Here I go again writing about handguns, and this time it’s on another handgun that was designed with women in mind. I sometimes feel overwhelmed when writing about my experiences with handguns, but I sure do enjoy shooting guns, as well as the arduous — and sometimes difficult — process of recording my thoughts. There’s a learning curve, for sure, but I am certainly up for the challenge. Besides, it’s not bad to get a point of view from a person who is not as advanced, nor quite as technical, as more seasoned gunwriters. To be fair, I am married to a respectable and ridiculously prolific gunwriter, so I should have picked up some knowledge, guidance and coaching along the way! Clearly, I am not saying I’m a gunwriter yet, but you never know.

I have been having a great time going to the range these days. I really appreciate the differences in shooting various models and types of pistols. The Lady Hawk, by Nighthawk Custom, is the latest gun that I’ve been fortunate enough to get my hands on. A Lady Hawk 2.0 with an optional DLC finish and rose-­gold accents was released in 2024, but I had already ordered the original Lady Hawk, which starts at $4,399. These models are built on a 1911 Commander frame that was slimmed down about as much as possible without compromising the design. The so-­called “Moon Hawk” laser-­engraved grips are the Ultra Thin panels from AlumaGrips, which are much easier for my smaller hands to control. Introduced in 2008, the Lady Hawk is not new to the market but it’s the only 1911 pistol said to have been designed with female shooters. The Lady Hawk and Lady Hawk 2.0 are both available in 9mm and .45 ACP. For the last several months, I have been testing the 9mm version, and it has been a dream to shoot. Announced at the 2018 SHOT Show, the Lady Hawk 2.0 adds cosmetic features that appeal to a female audience. Though the Lady Hawk I’m shooting lacks the opal grips of the 2.0, I like the clean, simple look of this handgun just fine.

The pistol came in a simple soft case. The main pocket was fitted for the pistol and two magazines, while a roomy outer pocket stores accessories and ammo. Two magazines were supplied; one 10-­round mag with finger extension, and one flush-­fitting nine-­round magazine. 

The magazine with finger extension was neutral for me; my hands are not big enough to find it useful, so my grip and hand position were the same when shooting with either magazine. 

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Nighthawk Custom’s slogan is “One Gunsmith, One Gun.” From the first part machined to dehorning and test firing, after a gun is completed, the gunsmith marks his initials under the left grip panel. Every pistol is guaranteed for the lifetime of the gun, regardless of who owns it. These are heirloom quality guns that could be passed down to kids and grandkids.

Manipulation

The average lady — including me — often has issues producing enough hand strength to easily rack a 1911’s slide. Not so with the Lady Hawk! The first quality I noticed about it was how smooth and effortless it was to rack the slide. I had no problem working this one from the start. Even my skilled husband, Craig, commented, “I’ve never touched a 1911 with a slide so easy to put into battery.” 

As I am still getting comfortable working the slide on most pistols, more female-­centric and “easy-to-rack” pistols are being brought to market. Finding handguns to shoot is becoming less of an issue for me. It’s good to see manufacturers taking note of female customers. Whether we like to admit it or not, we often have smaller hands and less hand strength than our male counterparts.

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The Lady Hawk is a sleek and attractive pistol, but it also offers more in terms of handling, accuracy, and comfort. Due to it being made from steel, it’s heavier than most polymer-­framed pistols I’ve been shooting. Even so, I was comfortable with it from the start. Weight obviously assists with muzzle control, which in turn helped me stay on target for quicker follow-­up shots.

The Easy Buttons

The Lady Hawk is in the Commander configuration, meaning that it has a 4¼-­inch barrel in a shortened slide assembly, and a full-­size frame (at least top to bottom). A smaller Officer-size frame is also available. The pistol maintains the familiar skeletonized hammer and trigger, as well as a flat mainspring housing and extended grip safety. The front-­ and backstrap are well-­scalloped, offering the Lady a secure grip despite it being thin.

Nighthawk offers ambidextrous safety levers, but I didn’t order an ambi for this gun and really I don’t want one. Though I am left-­handed, it was easy to access and operate the thumb safety. At least part of my household was Marine Corps-­trained, and there are no other 1911s in the house with left-­hand safeties; it seems more sensible to have them all set up the same.

The controls were easy to access, too, even though the Lady Hawk has a larger frame than I usually shoot with. The beavertail grip safety lever was one of my favorite aspects of this gun. It’s slick and fits the web between thumb and index finger extremely well, which helped me obtain a secure and comfortable grip. It also supported better recoil control.

The trigger pull was crisp and light, greatly aiding shootability. The lightweight, skeletonized aluminum trigger seemed slightly extended. With the slim grip, my finger placement on the trigger was perfect, just into the first pad. On a Lyman Digital Trigger Gauge, it tested at 3.04 pounds for an average of 10 pulls. There was little variance.

9mm vs. .45

Obviously, the standard 1911 chambering is .45 ACP. In my humble opinion, it takes more practice and discipline to master the .45. From what I gather, one of the reasons the U.S. military switched from the .45 ACP to the 9mm in 1985 was in search of less recoil, to improve shootability among a greater number of troops. Craig was a Marine during the switch from .45 to 9mm and experienced that entire transition period. Although he bitterly opposed the change to the M9, he admits with amusement, “Pistol qualification scores went up dramatically with the 9mm.”

However, 1911s in 9mm are not new or uncommon. The first 9mm 1911 was likely debuted by Colt in 1950, but Nighthawk made it better. For the Lady Hawk models, Nighthawk trimmed the frame circumference and installed thin AlumaGrips. The Commander frame was not reduced, but the grips, frontstrap, and mainspring housing are thinner, a reduction of about .02-­inch per side. The grip and frame overall width measures about 1.18 inches, while most Commanders measure about 1.3 inches. The difference is readily felt. Though the Lady Hawk fit my hands perfectly, Craig commented that, for his larger hands, he could “use a bit more pistol to hang onto.” For me, I was also happy that Guns & Ammo’s test pistol was lighter kicking than one of his .45s.

Enlightened

Lately, I have been shooting a lot of double-­action 9mms, mostly the Glock-­types, pistols made by SIG Sauer, and others. I’ve been embarrassed and frustrated by the difficulty I have in racking the slides of other 1911s. So far, exercise hasn’t helped. The easy slide operation of the Lady Hawk has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of shooting a 1911. I was immediately impressed by the easier and more accurate single-­action trigger versus one of the striker-­fired types. However, the exposed “cocked-and-locked” hammer was a learned experience. With the thumb safety down, the trigger only required a 3-­pound pull. (Nighthawk advertises that the trigger job is set between 3½ and 3¾ pounds.) The grip safety was and is John Browning’s safety hedge, but it’s a pistol design that suggests one should have training and practice if one intends to choose it as an everyday carry gun. It’s not a pistol that I would consider carrying yet.

On the range, the Lady Hawk was just fun to shoot. There was little recoil, it produced wonderful accuracy, and was comfortable from the start. The iron sights are Heinie Slant Pro Straight Eight tritium night sights. These have a bold, white bead forward, and a small bead centered below the rear notch. I found it straightforward to stack the beads to align the sights. I did all of my shooting using the iron sights, but G&A’s sample featured the upgraded Interchangeable Optic System (IOS) slide, which includes the Nighthawk iron-­sight plate and sight cut. It’s ready to accept a red dot if I ever decide to use one.

Craig and I put more than 500 rounds through the Lady Hawk, requiring several trips to the gunshop for a resupply of quality ammo. Fortunately, there were no 9mm ammo shortages, and there was not one stoppage at the range. We were also impressed that there were no malfunctions despite the fact that the ammunition types varied widely. Some of it was bought for practice because it was the cheapest, other loads because it was available. Bullet weights varied from 90 to 124 grains, velocities were standard to +P, and bullets ranged hardball to hollowpoint. The Lady Hawk digested all.

Accuracy & Ammo

Out of the box, the sights were (and are) dead-­on at 15 yards using standard 9mm 115-­grain loads. The point of impact shifted considerably when switching to 124-­grainers and +P loads, and recoil increased noticeably. Most of my shooting was conducted on metal plates, and nothing’s been more satisfying than hearing steel ring. I didn’t manage ammo well and ran out of a couple of brands before chronograph testing and shooting for groups. Though I had tested it for reliability, note that Blaser’s and Federal’s American Eagle 115-­grain FMJ loads, as well as Hornady’s Critical Defense 115-­grain FTX were exhausted. Additionally, due to my experience and skill level, I had to depart from G&A’s test protocol. Rather than try and shoot groups from 25 yards on a sandbagged benchrest, I shot groups at 15 yards over a padded Caldwell pistol rest. The day was nice, though; nearly 70 degrees with almost no wind.

Interesting, I noted the sun was dropping to my left. Side light is never the best for using iron sights, but the clouds kept coming and going, often between groups. It was interesting to notice how the point of impact shifted between shots under sunshine and those fired under a shadow. It may be the nature of shooting with metallic sights; if you can’t see them the same way every time, you won’t shoot the same.

The Hornady Critical Defense load produced the best accuracy for me, averaging 2.19 inches for five, five-­shot groups. I considered the price variation between the loads as I shot them. The Blazer and American Eagle loads were inexpensive — about $19 per box of 50, or .37 cents per round for the Blaser, and $23 per box of 50, or .42 cents per round for the American Eagle, both featuring full-­metal-­jacket (FMJ) hardball bullets. The Critical Defense round should be regarded as a premium handgun load; a box of 25 rounds retails for $30, about $1.20 per round. I expected it to produce the best groups, and it did.

It’s worth mentioning that, although accuracy was significantly poorer in this pistol when shooting Blazer 115-­grain rounds — don’t judge the Lady Hawk on the accuracy potential of shooting Blaser ammunition — the consistency of it was noteworthy; extreme spread (ES) of just 16 feet-­per-­second (fps). It also offered the lowest standard deviation (SD) of just 5.53. Also worth mentioning, three of the loads had single-­digit SDs, which isn’t something we see often. Critical Defense was almost as consistent, having an ES of just 18 fps and an SD of 6.53. As far as accuracy, any rifled barrel likes what it likes; another pistol might produce reversed results.

The Nighthawk Lady Hawk doesn’t have to be styled with rose gold accents and opal grips — as the Lady Hawk 2.0 is — to be a pistol suited for a woman. The all-­stainless original doesn’t even have the moniker “Lady Hawk” label marked on it. If you are a man with small hands, and you’re interested in shooting comfortable, easy-to-rack, and accurate 1911s, no one would be the wiser. The stainless-­steel version is still a beauty as far as I’m concerned. It shoots well out of the box and feels like grasping the hand of an old friend. 

Night Hawks are priced higher than most 9mm autos, but I think it’s worth it. Will I end up buying it? I’ve thought about the answer to that question quite a bit. I’ll have to see what the boss says. 

Nighthawk Custom Lady Hawk

• Type: Recoil operated, hammer fired, single action, semiautomatic
• Cartridge: 9mm (tested), .45 ACP
• Capacity: 10 rds. (9mm)
• Barrel: 4.25 in., stainless steel, crowned, throated, polished feed ramp
• Overall Length: 7.85 in.
• Width: 1.27 in.
• Height: 5.4 in.
• Weight: 2 lbs., 4 oz.
• Grip: AlumaGrip Thin, Moon Hawk
• Sights: Heinie Straight Eight Slant Pro, tritium
• Trigger: 3 lbs., 1 oz. (tested), Nighthawk Custom tri-­cavity, aluminum
• Safety: Thumb lever, grip lever
• MSRP: $4,399
• Manufacturer: Nighthawk Custom, nighthawkcustom.com, 870-423-4867