Some years back, I did a review of the (then new) Springfield Armory Enhanced Micro Pistol (EMP) 9mm handgun. It was quite a little powerhouse to be sure. However, the gun under review in this article is a different model: I elected to test the slightly bigger model – but it is still a small 1911, and perfectly-sized for the 9mm round.
For a lot of years, many 1911 makers produced some of their 1911 handguns in 9mm as well as .45 ACP – and a number of other calibers as well. I always wondered by the guns in 9mm weren’t reduced in size, to match the 9mm round. Well, their idea was simply to reduce the size from full-sized 5-inch Government model to the slightly smaller Commander and Officer sized guns – however, they were still big guns for the 9mm round. I’ve owned a good number of 1911s chambered in 9mm and there wasn’t anything “wrong” with them – other than that they were still too big, in my opinion.
Springfield did some engineering magic and reduced the size of several parts, and made them around 15% smaller, and this resulted in a 1911 that is very much reduced in many areas. The forged frame and slide along with the barrel, firing pin, firing pin spring, extractor, ejector, trigger, plunger tube, plunger tube assembly, grips and mags are all proprietary to the EMP line of 1911 – making them the smallest 1911s on the market. Yes, I know, that there are some smaller 1911 (types) of handguns that might be smaller, but they aren’t true 1911s – plain and simple. The New EMP (Enhanced Micro Pistol) from Springfield comes in two sizes, one with a 3-inch barrel and the other in a 4-inch barrel. I tested the 4-inch barrel version for this article.Continue reading“Springfield Armory 1911 EMP Ronin 9mm 4-Inch, by Pat Cascio”
