(Photo courtesy of Springfield Armory)
July 12, 2023
By James Tarr, Handguns Editor
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Springfield Armory has been teasing it for a while now, but the day has finally come for the full announcement of their new Echelon pistol. At first glance the new Springfield Amroy Echelon looks like Springfield’s take on the Glock design, but this is an all-new pistol, and in no way a Glock “clone.”
The Echelon from Springfield Armory sets a new standard for modern, striker-fired duty pistols. With a host of patent-pending features, this modular and highly adaptable handgun is designed around a robust stainless steel chassis and revolutionary optics mounting system. The Echelon sports a removable stainless chassis that is the serialized part, much like a SIG P320—in the Echelon it is called the COG, the Central Operating Group. The COG, which provides a relatively crisp 4.5-5.0-lb trigger pull, sits in a replaceable polymer grip module. Not only are there different sizes of grip module, each pistol is shipped with three different size backstraps, to perfectly tailor the pistol to your hand.
The aggressive texturing of the slide works just as good as it looks, and the base model day/night sights are great. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the pistol is the optics mounting interface—VIS, for Variable Interface System. The slide is cut for direct mounting of just about every type of red dot on the market. There are several sets of screw holes, in addition to provided pin sets that interface with the base of the optic. The steel magazines are proprietary to the Echelon. Flush magazines hold 17 rounds, and the standard pistol is provided with one flush 17- and one extended 20-rounder.
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This is the serealized part of the new Springfield Armory Echelon, the Central Operating Group. I’ve had an Echelon for over a month and have put hundreds of rounds through it without a single problem. It in every way has been a pleasant surprise, and Springfield Armory seems to have done everything right with this new pistol, aimed at both the commercial and law enforcement market. Look for my full cover article on this pistol in Issue# 16 of Firearms News on newsstands August 22nd.
About the Author James Tarr is a longtime contributor to Firearms News and other firearms publications. A former police officer he is a USPSA Production Division Grand Master. He is also the author of several books, including CARNIVORE, which was featured on The O’Reilly Factor. His current best-selling novel, Dogsoldiers, is available now through Amazon.
If you have any thoughts or comments on this article, we’d love to hear them. Email us at FirearmsNews@Outdoorsg.com .
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