by Phil W. Johnston
Handgun Editor

Early this year, Magnum Research announced that they were going to begin importing another semi-auto pistol. Famous for the Desert Eagle, among others, the addition of a new, modern fighting pistol came as no big surprise. Built in Israel, as is the Desert Eagle line, the new SP-21 looked interesting right off the bat.

It doesn't seem possible that, new, fresh firearms can still be based on a vintage John Browning design, but that's the case here. I guess this proves that you don't mess with something that works.

The SP-21 is based on the later High Power (HP) design that replaced the rotating link with an integral ramp that cams the breech down when the barrel/slide recoil. Once the breech has unlocked from the slide, the slide continues rearward to extract and eject the empty and pick up a fresh round from the 10-round magazine.

If there's a glitch in this design it hinges on the necessary clearances that must be maintained to keep everything working, regardless of the surroundings. While the sights are attached to the slide, the barrel isn't. If clearances are larger, the barrel doesn't always point in the same direction as the sights. More on this, later.

Military Theme
This pistol was designed with a military theme in mind, right off the bat. Aimed initially at the Israel Defense Force, this pistol is a working arm to be sure. In that light, the new SP-21 is a double-action/single-action design that typically is used to fire the first round that is up the pipe, double-action, with subsequent rounds going down range in single-action fashion.

Designed and built by Israel Military Industries (IMI), this new semi-auto sports a good looking polymer receiver while the barrel and slide are carbon steel. The slide is obviously a casting, while the manufacturing processes that result in a barrel are up for grabs. IMI's polymer receiver is one of the nicest that I've wrapped my fingers around in quite some time. The grip is a good size and it features three finger grooves up front, while a sticky stippled backstrap greets the shooting hand.

In keeping with the bullet-proof design criteria, the receiver features steel inserts that serve to guide and contain the slide. The receiver also has an integral Weaver-style rail at the muzzle where flashlights or laser sights could be attached, for instance.

Operationally, there are three controls on the SP-21. The safety is ambidextrous and it blocks trigger and hammer action when swung upward. It's located where the thumb can easily reach it in an instant and it is easy to use.

The magazine release is directly behind the bottom of the trigger guard and depressing it nicely ejects the 10-round steel magazine. The magazines sport a polymer base that looks like it should take lots of abuse and keep on ticking, but I didn't drop one of 'em on concrete to find out, either. The magazine release is on the left side of the receiver and must be pushed to the right to eject the magazine.

Typical of most similar offerings, IMI equipped the SP-21 with a decocking lever but the location is novel to say the least. Nearly perfectly concealed in the top of the slide, it takes thought and distinct action to operate it. I suspect that's exactly what IMI wanted, too. It would be a bit disconcerting to have the enemy decock your pistol while you're fighting, after all.

The SP-21 is available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. I had one of each here to mess with this year, and they all came out winners. Out-of-the-box, the trigger doesn't seem bad, although an extended range session does tend to take its toll, too. All three triggers measured roughly 3 pounds 14 ounces or so, on the digital Lyman trigger gauge, single-action.

Double-action (DA) they're all OK, but they exceed the limit of the Lyman tool. I'd call them somewhere between 12 and 15 pounds, DA. They're pretty smooth with little discernable stacking throughout the DA pull.

Trigger Lock
Also becoming standard fare these days, the SP-21 features a rotating trigger lock on the bottom of the receiver, next to the trigger. The lock is easily rotated half a turn with the included key, to lock or unlock trigger action. I get it alright, but I still think education is the real key here. Still, with a new granddaughter on the scene and another in the factory, maybe these locks aren't a bad idea. It's your decision, I guess.

As you'd expect, the sights are semi-fixed. The front sight could be drifted a bit in the dovetail to correct windage, but elevation is as it comes out-of-the-box. The manual says that there's an optional adjustable sight package that will soon be available but I haven't seen it yet. The manual also says "that moving the rear sight to the left will move the point-of-impact to the right and vice versa. . . ." This I've got to see!

Unless something has changed, you always move the rear sight in the direction you want to move impact-left to go left, etc. Oops! Of course the mandatory three dots are there, as well. Out-of-the-boxes, the 9mm was about 8 inches high and 3 left at 25 yards. The .40 was fine for elevation but went about 4 inches left and the .45 went 2 inches low and 3 inches right. At the proverbial 7-10 yards, all three would get a purp's attention, pronto!

Takedown is pretty much the way Browning designed it. Make sure it's unloaded and drop the magazine. Then you manually cock the hammer and move the slide about an eighth of an inch to the rear (to the mark) and then drive the slide stop pin and lever to the left and out. Then simply slide the barrel/slide group off the receiver toward the muzzle. The dual recoil springs have their own guide rods and they're captive springs. Kind of nice not to have to worry about launching springs and such into the ceiling.

Polygonal Rifling
That's about as far as you'll have to go to clean it up. When you've got it stripped, you'll quickly notice that IMI doesn't rely on normal rifling in the 3.9-inch barrel, either. Typical of some of our classiest semi-autos these days, these barrels feature polygonal rifling that make 1-turn-in-10 inches in the case of the 9mm, while the .40 and .45 barrels get things spinning in 1-turn-in-16 inches.

Each pistol is supplied with a pair of magazines and they're attractively packaged in a black plastic box along with the instruction manual, trigger lock key, a pair of cleaning brushes and, of course, a fired case.

On the range I ran the pistols off of a big Dog-Gone-Good™ sandbag and my vintage BR Pivot shooting bench. All shooting was done at 25 yards. When the dust settled, I felt that the three SP-21s gave a good account of themselves. I didn't expect target accuracy and in that light wasn't disappointed or surprised, either.

Over the course of two days I accounted for a bunch of 5-shot groups with these three rigs, using a wide variety of ammunition from the major ammunition companies. The 9mm averaged 4.3 inches center-to-center with the best load accounting for a 2.28-inch average (Cor-Bon 125-grain +P JHPS). This load left the 3.9-inch tube doing 1,229 feet-per-second (fps), generating 419.1 foot-pounds of instrumental energy (fpe).

The .40 averaged 4.8 inches with another Cor-Bon load taking the honors at 3.24 inches. In this case it consisted of a 150-grain +P JHP that left at 1,199 fps, generating 478.7 fpe. The .45 also liked Cor-Bon ammunition with 25 of their 200-grain +P JHPs accounting for a 3.9-inch average. The .45 averaged 5.4 inches, center-to-center with the five tested loads. The 200-grain Cor-Bon JHP left the muzzle doing 1,061 fps, generating 500 fpe.

The IMI/Magnum Research SP-21 is a no-nonsense pistol designed for combat troops. That Magnum Research has decided to bring it here makes the US a winner, too. Carrying a suggested retail price of $499, you ought to be able to fondle one of these at your favorite dealer very soon. I don't think you'll be disappointed, either. You can get more information about the SP-21 or other Magnum Research offerings at: Magnum Research, 7110 University Ave., NE, Dept. GWK, Minneapolis, MN 55432, or you can hit them on the Internet at: www.magnumresearch.com, or you can hit Israel Military Industries LTD at: www.imi-israel.com.