The MR918 line is no longer in production. This page is to give details to owners of the MR918. If you are looking to shop our current line of production pistols, please click here.
The Shadow Systems MR918 combat is a multi-role, compact 9mm pistol that is designed to be used and abused, excelling in every scenario, whether it be a personal carry, competition, in the line of duty, or anything in between.
The MR918 Combat and Elite models include a myriad of premium features typically available only as custom upgrades. Out of the box, you will not find a higher value pistol. The MR918 is designed for extreme reliability with the very best parts and materials, manufactured in the United States with American labor and backed by legendary Shadow customer service.
Controllable recoil permits fast hits. Fast hits win fights and win matches. With this in mind, we contoured the frame to sit as low in the hand as possible. The trigger guard is heavily undercut, and the backstrap is reduced at the web of the hand. With the pistol now low in the hand, we gently extended the beavertail to prevent slide bite, but not enough to project unnecessarily and compromise concealment. Lastly, we added aggressive texture throughout the contact surfaces. Our texture is designed to give you the grip you need, but not wear holes in your hands or your clothes.
Our interchangeable backstrap system eliminates the outdated “small, medium, large” approach and instead focuses on Natural Point of Aim. NPOA is taught in all the shooting disciplines and describes the process of positioning the body to place the sights on target in a “natural” or “relaxed” position. The same principals apply in the grip of a pistol. Our pistol includes three backstraps, each of which fundamentally changes the feel and natural point of aim of the pistol. The pistol comes with the #2 Neutral backstrap pre-installed which accommodates the vast majority of shooters. The flatter #1 backstrap depresses the muzzle of the pistol, and the higher #3 backstrap raises the muzzle of the pistol. Pick the one that allows you to point the pistol like you point your finger.
Lastly, the pistol includes a magwell extension that can be added to the frame for those desiring a faster reload under stress.
When designing the MR918 slides, we again focused on recoil control and manipulation under stress. All MR918 slides include front and rear directional serrations. These serrations are very aggressive in the direction of pull (toward the shooter), but offer almost no resistance in the opposite direction (away from the shooter). This gives your hands total control during fast manipulations, but reduces the friction of the slide against your holster during the draw. The serrations also sit in a shallow “pocket” on the slide. This makes the slide feel thinner and easier to grasp.
The Elite slide also includes top serrations for even more control and a weight reducing window cut ahead of the ejection port. We carefully sized the window cut to create an overall slide weight that optimizes recoil control and front sight tracking. If you want every possible advantage, the Elite slide is for you.
Both slides are machined from 17-4 stainless steel. Each is available with an optional Trijicon RMR pattern optic cut that will also accommodate certain Holosun models.
Our barrels are machined from 416R stainless steel, conventionally rifled 1-10 in., and concentricity checked. The lug geometry and barrel hood fit are slightly tighter than a conventional barrel, but not enough to compromise reliability. The barrels feature a spiral fluting pattern that improves the evacuation of debris in rugged conditions and reduces barrel weight. When mated with our slide, the Shadow Barrel sets a new accuracy bar in this class of compact 9mms.
The MR918 features our flat-faced trigger and proprietary trigger bar. Combined with a TTI connector, the trigger consistently gives a 4-4.5 lbs trigger pull using a stock weight striker spring for consistent ignition. The trigger features slightly reduced take-up, but not enough to compromise internal safeties or threat management under stress. This is a carry safe trigger that leaves all drop safeties operational.
The MR918 comes equipped with metal sights featuring a solid black rear and a high-visibility green outline tritium front. By day, the green outline is nearly as bright as a fiber optic and draws your eye to the front sight. At night, the glowing tritium dot gives a solid index point for quick, accurate shots at close range. Our optic ready guns feature a lower 1/3 co-witness. The slide will accept aftermarket Glock sights if you prefer something different.
The MR918 accommodates Gen4 Glock recoil assemblies, but includes our own modified Gen3 recoil system. This single spring system is user adjustable for those wishing to tune the gun with different spring weights. The included spring is a conventional weight flat wire spring but is manufactured from higher-quality chrome silicon material.
All internal slide parts are machined from billet stainless steel. The extractor is our own high-reliability enhanced LCI extractor. The LCI features a serration that aids in tactile response. The extractor features Shadow Systems proprietary geometry and material selection to enhance longevity and extraction of a wide range of ammunition.
We use a standard length (non-extended) slide lever as some shooters with a high grip find they inadvertently activate extended slide stops with rounds still in the magazine. Knowing many shooters choose to use the “sling-shot” method to release the slide anyway, we felt it prudent to avoid the risk altogether.
The pistol includes two magpul 15 round magazines. These magazines have shown perfect reliability in our testing and feature a slightly oversized baseplate which aids in stuck-mag extraction, particularly with the magwell installed.
