My Long Road to the SA-35

By Bradley Johnson • Published November 13, 2026

My dad was so annoyed by this phone call — the teacher had it on speaker phone in the office — that I could hear his sigh and eye roll through the speaker. The teacher demanded a parent/teacher meeting to sit down and discuss my behavior.

My crime?

my long road to the sa-35 pistol — The Springfield Armory SA-35 reimagines the classic P-35 design in a form built to be carried and with all the features modern shooters demand.

Instead of reading the assigned material in class, I got caught reading “Death in the Long Grass” by Peter Capstick. The month prior I had gotten caught reading “Horn of the Hunter” by Robert Ruark. What really sent my teacher over the edge is, this time, not only had I been caught, but I would not stop talking about the guns and hunts I read about in the book.

I was in 7th grade and, in hindsight, I get it — talking about these topics at school could make people uneasy, but that wasn’t my intention. I was legitimately excited about one day hunting Africa for myself with classic guns and making my own adventures with them.

The Capstick writings about leopards really stuck with me. From his writing you would gather they were the most dangerous of wounded dangerous game to follow, simply because of how fast they are and the fact that they will wait in ambush. Capstick wrote about his leopard kit consisting of a shotgun loaded with buckshot and a P-35 pistol. I immediately told my dad that when I was old enough, I wanted one of those 9mm pistols.

Getting Closer

Fast forward to my college years, and I’m a gun counter employee spending money as fast as I make it on Friday nights. The concept of saving was such a foreign concept. I met Mr. Wiley working at that gun shop.

authors SA-35 with a fixed blade knife and watch — The author’s SA-35 rests beside a fixed-blade knife and a watch. The combination recalls the kit an Air America veteran once described to him at the gun shop where he worked.

Mr. Wiley worked with Air America in Laos and Rhodesia in the 70s smuggling everything from guns to people for the CIA. Mr. Wiley would tell me that the constants he had everywhere were a P-35, a Randall knife and a Rolex GMT. Being the broke college kid that I was, I definitely could not afford any of those items, but I still lusted after them.

Look up historical photos of Rhodesian Selous Scouts during the bush war, Belgian mercenaries during the Congo crisis, British SAS storming the Iranian Embassy. They all had the P-35. It is not an understatement to say this is one of the most commonly used pistol designs of the 20th century.

two handed grip on SA-35 pistol — This two-handed grip shows how well the SA-35 sits in the hand. The author’s older P-35 pistols had hammers that bit the web of his hand, a problem this pistol does not share.

From the bad guy in the opening scenes of the movie “Blood Diamond,” to being the preferred sidearm of the fictional character Raymond Reddington in the popular show “Blacklist,” the P-35 is a cultural icon of sorts for guys in far off places. I had to have one. I had dreams of tucking one into a waistband after getting out of a Land Cruiser in some tropical place in preparation for adventure.

First Steps

Eventually, I bought a few P-35’s over the years. The first one was an Israeli police trade-in that had been ridden hard and put up wet. The second was a pristine early 60s model. Both guns had a few issues. One must keep in mind that this is 1930s technology. I did not want a safe queen to look at; I wanted a carry gun.

Springfield Armory SA-35 pistol with leather holster and range finder — The author did not want a safe queen; he wanted a pistol ready for EDC carry and field use. With a leather holster and field gear alongside it, the SA-35 looks ready for that task.

The problem was there were things that absolutely had to change. For starters, neither would feed hollow point ammo reliably. The sights were merely a suggestion, very similar to a government-issued 1911. It is also worth mentioning that the safety was small and not tactile at all. During training under stress I sometimes could not tell if it was disengaged all the way.

Now, I had a few choices. I could send one of these guns to a gunsmith who knew what they were doing, pay them double what the gun is worth — not including parts — and get a fantastic carry gun. Or, sell it and move on. I chose to sell and move on. I did not have the time or money for any custom builds at that stage in my life and, as much as I loved the history of the design, if a gun doesn’t get shot I typically move it for one that will definitely see more range time or carry use.

sa-35 with leather holster fixed blade knife and watch — Leather, steel and a wristwatch make up a kit that would look right at home on the hood of a Land Cruiser. The SA-35 is the piece the author spent years waiting for.

Was what I wanted crazy? Absolutely not! I just wanted better sights, trigger and safety, and a hammer that didn’t dig a bloody hole into my giant sasquatch hands every time I hit the range. I looked for years on the secondary market for a custom gun that already had the features I wanted.

I can tell you from experience that this route is a huge shot in the dark. Every time I found one there was either something about a feature I did not like, or the quality of the work was sub-par. The nail in the coffin for my P-35 search came when I heard the news that after about 80 years, the production of new models was discontinued. This made the secondary market pricing skyrocket. Suddenly, people were scooping them up like crazy.

The Solution

Just when I thought all hope was lost, Springfield comes out with the SA-35. I remember being on a lunchbreak at my old job, seeing the release on social media and thinking to myself that this was it.

SA-35 in leather holster shown with fixed blade knife — A leather pancake holster might not be the most modern option, but the author values how well the style distributes weight. Combined with a good belt, he says, it carries comfortably all day.

Fast forward a few months and I found myself at a writer’s event at FTW ranch in Texas. One of the people there happened to have a new production SA-35. After the event was over on the last afternoon, I begged someone for a box of 9mm and headed down to the pistol range at FTW just outside the main house with the borrowed pistol.

Shooting the SA-35 for the first time was a cool experience. While I only had one box of ammo and less than 30 minutes of light left that final afternoon, it was great. I could actually pick up the sights, the safety was positive and the hammer did not dig into the web of my hand! After getting home, I saw the gun was so popular that not only was it difficult to keep in stock, on the secondary market they were selling for well above retail.

A few years passed and between changing jobs, getting married, and moving to the other side of the country, an SA-35 was still not in my safe.

When I got the chance to write for The Armory Life, I knew right away what pistol I wanted to properly review.

Range Time

Now that I have a chance to shoot one for more than one box of ammo, I have really grown to appreciate this gun even more. To start, I wanted to run a reliability test this gun. As I stated earlier, original variants that were surplus guns designed for FMJ-only loads would sometimes jam with defensive open-tip ammo.

I have carried a 9mm of some sort my entire adult life. Because I do not like to carry the same ammunition for more than six months, I switch out all of my carry gun ammo in all of my magazines that stay loaded. Due to this practice, I have a giant box of mixed random carry ammo. This box includes a good mix of Speer Gold Dot, Hornady Critical Duty, Federal HST, and Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman.

author shooting the SA-35 — More than 300 rounds of mixed carry ammunition went through the SA-35 in reliability testing. It fed all of it, including the kind of hollow points the author’s older P-35 pistols struggled with.

I am happy to say that the SA-35 ate over 300 rounds of random old carry ammo in a reliability test. Over the course of four months, I ended up running 1,050 rounds total through the gun and I did not have a single malfunction. By this point I realized I was definitely not sending this gun back, and would be buying it.

For a holster, I called Rob Leahy at Simply Rugged and ordered his Defcon4 holster. This is an all-leather traditional outside the waistband holster with a sweatguard. A holster of this style carries well all day long and, when combined with a good belt, you will forget you have it on. I know there are more modern options available, but a traditional pancake-style holster distributes weight very well. With this holster and a few mag carriers I already had lying around, I started to shoot a few IDPA matches locally.

For the match I ran Federal 124-gr. American Eagle, and this gun ate it up like candy with perfect hits. I was the only person at the match that wasn’t running an optic of some sort on a pistol. What really stood out was just how flat this gun shoots, and the ability to get back on target is outstanding.

metal target showing accurate hits from SA-35 pistol — Hits on steel show what the SA-35 can do with its factory sights. Both of the author’s carry loads shot to point of aim.

The two carrying loads I settled on were the Federal 124-gr. Punch for self-defense in town, and the Buffalo Bore 147-gr. Outdoorsman load for carry in the field. Both loads shot perfect to point of aim with the factory sights, and both are proven loads that I have tested before. I feel confident that the Buffalo Bore load will handle anything I might encounter in the low country of South Carolina with ample penetration. I have finished off multiple animals with this load in the past and it has become my go-to 9mm load for the field.

Conclusion

Shooting the SA-35 makes a man want to light a cigarette and roll an old map out on the hood of a jeep while making plans to find buried treasure. It makes you want a vintage Rolex dive watch and a Randall fighting knife. This is the gun for the man who reads Clive Custler and WIlbur Smith.

This is the gun for adventure.

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