The Armory Life Shoots Springfield's Echelon Pro Comp in Three Sizes

The Armory Life's Scott Conditt, a longtime Echelon owner, spent range time with Springfield Armory's new Echelon Pro Comp 9mm in all three sizes. The Pro line adds grip, magwell, sight and compensator upgrades to the modular Echelon.

Snapshot

Conditt runs through the three Pro configurations and their extended magazines, the new Badlands grip texture, the steel magwell, compensated barrel and updated U-Dot sights, plus features carried over from the standard Echelon. He found the Pro needed no adjustment period and the compensator kept the 4.5F planted in rapid fire, and while that full-size model was his favorite, he says the smaller two were just as controllable.

Key points

• Configurations: the compact 4.0C (4-inch barrel, 18+1), the 4.0FC with a full-size grip and compact slide (4-inch, 20+1) and the full-size 4.5F (4.5-inch, 20+1). Each ships with three extended magazines.
• Grip: a new laser-sculpted "LightForged" texture in a cracked-earth pattern called Badlands, which debuts on the Pro and blends into the existing Adaptive Grip Texture.
• Upgrades: a removable machined steel flared magwell, a stainless steel guide rod, a gray Cerakote slide and an integrally compensated Melonite barrel with a matching slide cut.
• Sights: the U-Dot setup returns with the tritium front dot now ringed in orange and an all-black serrated U-notch rear, meant to pull focus to the front sight.
• Carryover features: the serialized stainless steel Central Operating Group and the Variable Interface System for direct-mounting most popular optics.

Quick take

Conditt said the Pro needed no adjustment period for an Echelon shooter and that the compensator kept the 4.5F "extremely planted" in rapid fire. He found the Badlands texture improved the grip without losing what he liked about the original, and noted the flared magwell requires the extended magazines unless you remove it. The 4.5F was his favorite, but he said the two smaller models kept the same controllability.

Read the full story at The Armory Life.