GUNS Magazine Springfield Armory Hellcat 1200

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The world shifted just a bit on September 25, 2019. Did you feel it? It wasn’t one of those silly Instagram events like Kim Kardashian brushing her teeth or yet another iteration of AOC’s denigrating America. This one was deeper and more profound — Springfield Armory figured out how to stuff as many rounds as you might find in a full-size Browning Hi-Power into a concealed-carry pistol capable of riding comfortably underneath a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. They call it the Micro Compact Hellcat, and it is one revolutionary piece of iron.

The new Springfield Armory 9mm Micro Compact Hellcat offers the largest magazine
capacity of any deep concealment handgun on the planet.

Origin Story

Vermont is the only state in the union allowing law-abiding Americans to carry a concealed handgun without some sort of silly writ since the Founding Fathers birthed this great experiment in democracy. It’s hard to believe this same state could produce the likes of Bernie Sanders but this is a conversation for another time. However, in the past 20 years there has been a gradual but inexorable nationwide shift toward allowing private American citizens to exercise their God-given rights as Thomas Jefferson originally intended. The end result has transformed the firearm marketplace.

Thirteen states including my own currently embrace constitutional carry. This means so long as you are 21 or older and have a clean record, you can legally pack a concealed firearm without asking anybody’s permission. To my enslaved brethren in New York, New Jersey and California I would say, from my heart — I’m truly sorry your states suck.

Practically speaking this explosion in legal concealed carry has spawned a comparable expansion of the guns and gear needed to support the practice. Previously the industry standard was a pistol about an inch wide carrying maybe half a dozen rounds. It turns out we can actually do way better.

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The new Springfield Armory 9mm Micro Compact Hellcat (right) occupies a comparable space
as a single stack GLOCK 43 yet carries more than twice as many rounds.

CrossBreed totes the gun comfortably even with the red dot sight and 14 rounds onboard.

Technical Stuff

The Hellcat is a preternaturally slim striker-fired deep carry-pistol occupying the same space as their previous single-stack XD-S guns. In fact, the Hellcat is actually skinnier than a GLOCK 43 yet carries more than twice the onboard ammo. There are two Hellcat variants, both in 9mm Parabellum. The basic sort sports slide gripping grooves front and back as well as on top rear aspect of the slide. The OSP (Optical Sight Pistol) has the rear slide deck cut for a micro red dot sight. Mine sports an awesome Shield Reflex Mini Sight-Compact.

The front iron sight is a generous tritium dot while the rear is a white semicircle. Imagine a Cyclops smiley face and you have the sight picture. It is fast, intuitive and cool. The optics mount still includes a rear iron sight as well. You never know when your batteries might precipitously die and this keeps your gun from dying along with them.

The frame features what they call a pressure-activated grip made up of scads of tiny pyramids. The higher ones are squared off on the top so as not to abrade your skin unduly. The deeper versions are left sharp to enhance your grip the tighter you squeeze. None of it is visible without a proper magnifier. They also include the neatest little parking spaces for your trigger finger on both sides of the gun for all those times when you aren’t just about to unleash chaos.

There is a bit of abrasive stuff on the end of the guide rod acting as a standoff. Should you ever have to press the gun up against something firmly before firing, the slide won’t come out of battery and deadline your piece. This seems a small thing right up until it’s not.

The Springfield Armory grip safety is gone and I frankly mourn its passing. However, this gun has a bevy of safety mechanisms both inside and out keeping the gun running smoothly, safely and well. The Micro Compact Hellcat just isn’t going to go off unless the trigger is pulled. There is, naturally, a standard optics rail on the dust cover and a loaded chamber indicator telling you the state of your gun at a glance.

The gun comes with two patented magazines and three floorplates. The 11-round version sits flush with the bottom of the grip. It can be configured with a flat floorplate for maximum stealth or a pinky extension for better control. The extended magazine carries 13 rounds though I honestly cannot fathom how. It is visibly smaller than a Hi-Power box with the same capacity. I have moderately large hands and the 13-rounder fits me perfectly.

Fourteen rounds at seven meters leave essentially one ragged hole.

The Browning Hi-Power magazine is on the left. The patented Hellcat mag is on the right.
Both carry 13 rounds.

How Does She Run?

In a word, swimmingly. I pack a Springfield Armory XD-S in .45 ACP as my EDC gun these days. The new Micro Compact Hellcat rides just as discreetly in the same holster and prints no worse while packing more than twice as many rounds.

The Hellcat is so small I can comfortably tote the gun in a Crossbreed IWB holster even with the red dot installed and about forget it’s there. The gun fits my hands nicely and the red dot compensates a great deal for my seasoned eyes. The pistol will just about hide in the palm of your hand.

At a typical defensive range of seven meters I can put 14 rounds through what is essentially a big jagged hole. All Springfield Armory guns are accurate and this one is no different. The grip fits my moderately large hands perfectly while the undercut trigger guard and high beavertail help mitigate muzzle flip and tame recoil. I fed the gun a little bit of everything I could find and it ate it all flawlessly. The day a Springfield Armory firearm is unreliable is the day I will vote Democrat.

The reversible magazine release is in the perfect spot and the slide stop is easily accessed. However, with the red dot installed I find it much easier to just draw my hand against the red dot to drop the slide on a fresh magazine. The Micro Compact Hellcat carries like a pocket pistol yet performs like a service gun.

The U-Dot rear sight looks like a grinning Cyclops as you look through Will’s Shield Reflex Mini Sight.
It’s rugged and offers a 22,000-hour run time on a single battery.

The double-stack Hellcat (left) is about the same width as a single stack GLOCK 43
while packing more than twice the ammo.

Ruminations

The SIG SAUER P365 occupies a similar market space to the new Springfield Armory Micro Compact Hellcat. Both guns are about the same size, carry well and run great. Both guns also carry inimitable street cred. However, Springfield does earn the bragging rights — their standard included magazine carries one more round.

The unstoppable engine of capitalism has driven the American gun industry to ever-greater rarefied levels of performance. Concealed carry is technically the law of the land from sea to shining sea and the market for quality concealed carry gear grows daily. In the Micro Compact Hellcat we appreciate the current state of the art.

I thought I was something special, packing a trim polymer-framed concealed carry pistol holding six rounds in the magazine. Now Springfield Armory gives you a total of 14 in exactly the same space. It kind of makes those of us who amassed a serious collection of single stack concealed carry guns look sort of silly in retrospect. It’s the sort of math anybody can understand.

www.springfield-armory.com

www.shieldpsd.com

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Hellcat 1200