After Candy expressed her disappointment on the Springfield Hellcat, I thought it would be a good idea to form my own opinion. Not that I doubted Candy as she is an accomplished shooter and knows her way around a firearm, but I wanted to spend some time with the pistol myself.

The flush-fit double stack single feed magazine holds an impressive eleven rounds, while the extended magazine holds a whopping thirteen rounds.

The Tritium U Dot nights sights are fantastic, and this pistol can be had optics ready.  The rear sight utilizes a tactical ledge allowing for racking the slide off a table ledge or such.

Features include a small accessory rail at the muzzle, reversible magazine catch, textured polymer receiver, and Gen 2 trigger breaking about five and a half pounds. The trigger had expected take up and over travel in a striker-fired handgun and included the incorporated safety.

Generous beavertail to aid in a solid purchase on the small 9mm and enough forward and rear cocking serrations to comfortably rack the slide.  This pistol can be had in FDE if you prefer that over the black finish.

Conclusions 

All total, we had about 500 rounds downrange with only a single failure, a failure to return to battery. Still, the flush-fit magazine failed to lock the slide open on an empty magazine several times during the review. The Springfield Hellcat is not a bad pistol, but I have to echo Candy’s thoughts as I was disappointed with it. On paper, it is a solid pistol, but in practice, I did not care for it. Recoil seemed a bit more snappy than I anticipated it to be. I understand the micro-compact pistols tend to be a bit snappy, but the Hellcat was not very comfortable to shoot, all things considered. While the sights were excellent, I liked the Sig P365 set up by a margin. The trigger was typical, and while it was not bad, it was not great. Out of everyone that shot it, only my mother liked the pistol, but she liked it quite a bit. With the night sights and accessory rail, it would be a good option for home or self-defense, but I would need to determine the reason for the failure and the slide not locking back on occasion. Small pistols tend to be very unforgiving, but with so many options today, the Hellcat would be at the bottom of my list. It stands to reason I will not like all the guns I have reviewed, but the Hellcat is my least favorite.

Between the Sig P365 and Springfield Hellcat, I would go with the P365 without a doubt.

Specifications

Caliber: 9mm
Barrel: 3″ Hammer Forged Steel, Melonite® Finish, 1:10
Slide: Billet Machined, Melonite® Finish, Optics Ready
Receiver: Black Polymer w/ Adaptive Grip Texture
Sights: Tritium/Luminescent Front, Tactical Rack U-Notch Rear
Recoil System: Dual Captive Recoil Spring w/Full-Length Guide Rod
Width: 1″
Magazines (1) 11-Round, (1) 13-Round Extended
Weight: 17.9 oz w/ Flush Mag, 18.3 oz w/ Extended Mag
Length: 6″
Height: 4″ w/ Flush Mag, 4.5″ w/ Extended Mag
MSRP: $599

Acknowledgments 

Candy with the Gun Powder Gals 

DoubleTap Ammunition 

Barnaul Ammunition 

Defender Ammunition 

HoleShot Ammunition 

CorBon Ammunition Contact overlandandwateradventures@gmail.com

By Hunter Elliott

I spent much of my youth involved with firearms and felt the call early on to the United States Marine Corps, following in my father's and his brother's footsteps. Just after high school I enlisted and felt most at home on the rifle range, where I qualified expert with several firearms and spent some time as a rifle coach to my fellow Marines. After being honorably discharged I continued teaching firearm safety, rifle and pistol marksmanship, and began teaching metallic cartridge reloading. In the late 1990s I became a life member to the National Rifle Association and worked with the Friends of the NRA. Around that time my father and I became involved with IDPA and competed together up until he passed away. I began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 2000s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. Continuing to improve my firearms skills and knowledge is a never ending journey in which we should all be committed. I am also credited as weapons master on a few independent films.

8 thoughts on “Springfield Hellcat, not what I was hoping for.”
  1. I loved the sights and enjoyed shooting this gun. I would carry this with no problem. Good honest review keep up good work.

  2. I had the exact opposite experience with the Hellcat versus the SIG P365. I have had no malfunctions of any kind with my Hellcat over the past 800 rounds, and for me the pistol had a more comfortable grip than the P365 (which I found too small). The trigger feel on the Hellcat is similar to the Glock, although I did add a Powder River Precision basic trigger kit, which features a prepped sear, disconnector, striker safety and associated springs,, and the trigger is superb, The accuracy of my pistol exceeds that of my P365 and P365XL, and it will shoot a 5″ group at 50 yards either prone or from a rest. The Hellcat also seems more robust than the SIG, and I personally prefer the Hellcat sight arrangement. Different shooters have differing perspectives, and sometimes a n individual pistol or magazine may not be quite right, despite the vast majority of individual specimens being excellent.

  3. I own both the Sigg P365 which I purchased first and I also own a Springfield hellcat to me I prefer the hellcat it feels better in my hand mine out of the box is spot on, you can also get 15 round magazines for the hellcat I’m not sure if you can for the sig but either way they’re both nice carry guns but I prefer the hellcat simply because of how it feels in my hands in the accuracy of it I know Springfield left a sour taste in a lot peoples mouths with their politics but politics aside I like this hellcat cat a lot

  4. I took my hellcat to the range to shoot it for the first time. Was surprised at how snappy it was. The bottom knuckle on my right thumb was sore after one magazine. Fired the second magazine trying to change my grip, but it still stung with each round. Switched to my 365 which was much more comfortable. But the 365 failed to feed twice in 50 rounds. My gunsmith is looking it over.

    1. I have had the same comfort experiences as you have with the Hellcat and P365, but I have yet to have a failure with the P365 but have had a few with the Hellcat. I hope you get your Sig squared away.

  5. Too snappy for me. First pistol in many years that I will sell and replace with something less snappy.

  6. Got my Hellcat as a present. Didn’t really expect to like it. It flat shoots! Have many years of handgun experience starting with revolvers. I own Sigs, Glocks, Smiths, etc and this Hellcat is my go to CCW. My Sig P938 is snappy, this Hellcat is much more controllable. To each his own

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