Despite the various issues others have had with the reliability of their EMP's, I purchased one last week. I handled one in the display case at the store, and liked it ($998). When I said I'd take it, the gun guy indicated he'd get me one that had not been on display and pulled a new one from the back. As I examined this new one it was really apparent that there was some issues with it. THe safety, when depressed, actually hit the plunger tube, marring the finish and impeding smooth disengagement of the safety. That one immediately got packaged back up for return to SA. I took the one that was in the display case.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to shoot, but did manage to get out and work through a few boxes of ammo. I just fired four bxes (200 rounds) of various ball and some hollowpoints. 100% reliability thus far.

Went to the range today. Two hundred rounds of the cheapest,crappiest stuff I had went down the pipe with only one round failing to go off when struck. A quick re-cock and it fired no problem. What a great shooter, was hitting point of aim right on the money. Can't wait to go out again.
Put one mag of various hollow points through it with no feed issues. Will try my carry load on the next visit.

First range trip today.
250 rounds WWB
I had 3 failure to extract.
No other problems. (will check extractor)

The pistol shoots nice.
I on the other hand suck at shooting sometimes. (jerky old man.)
7 yards
90 rounds.
White bulls eye is about 3 1/8 " dia.



Shoots a little to the left and a mite high. Will make a few more range trips before doing any sight adj.

Well just got mine yesterday and took it to range and not happy......

Out of 200 rounds, had about 20 or so get stuck on the feed ramp. When I cleared it, the bullets had nice dings on the top where it kept hanging up

I just don't understand how their QC can't catch these problems on a $1,000 pistol. Problem happened with all three magazines

Any idea what their turn around time is looking like these days?

had mine for maybe 2 months now, had to send it back after the first time i shot it. So while it was there it got the FTF repair done and i sent it to the custom shop for front strap serration and single sided safety put on. the frist time i shot it after i got it back i still had one FTF and then broke a grip screw off lol. but i just shot 250 flawless rounds down the pipe no problems. im gonna give it another 2-300 and go from there then try my carry ammo. so im very pleased with it ill have to finally get on one those those picture sites so i can upload so pics!

Wow i cant believe so man ppl are getting FTEs with the EMP. ive shot prob over 1k rounds thru my EMP and havent had a single failure. And ive used cheap ammo that i was getting failures with my german made sig 226 with and didnt get any failures on my EMP.

UPDATE:
Sent it back to Springfield. They didn't do anything, said they ran 100 rounds without failure.
I put 100 rounds of 147g HST and two times using slide release on a full mag it needed a tap to send it home (twice out of 11 magazines worth of ammo). Otherwise ran great. I know "sling-shoting" the slide is more reliable, but I prefer and train with slide release (never an issue on any other gun) Cleaned it, and took it to range again this morning. Another 100 rounds of HST with no issues at all.
Finally feel confident in it, and I would trust it for carry use. Not sure if the 147g HST is better from a reliability standpoint as I didn't have it prior to these last 200 rounds of HP. Based on my research that is the defensive ammo I want to use, so I'm happy and won't waste money testing other brands of HP.

Really is a very nice gun overall. Sucks I had to send it back a few times, but Springfield's customer service is really top-notch.

I would recommend it, but don't use it for carry until you are sure it will run with hollowpoints

Love my EMP 40! I held off for months and thought about it and thought about it. Two weeks ago i recieved a pretty fat promotion and as the wife usually does when it's a birthday, fathers day or promotion said, 'you want to go get a gun?' i finally bit the bullet, pulled the triggerand and paid $1100 new in box (I had a mileage check for about $600 from work so it took some of the sting out of it).

It's a thing of beauty for sure. Fits perfect in the hand (I'm 5'8" - average size hand) and has an awesome weight to it - it took a little getting used to for me because my other daily carry is a bersa thunder 380 that is super light. the steel frame on the EMP is quite stout but has an incredible feel to it. The cocobolo grips are downright sexy on it and the finish is flawless. it has an incredibly crisp trigger that feels a little lighter than 5lbs but holy-hell the slide spring was heavy! I mean ridiculosly so.

I took it apart and ran into a problem right off the bat. the spring wouldn't come out of the slide. Ended up having to drive it out by driving it against the floor to push the reverse spring plug and spring out of the slide to allow me to remove the barrel. it was immedilatly apparent that the spring plug wasn't true and was having difficulty coming out of and going back in to the slide. it had small wear marks on one side and was clearly interfering with the slide opening. I'm only 39 but have slight arthritis in my hands so getting the spring plug back in was quite the chore. I ended up getting the spring plug as close to center as I could and then used the slide on the frame to press the plug back in but the stiffness of the spring was biatch and gave me claw hands for days.

I was pretty bummed that it had an issue but I didn't have time to go shoot it so i shrugged it off and called Springfield. This was a Monday and I was using it (an untested pistol) in a 9 hour combat pistol course on the following Sunday (I had my Glock 40 waiting in the wings if the EMP was finicky). In the meantime I stored the pistol night and day with the slide locked back which seemed to help lighten the spring a little. Springfield was quick to send me a new spring plug and was pretty positive it would solve the issue. The plug and two new mags showed up on Friday and the new plug slid right in and out and fit perfectly.

On Sunday I ended up firing 650 - 165 grain Winchester ball out of it and never had a single hiccup. Not a single one. The pistol is a joy to shoot - it was easy to keep on target with multiple shots on the same target and the reset is immediate. I had some of the best times out of the group without a doubt. It is shooting about 1" left and 1" down but nothing a little adjustment can't fix. It's a very natural feeling gun and is very intuitive (it's my first 1911) and makes more 'sense' to me than some of my other guns.

i'm completely used to the weight of it now and don't notice it until I carry my bersa which is insanely light. One good thing is that all those rounds lightened the springs tension by a metric ton. after the first 100 rounds I was able to cycle the slide like any other gun and after 650 it's quite normal. That was one of my main concerns but now that it's gone I couldn't be happier.

the 40 round is pefectly suited to it's weight and makes it a very controllable pistol. it's definately one of those situations where I woldn't heasitate to purchase it again if I had to do it all over again.
I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a sleek, semi custom compact 1911. It's shoots a heck of more accuracte than you would expect with a 3" barrel.

I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Thanks,
Mitch

EMP9 here....bought it, straight to the range, FTE, FTF....took it apart, dry as a bone. Oiled as needed, re assembled, never a problem since. Has performed flawlessly after a good oiling. I do trust my EMP9 for CCW.

Well, thanks to this article; i picked an EMP myself, the .40 cal variety, of course.











Gently used for $872 OTD ($1199 + tax retail); Needed to add a .40 cal to my stable; torn between a CZ-75 and a G22; then i saw her on the corner..., giving me the sad puppy eyes.

I know, right?

Chercking my account to see if I can drop another chunk of cash to speed up my EMP's arrival home. Can't wait.

My search skills evidently stink on ice - I know I've seen something on this and I can't find it...

I know mags can be a source of problems with 1911s and I've been out of the fold for about 18 years. Are the OEM MEC-GAR mags good to go? Got the "loaded" coupon, and will pick up a batch at the reduced price if they are good.