Gun Review: Lodestar LNK9 Self-Locking 9mm Pistol

Oooh-wee the comments on my Instagram after doing a bit of a tongue-in-cheek video on the Lodestar LNK9 were ferocious. “Literally” a hate crime. It’s fair to say that our community — the pro-Second-Amendment, gun owning community — is NOT interested in a smart gun. And Lodestar insists the LNK9 isn’t one.

We agreed to give it a fair shake like we do with everything we review, because why not?

Easy stuff first. The LNK9 is a great shooter. At its core it’s a polymer frame, striker-fired, 9mm pistol that’s compatible with Gen3 G19 components. As not-a-GLOCKs go, it’s one of the best I’ve shot.

This pistol feels better-sorted and -tuned than the majority of GLOCK-compatible guns I’ve played with. It feels like its own thing, not like a modified GLOCK.

Seen above, I swapped a Polymer80 slide with a factory GLOCK barrel onto the Lodestar frame to verify compatibility. Check. Triggers, locking blocks, slide locks, magazine releases, and other parts can also be swapped for other Gen3-compatible ones. The locking features work just the same as with the Lodestar factory barrel and slide.

The LNK9’s grip texture, steeper-toward-vertical angle, and fairly ergonomic shape felt a lot nicer to us than the “name brand.” It’s a little on the girthy side, perhaps, but that’s needed to accommodate the electronics.

We found the trigger to be nice and crisp, and the LNK9 ran 100% reliably straight out of the box, feeding, firing, and ejecting everything with confidence.

The rear sight is blacked out and serrated.

The front sight is a green fiber optic. A black rear and bright front (ideally a night sight) is my preferred setup, and the LNK9’s sights are solid examples of this.

My only gripe was the magazine release, which I found stiff and not quite tall enough for my liking. It basically has to be pressed slightly sub-flush to release the mag, and I really had to cram my thumb in there to make it happen.

That blue color, by the way, is the Lodestar corporate color. If you’re an LE/MIL agency that uses “blue guns” for training, I could see swapping the LNK9’s mag release for a different G19-compatible one for that reason.

Overall, though, the Lodestar LNK9 is a more-than-serviceable 9mm pistol. In fact, it’s a very solid shooter in every way.

Inside the box, along with the pistol, is a good amount of kit. Two, 17-round (or 10-round if you’re in a restricted state) magazines, an inductive charging pad, velcro mounting pads (to attach the charging pad to a surface if you want), charging cube and USB-C cord, a cable lock (a bit ironic, no?), a spent casing, quick start guide, and little jar of lube.

On the charging pad there’s a little rubber plug that indexes into the muzzle, a tab that wraps slightly over the bottom of the trigger guard, and a couple of small tabs at top and rear to keep the LNK9 aligned properly on the pad.

Setting the pistol on the inductive charging pad automatically charges the battery inside of the grip and engages the trigger lock. About that internal battery, its expected lifespan is about two years. Once it dies for good, only Lodestar or an authorized gunsmith can replace it. The owner does have to pay for that.

So…What Does the LNK9 Do?

In effect, the sole purpose of the LNK9’s design was to build a trigger lock into the pistol itself. This physical lock — a tiny electronic motor/servo rotates a block into or out of the trigger mechanism — is to be controlled exclusively by one or more authorized users and can be used or not used at the operator’s preference.

For the gun rights crowd, the “scary part” is the fact that the charging pad connects to WiFi, talks with the Lodestar app on your phone via WiFi/Bluetooth, and talks to the gun via Bluetooth. Your phone also talks to the gun via Bluetooth.

Lodestar was adamant that this is not a “smart gun,” because no data transfer or communication between the gun and Lodestar happens or is even possible based on how they’ve designed the system. Even if they were hacked by North Korea or the NSA, their system is apparently incapable of “seeing” your gun, locking your gun, knowing where you gun is, etc.

Lodestar emphasizes that the LNK9 is a pistol with a built-in trigger lock. Period.

I think Dan and I had our skeptical faces on display as Lodestar delivered a “furthermore” for us as well. Should the owner connect everything in order to go into the app and adjust the gun’s settings, the owner could then disable the WiFi (e.g. delete the network information or, heck, break the WiFi antenna) and Bluetooth and use the firearm as a completely disconnected gun that just happens to have an electronic trigger lock built in.

Here are some of the other settings available via the app:

That top setting is important. Should the gun’s battery get critically low, what happens then? Does the gun lock itself or does it unlock?

Choose the latter and, once the battery dies (approx 3 days if you just leave it, faster if you lock and unlock it a bunch of times), the LNK9 is a standard 9mm pistol. Electronics are dead so it can’t lock whether you want it to or not. It can’t Bluetooth. It’s like any other striker-fired 9mm. More on this later.

There are other options, but not too many. You can walk through ’em all in just a couple of minutes. Set the pin code combination for the buttons on the grip. Set the authorized fingerprints.

I only inputted three of my fingers, but you can store up to 50 of ’em if you want, including sets of prints for multiple people, allowing the owner to add or remove authorized users quite easily. Each capture includes pressing that single finger onto the sensor in multiple ways so it can recognize it even if your finger is rolled in one direction or the other.

Lodestar makes it clear that fingerprint data is exclusively stored locally on the LNK9 (as it is on biometric safes and lockboxes that have no WiFi, Bluetooth, or other connectivity capabilities).

Finger orientation — coming at the sensor pad from below, behind, different angles, etc. — doesn’t matter.

One primary function of the app is simply to lock and unlock the LNK9. Which means there are three ways to do that:

• Fingerprint
• 4-digit PIN via the 3-button keypad
• App

When the LNK9 is locked, a green LED at the base of the backstrap blinks for a few seconds.

When it’s unlocked, a red LED blinks. The gun is “hot.”

There are settings in the app to enable or disable these lights along with other status indicator lights.

Operation is pretty simple. It’s basically identical to most electronic gun safes or lockboxes. We found the fingerprint sensor to work as well and as quickly as any of them do, and the keypad is pretty self-explanatory.

Wrong-handed? Lodestar makes the LNK9 with the fingerprint + keypad panel on either the left side (as seen here for right-handed shooters) or the right side. In addition to that and the magazine capacity options . . .

We tested the standard model, but as seen above there’s now also an optics-ready model. The slide is cut to accept a Shield RMSc footprint micro optic.

Questions and Concerns

As mentioned, we got a lot of comments on social media (~180) and they were overwhelmingly negative. They were exactly what you’d expect, from personal insults to plenty of conspiracy/paranoia stuff. Heck, we share a lot of that same distrust based on years of failed previous attempts at this kind of thing.

Here are a few of the big questions and their answers:

What happens if I’m shooting and accidentally contact the fingerprint sensor and/or keypad buttons?

Once the gun is unlocked, no amount of incorrect fingerprint contacts will cause it to lock. No concerns about your palms or fingers while shooting, carrying, etc. A correct fingerprint scan, though, will lock the pistol.

The same can’t be said for the keypad. Rapidly clicking any single button three or more times, or pressing any wrong combination of four buttons within five seconds, will lock the pistol. My honest take on this is that it’s extremely unlikely to happen accidentally, whether you’re a lefty or righty, as the buttons are recessed and require a fairly intentional click. Doing that to one button three+ times or to any four buttons in rapid succession seems almost impossible. Which, yes, is different from being actually impossible.

What happens if the gun is locked and incorrect fingerprints or keypad entries are attempted?

Incorrect fingerprint attempts do nothing. If two incorrect PIN combinations are entered, the keypad locks you out for five minutes. But the gun can still be unlocked via a correct fingerprint or through the app. Obviously this is designed to prevent kids or other non-authorized types from trying different keypad combos ad nauseam.

Does the fingerprint sensor work if your fingerprint(s) is messed up, e.g. wet, scratched, very dirty, etc.?

It’s a good fingerprint sensor, but it’s like any other. If your fingers are “messed up” then you may have to use the keypad to enter your PIN code or unlock the pistol via the app.

Can Lodestar or the government remotely access the pistol and shut it down?

Lodestar insists there is no mechanism for remote operation to be possible. That said, if you’re worried about it you can sever the connections of all of the antennas.

Is there a monthly subscription?

No. There are no fees to Lodestar of any sort after the purchase of the firearm.

Waterproof? EMP? Strong magnet? Extreme temperatures? How do these things affect the mechanism?

The firearm is IPX5 water resistant rated. The charging pad is not. The LNK9 can withstand temperatures up to 185°F and as low as -40°. Unsure as to whether an EMP or strong magnet will have an effect.

What if the battery dies while the trigger is locked, how do you disassemble it?

You don’t. You’d have to charge the firearm enough to unlock it, then you can disassemble via the normal process you’d use on a Gen3 G19.

Possible Upsides

Non-permissive environments

The LNK9’s built-in trigger lock may satisfy current safe storage and/or trigger lock requirements in various states and other countries. The built-in lock can check that legally-mandated box, while the LNK9 gives significant leeway to the owner to decide how to use the locking mechanism. If at all.

Again, while this isn’t explicitly suggested by the company, you could simply let the battery die and then you’d have a totally normal 9mm pistol. You know, if you don’t go a step further and get into the internals (NOT an endorsement or a suggestion, and it voids the warranty).

Hesitant gun owners

I know this one is real because I’ve personally seen it a handful of times. There are many thousands of people — I’d say predominately women, but definitely not exclusively — who want to own a firearm for home- and/or self-defense, but are too nervous to do so. They’ve seen the intentionally misleading stats about gun ownership and they fear that having a gun in the home (or in a purse, a vehicle, etc.) would make them less safe. But they still wish they had a way to defend themselves.

The LNK9 could close that gap and give these on-the-fence folks enough of the warm and fuzzy feeling to (proverbially and literally) pull the trigger and buy their first gun.

More gun owners is good for us. Owning a firearm tends to shift peoples’ attitudes about gun rights and even their politics. I’ve seen this happen with a couple of super liberal/lefty people I’ve taken to the range. The experience shifted their perspective on guns. Hard. Immediately. It’s likely that the LNK9 could help bring some of these sorts of folks into the gun-owner fold.

Safety

I mean, sure. The owner of this pistol could choose to lock it exclusively when it’s off their body but not in a safe, when non-authorized people are in their home, etc. Any ratio of unlocked vs. locked is in the control of the owner.

If you’re going to keep a nightstand gun at-the-ready, there’s no practical difference between the LNK9’s built-in trigger lock and having a standard pistol inside of a fingerprint- and/or keypad-operated lockbox/safe.

For those who choose to take steps to prevent unauthorized access to their firearms, the LNK9’s system is a new option to add to the list of available methods to do that.

Conclusions

Lodestar has created a highly-shootable, well-tuned, reliable firearm in the LNK9. It’s a more-than-functional 9mm pistol and, yes, it takes GLOCK magazines. Tech aside, it’s a really solid gun.

A motor-driven, physical trigger block mechanism is built into the LNK9 and is operated via app, fingerprint sensor, and keypad. A small lithium-ion battery inside the backstrap powers the trigger lock and keypad system and charges via the inductive charging pad. The pad connects to WiFi via the smartphone app so the owner can adjust the settings and the system can receive firmware updates, etc. The firearm itself connects to the charging pad and to the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth.

It’s fair to say that Second Amendment advocates and experienced gun owners will and have bristled at the Lodestar for multiple reasons based on the feedback we’ve seen so far. And, sure, I have personal concerns on the topic, too, in terms of this kind of technology possibly being mandated at some point by some of the usual suspect jurisdictions and politicos.

I believe the LNK9 provides a very solid firearm option to people in certain non-permissive environments and will attract hesitant, gun-curious people to take the gun ownership plunge for the first time.

While I doubt Lodestar is going to find many customers among the experienced gun owning community and is going to need a thick skin to deal with the harsh criticism, those aren’t really their intended customers. At the same time, I suspect this will bring a lot of first-time buyers into the fold, and that’s a good thing.

What say y’all?

Specifications: Lodestar LNK9

MSRP: $1,395 (as seen in our YouTube video) to $1,865 (optics-ready model with included Holosun EPS-GR2 optic)