John's Newest EDC Subcompact: The War Poet CR920

John's Newest EDC Subcompact: The War Poet CR920 John went to the range with our new War Poet CR920, a 9mm subcompact pistol from Shadow Systems that arrives out of the box with features that make it perfectly sleek for conceal carry and customizable for optics and accessories. "It's a really good gun." The War Poet CR920 is our newest EDC from Shadow Systems, and it brings a lot of good functions and features packaged in a trim, aesthetically desirable subcompact handgun.

CR920 Specs and Features

This is a striker-fired pistol chambered in 9mm with a match grade War Poet engraved 416R 3.41 inch stainless steel barrel and weighing in at 17.8 ounces. Its overall length is 6.37 inches, width 1.05 inches, 4.27 inches tall (with a flush mag) or 4.79 inches if you use the extended magazine. It's got a textured pommel receiver and a blade safety trigger that breaks at about five pounds of trigger pull. It comes optic ready at $800 and with a 507K Holosun it ends up at just over $1,000 MSRP.

Why I Love This Gun for EDC

It's tiny. Yay for that. The aches and pains and, sometimes, inconveniences of daily carry can sometimes wear on us aging warriors, but with a gun this compact but comfortable to carry and shoot, I'm a lot more likely carry on the days that I start out debating it before my first cup of coffee kicks in. Round capacity. Big win. With the 10 +1 and extended 12 + 1 magazine options on my waistline, I've got 24 rounds in a subcompact to get the job done. (Unfortunately there's a Con with the mags. You can't use anything but Shadow Systems mags in this gun yet, but the gun is still very new on the market so we'll see. Pro Tip: I've heard that with a slight modification you can make your Shield mags work. ) The gun and mags also work with my existing Glock 43, 43X and 48 holsters. Encourages Concealed Carry. If you're more likely to carry it, then you're helping make the world a safer place. What I want is all you guys out there carrying all the time so that if something goes sideways there'll be a Warrior Poet there to distribute justice and rescue people. So if the comfort and dimensions of your gun are a factor in being ready, equip yourself accordingly. I've upgraded myself and I'll be upgrading my wife to this gun. Fun and comfortable to shoot. You would think a subcompact piece like this would be a little trouble in the hand, but after putting two days of use and more than a hundred rounds through the CR920, I can safely say that this will become my new EDC. Comes Optic Ready. Nearly everything I carry nowadays has sights on it, and this pistol comes ready and can even come fully equipped with the Holosun sight, which is a leader in sight technology for your sidearm.

A Few Cons–Maybe

A Couple of Stoppages. In the interest of full disclosure, I did experience some failures to feed while on the range. In the interest of the context of what I know about break-in times, this was not really out of the ordinary or of any concern to me, because the majority of guns are fully broken in until they hit the 200-round mark. So mine certainly wasn't broken in and I was running it pretty hard out there. Con or Not? I'll let you decide. I personally give Shadow Systems a free pass at this point.

And actually, right now, that's about the only con I experienced with this new gun, and that's why I've made this my new EDC. If you want to get your own right now and support the cause in advance of us selling it in the store, visit sportsmansguide.com and search the term War Poet. Whatever EDC you choose to carry, Train Hard with it. Train Smart with it. Be a ready protector in a dangerous world with it.

Get the War Poet CR920 here.