Springfield Armory introduced their Hellcat not long after SIG introduced the P365. These are micro 9s and yet they’re double stack magazine so we have an 11 plus one mag capacity or a 13 round mag capacity with a little bit of an extended magazine. This really stole the market from the single stack magazine pistols which were the rage before these came out and it kind of changed concealed carry. It gave you a lot more rounds and yet the size is about the same as your single stack pistols. Now Springfield just introduced their Hellcat Pro. This is a dedicated 15 plus one magazine with a flush fit magazine, it has a 3.7 inch barrel, and to be honest with you, it’s about the same size is a Glock 19—and yet a lot thinner. So the advantages that we gained with the micro 9s and double stack are now moving into more of a full size type pistol. Now the Glock 19 is considered a compact and so this would really be a more compact size, which makes it great for concealed carry and yet you’re still carrying 15 plus one in the magazine. When Springfield said they were introducing this pistol, I thought, “well just another Hellcat.” But this really does change the market and there’s no reason why we can’t thin down those 9mm full-sized pistols and still have 15 plus one in the magazine. Now full disclosure, Springfield Armory sent the Hellcat Pro for this review. We have shot 1000s of rounds through the Hellcat originally and we’re really looking forward to getting a lot of rounds downrange with this.
Now taking the Hellcat Pro down to the range, we had two objectives. First off is just to test the gun out to check reliability, accuracy, how the gun fits in your hand, especially with this thinner grip. It’s not a full size gun, but yet it has a full sized silhouette, or you know, like the Glock 19—actually more of a compact silhouette but again, just that really thin grip. With a double stack magazine, the grip fills your hand really nicely. Now one of the big things is with this texturing it is again, smooth to the touch. And yet when you really grip hold of the pistol, you feel that locking it in.
The hex optics was you know 3.5 MOA. It gives you a decent sized dot, it’s bright, you know, in the sunlight, it really brightens up when it gets darker, it dims down, it’s very adaptable. But one thing about the 3.5 MOA was it was a little bit smaller than what I like. I like something maybe a little bit larger, but still it was really easy to get the dot and to be honest with you, it’s going to allow you to get better accuracy. The front cocking serrations really easy to grab hold for press checks, but yet we could look down and check to see if the gun was loaded right to the top of the slide. Overall, it was a very enjoyable gun to shoot. We had no malfunctions at all and didn’t expect it because we have had very good success in results with the original Hellcats—even the RDP. Our second objective was to test the Hellcat Pro directly with the standard Hellcat. We definitely have a longer slide so we were expecting you know less muzzle flip, more pointability, which we got with the Hellcat Pro. When we brought out their standard Hellcat, with a 15 round magazine, it gave you a full grip, but you had that shorter slide. And there was definitely a difference between the two. There was much more muzzle rise or muzzle flip with the regular Hellcat. It’s more recoil in your hand, still very shootable but the Pro is a much more enjoyable shooting gun and it just seems to track better.
As far as taking this to the range, the Hellcat Pro definitely was the winner. But when it comes to self-defense, of course, the Hellcat is easier to conceal. It’s just going to be a smaller gun and you can take that 15 round magazine slip in your back pocket, and then you’ll have your standard 11 round magazine to make it really easy to conceal. And of course, obviously, it’s according to body type as well. But taking this to the range again, it compares to a full size gun and yet it’s super thin, and that’s one of the biggest appeals of this gun.
