The New Springfield Armory Echelon Ported Review

The Springfield Armory Echelon Ported. Let’s check it out. 

 

When they introduced this back in 2023, I was very impressed, and I deal with a lot of different handguns. We shoot a lot, but this one really stands above the crowd for a striker polymer frame pistol. The ergonomics, the deep cuts in the slide, but now they’re coming out with their ported version for their compact model.

Now they have already released their full-size ported model, but this really allows for much flatter shooting, it mitigates the recoil, and it just makes it a pleasure to shoot. So we’re going to take this out, we’re going to compare it side-by-side with the original compact, and guys, a lot of cool features with the Echelon series. And guys, a big thank you to Springfield Armory for sending the Echelon 4.0C comp version for this review.

Springfield Armory Echelon, this is the 4.0C, which is for compact, and this is their comp version. Now they’ve released their comp version for the full-size a while back. This is a brand new offering from Springfield Armory.

One of the things about the Echelon is that it has a lot of different models, there’s different sight choices, we’ll get into a lot of the details. But one of the things about this handgun when it first came out in 2023 is there’s something about the form factor, the size of this handgun, it really fits very comparable to the Glock 19. Now there’s other handguns out there that are similar, but there’s something about the Echelon that really kind of captured the essence of the Glock 19.

The size, it’s pretty much the same. A lot of the features, it just kind of feels and shoots that way. A lot of it has to do with the grip angle, which is very similar.

But the Echelon has a much thinner, more rounded grip. This is really a much more ergonomic feel to it. And we’re going to get into a lot of the details, but with the comp model, I’m going to go ahead and drop the 15-round magazine.

It comes with two mags, a 15-rounder, and an 18-rounder with an extended base pad. But you also get an extended base pad if you want to make both of these 18 rounds. So that gives you quite a few rounds, and let’s go ahead and check to make sure the gun’s loaded, and it is.

But it does hang off the end a little bit, but it gives you a full-size grip. Doesn’t matter how big your hand is. And so this gives you that 18 rounds, but the 15-rounder is going to be really good for concealed carry, and then have that 18-rounder set aside, ready to go.

Now this is the four-inch barrel, which is the compact. Again, it is a cold hammer forged barrel and slide. This is billet machined.

All the controls are tool steel, all the critical controls. So it gives it a lot of strength. And one of the things about cold hammer forged is it gives extended life and longer accuracy, and it’s just a really high-quality process.

It does have a melanite finish, but one of the things about the slide is that it narrows down. They call this area at the front the trench. And then here at the back, it flares out to some cocking ears.

I really like this. This is one of the things that the VP9 from HK kind of pioneered, and it allows for this to be able to be pulled very easily. But the serrations are deep, and they’re wide, and they’re so easy to get to, even from the front.

I mean, you can rack this from the front really easily. But for press checks, getting a hold of it, I mean, it’s just great for gross motor skills. And it’s one of the things in a self-defense situation is the adrenaline comes in, and you really go to those just basic caveman skills.

And so this gives you a little bit of an advantage. And two, it just drops the slide down just a little less. Sometimes with these big serrations, they’ll kind of come out, and they get kind of thick, and the slide itself gets thick.

I really like how thin they’ve kept the slide and yet retained those really deep serrations. Now the port is the big deal, and that’s really what we’re going to be talking about. It’s a compensated slide and a ported barrel.

And so this works in tandem. I’ll tell you, we’ve just gotten this back from the range, and it does make a pretty big difference. We’ll talk about it at range time, but this is a very effective comp system.

It does have a slight crown right here around the muzzle of your barrel, and that’s going to preserve accuracy. There is even texturing right here at the recoil spring assembly. And that same texturing is right here for your memory pad, put your finger up, or for recoil management.

And it actually kind of bows out just a touch to give you a little bit of a ledge there to be able to shoot. And I’ll tell you guys, when you put it on here, it’s easier to control than just a pad, because a lot of times the pad will slip off. And that goes all the way through the grip.

This is a very aggressive texturing, but yet it will fit really nice against your skin. It’s not too aggressive. And this is the adaptive grip texturing.

Also right here with our mag release, it kind of guards it on either side. So as you’re putting your thumb, it gives you a thumb rest. And yet right here, you had that mag release and it’s on both sides.

So it’s ambidextrous and your slide stop is also ambidextrous. Now the slide stop seems to be really minimal, but to be honest, bringing it back it drops really easy. It gives you a really solid shelf right here to hit.

We have a three-slot Picatinny rail. We have a squared enlarged trigger guard. This is great for gloved hands.

I mean, this is made as a duty handgun. And this is really just an upgrade from the XD series, which is actually produced in Croatia by SH product. Springfield Armory imports these along with the Hellcat and the XD for that matter.

And these have proven to be really excellent handguns. It does have a nice undercut right here behind the trigger guard. And then we have a double undercut on the bottom of the trigger guard, which is textured and the front’s textured as well.

The sights I love. The U-notch in the back with a white outline and the tritium at the front, it really shows up extremely well. And one of the things you’ll notice with the front sight is that it’s behind the port.

So it’s not going to get clouded up. You’re going to be able to see that because one of the things about the gases and debris that come out of the port, they can kind of cover up your sight. And so this helps protect it.

It is dovetailed in. And of course, there are other options. There’s three dot tritium sights.

There’s even three dot white sights. Now this is optics ready and it’s a direct mount capability, which I love. There are actually a number of pins and we’ll take a look at it in a second, but you can put those pins in different places to be able to fit over 30 different major optics.

So it gives you a lot of choices. You don’t have to go with adapter plates. I really like how this fits down into the slide.

And here with the original, we have one of the Vortex Defender STs and you can see it’s right there in the slide. So it allows for it to ride low and then it naturally co-witnesses with your sights. So this gives you a solid platform.

Another thing is they use self-locking front pins. So it’s going to keep whatever sights you have locked on. They’re not going to walk out.

I’ll tell you guys, we shot these side-by-side ported and unported and the compensated version really again made a huge difference. The optics plate is metal. It does have some design on top and we have Torx screws.

Let’s check under the hood. Now here you can see numerous holes to be able to set your optic wherever you want. And this is a patent-pended system.

And then here at the front, we have pins that are locked in. And of course these can be taken out. There are a number of different sets of pins and screws for whatever optic you’re using.

And so these are all provided with the handgun. And so you’re not ordering a special optics plate from the company. And then if you change it out, you’ve got to purchase another one.

This just does everything. And again, it’s direct mount, which that’s my favorite. And again, here with the original, you can see how it just sets down into the slide.

And again, it just rides real low. We have our takedown lever right here. You don’t have to pull the trigger.

We’ll look at that when we break it down. But one huge benefit from the Echelon series as well is it has a chassis system. It’s called the central operating group, but it is a chassis that fits into the grip and there’s three different grip options.

So you can take that chassis, which is considered the firearm, and you can move it. Now there’s a serial number right here. It’s a little plate, but it’s a stainless steel system.

And so this is very modular. In fact, we just did a video of the Icarus Precision metal chassis and they have offerings for the Echelon series. And that’s because it does have that chassis.

It makes it extremely modular. Nice undercut here to make a nice beaver tail and really a very low bore axis. And it gets that hand down.

Now, one of the things about a low bore axis, I have this question quite often, is what’s the big deal? Well, the slide is going really low over your hand. And so it’s just less mass and with physics, it just allows it to come back on target a lot quicker. But consider this, if you hold the gun here and fire it, you can imagine how violently that’s going to recoil.

So when you bring your hand up high, it just allows you to get more control and it will shoot flatter. Add the compensator and this really makes a flat shooting handgun. And compensated pistols have become extremely popular over the past few years.

A lot of times the comps would come out and extend past. So this gives you a concealed carry option. And yet you had that ported barrel and cut slide that just allows for less recoil.

It keeps the muzzle down and allows you just to get back on target quicker. A lot of people are concerned that at night this will flare up. It may have some night blindness, but we have tested quite a few comps at night and we have not had that issue.

Now, one thing that is included in the chassis is a second sear. And that allows for this to have extra protection, especially if it’s dropped. And so this is a very safe handgun to carry.

There is no manual safety, but inside you’re going to have that protection. Plus there’s a or trigger safety. And so here we have a flat face trigger and it comes back because it has that little block.

And until you disengage that little lever, it’s not going to move. So let’s go ahead and check our trigger pull action. So we have take up to right here.

It hits a wall right about 90 degrees. Little bit of stacking, but then a nice break. It’s tactile.

It’s audible. Reset right there. And let’s check the trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge from Brownells.

Four pounds, 10.7 ounces. Four pounds, 4.9 ounces. The weight on the Echelon 4.0C Comped, 24.13 ounces.

Also with the magazine well, there is a slight bevel. And so that’s just going to allow these magazines to go in a lot faster. And we have that narrowing of the magazine coming up.

The magazines have a really good wear resistant finish on it. It’s a nice black finish. And of course you have your witness holes and we have our base plate that has that texturing on it as well, even at the front.

Now it does come with two additional back straps. And so you can adjust your grip a little bit. Right now, honestly, my hands are not the largest hands and this fits really well.

But if you have larger hands, you may want to add the little bit larger back strap. It’s very easy to take off. And it does have this small tool right here.

Now, as far as disassembly, and we’ll look at that in a second, this is of course tool-less. But looking over the slide, I mean, it’s just really well-designed and very well thought out. And I do like that thinness of the trench.

It really brings this down and it’s not so thick. And it’s one of the things that can happen with a lot of polymer striker fire pistols is they start to get that slide thicker. I’ve seen that kind of moving in that direction.

For me personally, I like the thinner slide. Guys, big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring our ammo. All made in the USA.

One of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country. Very consistent, good shooting. We forgot our little loaders and so we’re just going to load it the traditional way, which works.

The Springfield Armory Echelon, one of those guns that really kind of took a step above, especially over the XD series. But this really is one of the top competitors for a polymer striker fire pistol. The grip is extremely ergonomic and it’s thin and yet you can add those back straps if you want something a little larger.

These chunky slide serrations, of course, optics ready. The sights on Springfield typically are the best. I love that you notch at the back and the tritium sight at the front.

Just overall, it’s a fantastic gun, but with the ports, it’s going to change things a little bit. 15 round magazines, which gives you plenty of capacity and I love these little notches on the back. I mean, this gives you a very secure way to be able to bring that slide back and it gives you a lot of leverage.

I mean, it definitely shoots flat. And of course, with the ports, it’s just going to help and it doesn’t really extend anything to the standard configuration of the compact. Now, I really particularly like the compact model.

It just has really that Glock 19 size to it, which seems to be kind of hard to come by with a lot of pistols. But this really kind of mimics that and yet the ergonomics, the controls are very well done. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to shoot this side by side with one of the original Echelon compacts.

Now this one has a red dot sight on it. We’re just going to shoot a few rounds side by side to see the difference. So I’m going to start out with the standard.

Great shooting gun. Come in with the ports. It is a major difference.

I think one of the big things is it does keep the muzzle down, but it doesn’t seem to put a lot back in your hand. A lot of times with ported barrels, the recoil is just moved. It’s more towards your hand.

This just really keeps it flat. It really makes it a much more pleasure to shoot, even though I really like the Echelon. Man, I mean, sometimes ports really help.

Sometimes they just do a little bit. As you can see, same size as the original, so you’re not really losing anything with going with the ported barrel. Now some people will say, well, at night it has a flash.

We’ve shot tons of comps at night, and unless you’re shooting night vision, you don’t really see it, and you’re seeing the sight. It doesn’t blind you. So overall, I love the Echelon.

Coming in with a ported version, I just think it’s a much softer shooting handgun, and so that’s going to give us really more in that comp category. As far as disassembly, we’re going to drop our magazine, check to make sure the gun is unloaded. First thing we want to do is bring it back into slide lock, bring your lever down, and it can be a little tight at first.

This one actually is a little easier than some. Then we’re going to release our slide, and we’re just going to pull it right off. Again, you don’t have to pull the trigger.

Here we have our recoil spring and guide rod system. It is the flat recoil spring, which this does aid in recoil management. Then we have our cold hammer forged barrel, and we have the port.

You can see that it has this crescent cut in it. Guys, it is very effective. Then here with the slide, same thing, that same crescent cut that mates with the barrel, but the fit and finish are excellent.

Here is your firing pin safety, and again, we have that two-sear system in the chassis. Chassis is inside. It is, again, stainless steel, and we can pull this out by just pulling out your takedown lever.

Now, sometimes you have to fish this around to get it out. There we go. Then we take and push forward on the chassis because there’s a pin right here that we have to go forward, just like that.

You want to make sure you go all the way to the end of that slot before you lift it up. At first, it is a little tough to get out, and you have to push forward once you push up, and it defeats these little wings. This is a little tough to get out at first, but the big thing is getting this nub all the way to the back of the chassis here, and then push up as far as you can, and then start to pull out because right here, they fit down and then rest inside the polymer frame.

Here is your chassis. Again, it’s been coated, but it is stainless steel, polymer striker fire, but yet there’s some pretty cool designs here. Again, this is considered the firearm, and you can change this out for any grip module that Springfield Armory develops in the future or for the three that they offer now.

Guys, you don’t have to remove the chassis to clean it, but if you want to maintain it every once in a while, you’ll want to take this out and just give it a good cleaning. All right, for reassembly, we’re going to take and put our trigger, make sure our trigger’s in, and then go past right here, those two nubs. Bring that all the way down, and then just lock it into place.

It’s not really that difficult once you understand how this works. Next, we’re going to take our takedown lever, which can also be a little bit of a chore because you have this small pin to get past. Now, you’ve got to defeat this small little lever.

It does stick and it blocks it, but it also locks it in. We’re going to try to just see if we can go past it. There we go.

Once you get that little ledge, you can push it forward, and then we’re just going to mate it up to the other side. You want to make sure your frame, though, is in place. You’ll notice that flat side is up, so as we bring this in, it locks in just like that.

It’s a little tricky, but once you learn exactly how this fits in, it’s not as bad. Now, we’re ready to reinstall our barrel and our recoil spring and guide rod. We’ll put it back over our slide, go into slide lock, bring up your lever, drop it, put your magazine in, test for function, and we’re back in business.

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They also have Shooter’s Choice, which makes excellent CLP and bore solvent and different cleaning materials. The Ripcord is one of their signatures, and there’s a whole system based around it. They are suppliers to the US military, so check out Otis Technologies.

Highly recommended, and we want to thank Otis for being a sponsor of the channel. Now, it does come in a small padded case, which typically Springfield Armory includes. Double zippers, has a lock on it, and has a small pouch.

I mean, it’s just the right size for carrying one handgun. Of course, you get your 18 round magazine again, and you do get the extension if you want to add it to the 15 rounder. Again, your back straps, and again, the little screws, so a pretty cool package altogether.

The retail price is $749, and of course, market price is going to be less. What are some pros and cons? Well, first off, the Echelon itself is just an excellent handgun, whether you go with a comp version or not, or even the full-size version. They’re very shootable.

I love the serrations, and yet, I love that they’re into the slide. This with the Red Dot system is just excellent, the direct mount capability and up to 30 different optics. When you have the sights, the U-notch sights in the back, whether you go with optics or not, that is a great choice as well.

Really nice texturing, flat face trigger that’s really well done. And we have our ports, and this does make a huge difference in shooting. Two magazines, one 15, one 18 round magazine.

That’s a plus, plus you get the base pad if you want to go with two 18 rounders. And the chassis system, that is a big deal. And again, you can switch this out to any grip module you want, and that is considered the firearm.

But really overall, the shootability of the Echelon is one of those things that you can’t quantify until you take it out to the range. And highly recommend going to a gun shop and putting one of these in your hand. I mean, it just fits very well, very ergonomic, and the low bore axis helps as well.

So an excellent choice, and to me, a huge upgrade over the XD series. And then if you want to go with a comp model or not, just gives us more choices. So guys, there’s a lot of options when it comes to comp firearms, and it definitely keeps your muzzle flatter, it mitigates the recoil, and it just makes it a pleasure to shoot, just more control.

And I think that’s one of the big appeals for your comp. But with the Springfield Armory Echelon, this is an excellent handgun. And guys, I’m telling you, there’s something about the Echelon that has really impressed me over a lot of other offerings from 2023 on.

This has been just a great gun, and I love that it’s taken the XD series to another level. And again, a big thank you to Springfield Armory for sending the Echelon 4.0C comp for this review.

 

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don