Recently, it has become a priority for manufacturers of new striker-fired pistols to furnish their offerings with triggers they perceive as “better” than the competition (generally meaning Glock, the still-reigning heavyweight champion of the striker-fired world). The problem with many of these efforts, in the eyes of this humble blogger, is that they prioritize only the weight of the trigger and not its other characteristics, like overtravel, reset, and especially creep. In many cases, these triggers feel little or no different than the familiar creepy, spongy trigger of a Glock, with the exception of the poundage they put out. While this might be some kind of advantage for a square range competition gun, to me it’s actually a minor detriment to a carry piece: The trigger has not actually been made better, but due to its lower poundage it has arguably been made less safe.

That is of course debatable, but it sets the stage for me to ask “what is the best striker-fired trigger on the market right now?” Depending on who you are, the answer to this question may vary, but I was surprised to find a very real contender (at least for me) at the Remington booth on the first day of the 2017 SHOT Show in the form of their brand new RP9 handgun. This is in many ways simply Remington’s horseman in the Aglockalypse, but it brings three major items to the table to differentiate itself to the consumer. The first is that trigger: A low-creep (not creep-free), 5.5-7lb trigger that for me represents one of the better striker triggers for a carry/duty gun on the market.

The second is Remington’s chassis system. Like the SIG P320, the RP9 uses a pinned serialized frame inside of a polymer grip, allowing swappable grip units. However, Remington took this idea a step further by unifying the frame standards for the 9mm and future .45 ACP variants, meaning that a customer could take a full-size RP9 and swap grips and slide-barrel assemblies and end up with a compact .45 ACP model, all on the same serial number.

The third and certainly most important selling point for the RP9 is its price: $489 MSRP, with examples of the (already shipping!) RP9 selling for under $400 on GunBroker right now. Needless to say, that is an extremely competitive price for a brand new striker fired pistol from a major manufacturer, let alone one with the Remington’s feature set.

So, will Remington redeem themselves with the RP9? It’s too early to tell, but the folks at Remington sounded steeled and determined to bring the company out of its recent troubles and back into the consumer’s good graces. Will they succeed? That is for you to decide.