Fellow Shooters,
After a few months of consideration, I recently decided to take the plunge and pick up one of those Springfield EMP 9mm 1911's. I'm a long time shooter, and I own several makes of weapons (H&K, Sig, Beretta), but I had never owned a 1911-style pistol before now. The primary reason that I have avoided 1911's in the past comes down to one word...
reliability. Fair or unfair, I've heard/seen/read about various issues with various makes of 1911's...truthfully, the problem seems to be the vast numbers of manufacturers (I can think of 15 companies that make 1911's off the top of my head) with wildly varying ideas of "quality control" for this legendary pistol design. Aesthetically, I've always admired the 1911 design...in fact, even though I had never broken-down and bought one before now, I've always considered a nice 1911 to be the most attractive handgun design of all time.
I don't own a digital camera, so I can't showcase my particular EMP, but here's a picture of one for those who may not be familiar:
I had been looking for an excuse to buy a new pistol for a few months now, and I was tacitly considering a full-sized 1911 just for a change of pace. After looking at a few brands, I decided to go with Springfield for my first 1911, primarily because of their reputation for strong customer service and the lifetime warranty. Long story short, I eventually discovered the existence of the EMP a few months back and fell in love at first sight! The fact that the weapon was chambered in 9mm really appealed to me. I own a USP45, and I like to shoot the weapon, but feeding another .45 these days is a bit pricey...I can still find affordable 9mm ammo on the web. Also, the pistol's compact size seemed perfect for carry purposes. So, after due consideration, I decided that I'd buy one as soon as I found a decent price. Springfield's MSRP on the EMP is $1253...I was willing to go to around$950-$1000 for the pleasure.
I purchased the little pistol last Sunday (28OCT) at the big "funshow" held at Reliant Park. I had been looking for an EMP online for a while with no joy, so when I came across a booth at the show that had one for sale (for $999, no less) I snatched it right up!
Initial Impressions at the range
Well, if my new EMP is any indication of the
shootability of a "high quality" 1911,
I might have just become a convert to the platform. 
I finally got to the range on Saturday to fire the weapon, and let me say this, that little gun is awesome!
First, let me say something about the trigger. After years of shooting service-grade pistols with standard DA/SA actions, the crisp/clean SA break of a 1911 trigger is
heaven on Earth. Springfield says that the EMP is tuned with a 5 pound trigger-pull, that felt about right to me, although I don't own a trigger-pull scale to confirm. Anyhow, that first shot was
a real eye-opener...this 1911's trigger
easily beats the feel of my P226, 92FS, or USP, it's so much cleaner with a much shorter trigger reset.
As for reliability, my EMP seems to be good-to-go. I brought along 250 rounds of ammo to "break in" the weapon (100 rounds of Remington UMC 115 gr. FMJ, 100 rounds of Federal XML9N1 NATO-spec 124 gr. TMJ, and 50 rounds of Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr. JHP). I started out "hot" with the NATO-spec Federal ammo and the EMP ran perfectly. Others may disagree, but I've always believed in breaking-in my guns with "hot" ammo right at the start. I've done this with all of my other pistols, so I figured that I'd adopt the same approach again. Anyhow, the EMP (with it's 3 in. bull barrel) gobbled the Federal ammo right on up. Next was the UMC, which many consider to be fairly sedate and underpowered. I figured that the tight, new pistol may choke on this ammo, but to my surprise and delight it did not. Thus far, 200 rounds down range with ZERO malfunctions! Now for the moment of truth...hollow points.
Lastly, I tried out 50 rounds of hollow point ammo in the weapon. I picked some Ranger-T for the task since that happens to be my preferred brand of defensive/carry ammo. As I was loading up the mags for the final part of this initial range trip, I thought to myself, "surely this new gun will at least hiccup on hollow points..." Well my friends, despite what you may have heard elsewhere, my EMP didn't have any trouble at all. In fact, my best groups of the day came with the 147 gr. JHP ammo (2-2.5 in., "off hand" at 21 feet). In general, the weapon was very accurate all afternoon long. With the exception of a couple of "flyers," I was able to keep my shots inside of the 9 and 10 rings of a standard B-27 style silhouette target. I didn't fire from a rest on this first trip, but I suspect that the little gun will perform unbelievably from a rest!
In sum, I can't recommend this little pistol enough. If you're on the fence about getting one, and you like the looks of 1911-style guns, I say go for it!
I remember talkin' guns and gear with him for about two hours that night!
