In what is sure to be big news in the M1911 world, Springfield Armory has both updated and expanded its Tactical Response Pistol (TRP) line for 2024. There are four models: Classic versions in both 5" and 4.25" barrels, a 5" railed version, and a lightweight, railed 4.25" with a bobtailed "Carry Contour." Either of the railed models are available in coyote or all-black Cerakote.
In the handgun world, there are many hundreds of model names, but inside of each brand, there are only a few model names that truly mean something besides simple identification. Often, this is an association with a premier-grade quality offering from a maker with a set of features and a "look" that captures the market’s imagination and dollars. The Colt Python has an enduring appeal and mystique that gives the name a weight, a gravitas, that you can hear in the voice as it comes up around the gun counter, campfire or wherever. The TRP is much the same among Springfield fans. The three-letter name means something beyond a full-featured, high-quality 1911.
Image courtesy of Springfield-Armory.com.
The TRP’s introduction dates back to the high-water mark of the operational custom single-stack .45 ACP M1911. The Marines’ Force Reconnaissance had their hand-built “MEU SOC .45s.” The Army’s premier counter-terror soldiers were likewise well known for their custom M1911s. The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) had adopted a railed M1911 built by the Springfield Armory Custom Shop, followed by their regional SWAT teams adopting a slightly different custom M1911 from the Springfield Armory Custom Shop. Springfield offered an identical pistol as its “Professional” model through the custom shop to the civilian market, but the Pro came at custom price and a lengthy wait. The TRP was Springfield’s best-quality production sibling to the Custom Shop Pro. It was an immediate success and has remained a respected high-end production M1911 in the 20-odd years since.
What’s New
The 2024 TRPs come with a variety of firsts and updates. There is something for every fan of the line. I suspect the Commander-length 4.25" models will be the head turner for many, since the TRP has traditionally been a 5" model. Having a carry-ready lightweight, railed and contoured model within the line is an aggressive bundle of firsts. The railed 5" model hearkens back to the Hostage Rescue Team Springfields, and the all-black or coyote trim is a first as well.
Image courtesy of Springfield-Armory.com.
The TRPs each wear a new rear sight of attractive design that has enough forward ledge to provide the “tactical-rack” capability for one-handed stoppage clearance. The rear face houses two tritium dots and is finely serrated. The trigger on each is a new Gen 2 skeletonized speed trigger of medium-long length. Each of the steel pistols has a two-piece magwell to facilitate reloading. The TRPs wear distinctive Hydra stock panels from VZ grips. The pattern is an aggressive, but not abrasive, linked-teardrop-dimple effect that is highly functional and attractive.
Each TRP has both forward slide serrations and a flattened, serrated slide top. The tritium front sights are dovetailed. The TRP frontstraps are checkered at 20 lines per inch, and each frame has a low-profile ambidextrous safety. The 5" models use a two-piece, full-length guide rod for the recoil spring and the 4.25" guns use the traditional plug. The overall feature set is quite attractive and well-executed.
I received a Nanuk case full of new TRPs last summer and was able to spend extended quality time with each variant. There was an all-black railed 5", a classic with green Hydra stocks from VZ and silver trigger and hammer, a similar “Commander” length 4.25", and a tan lightweight 4.25" with a rail, thin stock panels, and a bobtail-style round-butt treatment Springfield calls the “Carry Contour.”
First impressions were strong across the lot. The TRPs boast forged slides and frames that are matched for best fit with match barrels installed. The feel was semi-custom—tight yet smooth in all of the right places. There was absolutely no play to the barrel at lockup, yet each pistol’s barrel bushing was easily removed. All flats, rounds and corners were as they should be, with every edge meeting the hand dehorned. The back of the slide melds right into the frame seamlessly, suggesting blending with skilled hands in a way that you don’t usually see on production guns. The 20 LPI checkering was deep, sharp and beautifully executed. Each grip safety met its frame with tight tolerances and no wiggle. Thumb safeties snicked on and off with the ideal amount of tension. The trigger of each had a slightly different feel and character. All were quite good, and the scale read an identical 4.25 lbs. across the board.
Match Bones In Tactical Trim
My initial plan was to shoot a single pistol from among the lot for data, but as I began shooting the two 5" pistols, it was evident that both were exceptionally accurate. I started gathering data on each. I fired three five-round groups from the rest with both a duty-style load and then another three groups with match handloads which have proven accurate in other custom pistols. When both pistols averaged under an inch and a half across the 12 groups, I had to see what the 4.25" pistols could do. As you can see, the new TRPs absolutely shine when launching good ammo. As an example, the railed 5" punched five Gold Dots into just over an inch. I stapled some scrap target paper over the group and fired the next, which was almost identical. The 10-shot center-to-center from the two groups was an eye-bugging 1.21". Across the testing, there were 14 groups under an inch and a half.
One note on accuracy in general; most best quality defensive/duty loads shoot like hard-recoiling match ammo. Part of this is the actual projectile’s construction, and the other is the consistency and quality-control checks they receive. Many loads shoot well when pushed fast and at relatively high pressure, so that likely comes into play as well.
At this point, the factories know exactly what it takes to produce accurate M1911s. We are approaching a full century since the pioneering work done by match armorers to turn the combat semi-automatic into a competitive pistol for the National Matches. The question then becomes, “Is a given maker willing to do the things at production scale to consistently yield the match-level accuracy the M1911 is capable of and famous for?”
I’ve tested 10 Springfields in the last few years, and eight of them were “beyond reasonable expectations” accurate. One was about where you’d expect at its price point, and an Emissary required a simple swap to an oversize slide stop to go from acceptable to exceptional. As a guy who came of age when production M1911s required “accurizing” by the local gunsmith to shoot well, the way these TRPs shoot is a modern marvel. It is also fitting, as Springfield won the initial FBI HRT contract on the strength of being able to exceed an accuracy requirement more stringent than any I recall on a contract before or since.
Range Time
I had the two 5" TRPs out for shooting impressions well before I shot the accuracy data. I warmed up with some slow fire at 25 yards, and each pistol was able to post clean 100s from a two-handed stance on a standard B8 bullseye if I did my part. With a sense of where the loads were grouping, I went all the way back to 70 yards on a whim to see what was possible. If a .45 groups 25 yards with a six o’clock hold, one can usually hold in the top quarter of an 8" plate at 70 and drop them onto the steel. Both the Classic and the Railed TRP gave eminently satisfying "Dink!" tones five out of the six shots, for 10 out of 12. In all the shooting that followed, it was clear these were target pistols under their duty pistol trim.
I was quickly taken by the all-black railed model, liking the balance of the extra ounce or two in the rail and finding the trigger breaking favorably for me. Since the TRP has such a strong FBI lineage, I shot the Bureau’s own bullseye course, 30 rounds with strings at 25 and 15 yards under tight time limits. With the Railed TRP, I was able to keep all of the impacts inside the black with only three holes not quite cutting the 10-ring.
I put just over 600 rounds through the railed model, mostly enjoying attempting difficult shots. I burned up a couple of boxes of Federal’s lead-free indoor range training ball running the plate rack at 20 and 25 yards. This is an interesting load that many .45 shooters will enjoy. The 137-grain bullet is almost 100 grains lighter than range hardball loads but moving at 9 mm Luger velocity (1,200 f.p.s.). The resulting recoil impulse cycles the pistol quickly with very little torque or muzzle rise, and it’s quite pleasant.
With the full-size TRP, the Prep Time and Double & 1 drills were each sure things, reminding the shooter why the M1911 was so popular for so long among special units and teams. One of my favorite shots is against what I call the “truth teller” target, a 3"x6" steel rectangle that demands you know the hold and are able to cleanly break the shot. It is a tough target at 20 yards but delightfully wicked farther back.
Knowing how well the pistol was shooting, I backed off to 40 yards to see if it was possible to swing TA targets version of the steel. At 40 yards, the “truth teller” is nearly the same width as the TRP’s front sight. With Black Hills 200-grain. target semi-wadcutters, the TRP would slap the target with a sharp ring, excellent movement and nice, large splatters in the paint visible from the firing point in the right lighting. My best with the TRP was six of six on a particularly good day and more often four or five out of six. The Springfield shot so well that it made trying shots that might be difficult (or unrealistic) with more ordinary service pistols seem anticlimactic or mundane.
I don’t often carry test pistols, but in the case of the railed TRP, I had enough confidence in it that I simply carried it in a Tenicor Certum holster and Zero belt on days I had it at the range and a few others when it was the nearest pistol as I headed out. The big pistol concealed and carried comfortably in the Tenicor rig.
I fired a mag or three over 150 rounds through each of the other three TRPs to get a sense of the individual pistols. There was perfect reliability and great shooting across the lot. Each of the TRPs had perfectly tensioned extractors and piled brass predictably where one expected. Across nearly 1,100 rounds through the TRP quartet, there were no stoppages. Each pistol ships with three magazines: extended eight-rounders in the magwell-equipped steel TRPs and flush seven-round units in the lightweight. I shot each with other popular magazines, such as the Wilson Combat 47s, without issue.
The 20 LPI checkering on the pistols speak to their tactical heritage, the aggressive teeth firmly locking the pistols into the shooter’s hold. For long range sessions, many shooters may want to either mask the frontstrap with tape or don shooting gloves like the excellent PIG gloves from SKD Tactical.
The lightweight Carry Contour 4.25" is an attractive carry gun for those who are .45 ACP devotees. The coyote-colored alloy pistol was a blend of conveniently thin and light with the sights, trigger, and accuracy to shoot a little “bigger.” The checkering and the aggressively dimpled thin G10 stocks helped to anchor the carry gun in recoil. I find lightweight .45s to be somewhat rowdy, and the thinness of the grips and contoured mainspring housing which are so helpful in carry do give up a little in my large hands when launching full-power loads. Still, I was able to go 100 percent on the “truth teller” out to 25 yards—something I can’t do with many slim carry weights. The lightweight TRP excelled on practical drills like the 5-yard roundup, where it was able to score high 90s with full-power loads and clean it with milder ammo once I was warmed up.
One of the best features of the guns is hidden from casual view. Under the slide on the disconnector rail, there is a hand stenciled two-digit number matching the last two of the frame’s serial number showing where Springfield matched the upper and lower pieces for tight fit. Shooting an M1911 with a tight slide-to-frame fit and a barrel achieving excellent lockup is such a luxury experience when stepping up from a rack-level M1911. There is a smoothness throughout the cycle that helps explain the enduring appeal.
The only demerit across the lot was that the 4.25" pistols each had a slight bit of excess downward play when the thumb safety was disengaged. Just a mildly noticeable movement if you ride the safety with your shooting thumb. The 5" guns were rock-solid in this area.
An asterisk-type complaint for some shooters will be that that the TRPs are simply iron-sighted amid the wave of optic-ready pistols on the market. Springfield’s recent Prodigy 1911 Double-Stack is optic-capable, so this is not an abstract wish. I suspect that there will be plenty of purists who appreciate these TRPs as a befitting update to the line and queue up to get theirs.
If these samples are any indication, the Tactical Response Pistol name is in good hands and will continue to mean something for M1911 fans.
