Review of the Springfield 911

Springfield 911 Review by Eric Kennard
 
          A very good friend of mine picked up a new Springfield 911 pistol. He took it right to the range and shot it. Andy is retired Law Enforcement, a long time firearms instructor, and shootist. Andy was privileged enough to have taken every class Jeff Cooper and Ray Chapman taught. In fact he has taken so many shooting classes from so many that none of us can keep up. His lifetime USPSA number is in the low three digit range not the five digit of most. Andy allowed me to try the 911 and give you an evaluation.

        The 911 is another modern copy of a Colt Mustang. The 1911 platform is still my favorite. I have been able to fire many pistols in my 31 years in Law Enforcement. I always went back to the 1911 when able. In 1992 I went into Major Crimes where we investigated sex crimes, serious child abuse crimes, unattended deaths, and homicides. I wanted a small back up type pistol that was reliable but small. That year I bought a Colt Mustang Pocket Lite, a pistol that I still have today. I was able to qualify with that diminutive pistol for many years. I carried it on and off duty. Colt discontinued it for a number of years and copies began to appear from Sig Sauer and Kimber. The Springfield 911 is the newest of these copies.

          I will begin my review by telling you it is the BEST COPY of the Mustang that I have used. The 911 has many unique features. The 911 has an ambidextrous safety which I prefer. The 911 has really nice sights, much nicer than the Mustang. These are night sights and are standard not an optional extra. The front dot is huge. The extractor is external. The trigger is a measured 4 1/2 pounds. The 911 comes with a flush bottom 6 round magazine and an extended 7 round magazine with a finger extension. The trigger guard is squarish and allows your finger a fast entry into it. The 911 fit into many of the holsters I have for my Mustang.
 
           The internals look a lot like the Colt Mustang. The 911 does have a stainless guide rod. I have found that a metal guide rod in my Mustang seemed to allow the pistol to function more smoothly than the original plastic guide rod.
 
         The 911 comes with a neat little pouch. The holster is removable and can double as a pocket holster.
 
           The scallops on the front strap and back strap are some of the best I ever handled. They are not sharp and they don't catch coming out of a holster or pocket.
 
          The 911 comes with a loaded chamber indicator that sticks up from the top of the slide when there is a round in the chamber. This is the only feature I could live without. It did not seem to hamper the function of the 911.

         Did it shoot? DID IT EVER! This thing is incredible. We shot 15 types of ammo in this pistol. With about 150 rounds fired, there were ZERO malfunctions. That is remarkable for a micro pistol. It groups with most everything. It really liked the Federal 380BP and the Federal HST. The worst group was with Sig Elite hollow point super death bullets. The recoil was very brisk with these with may have caused me to shoot poorly. The 911 even shot my 380 hand loads with 95 grain Bayou Bullets (coated lead).  The load is 2.9 grains of VV320 behind the lead round nose Bayou Bullet. The photo with the loaded round is a 10 yard group! Andy shoots much better than me.
 
        Many people discount the .380 as too little to carry for defensive purposes. I live in Florida. Shorts and sneakers are the uniform of the day nine or ten months a year. That makes concealment an issue with any full size pistol. This 911 is perfect to carry concealed. It carries very well in a pocket. The 911 has too many great features to pass up. It was reliable, concealable, and easy to shoot. I can’t recommend it enough. I hope Springfield makes thousands of them as they will be very popular.

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