Springfield Armory Echelon 4.0 FC Review | Short Slide, Long Grip
Springfield Armory's Echelon crossover has landed. The 4.0FC is a compact slide on a full-sized frame that provides both speed and control.
Posts about "footprints"
Review: CORD Pandora PB-K Red Dot
Editor’s Note: This CORD Pandora PB-K review is based on hands-on testing of the red dot sight that was provided to the author by the company. All impressions regarding durability, glass clarity, reticle performance, and mounting are based on the author’s own range time and daily carr...
TFB Review: Springfield Armory Echelon Alpha 4.0C 9mm
The Springfield Armory Echelon has been the darling of Geneseo, Illinois ever since its inception for innumerable reasons. The supremely-clever optics mounting system, texturing/stippling that borders on coming from a Custom Shop, a chassis design for ultimate modularity, and flat out performance...
First Impressions of Zeiss's New V3 Scope Series
I recently had a great opportunity to try out Zeiss’ new V3 Lineup of Rifle Scopes on a beautiful ranch in Oklahoma. While I had always known about the scopes that Zeiss makes, I honestly think of them as a photo and video lens company first, given my background as a photographer and videog...
NEW Primary Arms CLx Optics Family
Primary Arms has a new series of optics. The CLx family consists of four budget-minded red dots and prism scopes. Keep reading for all the details.
Springfield Echelon VIS: The Smartest Optic Mount Going
The Springfield Echelon VIS mounts most optics straight to the slide, no adapter plate needed. Here's why it works, plus two holsters built for it.
Should I Put Optics on My 1911 (or Not)?
I love 1911 handguns. There is something about the short and light trigger that helps me shoot 1911 pistols more precisely than any other pistol platform. Quite simply, the 1911 pistol hits “home” with me. The craftsmanship engineered into a 1911 supersedes other semi-auto pistols by far for ...
TFB Review: Springfield Armory XD Mod.4 9mm OSP
The XD series of handguns from Springfield Armory have been available for over a quarter century: 25+ years now. Having seen multiple iterations and upgrades, this truly is a suite of varying pistols for evolving needs: XD, XD Mod.2, XDS, XDS Mod.2, XDM, XDM Elite, and the XD Mod.3 round out that...
TFB Review: Glock 17 Gen6 - First 1,000 Rounds
When Glock announced the sixth generation of its iconic striker-fired polymer pistol series in December 2025, the firearms community responded with the usual mix of cautious interest and the usual skepticism. For me, the release was really bad timing, as I had just bought another G45 Gen 5. Was t...
Springfield Armory 1911 Ronin AOS Review
More than a century after the debut of John Browning’s most celebrated handgun design, the year 2020 marked the beginning of Springfield Armory’s most recent 1911 makeover. Long known as a premium purveyor of the .45-caliber, two-time World War champ, Springfield’s catalog of 1911s had grow...