Springfield Armory 9mm EMP-4” Lightweight Champion

Performance

EMP4 Barrel(C)The true test for the EMP-4” involved a few hundred dry-fire draw strokes from concealment using the factory provided holster, and five individual trips to the range to live-fire test with various carry drills. As familiarity with the pistol increased over the month long carry/train/test period and roughly 600 rounds, some features proved problematic while others pleasantly surprising.

This is an extremely “wearable” gun. Small in overall size, slim and lightweight it is no challenge to effectively conceal and comfortably wear all day. Because of it’s light weight the gun has a much more noticeable felt recoil or “kick” than an all-steel 1911. Balancing out the snappy muzzle rise with a more commanding grip on the gun and a bit more pressure from the pinkie fingers quickly solved that problem. Once finding the appropriate aggressive grip on the gun and cycling through multiple shots in rapid fire the gun tracks flat and smooth.

EMP4 Controls(C)Initial observations of the sights proved true at the range. While this sight combination may not be a bad thing for structured slow fire range target practice they proved less than optimal for rapid sight gain working out of the holster. It took a lot of reps to overcome the distracting white rear dots competing for attention with bright fiber optic front sight. Functionally, the low profile rear sight didn’t provide much material to rack off of for one handed manipulations, a major component of concealed carry combative training.

I had heard a lot of gun store skeptics rant about the sharpness of the fiber optics front sight housing. With all of the draws, dry fire and live fire, I didn’t experience any snagging out of the holster. Nor did I find the fiber optic to be too “delicate” for every day carry and hard use training. The On Target test sample came from Springfield perfectly zeroed out of the box.

Working the gun itself, the slide is easy to hand cycle and doesn’t require hulk-smash strength to lock back or rack. One interesting observation is that if you are like me and your support hand rides high along the slide, any pressure against it can cause the gun to short stroke and malfunction. A small shift of the support hand allowing the thumb to rest along the frame and the issue is gone.

EMP4 Mags(C)Aside from this grip adjustment I experienced no malfunctions with a variety of ammunition including, Blazer Brass 115-grain, American Eagle 115-grain, Freedom Munitions 124-grain, Hornady 115-grain FTX Critical Defense and Black Hills 115-grain Tac-XP +P. The pistol’s single-action trigger comes in at roughly five pounds of pull weight and has a smooth feel and crisp reset. Even with barely enough rounds to qualify as a true “break in period” the gun performed accurately under slow, steady fire and aggressive, rapid fire and showed no noticeable variation out to 25 yards. On paper, from a rest, the EMP-4 laid down some very-respectable 5-shot group sizes, with the Black Hills load taking the cake at 1.80” center to center. All others came in under 3.5 inches, proving the EMP-4 has the precision to back up its classic good looks.

As 9mm 1911 fans know all too well, finding reliable and rugged magazines is a constant source of frustration. The EMP-4” comes with three top-quality MEC-GAR 10-round magazines equipped with Slam Pad base plates. These were surprisingly fantastic! No issues and arguably the best combination of gun/mag that I’ve run yet.

Ultimately, the best feature of this firearm is its versatility. The firearm you choose for concealed carry should be the one you spend the most time with at the range. It should be a firearm that is both practical to carry comfortably, fun to shoot, and rugged enough to train with regularly. It’s a very user-friendly firearm for new shooters and an easily customizable gun for experienced and picky ones. The EMP-4” Lightweight Champion transitions nicely from clean slow fire target shooting, to home defense and for a demanding audience of gritty hard use concealed carriers.

SA EMP Holster(C)Check out the new EMP-4” 1911  at your nearest dealer ($1,179), or for more information, contact Springfield Armory, Dept. OT; Tel.: (800) 680-6866; E-mail: [email protected]; Web: www.springfield-armory.com