Springfield Armory Echelon – The New Best Duty Pistol

You may be thinking that the gun industry needs a polymer-framed 9mm striker-fired pistol. But no one makes them, right? We’d normally agree with you but, because this pistol was designed with the help of one of the world’s greatest shooters, we aren’t that jaded. Yet. Springfield’s latest offering was first seen about two years ago on a shooting range in Croatia. It didn’t yet have a name but the representatives of the company and their local partners, HS Produkt, had high hopes for it. Springfield’s existing polymer line, based on the venerable XD handgun, was looking a little dated and it was time for a new look. Rob Leatham, Springfield’s pro-staffer, competitor and trainer, was one of the people who directed the project. When a world champion is in charge, the little details are noticed. Think of a standard striker-fired pistol and then think about the design improvements that have been made over the last 40 years. Take grip texturing for example. When the Gen 1 Glock 17 was released, it had a lightly-textured grip surface that, when placed in wet hands or bloody ones, was about as safe as a bar soap. The next generation was even better, with the same texture on the side panels and deep checkering on the front and rear straps. The third generation added finger grooves that were as much a hindrance as they were a help. Gen 4 brought us a uniformly more rough texture on the grip, but retained the finger grooves. Glock listened and removed the finger grooves in the fifth version. Springfield has jumped right past that bullsh*t, and equipped the Echelon’s contact surfaces with a fine uniform texture. This provides plenty of grip, but won’t tear your shirt or skin if carried IWB. Springfield has decided to do away with the grip zone, which makes it more difficult to determine where to place your hands. You can probably find improvements to any other aspect of pistol designs. The Echelon, like the SIG P320 is a chassis-gun. This allows the user to benefit from a variety of features, such as the ability to replace damaged grip modules and a more consistent trigger. Springfield, unlike SIG, equipped the Echelon frame to allow the shooter to customize the gun. However, the entire frame can also be replaced. The medium-sized backstrap will probably accommodate 80 percent of users, but it’s good to have alternatives if you fall outside this percentile.Aftermarket frame surgeons will go hungry if they base their business around the Echelon, as it already has a double undercut trigger guard and stippling every place you can think of, including the magazine basepads. The factory even textured one end of the recoil guide rod. But what purpose that may serve is anyone’s guess. The magazine catch is also ambidextrous, which will please lefties. There’s no need to swap from left to right as the button is already in place. It’s well protected from accidental operation, but still easily accessible. It’s a small slide release, but it was easy to find and use during an emergency reload. The grip is also shielded by a small fence. The other control that makes loud noises has a blade safety on its face. When pressed, it sits flush with the trigger surface. The pull weight of our sample was 5.5 pounds. There is a 1/4-inch take-up, followed by a rolling break of 16ths of an inch, and almost no overtravel. Is it up to the standard of a Walther? Due to improvements in manufacturing, especially stamping, HS Produkt can hold much tighter tolerances than before. This translates to a very solid-feeling gun with almost no play between the slide and guide rails. Anyone who has dry-fired a 320 using an MRDS knows about the “dot-jump” that occurs when the sear slips from the striker. It’s harmless, and it disappears once the magazine is loaded. This phenomenon is almost non-existent in the Echelon. The Echelon uses metal injection molding extensively in its small parts, just like many modern striker-fired guns. The engineers at HS Produkt proudly displayed their Hot Isostatic pressing machine, which reduces the porosity and increases the strength of MIM components. It works by placing the parts inside a large vessel filled with argon, which is heated and then the internal pressure is increased to up 30,000 psi. You’d be right if you thought that this was a good way of destroying a small community in the event that something went wrong (and one engineer joked that it is the reason why he has a 20-minute commute). The barrel is not MIM-ed, as it is hammer-forged in house. Springfield XD’s grip safety is a point of contention for some, but accuracy is not one of them. We have a 5.25″ barreled XDm that is one of the most precise handguns in our collection. We used it to win the Production class at the Bianchi Cup. The barrels of the Echelon come from the exact same source, and we expect that the guns coming out of the line will have the same potential, given Leatham’s passion. Our preproduction sample was no exception, putting out 1.2-inch groups with its preferred ammunition at 25 yards. If you’re wondering, that was Norma’s 108-grain.38 Special. Look at the underside and you’ll see an aha moment! The moment you realize that the striker safety has been moved so it won’t interfere with the mounting screws for the optics, and the optics can be cut as low as possible. The red dot is positioned low enough to allow standard-height iron sight to cowitness. However, with an RMR bolted on, only the top of front sight is visible. A cover plate can be used to hide the unsightly hole. The front sight is tritium-illuminated and bright green. The rear sight is a large, white-lined, U-notch. The slide is adorned with aggressive front and rear serrations that reduce the reciprocating mass. The rear of the slide has a tapered notch which provides an extra non-slip contact point when slingshotting into battery. If you own an XD and are looking to upgrade, we have some bad news: the magazines you’ve collected along the way won’t work with the new gun. The mag catch slot is a little higher on Echelon magazines. They look almost identical. We predict that someone will proudly display their Dremel skills after receiving the new gun. It works. It’s safe to say that when you combine all the proven design features that have appeared in duty guns for the past 40 years, the resulting mix is pretty damn good. The Echelon is no exception. It’s hard to find anything that we dislike about the Echelon, except for its trigger, which is a little heavier than we would like for a duty weapon. Other than that, we can’t think of anything else. It has excellent recoil management, thanks to its grip texture and shape. It also shoots like a ray of light, due to the tight fit between the barrel and slide. Springfield Armory has finally released a gun that will be a serious competitor in the crowded duty market. They will sell a lot of these guns. Or at least they would, if only there were some way to figure out where to place your hand… Springfield Armory / HS Produkt EchelonCaliber: 9mm LugerCapacity: 17 roundsBarrel Length: 4.5 inchesOverall length: 7.5 inchesWeight: 23 ouncesMSRP: $670URL: springfield-armory.comMore Handgun Reviews:NEXT STEP: Download Your Free Storm Tactical Printable Target Pack62 Printable MOA Targets with DOT Drills – Rifle Range in YARDSThis impressive target pack from our friends at Storm Tactical contains62 printable targetsfor rifle and handgun range use. The target grids and bullseyes are measured in MOA. Subscribe to the Gun Digest newsletter and we will send you your print-at home target pack immediately. Enter your email below.