Springfield Armory SA-35 4”

By: Massad Ayoob

A more carry-friendly version of Springfield’s timeless classic

Springfield Armory’s introduction of its SA-35 pistol a few years ago triggered a new wave of interest in a ninety-plus-year-old design: the Browning High Power, a/k/a the P-35. Springfield’s take on that great classic included every feature – better sights, better trigger, no mag disconnector safety, higher capacity – that we gunnies used to pay big bucks for on our customized Brownings, all now available for an almost ridiculously low sub-$1,000 price.

Now comes the compact model, with a barrel shortened to four inches and slide concomitantly snubbed, while retaining the 15-round magazine, which is standard on the SA-35. The original High Power’s 13-round mag was revolutionary in its time, but many savvy users carried it one round down for reliability. The SA-35 with the fifteen-round magazine it comes with looks all the more attractive to us old Browning fans.

The shorter overall length didn’t seem to alter balance much, but it certainly improves comfort in appendix carry, enhances concealability in an OWB hip holster, and reduces the “under the armpit bulge” when carried in a shoulder holster that holds the pistol with its barrel parallel to the ground. A shorter barrel also clears most holsters slightly faster. On my scale, the weight of this all-steel pistol was about the same as a lightweight Commander or Ronin 1911, but capable of holding more ammo.

Trigger

The magazine disconnector safety having been dispensed with, there is less friction drag in the trigger pull than in P-35 pattern pistols of old. The trigger itself is curved, narrow, and smooth, retaining the excellent P-35 trigger reach, which, over the decades, has fit so many hands so well. There is a short, light take-up, followed by a crisp release with no palpable backlash. Everyone who shot this pistol during the test period loved the trigger pull.

It’s a pivoting trigger, so we measured it twice: once at the toe, the bottom tip of the trigger, where it is generally measured, and again at the center, where most human fingers actually rest during the firing process. Pull weight per the Lyman digital trigger pull gauge averaged 5.52 pounds at the center and 5.10 at the toe, where, of course, more leverage is afforded, reducing the pressure required. Trigger reset is longer than on many of today’s striker-fired pistols, but given the short overall pull length, that wasn’t a problem for anyone who fired On Target’s test gun, serial number HP52900.

Shots Fired

For accuracy, we went with my usual protocol: five shots from a Caldwell Matrix rest on a concrete table at 25 yards, groups measured to the nearest 0.50″ from center to center of the farthest-flung bullet holes being measured. The first measurement was all five, to get an idea what an experienced shooter could expect with the given load under ideal conditions, and again for the best three hits, which we’ve found over the years closely approximates what the given gun/ammo combination is likely to do from a Ransom machine rest. Most of our readers can bench-test their own samples of similar guns much more conveniently and economically than by setting up a machine rest. It’s always useful to be able to compare your results with ours.

We tested with the three most popular bullet weight ranges for 9mm Luger. 115-grain full-metal-jacket is by far the most common practice load, represented here by the MagTech brand. One errant shot stretched the overall five-shot group to 4.95″, but the other four were in 2.35″, and the best three measured 1.20″.

For a medium-grain weight, we tried Winchester Ranger-T 127-grain +P+ hollow points, rated for 1250 foot-seconds from service pistol barrels. Recoil was quite tolerable with this hot load. As with MagTech, the first shot went high and stretched the overall group to a 2.60″ cluster, but the next four went into 1.20″. Oddly enough, those four shots were in a triangular pattern such that the best three also measured 1.20″. You don’t see that every day.

“Heavy for caliber” was represented by Remington-UMC’s affordable 147-grain jacketed truncated cone bullet at subsonic velocity. It punched five holes into 2.75″ from the short barrel SA-35, the tightest trio in barely more than half that, 1.40″. Overall, we were pleased with the 25-yard accuracy.

The sights helped: a big post front with a dot, and a huge U-notch rear, gave a very clear sight picture that comes quickly to the eye. The good trigger pull helped, too. Part of that is the elimination of the magazine disconnector safety, which in the original Browning High Power not only kept the chambered round from firing if there was no mag in place, but also made the trigger pull heavier and “draggier.” The disconnector feature also prevented an ejected empty mag from dropping free. Since the SA-35 doesn’t have the mag disconnector feature, empties dropped out cleanly every time.

Reliability

We lost count of how many hundreds of rounds went through the gun. There were two light strikes on primers, one with Cor-Bon hollow point and another with some generic remanufactured practice load. The only other malfs were shooter-induced, and therein lies a story. The configuration of the High Power’s long slide lock lever is such that pressure on the forward end can drive the rear end up, and if a support hand thumb is applying downward pressure on the forward end, the slide can lock open during firing while the gun is still loaded. It’s a P-35 thing, not just an SA-35 thing.

I’ve tested two samples of this new SA-35 variation. With the first test team, two guys with large hands experienced some hammer bite on the web of the hand, something the previous full-size SA-35s I shot never exhibited. With a different test team on the different pistol tested for On Target, no one had any hammer bite. If you have very large or fleshy hands, cock the hammer of the gun shop’s SA-35 and take a high grasp on the pistol. If the hammer is not touching flesh, you should be immune to hammer bite. We compared this gun to a full-size SA-35, and the frames, hammers, and grip tangs appear identical.

Ask the Man who Owns One

Our test team included me, petite Gail Pepin, a former IDPA state and regional shooting champion and firearms instructor, Andrew Fritzinger from Indianapolis, veteran combat shooting competitor Robby Harris, and one more person I’ll get to in a moment.

Andrew and Robby combined their comments in their notes. Their impressions included “The gun feels solid in the hand, and the single-action trigger is crisp. Accuracy is very good with tight groups fired standing from the hand at 15 yards. Sights were sighted in perfectly right out of the box … a fun-shooting range gun.”

The other person on this On Target test team was Wayne Musgrove. Wayne is a retired sheriff’s department SWAT team leader and firearms instructor whose career started with service revolvers and went through the SIG P226 9mm, the Glock 21 .45, to the FN 509 9mm with Holosun green dot sight, with which he finished. This is a man who understands modern guns … but appreciates classics, too. His daily personal carry gun in retirement? The full-size Springfield SA-35. That’s why his opinion is of particular value to this article.

Wayne likes everything about the SA-35 he carries daily, so it’s no surprise he was quite taken with this shorter one. He had actually purchased, prior to this, an Argentine DM Detective pistol, a copy of the Browning High Power shortened to the exact same length as this new iteration of the SA-35. He didn’t carry the DM because its sights and trigger weren’t nearly as good as his full-size SA-35.

After shooting our test sample, he told me, “I had promised myself I wouldn’t buy another new gun in 2026. This short-barreled SA-35 is probably going to make me go back on my own promise.”

Bottom Line

There are sound reasons why the SA-35 has been so successful and has really led the current renaissance of the High Power platform. It was an outstanding value when it first came out, and the same is true of this new version. See one at your nearest dealer, or for more information, contact Springfield Armory; Tel.: (800) 680-6866; Web: www.springfield-armory.com.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Action:                        Hammer fired, SAO

Caliber:                      9mm Luger

Barrel Length:            4.0 inches

Weight:                      29.8 ounces

OA Length:                 7.1 inches

Height:                       4.8 inches

Finish:                        Matte blued

Capacity:                   15+1 rounds

MSRP:                       $799