Rost Martin RM1S

The Rost Martin company has given us a well designed and effective handgun at a fair price. The first Rost Martin the RM1C 9mm handgun is well proven and on the way to wide acceptance. Professionals like myself differ from hobbyists in that I don’t recommend gear that I have not personally proofed. Even then the product must offer some advantage over an existing and more proven implement. The Rost Martin pistol offers good function and practical accuracy at a more affordable price than  handguns of equal performance. 

This is a well designed and reliable handgun well worth its price

Rost Martin shortened the grip of their original handgun in order to provide for greater concealment ability and also added a barrel porting system. The result is a nice shooting pistol with good features. This is the RM1S handgun.

Barrel porting and slide cutting results in a prominent profile

Rost Martin RM1S

The RM1S is a polymer frame striker fired handgun. The pistol is compact about the size of a Glock 19 or Springfield Echelon 4.0 but with a shorter grip frame. It isn’t as small as the  Smith & Wesson Shield or SIG P365 Subcompact but smaller than most compact 9mm handguns. That is a good place to be. The grip frame is .6 inch shorter than the Rost Martin RM1C handgun. This results in a shortened magazine which holds 12 cartridges. However the pistol is supplied with a15 round capacity extended magazine as well. This is a good set up. In normal use I deploy the handgun with the flush fit magazine in the pistol and the extended magazine on the spare magazine carrier. With an unloaded magazine in place the Rost Martin RM1S weighs just under twenty ounces. This is a good starting weight before you add a magazine full of cartridges combat light and carry optic. 

Disassembly isn’t difficult

After looking over the pistol and disassembling the piece for the initial evaluation I find a handgun that is well made of good material. The nitride finish should prove durable. At this point-several weeks into the evaluation- the pistol shows little signs of wear. Certain points of the RM1S are worth noting. The barrel, as an example, is of a larger  circumference toward the muzzle, making for a tighter fit to the slide. I should also point out that while the Glock 19 is a valid stepping stone in manufacture the Rost Martin differs significantly in details. Take down is similar but not identical to Glock handguns. The pistol is first double checked to make certain it is unloaded and then you activate twin plungers in the frame- Glock style. The slide is brought straight up off the frame more like a Canik than a Glock, and replaced in the same manner. The pistol features a superior grip angle to the Glock, noticeable in firing. The Rost Martin features a crisp trigger action. The trigger features a ninety degree let off, a good feature. The pistol was not tested for trigger pull weight until it had been fired a few hundred rounds, SOP for this tester. After cleaning grease from the action and a modest break in the RM1S trigger breaks at 4.5 pounds. The pivoting lever polymer trigger is a good design I find easy to use well. This isn’t a single action trigger. The trigger operates in a similar manner to the Glock. The pistol is cocked and the striker isn’t fully to the  rear, trigger compression finishes cocking and dropping the striker. As a safety measure the usual trigger blocking blade safety lever is set into the trigger face. 

The pistol is compact but controllable. The RM1S is shown with a Trijicon RMR mounted

The frame is well designed with a good mix of adhesion and abrasion. Many affordable handguns do not feature frame inserts, the Rost Martin is supplied with two. With the flush fit magazine you may not get a full firing grip with the small finger trailing off the frame. With the extended magazine a full firing grip is possible. All concealed carry handguns are a compromise and the shorter grip is a compromise but one that aids in concealing a handgun. The sights are good if not spectacular, a dovetail post with white dot in front and a U Notch rear sight. The rear face of the back sight is serrated. The pistol features a 3.6 inch hammer forged barrel with conventional rifling. The barrel is nicely crowned, a nice touch on an affordable handgun. I spent a modest amount of time comparing velocity in the 3.6 inch ported barrel to a Glock 19 with 4 inch barrel. In most cases velocity loss was less than fifty feet per second, the average is twenty four feet per second, and with one load velocity loss was five feet per second- a trifle in each case. The slide is serrated on the top adding a bit of bling to the handgun. The pistol is optics ready. A single steel optic plate is provided. This is an RMR footprint plate. Other optics mounting plates are available from Rost Martin. The slide features forward cocking serrations. The ported slide and barrel are prominent features. The barrel features a nicely polished feed ramp. The recoil spring is a flat wire type. I engaged in dry fire before the firing test acclimating to the trigger. I like the Responsive Grip Texturing of the frame and handle more each time I use the handgun, it is a good design that helps maintain control during fast firing strings.

With a Trijicon RMR mounted the Rost Martin RM1S 9mm is a great shooter and a good choice for personal defense

The pistol’s barrel port is intended to re-direct gas generated from cartridge ignition. Some gas is sent upward instead of forward out the muzzle. This re-direction limits muzzle flip. Different shooters will experience recoil differently, most will find recoil more comfortable with this ported pistol. But all will notice lessened muzzle flip. This results in faster hits and greater control. During the tests the steel MecGar made magazines were not difficult to load. I have used a wide range of ammunition in this handgun. For the most part military and police institutions test the handgun with a duty load. Defensive shooters prefer a handgun that is reliable with a wide range of ammunition. The Rost Martin RM1S has never failed to feed, chamber, fire, or eject in firing just over 500 cartridges over the past few weeks. Many of these have been FMJ loads and others hollowpoint bullet loads. 

The pistol proved reliable with a wide range of ammunition and more accurate than we would have guessed from its size and weight class

At one point I added a Trijicon RMR carry optic. I used the new RMR Green Dot option. Some shooters prefer green reticles and there is evidence that green works better in certain conditions. The RMR is a proven service grade optic perhaps the most proven in the world. The test program progressed well. The pistol gets on target quickly with a good balance. The Rost Martin RM1S is neither handle heavy nor slide heavy. This is a well balanced handgun. Control is excellent. Recoil is there as it must be in a 20 ounce handgun but nothing that makes one rub their wrists after a firing session. The pistol shoots flat with excellent recovery. Limited muzzle flip coupled with rapid trigger reset makes for a great shooting pistol. This pistol shoots as well as any in its weight and price class and better than those that are not ported. As for absolute accuracy firing off a benchrest shooting brace I fired several five shot groups. 5 shot groups, 25 yards, with Trijicon Green Dot carry optic mounted.

Load	Group in inches
CCI Blazer 115 grain FMJ	2.75 in.
Federal American Eagle 124 grain FMJ	2.5 in.
Federal Hydra Shock Deep 135 grain	1.8 in.
Federal HST 147 grain HST	2.5 in.
Remington 115 grain UMC	2.9 in.
Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P	2.0 in.

Carrying the RM1S

The RM1C according to Rost Martin – and the RM1S by extension- was designed to fit Glock 19 holsters. I don’t like to mismatch holsters but so far the RM1S is a good fit for Falco’s Glock 19 holsters. A personal favorite is the Falco Holsters Timeless A634 IWB. With a composite foot added to combat rollout this is a great choice for appendix carry. Stitching is excellent and tanning is simply well done with any flaw. A well designed holstering welts allows a rapid presentation. A sweat guard protects the shooter from the sharp edges and the handgun from perspiration. The Glock 19 holster is a perfect fit for the RM1S.

This FALCO Timeless leather inside the waistband holster is ideal for concealed carry in either behind the hip or appendix carry roles

Rost Martin RM1S
Type:	Recoil operated, striker fired, semiautomatic
Cartridge:	9mm
Capacity:	12+1 rds., 15+1 rds.
Barrel:	3.6 in., forged steel
Length:	6.7 in.
Height:	4.6 in. (w/ magazine)
Width:	1.24 in.
Slide:	Steel
Finish:	Nitride (steel)
Weight:	1 lb., 3.7 oz. (tested)
Grip:	Polymer, textured, black
Trigger:	5 lbs., 4 oz. (tested)
Safety:	Trigger lever, internal striker drop safety
Sights:	Steel, white dot (front), U-­notch (rear); optic ready, RMR plate included
Accessories:	One 12-­rd. mag.; one 15-­rd. mag.; cable lock; three backstraps; RMR-pattern mounting plate
MSRP:	$469