While I’d practiced with a pair of recent issue “crossover” auto pistols – the GLOCK 45 Gen6 and the Springfield Armory Echelon 4.0FC – here, it’s another to shoot the course of fire for someone else’s approval.
And on someone else’s range.
If you look back at that piece from February 19, 2026, you’ll see I shot the GLOCK considerably better. That’s why, when I shot the course, for real, in March (reported here), I was somewhat disappointed at the results.
“I had fifteen hits outside of that circle with the G45 (no fault of the gun), with my 25-yard effort showing some sinkers. All were in the scoring zone, so I “passed” with a 100. I’d have scored it at 235/250 (counting -1 for each in the bottle outside the “C.”)”
When shooting the Springfield Echelon 4.0FC, there were only two hits completely outside the “C” circle.
That’s a large difference in placement.
Measuring the two targets – I kept them – showed that while the dispersal pattern (nearly all at distance) for the G45 was wider, the extreme spread was only ½” longer for the Gen6 than the 4.0FC.
A virtual tie.
Now “scoring,” if we did it my way would tell a different tale.
It wasn’t ammo; CCI Blazer Brass 115gr. FMJ was used on the first outing and Monarch (Academy store brand) 115gr. FMJ was used by the Echelon. Both guns shot “soft,” a function of the light, range ammo as well as their ergos. The Echelon was drawn from the DeSantis Speed Scabbard; the G45 from the Safariland Gravity paddle holster. Neither would have a significant impact on on-target performance.
It could have been “training effect,” because this year I made an effort to practice. I shot the course so much – on smaller targets with varying guns – that I nearly committed it to my (failing) memory.
This this last effort with the Echelon came after more than a week without range practice and only a little dry practice – with another gun.
The main perceived differences were sights and grip.
The factory GLOCK plastic sights, while not optimum, are better than people give them credit for – for shooting. They’re not at all durable. I did some really good shooting with the “GLOCK of Summer” that I shot some years back, pre-Gen5. That gun was provided with the steel analog of the plastic “ball in the bucket” factory-standard sights.
The Echelon sights – rear U-notch, white outlined, with the tritium front sight with large luminescent ring – are vastly better for quick pick-up on close targets. They are a little distracting for distance, but the gun is meant for optics. For dinosaurs like me, the large front ring can be ignored and the top edge of the front sight made out for precision.
I’m thinking it was more grip and that’s less a function of the gun; they’re both rendered with full-size, full grip frames. I’ve used the compact (15-shot) format for years in both lines. With the full length frame, there’s more for the small finger of the shooting hand to do and I emphasized it on the course fired for retiree LEOSA.
I’m thinking I didn’t pay the attention to the grip of the small finger of the shooting hand when shooting the GLOCK, leading the “three amigos” of the shooting hand to exert downward pressure at ignition.
That didn’t happen this time because it was part of my conscious process. How will that work under stress?
Depends on how much I emphasize it in practice; there’s a message there for those who’ll read it.
In the last practice with the 4.0FC, I didn’t do nearly as well – as the image shows. Four of those rounds, those on the left side of the “-0,” were one-handed from fifty yards.
Show off. Ignore the one that wandered off to the left.
But that’s what practice is for – making it tougher than game day.
As to the Echelon line? This is the fifth example of the Echelon family I’ve tried. The trip has been free from stoppages, as you might expect from modern service pistols. The handling is superb, so good that I was wondering if I was “aging out” of competence based on results on target.
But now I can see; it’s a great gun.
- Rich Grassi