AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued 9mm
Back in July I spent some time with the Springfield Armory SA-35 Polished Blued and walked away a fan of that blue and walnut combo. This spring Springfield rolled out a 4″ version of the SA-35, and now that shorter gun gets the same polished treatment, so naturally I had to see if trimming the slide changed anything (spoiler…it changed one thing for me). Springfield sent this one out ahead of its October 6th launch. Let’s dive right into my review of the Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued!
Springfield Armory SA-35 on AllOutdoor:
- Springfield Armory Rolls Out the SA-35 4″ in Polished Blued
- AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory SA-35 Polished Blued 9mm
- Springfield Armory Announces the Launch of the SA-35 4 Inch 9mm
- AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory SA-35 9mm (Hi-Power Clone)
- Curious Relics #044: In With The New? – Browning Hi-Power Part 4
A quick note before we get into specs: a big thank you goes out to Hornady for providing the Critical Defense 9mm that went through this gun. Ammo support from companies like these makes the job possible, and we do not take it for granted.
Specifications: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued
For those who have not handled one yet, the SA-35 is Springfield’s take on John Moses Browning’s P-35 (Hi Power) design. It is a single-action 9mm with a manual thumb safety, a forged carbon steel frame and slide, and checkered walnut grips. This 4″ model is the SA-35 with a shorter barrel and slide, which, going by Springfield’s own numbers, makes it a little over half an inch shorter and 1.7 oz lighter than the full-size gun (and you still get a full 15-round magazine). The steel is polished before it gets blued, which is where all that depth in the finish comes from. Springfield also points to their improved feed ramp as the thing that keeps it happy with modern defensive ammo. More on that below.
- Caliber: 9mm
- Action: Single-Action Semi-Auto
- Capacity: 15+1
- Barrel: 4″ Cold Hammer Forged, 1:10 Twist
- Slide: Forged Carbon Steel, Polished Blued
- Frame: Forged Carbon Steel, Polished Blued
- Sights: White Dot Front, Serrated Tactical Rack Rear
- Recoil System: SA-35 Recoil Spring & Guide Rod
- Grips: Checkered Walnut
- Weight: 29.8 oz
- Overall Length: 7.1″
- Height: 4.8″
- SKU: HP9205
- MSRP: $799
The MSRP of the SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued is $799. That is the same as the full-size Polished Blued and the same as the matte 4″, so you are not paying extra for the polish or for the shorter slide. Street prices on a gun that launches the same day this article goes up are anyone’s guess, so I will leave that alone for now.
First Look: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued
Out of the box, it is the usual Springfield package. The soft double-zipper case, the manual, a cable lock, and two magazines total in my T&E sample. The marketing sheets I have seen mention one magazine, which may mean one extra, or it may just be the plan going forward (one mag only). I would wager it means one additional, but do not hold me to that.
If you have seen the full-size polished gun you already know what this one looks like. Deep blue, walnut with good grain and crisp checkering, and enough shine that you want a rag in your other hand every time you pick it up.
Put it under direct light and look hard, and yes, there are some polishing marks under the blue in spots, same as the full-size. If anything, this one was a tad better. You are not going to see them holding it in normal light, and at $799 nobody should be expecting the hand finishing the vintage originals got (I just like to look…occupational hazard).
Apart from that, this gun and the full-size feel and look like the same gun to me. My hands could not tell the difference. Set them next to each other though and the shorter slide and barrel are much more obvious.
The sights are the same white dot front and serrated Tactical Rack rear as the rest of the SA-35 line. The front is matte above the dot, so even sitting on top of all that polish it never threw glare back at me.
Just for kicks, I slipped it into my own leather OWB Hi-Power holster, and it fit great. I did not shoot or carry from that holster, so take that for what it is.
Range Time: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued
Onto shooting! I put roughly 250 rounds through the SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued. The bulk of that was Remington Range 115gr FMJ that I picked up myself, plus a box of Hornady Critical Defense to see how that feed ramp handled a defensive load. Everything fed flawlessly. Zero malfunctions caused by the gun. I want to make that “caused by the gun” part very clear, and I will get to why in a minute.
Accuracy was very decent. I shot five 5-shot groups at 15 yards, standing, unsupported, two hands on the gun and as steady as I could be. They were all extremely similar, landed right at point of aim, and averaged somewhere around an inch and a half to two inches. For comparison, the full-size polished gun gave me about three-inch groups at the same distance. Speaking of sight radius, if the shorter one slowed me down at all it was not something I noticed.
Felt recoil was not any better or worse than the full-size. That being said, there is something different about the snap on this shorter gun, and it showed up in the one real hiccup I had.
About ten times during the session the slide locked open early with rounds still in the magazine. That was not the gun. It was me every time. My support hand thumb rides way forward, almost to the front of the slide release and sitting above it. When the gun snapped under recoil, that thumb would press down on the front portion of the release.
The release pivots, so pushing the front down kicks the back end up…and there goes the slide lock. I held both guns side by side and the geometry looks exactly the same to me, so my best guess (and it is a guess) is that the shorter, lighter slide snaps just a bit harder and that is enough extra pressure to do it. When I intentionally held it in a way I am not normally comfortable with, keeping that thumb off the release, it did not happen once.
Everybody’s hands are different, folks. Everybody holds a gun differently. It was just the nature of this beast for me. But if you shoot with your support thumb parked forward like yours truly, handle one before you buy.
Hammer bite was the same story as the full-size. In the moment I did not notice a thing, but after the session there was an obvious hammer-shaped mark in my hand.
The trigger on this one averaged 4 lbs 3 oz across five pulls on my gauge, four ounces heavier than the 3 lbs 15 oz the same gauge gave me on the full-size polished gun. The reset is long, as it is on any Hi-Power pattern gun, and if you get going fast you will short-stroke it into a dead trigger here and there. The thumb safety has the same lazy feel as the full-size too. It goes on and off without any sticking, it just does not have a crisp click to it.
And keep a rag with a little oil on it nearby when you are done. Polished bluing will pick up rust and show scratches a lot faster than a matte finish will.
Final Thoughts: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued
All that being said, I really like this little gun. It is the SA-35 I enjoyed back in July, a touch shorter and lighter, wearing the same polished blue and walnut. Oh man, that blue. And it is not a gun you have to baby either, it ate everything I put through it without a single complaint.
So who is it for? Anyone who would carry a commander-size 1911 or any other metal frame handgun around this size should take a hard look, especially if you want to do it with a little bit of class. Personally, I do not know if I would carry this one, mostly because of my thumb and that slide release. That is on me and my grip, not the gun, and I want to make that clear. For you guys and gals who want something shorter and smaller but still all steel to carry, I think this is an excellent candidate.
If you already own the full-size polished SA-35, it comes down to whether you want that extra bit of slide or not. They feel like the same gun until they are sitting next to each other.
In closing, I want to say thank you to Springfield Armory for allowing AllOutdoor and myself the opportunity to try out their SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued ahead of its launch. That is greatly appreciated. If you have a question or you are sitting on information that could sharpen up an article like this one, you can find me through my Linktree.
The post AllOutdoor Review: Springfield Armory SA-35 4-Inch Polished Blued 9mm appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.