Nighwhawk Custom BDS9: new all-rounder competition double-stack 1911!
Nighthawk Custom introduces the Boardroom Double Stack 9 pistol: a high-end 2011 variant in 9mm Luger, designed from the ground up for competition in multiple divisions of IPSC and USPSA
First announced back in March and now finally in distribution, the Nighthawk Custom BDS9 (Boardroom Double Stack 9) 9mm Luger semi-automatic pistol is the latest creation of the Berryville, Arkansas-based company specializing in high-end 1911-type pistols for defensive, competition, and tactical applications since 2004.
Entirely hand-made (mostly) out of stainless steel, the BDS9 is a purely competition-oriented pistol: its size, caliber, capacity and features make it a perfect all-rounder for almost all divisions of IPSC and USPSA.
The Nighthawk Custom BDS9 is built around a forged stainless steel frame and slide; the latter has a heavy tri-cut angle top and lightening ports on bogh sides and on top, allowing the slide to cycle quicker for faster follow up shots.
The BDS9 comes from factory with a dovetailed red or green fiber-optic front sight and a Heinie Black Ledge rear sight installed on a removable protective plate for Nighthawk Custom's own Interchangeable Optics System (IOS), giving shooters the option of shooting iron sights or a red dot optic and to easily change among them while holding zero.
The stainless steel frame of the Nighthawk Custom BDS9 and the aluminum billet grip – of 2011 design, made to host double-stack 17-rounds metal magazines – are built as separate components.
The frame features a full-length recon rail, for added weight down low where you want it, and two with two slide stops, with the first one operating like any standard 1911 slide stop, and the second being disengaged, for those competition shooters who do not want the slide to lock back and to make any magazine over insertion or premature lock back impossible while running the pistol fast in competition.
All steel metal components are protected by a durable DLC finish – silver for the frame and slide, black for the trigger, hammer, dovetail, barrel, and controls. The aluminum alloy billet grip, with its aggressive texture for a stout grip in all conditions, is hard-anodized in black.
The BDS9 also features a 127 mm / 5" Match-grade bull barrel, cut flush with the slide and with a recessed target crown, and a .38 Super Auto stainless steel firing pin for increased durability.
Standing at 218 mm / 8.58" in overall length, with a 16,5 cm / 6.51" sight radius, and tipping the scale at 1,08 kilograms (38.2 oz) when empty, the Nighthawk Custom BDS9 debuts on a market that is, indeed, very crowded, but also populated by shooters who know what they want and are willing to pay the right price for just the level of quality they are looking for.
And indeed, one should be ready to pay the right price for the Nighthawk Custom BDS9, which is currently available on the US market at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $5,999.00.