Nighthawk Custom, the firm with the motto ‘One Gun—One Gunsmith,” sent us a sample of their new Sand Hawk for this year’s Ballistic’s Best competition and boy is it a doozey! It features a full-length steel frame and dust cover with a machined aluminum grip frame that takes 17-round 9mm magazines. But the real magic is on the top end and includes a match grade barrel and single port compensator that makes shooting the Sand Hawk such a pleasure.
Our Sand Hawk possessed the Interchangeable Optics System (IOS), which comes with two dovetailed plates that allow the shooter to switch from an iron rear sight to a micro red-dot without the need to re-sight the gun. My Sand Hawk had a Trijicon RMR mounted on it when it arrived and that’s what I shot groups with.
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What impressed me the most about the Sand Hawk was its fitting. Slide to frame fit was incredibly tight yet the slide reciprocated like ice on glass! The slide matched up with the compensator so precisely it was nearly impossible to tell where the slide stopped and the compensator began.
The Sand Hawk is one of those guns that is so well fit and shoots so precisely that it will always be the gun I judge every other 1911 by. During our photography session, Alex Landeen asked me to shoot a steel Popper and knock it over. I was able to hit it with three very quick shots. What a joy this gun is to shoot.
KC: “Now this looks like a working man’s gun! Every feature is designed to make the gun work for its user! I am not a fan of flat-faced triggers, they just don’t fit my finger right, but I have to give the trigger break a 4.9 based on its lack of creep, crispness and firm reset. I also love the gold bead front sight. It takes a lot of handwork to massage these components into a functioning gun and this piece is so near perfect that I think the price is worth every dollar. But my standard for working man’s gun is could a 25-year-old deputy afford to put this gun in his holster and ride the road?”
LG: “This is perfection. I love everything about this gun! The fit and finish are exemplary, and the trigger pull is…exquisite! The beavertail and grip frame let the shooter get a very high hold on the gun, and I love that you can switch between iron sights and a micro red-dot and not have to sight them back in. Its fit and finish is impeccable. Its price will undoubtedly be prohibitive for most, but every shooter should aspire to own a gun this nice!”
