Meet the Dragon: Rideout Arsenal’s Radical Rethink of the Modern Pistol

At SHOT Show 2026, Rideout Arsenal pulled the curtain back on one of the most unconventional pistols on the show floor: The Dragon.

In the video below, Travis from Rideout Arsenal walks through what makes the Dragon different, and “different” is putting it lightly.

This is not a modified version of an existing handgun platform. The Dragon is a completely ground-up design built around one core idea: reduce recoil, improve control, and modernize how a pistol functions without forcing shooters to relearn basic gun handling.

Extremely Low Bore Axis

The first thing Travis highlights is the Dragon’s ultra-low bore axis. By placing the barrel extremely low in the chassis and aggressively undercutting the beavertail, the shooter’s hand sits almost perfectly in line with the barrel.

The goal is simple: recoil comes straight back into the wrist instead of pushing the muzzle upward. Less muzzle rise means faster follow-up shots and better control under recoil.

Lever-Delayed Operating System

Instead of a traditional tilting barrel or simple blowback system, the Dragon uses a lever-delayed system with a separate bolt and bolt carrier. As Travis explains, the lever works similarly to roller-delayed systems found in some rifles, using mechanical delay rather than added mass to control the action.

Only the bolt and bolt carrier move during firing. The optic remains fixed to the chassis, reducing visual disruption and making it easier to track the dot shot to shot.

Fixed Optic, Familiar Handling

Even though the optic doesn’t reciprocate with the action, Rideout Arsenal designed the pistol so you can still rack it using the optic just like a conventional slide. That means no new manual of arms and no retraining, including one-handed manipulations off a belt or barricade.

Fully Modular and Toolless

The Dragon was designed to be completely modular. Major components can be swapped without tools, including the nose section, grip modules, backstraps, and more. The pistol will be offered with both compensator and threaded barrel options, allowing shooters to run suppressors without a Nielsen device thanks to the fixed barrel.

Ergonomics are also adjustable, with different grip textures, profiles, and colors available.

Serialized Fire Control Unit

One of the most interesting design choices is that the fire control unit is built into the trigger guard, which is the serialized component of the firearm. Everything else is non-serialized and can be shipped directly to the user and swapped out as needed.

Innovation

The Dragon isn’t trying to be a concealed carry gun or a budget-friendly option. It’s a high-end, experimental platform meant to push handgun design forward. Whether or not it’s “for you,” it’s the kind of thinking that often drives innovation across the entire industry.

Watch the video below and hear Travis break down the Dragon in his own words, and see how Rideout Arsenal approached one of the most ambitious pistol designs we’ve seen in years.