Monthly Archives: February 2025

Weapons

Springfield Echelon 4.0c

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I fell in love with the Springfield Armory Echelon the moment I first held one in my hands. It looks freaking cool. And it feels even better in the hand. But I had no use for a full sized railed pistol… And then Springfield brought it out in the same size as a Glock 19 recently. And it still feels excellent in the hand.

The idea of running a Micro Red Dot on a pistol has been something I had been avoiding as I didn’t like it the first time I tried one. However people I know and respect have been adopting them all around me… so maybe there is something going on with that. I have two other pistols that could rock a red dot, but neither seem to be a good platform for an RD. Also, I didn’t want to spend 300 bucks or more on something I just wasn’t absolutely sure I wanted. And then I browsing TFB I saw that Springfield was offering a killer cool Gear Up package deal that included an MRD, 3 extra magazines, and a Shooting Bag. That pushed me over the edge. Okay. Let’s try this. So I have sent away for the Gear Up Kit… and I’ll update this when that comes in. Back to the gun in question…

I liked the White U Rear sight on most of the Echelons. But I’ve grown up with 3 Dots and I’m just more used to that. Especially in dark situations… If I’m going to pay for Tritium, I want all my Tritium! This Tritium is nice and bright, the way you want it.

The rear sight is also shaped right too. Not a ramp like with Novak sights. So if racking one handed is required, I can hook the rear sight onto something and push. Trying to that with a Novak is impossible, and then you’re trying to push off the front of the slide or something. Awkward. This is just so much easier. I like easy. I also like Smooth. And racking the Echelon is very smooth. The 4.0c is no different. Very Smooth. Much smoother than a Glock.

Trigger is better than a Glock too. A Glock has a weird wall before the break, and at the moment it goes, the pistol gets a little “shrug”. There’s a little bit of a jump. This, like all good triggers, doesn’t do that. The trigger has a little slack to take up, then it breaks very nicely without a jump. But it’s not a “Crisp” break… it just breaks. Like it just fall off and there it goes. Reset is excellent. I have no complaints about this trigger and I suspect it’s going to get very nice after some use. This is just Out Of The Box.

I really love the way the gun feels in my hand. Seriously one of the very best factory grips I’ve ever felt. The contours are just about perfect for my hand… I couldn’t imagine it getting any better. But I guess if I needed a dimensional change, there are a couple alternative backstraps to try out… One slightly larger, and one smaller. But this is perfect out of the box. It’s going to stay like this. Wait, it gets better! The texture is a fine stippling type affair that doesn’t snag on my clothes and isn’t abrasive to the hands… but when I apply normal shooting grip-force, it locks into my hand like super-glue. This is excellent texturing. And with that good grip, I can still hit the slide and mag releases without problem and without changing my grip. It doesn’t get any better than this. And it gets even better. For those of you who are SIG guys, or 1911 Guys… The Echelon’s grip angle is going to hit right. For me, it’s extremely “Pointable”. It comes up just right on target, without any adjustment. It points naturally like few pistols do… Like a 1911, like a SIG, like a CZ, like a Browning Hi-Power. It’s awesome.

This just might be… the most perfect striker-fired pistol… (Pause like Jeremy Clarkson) In the world.

I’m not going to put this into my Carry Rotation for a while. I still need to put it to the test of a bare minimum of 200 rounds… Prefer 400 or more. But I’ll do the bulk of that shooting after I mount and zero the MRD. I’ll keep you posted. Cheers!

UPDATE:
Initial Testing: 100 rounds, 2 boxes of really old mixed Cheap Stuff: ZERO malfunctions. Even in the rain. Just out of the Box. Next step is clean and lube with a good oil, and try to wait patiently for the Micro Red Dot to show up. Accuracy was good, but I wasn’t really shooting for accuracy. I was just breaking it in. And when I say this was old cheap ammo… We’re talking stuff I had left over from living back in Utah. (2013) Some Federal Blue Box, Winchester White Box, CCI Blazer, and Speer Lawman.

Weapons

SHOT SHOW 2025

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I was asked about my thoughts on all the new products from SHOT SHOW 2025. Honestly there was just a whole lot of MEH for me. Companies are still trying to make ARs look like other guns and other guns look like ARs. So much of it was just lost on me.

I am a big advocate for the use of Shotguns, and there are 2 shotguns that caught my eye and I will eventually acquire one of them for sure. PSA’s new 570 Shotgun is one of them. They’ve taken the best features of the 870 and the 590 and rolled them into one. If I was going to design a pump action shotgun, this PSA is what it would have come out like. And it’s modular so that you can build it up exactly how you want it, instead of buying a gun kind of like what you want, and then buying new parts to replace parts you don’t want. I LOVE that. And the shocker is they can also make it a Semi-Auto. That’s just icing on the already excellent cake.

The other Shotgun is the new Mossy with the AR furniture and Safety. This isn’t just window dressing but a good option for those new Shooters who have only been running ARs all their lives. Yeah, I know that kinda makes fun at my first paragraph here, but having familiar fire controls is a distinct advantage. I see this shotgun becoming very popular with smaller Law Enforcement Agencies. I may have to get one, just because.

PSA has also brought out some other interesting things… Under PSA’s H&R decision is a CAR-15 analog, which I ADORE as the CAR-15 was my first issued weapon out of Basic and AIT. I’m going to have to get one. I just have to. All the Retro H&R Arms rifles are cool. FN brought out a line some years ago of service rifle analogs, but FN priced them into oblivion… PSA and H&R Arms are doing it RIGHT.

Everything PSA is doing is being done right… The new flavors of JAKL and SABRE are just awesome. Is there anything that PSA is doing that’s NOT awesome? I’ve got my hands on a couple JAKLs now and I’ve got to tell you… I like them. A lot. I might get a couple JAKL uppers to finish up some builds.