally came back, I looked at the gun as an artifact. I thought about the 1911 the same way I thought of the 1873 Colt, or the Mauser C96. Fascinating, yes, but more of a footnote than a firearm I’d carry every day.
You can probably guess that those opinions have changed. Big time. There were a number of guns that influenced this–1911s from venerable companies that all make hard working 1911s. Yet it is the upper tier of single actions that really has my mind spinning. And I’ve added another company to my list of must-own-guns. Nighthawk Custom. If there was ever a gun company that refused to let the 1911 become a footnote, it is Nighthawk Custom.
The T4 is an eveoltution of Nighthawk’s Talon line of Pistols, and is built around the 9mm cartridge.
On with the review…
Sometimes companies send us guns to review. They just show up magically. Other times, we make requests that get filled (sooner or later). Nighthawk doesn’t have pistols earmarked for review writers to take out and beat up. We tend to keep them too long, and push them to their limits. Still, I went up to the Nighthawk shop to see first hand how the guns were made–hoping that I might get my hands on a gun for an afternoon. Alas, no. I spent the better part of a day talking to the smiths at Nighthawk, and got my hands on some really good Arkansas barbeque, but the never-ending rain kept us from shooting.
Imagine my surprise when a friend handed me his T4 a couple of weeks later. He was carrying it at the time, so he pulled off his belt, dropped the mag and unloaded the gun. He passed me the gun knowing full well what I was going to do with it. I remember the look on his face. It was a kind of knowing confidence.
The controls on the Nighthawks are all machined, not molded. This adds significant strength to the parts most likely to break.
The Nighthawk T4 Talon
- Height: 4.99″
- Width: 1.32″
- Length: 7.4″
- Weight: 34.3 oz.
- 3.8″ Barrel Length
- Stainless Steel Frame Standard
- Black Nitride Finish
- Tritium Dot Front Night Sight
- Heinie Slant Pro Straight Eight Rear Night Sight
- Bull Barrel
- Single-Side Safety
- 9mm only
I usually pay good attention to my guns. This being a Nighthawk, a gun from a company that specializes in 1911s, I assumed it was a .45. I drove home, loaded up all of my gear, grabbed every flavor of .45 ACP I had on the shelf, and headed to the range. I hadn’t even removed the gun from its holster yet to see that it was obviously a T4. And after slogging through the mud and getting everything set up, I put the gun on and dropped the mag. I did a double take. Not a .45.
So it’s a 9mm. That would make sense, as the T4 is gun designed around the 9mm round. Everything about the gun is built with the challenges of the 9mm in mind. And with the extremely wide variety of 9mm available, that’s saying something. There are a huge number of variations.
Yes, the T4 is a 9mm. To be honest, I didn’t even know which model it was I’d been handed, and just made the assumption it was a .45.
With no 9mm on hand, and a bunch of .45 ACP that I couldn’t shoot, I took the gun home and decided I’d do it right. Research. I needed to do a bit of it.
Part of what makes the T4 distinct is the barrel length. Nighthawk experimented with various shorter barrel lengths before committing to the 3.8″ length. They found that to be the sweet spot. Short enough to conceal, long enough to provide consistent performance.
The recoil is managed by a modified Bob Marvel Everlast Recoil System. The big distinction is a flat spring. Round springs stack as they are compressed, which mean that the force needed to compress the spring increases as it is compressed. The flat springs compress more evenly and consistently. They’ve used the design in other guns, and it is supposed to cut down on felt recoil and improve split times. Any attempt to describe the system’s effectiveness would be completely subjective on my part. I will say that there’s no abusive snap, and that it is indeed fast. The real benefit is the life of the spring, which Nighthawk estimates at 15,000 rounds or more.
The mainspring housing is super flat, which has a distinct feel.
The frame has been thinned, too, though only by a fraction of an inch. It does feel slightly less bulky than a .45 ACP. It is almost as if the gun feels scaled down. The grips add to this sensation. They’ve been thinned, too, though they still maintain an aggressive texture and slightly rounded profile.
One of the most visually striking elements of the pistol is the cut at the front of the slide. This cut removes a bit of mass, but also makes a great place to grab the gun for a fast slide rack.
Inside, the heavy barrel has been profiled carefully shaped for a perfect lock up. The barrel has a deep crown, which protects the rifling from the abuse sustained by a gun meant to be carried everyday.
Shooting results
1911s are hard to review. Even the bottom of the barrel imports shoot incredibly well these days. And in the Nighthawk Custom price range, you know full well the gun is going to shoot straight. So I wasn’t terribly surprised to see that this one could perform. 9mm 1911s are a complicated breed of single actions, but even with the lowest power, the T4 performed. And it ate everything I had on hand.
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Working from the holster with the T4. I always pull slightly low and left when I’m shooting fast. That’s all 8 rounds.
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It is accurate enough that you can easily place shots exactly where you want when concentrating on form.
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Accuracy is spot on. As you can see in the images above, you can run it fast and put down a viscous and exsanguinating group, or slow it down and call your shots. Nothing at all to complain about there.
The Heine sights have a lot of real estate, and a very small dot to align with the front. While it isn’t my preferred sight system, it is capable of solid results.
Complaints?
Did I just imply that there might be something I would want to complain about? I’m not sure complain is the right word. A lot of Nighthawks are custom orders, which negates a lot of complaints. If it were my carry pistol, I might change up the rear sight. I like the Heine sight, a lot, when I’m shooting, but I’ve grown so accustomed to brighter dots on the rear. In order to get the accuracy I wanted with the T4 from holster draws, I had to process the rear sight for a split second longer than I would have liked.
That’s all a familiarity issue. In the course of a normal review, I like to carry a gun as long as is feasible. I shoot it as much as I can, on multiple range trips. I’m not going to pretend that I did that with this T4, precisely because it didn’t belong to me and it doesn’t belong to a faceless corporation. After a month with the T4, I gave it back. And while I was happy to give up the responsibility that comes with carrying around a friend’s gun, I was sad to see the T4 go. I’d grown a bit attached to it.
So what about the Nighthawk price-tag?
I can’t win when I get to this part of the review. There are many of you who are still reading this who are just about to jump into the comments section below and blast the hell out of me, and Nighthawk, and whoever else you can name for making a gun that has an MSRP of $3,395. Go right ahead. They’ve heard it before. I’ve heard it, too. And I get it. These guns are expensive.
The weight reduction on the front of the slide provides a great texture for slide manipulation.
All I ask is that you keep it in perspective. The price of a Nighthawk isn’t arbitrary. If this were cheese, they’d call it artisanal. If it were beer, it would be the ultimate craft micro-brew. Wine. Cigars. Whiskey. Our world is full of consumables that many people pay for without hesitating. But when you buy a Nighthawk, you have a gun that will last forever (with proper care). And it isn’t going to depreciate significantly, if at all. So why would anyone complain?
Maybe it is because there are guns capable of delivering the 9mm projectiles just as effectively, and at much lower price points. There are plastic guns that shoot just fine, and you can buy at least six of them, maybe more, for the price of one Nighthawk. That, though, is missing the point.
I keep trying for the perfect metaphor do describe the philosophy that justifies the price. Cars come to mind. You can buy a cheap used car off Craigslist, or you can go to a dealer and drop more than I paid for my house. Both will get you to the grocery store. One is certainly built to a higher level of perfection, and with more attention to detail.
And that’s what you’re paying for with the T4. Not only do you get design sophistication, you also get a level of craftsmanship that sets these 1911s apart from the others. Each gun is built by one smith. The smith signs his work, too. This isn’t a pompous declaration of artistic status, but a mark of ownership. The smith owns his work. And if the gun ever has a single issue, anything, it goes back to the man who built it.
The Heine sight does have a slight ridge on its front edge that allows for one handed manipulation of the slide.
As for the build itself, it was amazing to watch. The guns are built from the best parts possible. All of the controls are machined. There are no metal injection molded parts. And everything is hand fitted. It is a mesmerizing process. When I was up at the shop, I stood and watched a smith fitting a frame to a slide. I’ve always been a bit impatient with hand tools, and watching a smith take short strokes with a file, test the fit, take another stroke, test the fit, hit it with sand paper, test the fit… all while holding an intelligent conversation? It was both oddly hypnotic and awe inspiring at the same time.
So you are paying for the parts, and the design of the gun, and the attention to detail that makes a Nighthawk a Nighthawk. And you are paying for one artisan who works with his hands to craft your gun. And he isn’t being driven by quotas, but by the finished product he produces. Because he signs his name to the gun, he knows full well he’ll answer for any eventual defects.
As for me, I’m sold. Not literally, as I can’t afford one. Not yet. At the beginning of this piece, I droned on about how I had erroneously thought of the 1911 as a footnote. I’m a long way from that viewpoint now. A very long way. The Nighthawk guns I’ve seen in the last few months have all been viable carry guns. These aren’t decoration pieces. They’re not precious. They’re hard working pistols that are meant to be carried every day. And I’d have no qualms about trusting my life and the lives of those I love to the T4.
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The Nighthawk guns often come with custom holsters. This one has the Nighthawk logo prominently embossed on the front.
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Note how the belt loops are cut through the back.
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The holster is open on the end, but the muzzle is still protected.
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While it isn’t as small as the new line of single stack 9mms, it isn’t as big as you would think. The T4 is easily concealable and shoots rings around the plastic pistols.
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The T4 offers more than enough grip, but maintains an ideal size for everyday carry.
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The more I worked with the T4, the more I liked it. I even got to where I could thread the needle from a timed holster draw. These were shot from 21 feet as fast as I could from the holster.
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The trigger pull came in right at 3 pounds.
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If you like an aggressive grip, you’ll dig these. The checkering and lines are all precise and well executed, but the grooves in these grips are like a rasp.
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I’ve reviewed the comments and since I own a T4 feel my comments would be useful. My T4 at this point has about 2500 rds through it including bout 1100 at Gunsite. It required a return to Nighthawk with multiple FTF. Turn around was 9 days with profuse apology and absolutely no charge to me not even shipping.
I shoot very very very well with my T4 earning comments from Gunsite staff. It fits me perfectly. My Colt Gunsite 5″ 45 feels clunky in my hand.
Were I limited to one gun I would unhesitatingly chose my nighthawk. No contest. Is it expensive yes. Is it worth it ? Yes to me. It fits me perfectly and now tuned it has never failed. No gun is perfect but I love it. I will never part with it.
J
“Kimber has seen the writing on the wall……..” lol
How about “Build a better mouse trap and people will flock to your door.”
I believe Wilson and NH have a 12 to 18 month waiting list for ordering pistols. I think they have seen the writing on the wall as well.
Wowsers! That a price tag! I being a working man will never warrant spending that kind of money on a tool, yep, it’s a tool not a machine or something from vanity fare! If that tool earned me a living, well ,different story. Many a person can take a plain jane 1911 and go to their shop, with a box of parts, spit shine, clearance, clean, polish and come out with not only a defensive 1911 but a offensive one capable of shooting anything that fits in it 80-100 yards accurately, more accurately than most of us can shoot! Granted not everyone can but at that price tag you could pay a pistol smith to do the same and still probably come out a lot cheaper but end up with a custom hand gun tailored just for you! Some companies just get ridiculous with people doing some touch up work, installing different parts on a gun and thinking they are all custom made, sell them for such because they market it as such, people believe it! I mean after all people wanted a change and boy are we getting it!
Give me a break any one of you would jump on one of these expensive 1911 if you had the money to blow. But don’t degrade people that have the money to buy them. My first 1911 was a Dan Wesson Pointman Nine then a Springfield RO 9mm then found a great deal on a NIB Les Baer Custom Carry Carry $1288. These will all be handed down to my grandson
As soon as I saw the price, you lost me. CZ makes beautiful guns too and they are way less expensive. I doubt I would spend that much on a 9mm even if I won the lottery. Even Kimber has seen the writing on the wall when it comes to ridiculous prices on 1911’s…
I have a 3k pellet gun. A lot of men do. In fact we have an organization. http://www.aafta.org I love the best stuff.
Let me see: Subtract the length of the 9mm round and this pistol has a two inch barrel*. For about half the purchase price, I can buy either a seven or eight round .357 Magnum revolver with the same length of barrel.
Not impressed in the least. I’ll stick with my Taurus 92 pistol and Rossi snubbie revolver and still have enough left over for several boxes of ammo. Sometimes the Prestige of ownership compensates for the cost and negatives, but not here.
*For the few who don’t know, Automatics include the chamber length in the barrel length, For the true barrel length, subtract the length of the cartridge.
Yes these guns are expensive, but you get what you pay for. I have owned many of this brand as well as Wilson,Ed Brown, Christensen etc, but I always come back to Nighthawk as my favorite. This is like buying a Porsche. There are cheaper cars that go as fast, but they aren’t a Porsche. If you can afford it, it is worth the money. Everyone should have at least one high end gun in his or her collection, even if it hurts the wallet a little
I just picked up a nice Star Super B in 9mm, single stack, for about $300, from Aim Surplus. She’s a beauty, nice, hefty Spanish steel, very similar to the 1911 but with some nice changes. Nobody has $3,000 to blow on a handgun!! In my car I carry a CZ-82 in 9×18 Mak, another bargain, very reliable, I think I paid about $250 for it.
Capacity? In a review of “Single Stack Perfected”, you would think there would be some discussion about capacity…
I dont want to make anyone angry with me but I have been around weapons for over 50 years. I believe that the manyfactors and traders are making fools out of us. I am a cold war vet. combat engineer. The consealed carry has opened up a mulitude of disgaceful weapons. most of the small handguns that are supplied to new gunowners are terible and not practical. If I have to shooot someone—I want him dead. Not going to get up and kickmy but. A good habndgun has to fire properply 99% of the time. I dont believe in consealed carry even tho I have my card. We are Americans and should be be able to just wear our weapon on our hip. I am tired of imports . I like the 1911’s a lot. But I don’t own one. Do carry a 9 mm lugar which is just a showpiece. I carry my backup 357 Mag. I use it to deeer hunt with It is a revolver and very accurate. I purchaced a Commerative Army for my sonafter he completed his military and is now retired. But he has his gold inlaidl 1911 for my thanks for his service. I am not sure but I believe that General Pattonallways wore his army 1911.My point is this. We really need the best weapons built for our safety today. We need to eliminate these forign imports and junk guns sold to people who dont know the diference between good American and foreign junk All guns today are overpriced by over 100%I am going to pick up a 357 3 inch americanan handgun for my Consealed carry
My wife born in Berryville (1946), we are old. Always wanted a Wilson or.nighthawk. guess I will get a sti & wwIi colt & couple surplus long guns instead with money left …
Lesson learned.
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Z
What are you talking about?
Nice review… a hand built gun will always be more expensive and usually more accurate. I experienced that when shooting a hand built 1911 and a mass produced “custom shop” 1911. The mass produced gun did quite well. The hand built gun was exceptional and functioned at an entirely different level. I never have found a formula that can equate apples to oranges yet.
I don’t carry the custom gun anymore, too much sentimental value to even think of having to “drop the gun” and kick it across the concrete if I were to be involved in a self-defense situation. Plastic guns… no biggie. And, for me, “minute of bad guy” (2-3″ at 30′) is good enough, but that’s what works for me.
And yes, my life is worth more than $500. Just ask my wife. We have an insurance policy to prove it!
When I go out to make a “joyous noise,” I take both my custom and plastic guns and appreciate both for what each has to offer.
Sorry man,but I get better performance and comfort than you’ve described out of my 9mm Yugo Tok that I bought second hand at a pawn shop. Granted I’ve made improvements to it such as polishing all the sliding parts and reducing trigger pull and lenght but even if I had to pay a gunsmith to do those things it wouldn’t come close to a 1/3 the T4 price.
I get ten rounds if I stuff one in the chamber before I release the slide and they all go through the same hole at 20ft.
Concealed carry shouldn’t cost a fortune,we do it because we feel we need to. If I could get an American made pistol for $300 that was worth a ****,not made out of plastic,I’d toss this Tok in 1/2 a heartbeat,so there’s your challenge.
and with that barrel lenght they just completely eliminated the canadian market…our retarded laws prohibit less than 105 mm or about 4 1/16″,,,
Let me start by saying I own several 1911’s. One custom handmade for a top sarge Marine who gave it to me because of I-Corp 1966 with my promise to NEVER sell it or give it too anyone who was not a Vet. I will probably slightly break that promise since when I pass along west it will go to a son who spent 6 tours in the “Sand Box” and “Rock Pile”as he calls it. (We old Veitnam Vets are getting a bit long in the tooth) That 1911 shoots like a rifle and when I could see better had NO problem edging bullet hole after bullet hole to drop a bull from a target at 25 feet. (Can’t come close now but the pistol can). That being said it is not the perfect carry gun. That I discovered due to needing to carry a gun that would save my life life without fail each and every time I needed one to do so, no matter how dirty, sweated on, lint filled, or what ever. Realizing that M.O.A. was foolish in that regard I decided I simply needed M.O.M at 50feet or less. Moment Of Man! The best one I have ever owned came in at a price tag of $350.00. An ugly as hell weapon that did not even feel like a good gun, but one that a German engineer marveled at because it was so finely engineered that one hundred of them could be broken down, put in a bag and shook up, reassembled from parts randomly and they would all work perfectly as designed. A pistol that just for kicks I shot 10,000 rounds without cleaning (all rapid fired double taps on multiple targets) and it never failed ONE time, and was MOM at the end. That pistol was one of the first Glock 17’s commercially available in this country. I probably own 25 or 30 very fine pistols at any given time (being a gun nut), but when I need to be in a place where my life absolutely depends on it I make one choice. I still pick up a Glock17 and either put it in a friction holster, or even a pocket. My life is worth far more than $3000.00 to me. So I carry the best pistol I have regardless of price. One that I absolutely know will work for me at any cost. Even though it still can be bought for about $450 dollars.
Of course that does not keep me from buying those cool, shiny, pretty toys that all us boys think we just have to have one of. Remember folks the ONLY thing that a pistol really is, other than a fun toy, is as an instrument that will put M.O.M. on a man as fast and as dependable as possible. It is nothing more than a tool to save your life!!! What ever the cost.
Being a left hand shooter (in fact I shoot with either hand) and seeing no controls on the right side of the T4 makes this gun just another poorly engineered mechanical device for its real purpose. FN got it a long time ago. I can and do shoot the same groups with many other $500 or so guns and the ones I carry are all ambidextrous. Also, all my $450-$800 guns have greater round capacity. Why would you not want a pistol that can be correctly functioned and utilized with either hand? 45 acp, 40 s&w, 357, 9 mm many arguments of which is “the best round” but the accuracy of any of these rounds and hitting the CNS (central nervous system) in a life and death situation is truly the most important (most studies show). So; a 1911 pistol in 9 mm that is accurate is good, the price, beyond ridiculous and displays real contempt towards us (custom gun or not). Designing, developing and producing a pistol that can not correctly be functioned by either hand, no matter what the craftsmanship, is really a wasted effort. You can purchase at least 5 new other brand pistols with similar accuracy, reliability, higher round count and are ambidextrous at the same price of the Nighthawk T4. Enough said.
“The ‘perfect’ is the enemy of the good-enough”. Nighthawk 1911’s are close to perfect (like the Ed Brown, Wilson, etc.). While it is totally true that you can take a perfectly functional garden variety GI 1911 and make it into a veritable target pistol by fitting a match grade barrel/bushing, changing the sights, improving the trigger/action, and fitting/lapping the slide, hand-checkering the front strap, changing the grips, doing some de-horning/smoothing and refinishing, and running a few hundred “break-in”/test rounds through the thing in multiple trips to the range during the process. The net investment in parts, tools, and especially time will usually substantially exceed the price of the gun. As a “youngster,” the >40 hours that I invested doing all of the above (over-and-over again as I gradually honed-in on “perfect”) became a labor of love that turned a $400 GI 1911 into a >$1500 dollar (assuming my time = $10/hr way back when) 1911 that no one but me–and anyone that shot it– would value at even close to that price range). Of course, having done it once and having accumulated all of the tools/experience you naturally want to do it again, help-out friends, etc. and the net time investment grows by an order of magnitude over the subsequent years. Along the way, you apply the same standards of improvement to yourself and after you flash-forward a decade or so you find yourself a professional that bills-out your time at a few hundred dollars an hour (and with a family, your spare time is now far, far more valuable to you). Now you know who buys these “artisanal” (which really should be spelled artisANAL) 1911’s. In fairness to those of us that belong in “1911 anonymous” (if you have close to ten 1911’s, you’re at least an honorary member), I should add that CNC machining has make the job much less time consuming over the intervening years, so now it might just take 10 hours (and few hundred dollars worth of new parts) to get a gun close to what Les Baer delivers out of the box. Personally, I draw the price line at Les Baer (which is “perfect enough” for me– and, IMO, the best real value in 1911’s), but I don’t begrudge the folks with that have a slightly higher/different standard of “perfect” than me (and are willing to pay for it). If you get a chance to shoot a Nighthawk, Brown, or Wilson at tbe range, jump at it. Just beware that, as with many other things in life, it can be hard to go back afterwards (as is especially the case with high end optics).
It’s looks like a great firearm. But maybe it’s the “old Marine” in me, but I prefer a 1911 in 45 acp (sorry about your negative experience with your first one).
Additionally, the price is out of most people’s range. I shot my first Sig Sauer many years ago and when I found out how much it cost I thought to myself, I am going to save my money and get one of these. But when a firearm is priced over $1000 and it’s a 9mm…there are so many other firearms (handguns and rifles) that I would prefer to spend my money on.
Great review though…:)
Some may call it vanity, I call it simply the best of all my pistols. I have Glocks, S&W M&Ps, Rugers, Bursas, Tauras, a CZ SP01 tactical, a German Sports 22, and I have a Night Hawk 45ACP. I like shooting each, but, while some nay sayers trying to appear knowledgeable may call it a vanity gun, the Night Hawk simple out shoots any and all of them; and it eats anything you feed it – of the right caliber that is. Yes, each can give decent showing at 15 and 25 yards and stay within a 5 or 6in circle (wild shots not included). Even the Bursa can manage fair accuracy. Also, in order to make any of the other pistols come close to the Night Hawk, one must do after market upgrades, which are not cheap. Even tournament shooters using Glocks, do not use factory Glocks, they will generally upgrade the pistol- but then that puts the Glock not at $500 or $600 but over $1000 sometime much more. In order to make my Glock more comfortable for the trigger finger, I had to replace the factory trigger with a third party trigger assembly. When it comes to firearms, cheap may not be the best option. As the saying goes; you can buy a $300 pair of shoes and wear them for three years, or you can buy three $100 shoes and wear each for a year. My pistols range in price from not so expensive (around $300), to mid range (around $800 to $1200) to the Night Hawk which is expensive (over $3000). Each, except for the Night Hawk so far, have had their problems and each have their ‘selling points’. My two favorites are the CZ SP01 Tactical and the Night Hawk. But when it comes to flat out accuracy, reliability, comfort in shooting and satisfaction, the Night Hawk wins hands down over the others. Vanity has nothing to do with these aspects. Also, a pistol is a private thing, it is what satisfies the owner, it is what makes the owner happy, it is what works for the owner. If the cheaper imports work for you, and if you are satisfied with them, then that is fine, buy all you want. If the plastic frame striker fired pistols work for you, then buy all you want. For me, having both cheaper and higher priced weapons, I find the superb handling and craftsmanship of the Night Hawk and the fact that only one gunsmith has worked on the piece is a good thing.
I have a Rock Island 1911 that shoots everything I load in it. In 9mm!
The only upgrade was polishing the integral parts. No drop ins. No major spending.
It’s death up to 20 yards. Ridiculously accurate. Ugly as hell.
The more I shoot it, the better it gets. I carry it concealed in the winter. When toting a full size is easier.
I’ve got $500 in that gun (only upgrade is Hogue Grips) and I’ll go round for round with your Nighthawk.
My Rock Island is a tool. A reliable tool. An instrument. Like a steel kitchen knife handed down from grandpa. Your’s is a Celebrity Chef branded vanity piece that cuts the same tomatoes my does.
The Beretta PX4 Storm full size 9mm is $525. It has a rotating barrel that results in very little recoil, holds 17 shots, has an ambidextrous safety/decocker, has a picatinny rail and is extremely accurate. Beats the T4 on many levels and at 1/7 th the price. Try one and when you grip it, you feel as though you are holding a gun twice it’s size and that you can hit anything you aim at and it delivers. And it delivers. Also, the slide rack is like glass!
I’m sorry… but cost + mark up isn’t ever $3000+ for a new hand gun.
Unless VANITY is at play.
And if you are building a Concealed Carry gun… Vanity should never enter into the calculus. Concealed Carry isn’t a beauty pageant.
I’ve no doubt it is a find firearm. Capable and accurate. But it’s value is based more on vanity than craftsmanship and durability as you imply. You even said so yourself when you compared it to wine, whiskey and cigars. None of which can save a life. (OK… maybe Whiskey.)
The point is you know I’m right because you all but said the same thing. And hey… I’m never going to tell a company what to charge. But Concealed Carry is a special situation. And we need to do all we can to make sure the CC Options take a few things into considerations.
1. runs out of the box. No break in period. (sorry Kimber)
2. Isn’t a vanity gun and doesn’t have a vanity price.
3. Is made to be concealed and stay concealed. Breaking concealment is a problem. Often illegal, always in bad taste. Which doesn’t lend itself to VANITY!!!!
Love the reviews on this site. I will admit though that I stopped reading when I read the MSRP, lol
Ridiculous is the only word I can think of that is even remotely appropriate. The Cz-75 is at least as much gun for a LOT less money (and holds a lot more ammo, too).
CZ-75 us like a Prius. It gets good mileage and its a car. Nighthawk is a Ferrari. Its accurate smooth and if you never shot one you won’t understand. So try one out before you post foolish comments. You comment is like saying that a $200 hunting rifle is the same as a top of the time sniper rifle. Not even close.