Springfield Armory EMP - reliable 9mm sized "1911"?

[ranger]

The threads on 9mm 1911 reliability got me thinking. I have a Springfield Armory 5inch Range Officer 9mm 1911 which has been very reliable and fun to shoot. A friend has a SA EMP 4 inch "1911" 9mm that he likes. I have seen some pretty attractive pricing locally on SA EMP 4inch 9mm. What is the group experience with the SA EMP?

[Johnny Walker]

The threads on 9mm 1911 reliability got me thinking. I have a Springfield Armory 5inch Range Officer 9mm 1911 which has been very reliable and fun to shoot. A friend has a SA EMP 4 inch "1911" 9mm that he likes. I have seen some pretty attractive pricing locally on SA EMP 4inch 9mm. What is the group experience with the SA EMP?

I have the 40cal 4" EMP - took over 100 rounds to break it in - some failures to feed in that first 100-150 rounds -after the first 100-150 rounds, the gun has run like a scalded ape. I have found that my 40 prefers the 155gr 40 cal ammo over the 180's as far as POA=POI. I have been told to look at the recoil spring/guide rod system touted by Galloway precision as a fix to finicky EMPs. Dont know much about that since my gun is running fine after that first 100 or so

Super easy to AIWB carry!

[TCinVA]

I've only seen a couple and they didn't run well in class.

[Ichiban]

A friend has one (the 4" CCC) that is ammo sensitive. Runs great with the right ammo. I think I saw some place that they are noted for having tight chambers.

Also, the ejector is glued in rather than being pinned. I guess that works fine, until it doesn't.

[vcdgrips]

Juice is not worth the squeeze to determine if one is reliable enough and will stay reliable enough. Particularly in these "ammo" times.

If you are going to go down the road;

Figure out a practice load it likes and a defensive load it likes with the numbered magazines you have.

Stay on top of the magazines re spring tension and feed lip spread.

Stay on top of the recoil spring. I would change out every 500 rds as cheap insurance based on the vicarious experience/recommendation of others of others sub 4 inch gun -500rds, Sub 5 inch gun -1000 rounds, 5 inch gun -3000 rounds.

Doing those things and documenting everything, will maximize determining if the platform is and will remain reliable.

Bottom line-if this is a range toy- do whatever. If this is going to be a defensive tool- far better choices with much less ya ya imho.

[SecondsCount]

My sample of an early one was not reliable. In my wife's hands it would do weird things including failure to fire even though the hammer dropped. Sending it back to Springfield did not fix the issue.

Except for the reliability issues, I absolutely loved that gun but I ended up selling to a guy with full disclosure.

[MattyD380]

I had a 3 inch last year. Black one.

Out of the gate, it seemed to work fine with FMJ. Wouldn't feed hollowpoints. I think I had Federal Hydrashoks? They'd stop on the very top of the ramp.

I sent it back to SA. They knocked-down the top edge of the ramp a little. Maybe polished it, too? Said they also tuned the extractor. It ran HPs fine, after that.

It shot pretty well. Didn't have any feeding problems. Then the front sight fell off. Sent it back to SA... new sights. Just lost interest in it after that. Sold it.

Here's my unnecessarily pedantic write up on 80% of the above-referenced experience: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?36595-Springfield-EMP-3-quot-Initial-Range-Report

[1911Nut]

I have a 3" EMP in 9mm caliber. Purchased it in 2008, IIREC. Originally purchased for my wife, but she hated it. I have never had any reliability issues with it, including hollow point ammo and hand loads. But zI also haven't shot more than 600-700 rounds through it. I hasn't been used much in the past 3-4 years.

[Clusterfrack]

Back in my 1911 days, I carried an EMP .40. It felt great in the hand, and shot quite accurately. The trigger was outstanding out of the box. However, as with every single one of my 1911s regardless of price, it had serious issues. The Swenson style ambi safety came loose due to the flimsy wedge that holds it together, causing the action to lock up. It had FTF malfunctions, and finally after a kaboom due to a very poorly-supported chamber that blew one of grip panels off, destroyed a magazine, and hurt my hand, I sold it.

But other than that, it was an awesome gun.

[cheby]

Back in my 1911 days, I carried an EMP .40. It felt great in the hand, and shot quite accurately. The trigger was outstanding out of the box. However, as with every single one of my 1911s regardless of price, it had serious issues. The Swenson style ambi safety came loose due to the flimsy wedge that holds it together, causing the action to lock up. It had FTF malfunctions, and finally after a kaboom due to a very poorly-supported chamber that blew one of grip panels off, destroyed a magazine, and hurt my hand, I sold it.

But other than that, it was an awesome gun.
LOL

[LockedBreech]

Bumping a 2020 thread. Is the consensus on these still "meh"? Looking at the 9mm EMP Ronin 4" 10+1. I really like Springfield's 1911s and was looking to save some money when I shoot, but I'm finding a lot of "stick with .45 in 1911s" from credible people. Just checking if the EMP is any better than their LWC 1911 9mm.

[Elwin]

There are definitely reliable 9mm 1911s, including from Springfield. My understanding is just that the EMP isn’t one of them.

I have a 9mm Ed Brown EVO that runs great. CSW has a Springer in 9mm he swears by. Lots of members have had great luck with Dan Wesson 9mm offerings or the Staccato ones, or others I’m forgetting. I just have never heard anything good from a source I find to carry weight regarding the EMP.

[JPedersen]

There are definitely reliable 9mm 1911s, including from Springfield. My understanding is just that the EMP isn’t one of them.

I have a 9mm Ed Brown EVO that runs great. CSW has a Springer in 9mm he swears by. Lots of members have had great luck with Dan Wesson 9mm offerings or the Staccato ones, or others I’m forgetting. I just have never heard anything good from a source I find to carry weight regarding the EMP.

Were there any substantive changes when the EMP came over to the Ronin family recently? Is it just simply a new color scheme for the old pistols? I was always curious if the LWC4 inch barrel EMP head proprietary parts the same way that the officer sized 3 inch barrel EMP did. Just curious. Maybe moving the EMP line over to the ronin line will lead to better reliability?


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[LockedBreech]

Were there any substantive changes when the EMP came over to the Ronin family recently? Is it just simply a new color scheme for the old pistols? I was always curious if the LWC4 inch barrel EMP head proprietary parts the same way that the officer sized 3 inch barrel EMP did. Just curious. Maybe moving the EMP line over to the ronin line will lead to better reliability?


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That was sorta the genesis of the question. I wondered if they really changed anything or essentially just relabeled.


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[CSW]

That was sorta the genesis of the question. I wondered if they really changed anything or essentially just relabeled.


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The EMP is all together a different animal when it comes to magazines.
They will not take 1911 mags, and 1911s will not take EMP mags.
They dropped the ambi safety and a few other things [that I can't remember] to bring it in at a better price point.
I have never handled one, nor shot one.
The RO ELITE that I employ has been 100% reliable thru almost 2 and a half years now.
Its bushingless barrel is accurate and well fit.
Believe that the new EMP has followed suit with the bull barrel.

[1More]

I had an early release 4" EMP (Square butt). I ran about 2500-3000 rounds through it and carried it occasionally. I had heard bad stories about the 3" EMP and I heard the stories from other 4" owners. I loved the difference of the in-hand feel of the 'for 9mm' grip size and I don't have little hands. I never had an issue with the fit or function of the pistol. It ran like a top, had a decent trigger, and ate all the factory training and defense loads I ran. Despite my paranoid constant checking, the ejector never moved (fyi - at least back then, if yours fell out and you sent it in for warranty work, the word was the factory would pin it as a repair). The only mod I made was to replace the red fibre optic with the green one. It felt great from a shoot ability standpoint...almost sub gun like when shooting fast with the fat barrel just burping rounds out. So I won the lottery from a reliability standpoint. Now the main problem and where the story fell apart....it didn't help me at all in the accuracy department. It just never shot as tight as my benchmark guns. I don't need help shooting loose groups at 25m; I much prefer a gun that tells me "it's you, not me" because it shoots tight groups consistently. That EMP just didn't shoot very tight at all in slow or rapid fire. Compared to my benchmark guns, from a standing position, it consistently added 2 to 3 inches to the diameter of my grouping on the target. I had to go to therapy classes with my conventional 1911s, Glock 17, 226s, etc. to keep my self esteem intact. The real tearjerker for me was that I performed so much better on target with a 938 at almost the same speed with a 7rd mag (the long mags) despite the feel in hand and underway with the EMP 4. I considered having the gun worked over, decided to move on. Notably - although my Duty (Gen 1) P07 didn't feel quite as nice in the hand or under recoil...it stayed because it performs much better. The recoil is sharper but the sight tracks better and the rounds run out of the barrel just as fast. The P07 also has no problem saying "I'm sorry...that loose group is you, it's not me".

[Ichiban]

I think the Ronan version has a lot of features (think front strap checkering) removed to reduce cost.

The problems I have seen with the 4" version involved tight chambers that made them ammo sensitive and problems with hard(er) primers. It is my understanding that if you send one back to the factory because of light primer strikes they replace the titanium firing pin with a steel one that is a little longer and replace the FP and hammer springs. But, Springfield being Springfield, these parts are not available to the general public. They seem to run fine with premium and self defense ammo. Maybe they fixed that with the Ronan.

[1911Nut]

The 3" EMP I spoke about in Post #8 in this thread now has a round count of just over 1000 now, still with no reliability/functionality issues. I purchased some spare lightly used EMP magazines off a gun forum (don't remember which one) a couple of years ago, and now have 6 or 7 of the magazines. They all work fine.

[LockedBreech]

Bummer that they won’t work with 1911 magazines. I had such great luck running my Colt .45 with Wilsons that was the plan.

I appreciate the input, I will watch a bit longer and see if we end up getting more reports on the current-production Ronin.

[awp_101]

I would definitely try to handle one before committing. I’ve been curious about them for a while and finally got to handle one in .40 recently and it just didn’t feel “right”. I can’t put my finger on it, but it just didn’t click with me.

[Bergeron]

I get the attractiveness of a shorter-back-to-front-gripped 1911, but that also means a lot of the parts critical to make the gun reliable are now going to be "EMP-specific" and block the owner from the broader 1911 aftermarket and probably a lot of the gunsmiths who would otherwise be able address a marginal 1911 that hewed closer to the original spec.

If I wanted the best reliability 9mm 1911, but really wanted "small", I'd go with one of the 4" Wilsons, and put thin grips on it.