Springfield EMP .40 1911

[RockingRook]

I went to the gun show today and traded my Glock 27 for a brand new in the box
Springfield EMP .40 a 3" 1911.

Really nice looking gun with checkered Cocobolo wood grips and a stainless slide.

Come with trijicon night sights and three 8 round mags.

The trigger seems to be flawless. A bit heavy but not bad!!

I gave my Glock 27 with night sights and a few extras + $500 for the EMP.

I am thoroughly happy with it. Can't wait till Tuesday to go out and shoot a couple hundred rounds.

Does anyone have this handgun?

Chuck

[RECIT]

LOTZ and LOTZ of folks have one. There is one for sale with nice VZ grips and 8 mags in the for sale section right now. I have shot the 9mm version and love it. Really a nice blaster and carry piece. You will enjoy it immensely. Range report and pics or it didn't happen

[RockingRook]

LOTZ and LOTZ of folks have one. There is one for sale with nice VZ grips and 8 mags in the for sale section right now. I have shot the 9mm version and love it. Really a nice blaster and carry piece. You will enjoy it immensely. Range report and pics or it didn't happen

Ok!! I will probably have to put my camera on wide angle to get all the holes in the picture.

What is the advantage of VZ grips?

Chuck

[RockingRook]

What is the best way to decock the gun like for cleaning or storage?

I know to do it carefully but is there a tip from you more experienced guys with the 1911.

I have tried and it is a two hand operation or am i wrong? You have to depress the grip
while putting pressure on the trigger and holding the hammer. Seems like I need an extra hand
somewhere. Have not handled one for many years!!

Chuck

[Pawpaw]

What is the best way to decock the gun like for cleaning or storage?

I know to do it carefully but is there a tip from you more experienced guys with the 1911.

I have tried and it is a two hand operation or am i wrong? You have to depress the grip
while putting pressure on the trigger and holding the hammer. Seems like I need an extra hand
somewhere. Have not handled one for many years!!

Chuck

Just make sure the weapon is unloaded and pull the trigger. Letting the hammer fall on an empty chamber won't hurt anything on a 1911.

[RockingRook]

Just make sure the weapon is unloaded and pull the trigger. Letting the hammer fall on an empty chamber won't hurt anything on a 1911.

Hey thanks!! For some reason I did not think you can work the slide with the gun loaded and cocked. I tried it [on an empty gun]
and that does the trick.

Thanks lot!!

Chuck

[AEA]

I have the 9mm version EMP and love it. It is more accurate than me!

If you have never disassembled a 1911 before, you should look at a few utube videos before attempting to take it down. It is not hard, but then it is not a Glock either!

[RockingRook]

I have the 9mm version EMP and love it. It is more accurate than me!

If you have never disassembled a 1911 before, you should look at a few utube videos before attempting to take it down. It is not hard, but then it is not a Glock either!

Will do!! Thanks!!

Chuck

[Pawpaw]

Just make sure the weapon is unloaded and pull the trigger. Letting the hammer fall on an empty chamber won't hurt anything on a 1911.

Hey thanks!! For some reason I did not think you can work the slide with the gun loaded and cocked. I tried it [on an empty gun]
and that does the trick.

Thanks lot!!

Chuck

I'm not exactly sure what you meant there, but you can always work the slide on a 1911, unless the thumb safety is engaged. The thumb safety can only be engaged when the hammer is cocked.

[RockingRook]

I'm not exactly sure what you meant there, but you can always work the slide on a 1911, unless the thumb safety is engaged. The thumb safety can only be engaged when the hammer is cocked.

Yes, with the thumb safety on I could not rack the slide. With the safety off I could rack it and eject or check the chamber.

I find the slide to be a bear right now so I am storing it with rack open and locked. Hopefully it will help to ease the spring tension. I am sure that after shooting a few hundred rounds through it the spring will ease up. Totally new for me!! I tried push the slide lock down to release the slide but could not. Then I realized I had an empty mag loaded. I then put a bullet in the mag and the it worked fine.

I have looked all over the net for a good video on field stripping the EMP and could not find one for the EMP. There were some for the Kimber which they said was similar and another touting an "Ultra tool" but nothing that showed the field stripping of the EMP right out of the box. I will keep looking!! I know that it involves that little piece of plastic to take the tension off of the spring but I want to see exactly how it is done.

I have Rugers and Glocks and the Beretta PX4 SC. That Beretta has spring tension stronger than the EMP but I now have fired about 400 rds through it and it seems to be becoming less.
The mags on the Beretta are a bear to load at first and a "speed loader" is a must until the mag springs get worn a bit. I was storing the mags fully loaded which helped a bit.

When I opened the box on the EMP I looked for the "speed loader" but did not find one. I loaded the 3 mags by hand and surprisingly they were easy to load. Maybe the speed loader was unnecessary so they did not put one. If I need one I found that the speed loader for the Beretta 9MM worked well for the .40

The holster that comes with the EMP I find to be not my type. I will buy one. I was told for that gun a Kydex holster is better than a leather one because of the thumb safety. Some say the thumb safety is a little too loose for their liking and the Kydex holster was a better choice. I like leather holsters so I will have to research that one and figure out which I want. The gun fits nicely in one of my holsters for the Ruger SC9c so I may just interchange with that one. BTW, I do not think that the thumb safety is too loose at all.

Overall I like the looks and feel of the gun and if it shoots as well as they say I will be very happy. With other new guns I always field strip it out of the box before shooting but
I have read with this one that may be unnecessary. I will find a video, read the manual take it down and kind of buff it and check for any heavy grease.

Tuesday is the day I take it out for a hundred rounds or so.

Chuck

[RockingRook]

Took the EMP .40 out to the range today. I fed Winchester FMJ, UMC FMJ and fired some Winchester Elite HP for a total
of about 200 rds.

Everything fed, fired and the slide stayed back on all empty magazines.

I rotated the ammo through 3 different magazines to make sure there was not a magazine problem.

The gun is accurate just that I need to fire it more. Recoil was not noticed at all. Seems to be the same as my 9mms.

What did happen was the "roll pin" in front of the front sight backed out. My eyes are not that good so I wear trifocals. Things
seem fuzzy most of the time but I thought the front sight had doubled. I looked at it and the "roll pin" was backing out.

I pushed it back in and fired another mag of 8 rds and the pin again was backing out.

I went home and called Springfield. They are sending me another roll pin. They told me it is easy to get it out and put a new one in
but if I had problems to give them a call and I could send the slide in for them to do it. I told them I would give it a try.

The pin comes out from top to bottom and the new one goes i from bottom to top. At lease that is what they told me.

Except for that disappointing problem the gun is a masterpiece for looks and to shoot.

Now waiting on the roll pin then to get it out and another put back in after that I go back to the range.

Chuck

[RECIT]

Great to hear about the good shooting gun sorry to hear about the front sight issue. Springfield will take care of it whatever the outcome is. If you do end up having to send it in, ask them for some goodies in return for being put out on a new gun. Maybe some night sights or an extra mag or something like that.

[RockingRook]

Great to hear about the good shooting gun sorry to hear about the front sight issue. Springfield will take care of it whatever the outcome is. If you do end up having to send it in, ask them for some goodies in return for being put out on a new gun. Maybe some night sights or an extra mag or something like that.

the EMP .40 came with Trigicon night sights and 3 mags. They are sending a couple of those "take down tools". All I am interested right now is getting that roll pin
stabilized. They told me it was easy to do but they do not know me.

I will get that pin early next week. Hopefully I will not have a problem. I would rather try then to send it in.

Chuck

[RockingRook]

The "roll pin" for the Front sight came in a couple days ago. What I had done in the mean time was put a bit of Lock Tite
on the old pin. I took the gun out to see if the Lock Tite worked and fired 200 rounds.

The roll pin came up about 1/64 of an inch. Before the Lock Tite it would come up after a magazine of 8 rounds so definitely
the Lock Tite was doing something but that pin should not move at all.

I punched out the old pin and put a set of calipers on it and it measured about 62/1000 of an inch. I then measured the new pin
that they sent and it measured about 65/1000 of an inch so the new pin was definitely bigger.

I turned the slide over and put the new pin in the hole 'inside the slide" and gently tapped it till it caught then I
tapped it halfway, put Lock Tite on the pin and then put in all the way. I wiped off the excess Lock Tite and now I am sure
that pin will hold. The new pin is bigger and I was able to get Lock Tite on the entire pin before re-sitting it completely.

I will take it back out to the range in a couple days to give the new pin a try but I am confident it will hold as it should.

BTW, the 200 rds I fired off last night and as far as I am concerned the gun is on and fires beautifully. So far I have put about 500 rds through it
without any sort of malfunction. This time my targets were water jugs, bowling pins as well as paper targets.

Now to find an appropriate holster for that gun. It deserves a good leather holster that will conceal well.

If anyone has any suggestions please pass them on.

Chuck