In November, I wrote up a brief overview of the new Springfield Armory AR’s that were introduced at a writers event in Vegas (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...istol-and-Edge). There were several other firearms there as well, but we had a gag order until now. While all of the new firearms were nice, especially the TRP’s in 10mm and 6.5 CM M1A, the one that caught my eye the most was their new .380 ACP pistol called 911. Now, when I say “caught my eye,” what I really mean, and thought at that moment, was: Ugh, a 1911 micro pistol in a caliber I hate and with a silly name!” I will honestly state that as a gun dealer, I avoid stocking these little pocket pistols like the plague. Most of my experience with them comes via Kimber and SIG (neither of which should be deemed as overly reliable or fun to shoot). How am I going to write anything constructive or even remotely positive about a gun that I simply don’t want to shoot, I thought to myself.
At first glance, I was impressed with the fit and finish of the gun. It was well done and the G10 green grips (made by Hogue) really make the 911 stand out. The other nice feature that I am a fan of is the sights. Ameriglo PRO-GLO front (with Tritium insert) and a U notch rear (also with Tritium inserts). The pistol is 5.5 inches in length and less than 4 inches in height. The front strap and main spring housing are configured in Springfield’s “Octo-Grip” texturing (subtle, but effective). Barrel length is 2.7 inches with a full length guide rod and flat wire spring. Two mags come with this pistol (6rd flush and 7rd extended). The 911’s frame is made from 7075 T6 anodized aluminum and slide is made out of stainless steel (either matte finished or black Nitrided). Full MSRP is $599 for the non-laser model. Projected street price will be a lot lower, I think.
As mentioned above, I am not a fan of .380. It tends to be less reliable than 9mm and features a snappier recoil pattern. So I assumed a fun day of “clearing malfunctions” was on my to do list. This wasn’t the case. First shooting impressions were simply awesome! The thumb safety was 100% usable and easy to manipulate (not a common thing with micro 1911’s). The trigger was a crisp 5lbs with a short take up and reset. Slide release and mag release were also easy to use. After firing a couple mags from this gun, I had to finally admit that I was having a good time. Such a good time, in fact, that I kept coming back to this pistol over and over to get more rounds down range with it. Pretty soon, I was doing 7rd mag dumps (with all the brass in the air at the same time) all the while getting center mass hits. The words “controllable recoil” do not do this pistol justice. It is by far the softest shooting .380 micro pistol I have ever fired (much more so than the Glock 42, if that tells you anything). This gun was also a crowd favorite with the other writers as well. So much so that I would guesstimate that we shot more .380 than 45, 10mm, or 9mm. That should tell you a lot. As the day wore on, I began looking for farther and farther targets to engage and pretty quickly settled on shooting an IPSC size steel target at 100yds. Surely, one cannot hit a target that small with a .380 with a 2.7” barrel right? Wrong. We were able to repeatably put rounds on steel with this little pistol. Impressive to say the least.
Looks like I just found a new micro 1911 .380 to offer to my customers.
http://www.springfield-armory.com/products/911-380-acp/
C4
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Originally Posted by bad aim
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