Rost Martin came out of nowhere as a small American company producing a budget-friendly handgun line that punched way above its weight in features and design. The Rost Martin series continues to expand, with the latest being the Rost Martin RM1X series. X stands for crossover.
What exactly have they crossed over with? The Rost Martin X features the compact slide with the full-sized grip module. This design has become increasingly popular over the last few years. With the rise of red dots, the need for a little additional sight radius isn’t necessary. Trimming the slide trims weight and length, making the gun more concealable overall.
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On the other side of the coin, a full-sized grip module offers enhanced control and additional capacity. It’s a winning combination that tends to have some excellent results in the field. I got a chance to shoot the Rost Martin RM1X way back in April at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous, and until today, I’ve had to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing.
The RM1X In Hand
The model I handled wasn’t the final product, and, as you’d imagine, there have been some changes over the last few months. The RM1X I shot still maintained the basic concept of a short slide and full-sized grip with all its benefits.
If you’ve never handled a Rost Martin, the gun isn’t like every other striker-fired polymer handgun. The Rost Martin guns feature a surprisingly thin grip with an aggressive grip texture that houses a double-stack 9mm magazine. It’s quite comfortable, and the aggressive grip texture stretches across all four sides of the grip.
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It doesn’t move in wet hands and grips tightly. The recoil impulse isn’t enough to dislodge it, and the thin grip allows for a lot of meat on the gun. I imagine if you have smaller hands, you’ll find the RM1X fits just right. Even with bigger hands, it’s completely comfortable.
I can get a nice, high grip on the gun without fear of slide bite. Accessing the controls feels natural, and my thumb never found a way to rest on the slide release and pin it down.
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The slide features aggressive serrations that make it easy to manipulate the slide and chamber a round. The guns are optics-cut because it’s not 2012 anymore. They come ready for RMR pattern optics, so the world is your oyster.
There are a lot of nice little features, like an ambidextrous magazine release and an ambidextrous slide lock. Rost Martin provides a lot of gun for a very fair price.
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Big Grip, Compact Slide
Combining the short slide with the long grip has all the aforementioned benefits for concealment and carry, but there’s more to it than that. That full-sized grip module offers you excellent control, and the shorter slide cycles faster than the full-sized slide design.
When shooting the RM1X, I noticed right away that the compact slide races forward rapidly and, most importantly, flatly. As you fire, the dot disappears, but as the slide cycles, it snaps right back into place. This makes it easy to land rapid shots on target and to keep long strings of fire under control and on target.
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The recoil impulse feels a bit snappier, but it’s not uncontrollable by any means. The dot becomes a blur, and that’s exactly what I want from my handgun.
The RM1X Series
When we first saw the RM1X series, it was a single gun; now it’s expanded into three different guns.
The RM1CX Standard – This is the model I handled for the most part. It’s the foundational model of the entire series.
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The RM1CX Comp – To make the gun even flatter-shooting, Rost Martin is offering a compensated version of the X series.
The RM1CX Tactical – The Tactical model integrates a threaded barrel and suppressor-height sights.
Rost Martin offers numerous capacity options. The standard capacity is 17 rounds with the RM1X series, but there are also 19- and 24-round options for shooters who prefer additional capacity. For those stuck in ban states, Rost Martin also produces 10-round magazines.
Rost Martin has taken on the crossover genre with style. Releasing a multitude of guns unleashes a multitude of options. While my time with the RM1X was shorter than I would have liked, I’m excited about the prospect of obtaining one for a true test and review in the near future.
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