Is there anything easier to carry and conceal than a commander-sized 1911? Not many. Which is why Springfield’s added to their 1911 line with a four-inch 9mm EMP that’s been trimmed for more-than-the-usual stealthiness and tips the scales at a hair over 30 ounces. Here’s their press release:
New Four-inch Barrel EMP® Improves Concealment With Contoured Frame
GENESEO, ILL. (01/17/17) – Springfield Armory® is pleased to announce the latest member of the world’s most elegant concealed carry pistol family. Designed for those who emphasize discreet concealed carry, the new EMP® Lightweight Champion™ with Concealed Carry Contour includes a frame shaped for optimal comfort and concealment.
The all new EMP® 4” Lightweight Champion™ with Concealed Carry Contour model extends the EMP® lineup by combining a longer barrel with a frame trimmed for maximum concealment. The new bevel cut on the mainspring housing provides two vital functions that improve both handling and concealment. The rounded contour molds to the shape of the shooters hand, preventing “palm bite” and making the most shootable pistol ever even easier to control. To improve carry discretion, the contoured shape helps to prevent snags during the draw and virtually eliminates the telltale bulge under a cover garment. Now, the EMP® is easier than ever to conceal.
“Customers and industry veterans alike have responded so well to the EMP® family that we’ve decided to focus on providing new models for a variety of concealed carry priorities,” stated Springfield Armory® CEO Dennis Reese. “Everyone’s priorities are different, so we wanted to find ways to meet customer needs without sacrificing the core features that make the EMP® family so popular.”
Back in 2007, the original Springfield Armory® EMP® set a new bar for quality, performance, and style. Combining the near-perfect ergonomics of the time-tested 1911 design with a new patented short-action, the original EMP® redefined what a carry 1911 could be. Among the community of those who know, it has earned a reputation as one of the most shootable compact pistols ever.
The new Concealed Carry Contour model features a four-inch, stainless steel, Match-Grade bull barrel with a fully supported feed ramp. The barrel is housed in a forged stainless steel slide with an exquisite satin finish. The slide assembly is complemented by a black hard coat anodized forged aluminum alloy frame. The front fiber optic sight facilitates instant sight acquisition while the low-profile combat-style rear sight ensures a smooth draw from concealment. The EMP® Lightweight Champion™ with Concealed Carry Contour features ambidextrous safety levers and a five to six-pound aluminum trigger with the same smooth, crisp break that made the original EMP® so popular among the serious shooting community.
“While handgun aficionados appreciate the quality and attention to detail that we put into the EMP® Lightweight Champion™ with Concealed Carry Contour, it’s a pistol that every shooter can appreciate,” observed Reese. “The patented short-action, combined with meticulous fit and polish make this an exceptionally pleasant pistol to shoot. Even new shooters will feel why the EMP® stands tall in a category of its own.”
The EMP® Lightweight Champion™ with Concealed Carry Contour handles even better than it looks. Checkered black G-10 grip panels combine a slip-free hold with incomparable durability. Both front and rear strap frame surfaces feature the smooth, but effective, Springfield Armory® Posi-Lock™ texturing pattern.
The svelte single-stack pistol doesn’t sacrifice capacity with the new carry bevel design, holding nine plus one in the chamber. Three magazines ship with each Concealed Carry Contour Model.
About Springfield Armory®
“The First Name in American Firearms,” Springfield Armory® was founded in 1777, when George Washington ordered the creation of an armory to store ammunition and gun carriages during the American Revolution. In 1794, the armory began to manufacture muskets and spent the next 150 years supplying firearms for every major American conflict. The original armory closed in 1968. In 1974, the Reese family took ownership of the Springfield Armory® name and began making the M1A™ rifle. Today, Springfield Armory® develops many products loyal to the company’s heritage, like the 1911 pistol, while ensuring its future with innovative products, including the XD®, XD® Mod.2®, XD(M)® and XD-S® polymer pistols and now the new SAINT™ AR-15 rifle.
I just can’t take all this exciting 1911 news.
But wait, there’s more!
Don’t worry, this nonsense will end soon. There are an ever increasing number of mid-priced (and up) guns chasing an ever shrinking number of Americans who can actually afford them. Let alone the fact that people are no longer in panic buying mode. Even if the economy was stable (which it never is) the economics don’t work.
The next crash will shake out the most of the frippery in the gun market.
“ever shrinking number of Americans who can actually afford them”
BS You’re talking about “tech” and PC market. Firearms is still an expanding market.
Expect Apple to jump in with an IGAT Smartheater handgun in .246cal anytime now. Giggle to follow. Both require inputting your entire family and friends family tree back 5 generations with DNA samples, digial photos, and valid contact info.
Firearms may be an expanding market, but the American middle class shrinks everyday, and it’s wages are in the best light, stagnant. $1200 guns are bought as 3rd or 4th pieces, likely as a 10th+. Joe Average can get a Glock, not a $1200 play toy. I remember what the gun shop across the highway from the Chrysler plant looked like on payday, neither is there anymore – and neither are hundreds of thousands of jobs that paid guys enough money to buy extras like this.
This isn’t the place for a treatise on economics, suffice to say all the numbers look worse than they did leading up to 2008. That would have been the one and only positive of a potential Clinton Presidency – the Dems would have had 12 years in charge and then maybe, just maybe, people would get it. As it stands, it’ll be Trump at the helm when the ship goes down again. I’m not sure that we can print our way out of this one. We’ll see.
Ewww. This 1911 doesn’t have the classy look they should have.
Well, to be fair, they worked overtime as hitting it with the ugly stick.
– huge rollmark down the side of the slide
– 9mm chambering, altho that’s to be expected more and more in carry guns. Still, I don’t understand why anyone who wants more magazine capacity would go for 9×19 when you have .38 Super in 1911’s that can move the pill downrange at .357 Mag velocities.
– the Ed Brown bobtail cut on the mainspring housing. It functions as advertised – it breaks up the line of the gun when carrying concealed, but it doesn’t improve the appearance of the gun.
– the trigger as more cut-outs than even the (much) higher-priced 1911’s receiving crap for goofy cutouts on the trigger here at TTAG
– the grip looks like rubber. Put on top of the aluminum frame, it cheapens the appearance of the gun some more.
– and the screws are allen-head screws. Feh.
Still, this is a CCW piece, not a picnic gun. For people who want to pack a 1911 in 9×19, it’s an option.
Please, go look at the AMERICAN CLASSIC 1911s and tell me this 1911 has a huge, obnoxious rollmark.
“Is there anything easier to carry and conceal than a commander-sized 1911?”
Yes, there’s a wide variety of guns actually.
For myself, there isn’t anything I like about a 1911 for CC; MANY other guns for me that suit the purpose better.
Seemed interesting. Then I looked at the price. $1,220??? Really???
You can hate on that little gun all you want, but I have the old 3″ EMP and all I can say is it is a sweet little gun that is a tack driver. G10 grips work great and at 27 oz. easy to carry. Maybe you can hate on them so the price will go down.
“Is there anything easier to carry and conceal than a commander-sized 1911? Not many.”
Define “many”. Because I can literally think of dozens of easier-to-carry-and-conceal options. There’s an entire segment of the industry devoted to coming up with guns that carry and conceal easier than two-pound 1911s, and they’re selling like crazy.
You’ll just never really Stinkeye and all. Thin smooth and lightening fast. Lost on a plastic generation with an orange president.
From now on, when a manufacturer announces another 1911, make sure to put quotations around the word “new.”
Why not .45 ?? Had me till 9mm.
The bigger question (IMO) for these outfits making 9×19 1911’s is “why not .38 Super?”
I get what you’re saying, but it’s because .38 Super is a niche caliber at this point, and 9mm almost grows on trees.
That said, this has my curiosity piqued. I wonder who out there is making 1911s in .38 Super. Also makes me wonder about Coonan and their .357 Magnum 1911, why not do it in .38 Super as well. It would actually be easier.
If they don’t advertise, they don’t sell.
I’ve never understood the people who don’t want any visible logo on their cars, clothes or guns. Unless you made them yourself, or are embarrassed that you own it.
I’ve shot the original version of the EMP, and it was a sweetheart. Trigger was almost too light for a carry gun, and aside from the sharp corner of the heel plus the price, it was a perfect carry gun.
Isn’t it enough that I bought their stuff? Do I have to do free advertising for them too?
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