The Springfield design has been vigorously tested and is absolutely is suitable for any operator looking for a pistol to count on in the street or on the battlefield.
It is not uncommon for specialty units to be issued a 1911 pistol in lieu of the now prolific cookie cutter-type polymer pistols out there. This is true whether the unit is a SWAT team, special forces unit, or any other tactical unit. This occurs often with the clear recognition of the limited capacity as compared to many pistols today. Even though high-capacity versions are out there, the single-stack 1911 is still the favored pistol for most. This pistol chambered in .45 ACP has become the favorite of many without regard to the improvements in other calibers with this design. With the exception of the competitive world, most who use a 1911 for work use it chambered in .45 ACP with six to eight rounds in the magazine. This comes with the recognition that capacity is not always the most important criteria when choosing a combat pistol. This is generally all you need in a fight with a pistol, especially if you are a special operations or tactical unit.
The TRP pistol line is truly a custom-quality pistol at a production pistol price. Many of the attention to detail seen in the Custom Shop Guns are present. The TRP features an excellent set of adjustable rear sights with tritium inserts.
Some would tend to think that anyone on a team like this would want the greatest capacity they can get. That simply is not true — seldom do these units use a pistol as their primary weapon. There may be an instance where that is the case in a police environment but even those are rare. It is even more rare in a military environment. For the most part your pistol is your secondary weapon. What are needed are accuracy, reliability, and stopping power, at least as much as you can get with a pistol. The point at which you go to your secondary weapon it is probably more critical you hit what is trying to kill you than provide “suppressive fire” with your pistol. Even more critical is reliable operation in every possible environment, and from an operator’s perspective that you have complete trust in that pistol’s operation. It is one of the reasons that when the FBI decided to pick a new pistol, reliability was one of the most critical aspects of the test.
The beveled mag well makes reloading with gloves more manageable and aids in reloading in high stress conditions.
FBI’s Testing
When the FBI decided to adopt a new pistol for its SWAT agents, it issued what is called a “performance requirement.” These do not specify manufacturers but simply performance levels. In this test the requirements were as stringent as any you generally see, especially for a government contract. These types of tests bring just about everyone to the table who can make it. Although that initial order was simply for 5,000 pistols, it means that any government agency can order as well.
