Springfield Armory has just recently added another variation to their SA-35 line of pistols. Called the SA-35 4”, the newest gun boasts a reduced overall length with its slide and barrel shortened by 7/10ths of an inch. The gun retains the SA-35’s full length grip and 15 + 1 capacity and all of the Hi-Power improvements Springfield innovated when they brought the gun back to life in 2021. If you’re “old school” like me, and prefer hammer fired to striker fired, steel to polymer, the SA-35 4” just might be your perfect carry gun!
Start Of the SA-35 4″
Fabrique Nationale quietly eliminated the Hi-Power from their catalog in 2018. After more than 80 years of manufacture their tooling had simply worn out and in the age of polymer-striker-fired guns investing in new tooling for an antiquated design didn’t make sense to them.
But Springfield Armory didn’t see the gun as antiquated or obsolete. They saw value where FN did not and knew their customer base would be receptive to the iconic, Browning-influenced design. It turns out that there are dedicated pistoleros who prefer steel and walnut to polymer and they can also live without optics plates and light rails on their defense guns. Springfield knows their consumer base, and it was far from a gamble when they started developing the SA-35. With a 5-year track record, the SA-35 has surpassed early sales forecasts and continues to be a strong seller for Springfield Armory and has inspired other models like the high-polish Blued SA-35 and the Cerakoted Coyote Brown (a Lipsey’s Exclusive) and Tactical Gray models. That brings us to the new SA-35™4”.
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The Springfield Difference
Think of the SA-35 4” as a Commander version of the original SA-35. Springfield engineers shortened the slide and barrel by 7/10ths of an inch, and this seemingly small change makes the gun much more comfortable to wear in an OWB holster, especially when sitting. There’s no worry about the muzzle contacting the chair or seat and pushing the gun up into your ribs. The grip and magazine of the SA-35 4” have not been shortened and, when loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition, the gun has a solid, grip heavy, balance.
Springfield engineers modified the original SA-35’s design to include a full-length recoil spring guide rod on the 4” model. It keeps the flat wire recoil spring from kinking and promotes smooth slide cycling. Other than the recoil spring guide, shorter barrel and slide you won’t find any differences between the full-size SA-35 and the SA-35 4” and that’s a good thing!
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Perfecting the Hi-Power
When Springfield Armory brought their Hi-Power clone to market in 2021 they redesigned the gun to rectify its shortcomings. Gunsmiths like Austin Behlert, Wayne Novak, Ted Yost, Bill Laughridge, Jim Garthwaite and many others spent their careers customizing and modifying Browning/FN pistols for carry use. In the old days, if you wanted to use a Hi-Power for serious matters, you bought a new gun and sent it to one of these smiths for new sights, trigger job and installation of an extended thumb safety.
One of the knocks against old Hi-Powers is that they possess less than ideal trigger pulls. Part of this issue was related to the magazine safety. Originally designed to prevent a negligent discharge from the errant troop who removed the magazine but did not clear the chamber, the magazine safety prevents the hammer from falling unless there is a magazine in the gun.
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Magazine safeties have never found favor with American shooters and Springfield Armory wisely chose to leave this “feature” off the SA-35. That solved part of the trigger pull problem, but it is Springfield Armory’s experience building 1911s that taught them how to hone the mating surfaces of the sear and hammer to provide a clean trigger break. My test sample breaks crisply at 3.7 pounds. It’s not perfect-there is some creep before it breaks but it is, by far, the best out-of-box trigger pull of any Hi-Power clone I have tried!
So Long Hammer Bite
Another common Hi-Power malady is “hammer bite” and this is caused by the web of the shooter’s hand pushing up over the frame’s tang and getting pinched between the hammer and tang. Springfield Armory solved this issue by outfitting the SA-35 with a rowel hammer which is less likely to bite the flesh than the spur type of hammer.
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The original Hi-Power and the SA-35 and SA-35 4” are single-action, semi-automatics and are designed to be carried in condition one, or cocked and locked, just like the 1911. That is to say, the chamber is loaded and the hammer is cocked with the manual thumb safety engaged. Original FN/Browning Hi-Power thumb safeties were just too small to engage and disengage quickly or easily. Springfield Armory redesigned the safety, extending it and making it easier to manipulate without shifting the firing grip.
Upgraded Sights & Barrel
Hi-Powers never really had a reputation for being tack drivers and this is most likely due to their original military style sights which were on the smallish side. Those who used Hi-Powers for competition shooting almost always replaced the barrels to get acceptable match grade accuracy. Springfield addressed both of these issues by dovetailing good quality sights into the slide. The sights are tall enough to provide a sharp, precise sight picture with the front sight being Patridge-style. Springfield Armory machines the SA-35’s barrel from carbon steel and it features 6 grooves with a 1:10” RH twist for match-grade accuracy. The SA-35’s sights and barrel, along with an excellent trigger, provide all the accuracy needed for carry use!
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Gunsite Testing
I received my sample of the new SA-35™4” just before a trip to Gunsite. Located in Paulden Arizona, Gunsite is the world’s oldest and largest privately owned facility dedicated to training responsible armed citizens. But what really makes Gunsite so special is its phenomenal instructor cadre. Most have had careers in the military or law enforcement and many, like Lew Gosnell, have had both.
Gosnell’s rapier-like wit and dry sarcasm make his instruction entertaining. But it is Gosnell’s experience as a competitor that is really astonishing-winning matches like the End of Trail, the old Soldier of Fortune 3-Gun, and the Steel Challenge Shotgun Speed Championship. Gosnell is deadly with anything you put in his hands from a Ruger single action revolver to a Remington 870 to a Springfield 03-A3 bolt gun. His experience and capabilities make him a person whose opinions, especially regarding new guns, I highly respect.
On The Range
On a cool mid-February day Gosnell and I met on Gunsite’s Hanneken range along with the new SA-35 4” and a few hundred rounds of assorted 9mm ammunition. We started by benching the gun for accuracy from the 15-yard line. We took turns firing the pistol and fired at least three groups with each ammunition with the very best group reflected in the accuracy table.
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Black Hills 115-grain JHP rounds produced the best 5-shot group which measured just over one inch. Doubletap’s 124-grain FMJ RN Match also produced a very tight group. This is a load I frequently use for range work when I take a class at Gunsite and it performed exactly like I needed, giving the slide good velocity and its round nose bullet profile makes it feed in just about any 9mm gun you can put it in. The aggregate group size of the five ammunitions I tested through the SA-35 4” was just 1.36 inches, proving the gun is capable of very good accuracy.
I wondered if the gun’s grip-heavy balance would make it difficult to fire rapidly and found my fears unwarranted. While I worked the camera, I was able to capture many of Gosnell’s double taps with two pieces of brass in the air. Using a PACT timer, we found that his splits averaged 0.15 seconds. His target was one of Gunsite’s steel gumdrop targets set at 10 yards and there weren’t many misses, with most hits landing within two inches of each other.
Gosnell credited the good sights and crisp trigger of the SA-35 4” for aiding in his ability to shoot the pistol so quickly and accurately. He said, “There’s just something fun about shooting the 9mm cartridge in a steel framed gun!”
Improving on Perfection
Gosnell noted the steel-framed gun’s weight being instrumental in control. Fully loaded the gun weighs about 2½ pounds and that might be just a little too heavy for all-day carry for some folks. Gosnell asked, “When are they going to offer this gun with an aluminum frame?” This would likely shave eight ounces from the gun’s weight and make it an even better choice for concealed carry.
And even though Gosnell didn’t experience hammer bite from the SA-35 4”, he did say, “This would look really cool if they put a beavertail on it!” I have to agree. Hi-Powers with beavertail tangs just look cool and help promote a higher grip on the gun to attenuate muzzle flip.
Springfield Armory has a long history of providing customers with exactly what they ask for, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we see versions of the SA-35™ in the future with both aluminum frames and beavertails.
Final Thoughts
During my 300-round evaluation at Gunsite the SA-35 4” never stuttered once. I fed it a very diverse selection of ammunition with different overall lengths and bullet nose profiles, and they all fed, cycled, extracted and ejected without a bobble—even the frangible ammunition we used in the shoot house.
That’s exactly the kind of reliability needed for consideration as a concealed carry pistol. Springfield Armory’s rendition of the Hi-Power is a much-improved version of the original gun, and the new 4-inch variation possesses the accuracy and reliability needed for serious defensive use. There’s nothing obsolete or antiquated about its design. For shooters who still appreciate blued steel, a single-action trigger and classic lines, the Springfield Armory SA-35 4” proves that old-school cool remains very much alive.
Specifications: Springfield Armory SA-35 4″
- Operation: Semi-Auto, Locked Breech
- Caliber: 9mm,
- Overall Length: 7.1″
- Height: 4.8″
- Weight: 29.8 oz. without magazine; 31.52 oz. with unloaded magazine
- Width: 1.38″ at grips
- Barrel: 4.00″ Cold Hammer Forged Carbon Steel, 6-Groove, 1:10″ RH Twist
- Sights: Fixed; Rear Sight Drift Adjustable for Windage
- Safety: Extended Thumb Safety
- Finish: Matte Blue
- Grips: Checkered Walnut
- Magazines: One 15-Round Magazine
- Warranty: Limited Lifetime
- MSRP: $799
Performance:
| Ammo | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft-lbs) | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hills 125-Grain Honey Badger | 987 | 270 | 1.69″ |
| Black Hills 115-Grain JHP | 1,218 | 379 | 1.05″ |
| DoubleTap 124-Grain FMJ RN Match | 1,096 | 331 | 1.15″ |
| Hornady American Gunner +P 124-Grain XTP | 1,176 | 380 | 1.47″ |
| Wilson Combat Remanufactured 135-Grain HBFN | 921 | 254 | 1.46″ |
| Average Group Size | — | — | 1.36″ |
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