First Look: Springfield Armory Echelon 4.5F Comp

If I told you, you could have a flatter-shooting pistol with reduced felt recoil that put you back on target faster without any drawbacks, would you be interested?

That’s exactly what Springfield Armory has just done with the Echelon 4.5F Comp pistol chambered in 9mm.

Following in the footsteps of the Hellcat Pro Comp and the Springfield Prodigy Comp, we now have access to that same technology on the Echelon family of pistols. I am thrilled for this release as the Echelon is currently the main pistol I train with, and now it just got even better.

What Is the New Springfield Armory Echelon 4.5F Comp?

If you’re new to the Echelon, it’s a 4.5”-barreled striker-fired handgun chambered in 9mm. The Echelon is equipped with a revolutionary patented Variable Interface System for mounting optics, and also a self-contained serialized Central Operating Group chassis inside the polymer grip module. Combined, these make the Echelon one of the most feature-rich, cutting-edge, technology-packed pistols on the market.

The Variable Interface System utilizes a set of movable pins and mounting holes that allow you to direct mount — without any plates — more than 30 of the most popular red dot optics on the market. This allows co-witness through many optics without the need for suppressor-height sights. This system is also one of the most robust optics-mounting systems to be integrated onto a modern firearm in my opinion. The way the pins interface into the optic makes losing zero almost an impossibility.

Besides the optics system, I am most intrigued by the Central Operating Group in the Echelon. This is the serialized portion of the pistol that houses the trigger system, allowing you to swap out grip modules with ease. This way, you can select a different color or size with ease.

Also included in the box with the pistol are easily swappable backstraps in small, medium and large sizes to better personalize the pistol to your hands. Another cool feature of the backstrap is that it has an integrated armorer tool built-in to assist in taking down the pistol for cleaning.

The Echelon is designed for hard use in mind. The Adaptive Grip Texture — the same as the Springfield Hellcat grip — on the frame features a combination of tall flattened pyramid cuts along with shorter pointed pyramid cuts. This gives you a comfortable and non-snag grip that also allows for a more aggressive texture the tighter you grip the pistol. In addition, the mag release and slide lock are both ambidextrous for strong- and weak-hand shooting.

The slide serrations on the Echelon are aggressive and aid in manipulating the slide in virtually all conditions imaginable, ensuring positive handling of the pistol. The front of the slide has a “trench” machined into it, which gives you a natural indexing point for press checks. The rear of the slide is flared out ever so slightly to give you better purchase on the slide for additional engagement.

The Echelon ships with a flush-fit 17-round and an extended 20-round magazine. The magazines are blacked out in a scratch- and wear-resistant coating. In addition, the pistol is offered in 15- and 10-round versions for restricted locales. Those also come with two magazines.

The integral compensator on the Echelon 4.5F Comp is designed to produce a notable reduction in muzzle rise while still retaining all the reliability you’ve come to expect from the Echelon. If you’re unfamiliar with compensators, they consist of a port or ports that vents gas upwards, which in turn pushes the muzzle downwards. This reduces muzzle rise and perceived recoil and puts you back on target quicker for fast follow-up shots.

On the Echelon 4.5F Comp, the compensator is built into the slide and barrel. The barrel and slide are milled perfectly with a matching opening to vent gas upwards and slightly out of the side of the slide. You will notice the port contours from the top of the slide and slightly down the sides. This ensures the greatest volume of gas escaping the port is directed upwards and out to keep you on target with precision and ease. You will also note that the port is located forward of the front sight, ensuring it will not disrupt your sight picture.

Springfield Armory Echelon 4.5F Comp Specifications

Planning It Out

I rigged my Echelon Comp out with a Surefire X300 Turbo weaponlight and a Vortex Defender-ST red dot sight. Since this is a full-size duty pistol, I utilized my Ronin Tactics Senshi belt with a Safariland 6360 Level 3 holster. This gun belt is super comfortable and has all the necessary pouches to hold extra mags, a flashlight and a med kit. The Safariland holster is robust, looks great and has all the protection you would want or need on a duty belt.

To be honest, this is my favorite way to train at the range. The ease of drawing, reloading and carrying everything I need feels great and makes the process of testing and training much more fun. It’s kind of akin to driving a sports car where you can push the performance, speed and handling. It also requires more of you, requiring you to perfect your draw, presentation, reload process and accuracy.

Beyond basic shooting fundamentals, accuracy and handling, I wanted to test different types and weights of ammunition. When I shoot a compensated firearm, my first thoughts always go to reliability and ammo preferences. I set out to test 115, 124 and 147-gr. ball ammo as well as some defensive ammunition in the same weights. It’s important to test for yourself the primary ammo you may be using in your firearms to know their strengths or limitations. I fully expect the Echelon Comp to run perfectly through all the ammo I set out to test, but there is nothing like firsthand experience.

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There is also the fact that compensators need a specific amount of gas to be most effective. The pistol should feel different with each of these ammo types, and I intended to find the ammo that felt the best with the compensator to give me the maximum reduction in muzzle rise.

Testing the Echelon 4.5F Comp at the Shooting Range

I hit the range with three flavors of ball ammo and three flavors of defensive ammo. For the ball ammo, I grabbed 147-gr. Fiocchi Range Dynamics, 124-gr. off brand ammo I bought in bulk and 115-gr. Remington UMC. For the defensive ammo, I packed Nosler 124-gr. ASP, Remington Bonded 147-gr. and Hornady Critical Defense 115 gr. This allowed me to be able to test a wide range of ammo weights and types from multiple manufacturers to really see how the Echelon 4.5” Comp performed.

I started with the 147-gr. Fiocchi FMJ , and the first shots were actually quite surprising to me. I’ve been impressed with the Echelon and how well it shoots, but the integral compensator of the Echelon 4.5F Comp added a beneficial reduction in muzzle rise. The pistol is easy to shoot fast, returning to zero quickly and keeping my sights on target easily. Shooting hammer pairs on steel at 30 yards was near effortless.

The trigger in the Echelon feels fantastic, and with the Comp I was able to manipulate the trigger faster than normal with greater accuracy than my non-compensated Echelon. I then moved on to the 124- and 115-gr. ball ammo variants. As with the 147-gr. load, they also ran without issue, feeding and extracting.

Moving into the defensive ammo revealed more of the same; a nice, subtle reduction in muzzle rise and felt recoil, while operating with 100% reliability and efficiency. Overall, I would say that the Hornady Critical Defense 115-gr. ammo had the greatest perceived reduction in muzzle rise of all the tested loads.

Once I got the hang of the pistol and how it ran, I worked more on drawing and firing quickly once I had a solid sight picture. I then moved into one of my favorite drills, executing quick reloads from the battle belt. When running the belt, I like to have the larger 20-round magazines in the pistol pouches as they are easy to grab.

Final Thoughts on the New Echelon Pistol

I’ve got to say that this was one of my more memorable and enjoyable range sessions in a while as far as pistols go. The Echelon 4.5F Comp is based on a pistol I’ve grown very fond of, but now it is even better with the integral compensator. Basically, the Echelon 4.5F Comp allows me to shoot quicker with more accuracy and confidence.

If you get the chance to check out the family of Echelon pistols, do yourself a favor and take the 4.5F Comp variant for a test drive. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the newfound speed you can get while still retaining good accuracy and reliability. As always, tools don’t make you a better shooter, training and time will be the great equalizer. But having a high-quality pistol that can deliver is still an absolute necessity. Get out there and brush up on those skills!

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