Opinions on the new Springfield Hellcat

[rmpowell01]

THE HELLCAT IS JUNK!
I recently decided to replace both my own and my wife's carry weapons with a P365 or a Hellcat. I had my local gun shop put me on the waiting list. As it turned out we got one of each about a month apart. The Hellcat is junk compared to the quality of the fit and finish on the P365 and the customer service at Springfield Armory is No Service.I have no issues with the P365 and both shoot well, but the Hellcat arrived with two issues right out of the box. The first issue is that I do not like the fit of the Recoil Spring extending beyond the front surface of the slide, about 1/16". This not only does not look good, but dirt can very easily enter the slid area. For an ankle carry person like myself, this is an especially poor design and that is what Springfield says it is, as designed. My car gun ,a cheap Hi-Point C9 has a better design. The other issue is that the front sight has a defect. The top portion of the reflective circle is missing. They will not ship me or my gunsmith he replacement front sight, They will not sell me the replacement front site. Their only policy is that I send them the complete upper slide and wait 4 weeks plus shipping both ways for them to replace the sight. So I will have to be without the gun for about 5 weeks. They will not even ship the return by air. Shipment of the slide both ways goes ground. I would not purchase the Hellcat again and recommend that anyone considering it should buy the P365.

 

[terdog]

So you didn't check out the gun when you picked it up?

Anything made by man can have issues, but I notice that yours are pretty petty. Upset about having to send your slide in for a quick repair? For something that you should have seen and rejected...

I find your claim that its "junk" to be a bit over the top.

But , do what you gotta do.

 

[BuckWallace]

THE HELLCAT IS JUNK!
I recently decided to replace both my own and my wife's carry weapons with a P365 or a Hellcat. I had my local gun shop put me on the waiting list. As it turned out we got one of each about a month apart. The Hellcat is junk compared to the quality of the fit and finish on the P365 and the customer service at Springfield Armory is No Service.I have no issues with the P365 and both shoot well, but the Hellcat arrived with two issues right out of the box. The first issue is that I do not like the fit of the Recoil Spring extending beyond the front surface of the slide, about 1/16". This not only does not look good, but dirt can very easily enter the slid area. For an ankle carry person like myself, this is an especially poor design and that is what Springfield says it is, as designed. My car gun ,a cheap Hi-Point C9 has a better design. The other issue is that the front sight has a defect. The top portion of the reflective circle is missing. They will not ship me or my gunsmith he replacement front sight, They will not sell me the replacement front site. Their only policy is that I send them the complete upper slide and wait 4 weeks plus shipping both ways for them to replace the sight. So I will have to be without the gun for about 5 weeks. They will not even ship the return by air. Shipment of the slide both ways goes ground. I would not purchase the Hellcat again and recommend that anyone considering it should buy the P365.

Welcome!

 

[Pandaz3]

rmpowell01

Well always nice to have strong dissenting opinion, but it could be your complaint seemed suspicious to CS and they wanted to verify. I take it they are paying for the cost of shipping and you are out the time only? I have had to send in to Para (Three times) Glock, Springfield, Ruger and had to get parts for a FMK, buy enough guns and you will find more problems, aggravating but all mine work when returned (Except the Para and it worked well after the third time).

 

[rmpowell01]

Well I may not own as many brands of guns as you, but I have nine various 9 mm semi-autos and I have sent the Smith & Weston in once for repair that I could not perform. I have purchased lots of gun parts to repair or modify guns, but I have never before had a gun manufacture refuse to sell me a parts for their gun. I have never before purchased what is suppose to be a premium brand, have it be defective right out of the box and be refused the replacement part. Their policy requires I cannot perform my own work. Well I trust my work more then I trust their company. I offered to purchase the defective part. They do not sell replacement sights. They have to perform the work even if the unit is out of warranty. That is not customer service. That is bad company policy.

 

[Red98422]

Well I may not own as many brands of guns as you, but I have nine various 9 mm semi-autos and I have sent the Smith & Weston in once for repair that I could not perform. I have purchased lots of gun parts to repair or modify guns, but I have never before had a gun manufacture refuse to sell me a parts for their gun. I have never before purchased what is suppose to be a premium brand, have it be defective right out of the box and be refused the replacement part. Their policy requires I cannot perform my own work. Well I trust my work more then I trust their company. I offered to purchase the defective part. They do not sell replacement sights. They have to perform the work even if the unit is out of warranty. That is not customer service. That is bad company policy.

Expect this to begin happening across the board for all gun companies, it's already happening in the automotive world only a matter of time before firearms also went this way.

while I'm not a fan of Springfield specifically for their disgusting betrayal in Illinois, that is a completely separate topic.

that said I have shot the Hellcat and my best impression was....Meh....not great, not bad, went bang when commanded. Otherwise I felt the product as a whole felt....rushed/forced, Also I wasn't really a fan of the grip texture, but that's personal preference.

IMHO of it wasn't for the one more round the hellcat would've arrived DOA to the carry gun market.

even then, while it would never be my top choice nor even a suggestion on my part, the example I shot IMO was good enough for its intended purpose.

 

[Pandaz3]

Okay, I don't work for them. I thought I lost parts to my Hi-Point when I field stripped it. I emailed their company (Iberia) and they promptly sent me the parts, no charge at all. Meanwhile I found the parts and am ready for gang banging

 

[SmitKoWitz]

They will not ship me or my gunsmith the replacement front sight, They will not sell me the replacement front site. Their only policy is that I send them the complete upper slide and wait 4 weeks plus shipping both ways for them to replace the sight. So I will have to be without the gun for about 5 weeks. They will not even ship the return by air. Shipment of the slide both ways goes ground.

Wow . . . they sound almost as bad as Sig Sauer Warranty Service. I had a P938SAS that had a night sight that went dead after a month of ownership. Same routine, send in the slide so they can do the replacement. I had to prod them two times on the phone, about whether or not, they were going to send me a prepaid shipping label (ridiculous and sad). It also had a two piece guide rod that kept coming apart. Then something went wrong with the mainspring after a couple years and it wouldn't even fire ; the trigger pull was like 100 lbs! Discovered a plastic piece that had worn down, causing the entire unit to shift. If you put it back in place, it worked fine for a few mags, then it would slip again. Traded that piece of junk away for a Kimber Micro 9, best move ever; way better, flawless still not one issue in 3 years. Had another Sig P290RS, magazine wouldn't accept all the rounds it was supposed to. Apparently a bad spring (too stiff?). They wouldn't send me a new replacement mag, till they received the bad one. Again I had to prod them for the prepaid return label. RS stood for re-strike capability. Yep, it needed it regularly. Not an ammo issue, a firearm issue. Traded that junk away for a CZ-75 D Compact PCR . . . another flawless firearm. I wouldn't buy another Sig if you paid me.

 

[kmk1012]

I bought a new Hellcat and still haven't shot it yet. I have several other Springfield XD pistols and they all have been 100 percent reliable. My old XD9SC has well over 15k rounds with the only ftf being my reloads fault. I have confidence that the Hellcat will fit in nicely and be reliable as all the others.

 

[Porter]

I have had no issues with my Hellcat, or any of my Springfield pistols for that matter. Saying that I carry my hellcat daily and have confidence it will protect my life if ever needed.

 

[terdog]

I too have owned a few SA's.

An EMP4 LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION (9mm), a TRP (6" 10MM) and my HELLCAT.

Never had an issue with any of them.

I also had an issue with SA and their political gaffe. But, IMHO they made good on their mistake and have kept their nose clean since. Everyone makes a mistake. But the deal is making amends by admitting your mistake and they did.

 

[tourproto]

I went with the Hellcat and am very happy with it. Watched all the youtube videos and read all the reviews on both the 365 and the Hellcat and looked at both in person. I preferred the feel, trigger and sight on the Hellcat. Put 100 rounds through it over the weekend without a problem and POI is about 1" left of POA at 10 yards. This is going to be a defensive weapon so probably not something that needs to be fixed. Going to put another 200-300 rounds through it and see if the POI stays the same and then decide if I want to seek out a gunsmith.

I was a little bummed that SA now ships guns in a paper box. My last SA handgun was a 1911 and that came in a nice plastic guncase. Maybe the full size guns still come that way, but not the Hellcat.

The one negative thing from the reviews on the Hellcat that was 200% correct was how hard it was to load rounds into the magazine. The spring is SUPER stiff. I may have to get a magazine reloader

 

[HaveGun]

I went with the Hellcat and am very happy with it. Watched all the youtube videos and read all the reviews on both the 365 and the Hellcat and looked at both in person. I preferred the feel, trigger and sight on the Hellcat. Put 100 rounds through it over the weekend without a problem and POI is about 1" left of POA at 10 yards. This is going to be a defensive weapon so probably not something that needs to be fixed. Going to put another 200-300 rounds through it and see if the POI stays the same and then decide if I want to seek out a gunsmith.

I was a little bummed that SA now ships guns in a paper box. My last SA handgun was a 1911 and that came in a nice plastic guncase. Maybe the full size guns still come that way, but not the Hellcat.

The one negative thing from the reviews on the Hellcat that was 200% correct was how hard it was to load rounds into the magazine. The spring is SUPER stiff. I may have to get a magazine reloader

Regarding the sights being off; a decent sight adjustment tool is $50. A brass punch is much less. Having a gunsmith drift them is probably the same cost as getting your own tool, which will last decades. I've saved myself hundreds of dollars and headaches by getting one years ago.

As for the stiff magazines; I used an Upula mag loader the first couple of times with my P365, then was able to load them by hand after that.

 

[tourproto]

Regarding the sights being off; a decent sight adjustment tool is $50. A brass punch is much less. Having a gunsmith drift them is probably the same cost as getting your own tool, which will last decades. I've saved myself hundreds of dollars and headaches by getting one years ago.

As for the stiff magazines; I used an Upula mag loader the first couple of times with my P365, then was able to load them by hand after that.

Can you recommend a good youtube video or website for drift adjusting a rear sight? My other handguns had adjustable rear sights so pretty easy to do. Don't want to F-up my gun by doing a stupid.

 

[aksu747]

Can you recommend a good youtube video or website for drift adjusting a rear sight? My other handguns had adjustable rear sights so pretty easy to do. Don't want to F-up my gun by doing a stupid.

I don't know if they will do a hellcat but J&B firearms in Beaverton drifted a rear sight on my Glock 37 for free about a month or so ago.
I expected it to atleast cost a few dollars but they did me a solid.

 

[aksu747]

I used to have a Sig P365. The Springfield fits my hand better, also like the trigger and sights better.
I also like that the Springfield is made in Croatia, I am Croatian so I think it is nice to have pistol from my own country.
My XDsc in .40 was very reliable, also very accurate for a .40 S&W. Ever Springfield firearm I have owned was a good gun, never any problems, always accurate, and most importantly reliable.
Look forward to picking up a hellcat, most likely for at work carry.(I want discreet as possible since there is outfit required for job) I seen a hellcat in fde a few days ago, don't usually like fde guns but it looked cool.

 

[HaveGun]

Can you recommend a good youtube video or website for drift adjusting a rear sight? My other handguns had adjustable rear sights so pretty easy to do. Don't want to F-up my gun by doing a stupid.

Just do a Youtube search of "Adjusting rear sight on handgun". Tons of videos. Some show using a brass punch, some use a sight adjustment tool, some use a screwdriver wrapped in packing tape. Move the rear sight in the direction you want the bullet to go. With an inch off at 10 yards, very little adjustment is needed; maybe 1/32th of an inch or so.

Some folks will tell you that shots going left means you are using improper trigger pulling techniques. This guy goes over that issue...

But he also says to just drift the sight and be done with it.

 

[terdog]

I prefer to use a wood dowel. Doesn't mark the sight up.
Typically I measure with a set of calipers and find the center. Saves ammo.

 

[kmk1012]

I prefer to use a wood dowel. Doesn't mark the sight up.
Typically I measure with a set of calipers and find the center. Saves ammo.

Just an ordinary wooden dowel or a hardwood type, I'd think the softer wood would destroy before moving a sight. I ask because I have a Kahr that needs just a little bump to the right.

 

[terdog]

Usually just soft. Try that first then move to something harder. You may need to move to a brass punch if the sight is fitted tight.