Transcription
Foreign. [Music] This is the Echelon, Springfield Armory's brand new full-size, 4.5-inch barrel, striker-fired duty pistol, chambered in nine millimeter. It comes with a 17 and 21-round magazine and has an MSRP starting at $675. But if you let me tell it, the Echelon is a fraud because I believe the Echelon is a custom gun masquerading as a standard production gun.
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Springfield sent this gun to me months ago and told me I couldn't say or post anything about it until July 12th. And you know what? It was really hard not leaking a picture of this gun because this is one good-looking polymer striker-fired gun. I'd seen it lying around my house and I'd get that itch to post a tactical thirst trap on Instagram, only to remember I can't post anything until July 12th. Hey, numbnuts, you're not supposed to post anything about that gun until the 12th, idiot.
However, I don't think the ATF feels the same way I do about the way the Echelon looks because, according to the ATF, this is what they think Springfield's gun looks like. Yep, the Echelon is based on a chassis system that they call the Central Operating Group, or COG, which can fit in the different-sized grip modules that Springfield has for this gun. Now, this isn't groundbreaking. There have been other companies who have done this, but there aren't that many. So, I applaud having another chassis-based gun in the mix. Now, that said, I hope they come out with a different-colored grip module because, like I said before, I love the way this thing looks, and I think this thing in different colors would kill it, if you ask me.
The Echelon looks like someone went to the Mandalorian armor and handed her a Springfield Hellcat Pro, a Glock 17, and a Walther PDP, and said, "Here, make one gun out of all of these guns, but make it so sexy that people think it came from a custom shop instead of a big production company like Springfield." And she simply said, "This is the way." I genuinely think that Echelon is one of the sexiest polymer-frame striker-fired guns on the market right now. Yes, that is the third time I've expressed how much I love the way this gun looks, and I haven't even got to the trigger yet.
But that's because there's literally nothing to change on this gun, not only visually but even functionally from a customization standpoint. I mean, think about it. Let's say you got a Glock 17 and took it to a custom shop and said, "Pimp my gun." What would they do? They'll probably start by adding slide cuts. Well, the slide serrations on the Echelon are so deep and many, they might as well be slide cuts. And that's not even considering the fact that the slide serrations sit inside of what they call a trench cut, which makes press-checking the gun from the front beautifully effortless. Then there's the flare cut at the back of the slide, which makes racking and press-checking the gun from the back also beautifully effortless.
Next thing a custom shop would do is add optics cuts. Which they didn't just add optics cuts on the Echelon and then throw in a bunch of plates that make your red dot stand taller than Taylor Swift standing next to Bruno Mars or Kanye West. Instead, the Echelon uses Springfield's patent-pending Variable Interface System, or VIS. How cute. This system lets you mount over 30 of the most popular red dot optics directly to the slide by way of these self-locking pins that you can configure to your specific optic. Combine all of that with the Springfield classic U-notch iron night sights, and your optics game is covered.
Of course, a custom gun ain't a custom gun without custom stippling, right? The grip texture on the Echelon looks anything but normal. It looks like black sand, and it damn near covers every inch of this gun like it's a rash. It's on the magazine, it's on the grip, it's on the mag release, it's on the frame, it's on the takedown lever, it's on the finger shelf, it's under the trigger guard, it's on the front of the trigger guard, it's on the front of the guide rod, for crying out loud. It's even on the back of the slide. Nearly everywhere a custom shop would stipple a gun, Springfield has covered it with this black sand grip texture, and you know what? I'm a fan.
Now, you can't call a gun custom if it doesn't have a custom trigger. But what do you call a production gun that has a better trigger than a lot of other custom polymer-frame striker-fired guns? Call it the Echelon. This trigger is really good. I mean, it, it's good. It has a short but silky take-up, a weighted blanket level of comfort trigger wall, just a teensy-inty amount of creep that only the fussiest of trigger snobs will be able to notice, and a crisp staple gun-like break. And then it just slides into a beautiful reset like an MLB player stealing second base. Safe. Visually, I love the design of the trigger, and feel that it fits the Echelon aesthetically perfectly.
There are no fancy compensators on the Echelon, so it handles and fires the way you expect a full-size duty gun to handle and fire. It shoots flat and handles the recoil of the nine millimeter like a champ. But the 1911-style grip angle, the phenomenal grip provided by the black sand grip texture, makes managing the gun under recoil that much more confidence-inspiring. So, shooting fast, shooting slow, shooting long distance, short distance, one thing the ergonomics of the gun does is inspire confidence that you can easily manage the recoil of every shot, every single time.
Springfield markets the Echelon as a duty gun, which, for all intents and purposes, it is. It's a full-size gun with more than efficient capacity, and I can easily see it riding on the hip of a cop on duty. Dirty. But from a civilian standpoint, the Echelon screams home defense gun, off-body carry gun, hell, even car gun. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, why in the hell would anyone keep such an expensive gun in their car? Well, I'm not saying the Echelon is a cheap gun, but with a starting MSRP price of $679 for what is a custom gun masquerading as a production gun, I've known and seen people who carry far more expensive guns in their vehicle.
When it's all said and done, it's a gun that feels like it was designed by a team who knew the Echelon couldn't afford to be just okay or even good. They were creating a style of gun that isn't exactly revolutionary in design and has been out for eons, so they knew it had to be damn near flawless in the way that it executed that same design. You know what? I find it hard to say that they failed in any way to do just that.
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