Springfield Hellcat Pro OSP—Your Thoughts Before I Commit?

[Remington Blake]

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about picking up the Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro OSP as my next carry pistol. Its compact size, increased capacity, and optics-ready design make it really appealing for EDC. I’ve heard a lot of good things about its performance and handling, but I’d love to hear from those who’ve actually used it.

How does it shoot in terms of accuracy and recoil control? Any issues or quirks I should be aware of before taking the plunge? Also, any recommendations for optics that pair well with it? Let me know your thoughts!

[Bill DeShivs]

Optics on a carry gun seem counter intuitive to me. And, those are heavy guns.

[mehavey]

Personally, I'd stick with the standard "Hellcat"
Smaller/Lighter/No bells & whistles.
Has been flawless for me to date.

[jetinteriorguy]

I just removed the optic on mine, I prefer the stock sights. The reason I removed it was the stock sights work great and for me I just couldn’t acquire the optic sight quickly no matter how much I practiced. The only reason I put the optic sight on was because I always shot left about an inch at 10 yds and I couldn’t get the rear sight to break loose and drift to correct. So I’m back to trying to either get the sight adjusted or just learn to naturally compensate for this problem. I have a good sight adjusting tool but it just wouldn’t budge, I need to get some brass drifting punches and maybe lock the slide in a good vise and possibly try some heat to help break it loose.

[Shadow9mm]

Pretty similar to a G19. Its a bit thinner, barrel is about 1/2 in shorter. The Hellcats have a good reputation from what I have heard. I don't want an optic on a carry gun personally.

IMHO there are a LOT of good gun options out there these days. If you like it, get it, but with most of these guns the performance difference is just splitting hairs, its all really personal preference on looks and feel, don't expect a life altering experience.

[TunnelRat]

I haven't owned or shot one, only held one. They seem to have a good reputation. I'm not personally crazy about the fit of the grip around the tang into the web of my hand. It seems to leave a gap. I do tend to like that size of pistol more than the original P365 or Hellcat. I don't find the larger size much harder to conceal, and I enjoy shooting them much more.

I carry with optics on pistols of varying sizes. The nice thing about factory optic cut pistols is it gives you the option to try optics in the future. There is usually some upcharge, but it's generally a lot less than sending out a pistol and having it milled for an optic after the fact.

Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

I have a good sight adjusting tool but it just wouldn’t budge, I need to get some brass drifting punches and maybe lock the slide in a good vise and possibly try some heat to help break it loose.

Try soaking the rear dovetail with penetrating oil. That has helped me in the past. I will say that going back to the earlier XDs I have heard that Springfield Armory pistols from HS Produkt have sights that are very hard to move. I had a gunsmith install a set of sights on an XD and he said the same.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

I haven't owned or shot one, only held one. They seem to have a good reputation. I'm not personally crazy about the fit of the grip around the tang into the web of my hand. It seems to leave a gap. I do tend to like that size of pistol more than the original P365 or Hellcat. I don't find the larger size much harder to conceal, and I enjoy shooting them much more.

I carry with optics on pistols of varying sizes. The nice thing about factory optic cut pistols is it gives you the option to try optics in the future. There is usually some upcharge, but it's generally a lot less than sending out a pistol and having it milled for an optic after the fact.



Try soaking the rear dovetail with penetrating oil. That has helped me in the past. I will say that going back to the earlier XDs I have heard that Springfield Armory pistols from HS Produkt have sights that are very hard to move. I had a gunsmith install a set of sights on an XD and he said the same.

Thanks, I have tried several different types of penetrating oil to no avail. I’m guessing it’s possibly installed with some heavy duty loctite type product, so I’m hoping heat and a punch will loosen it. My problem with doing this is I don’t have access to a good strong vise other than my former employer who is so anti gun I doubt he’d even let me access the vise in their shop just to do this. Good thing he never checked my lunch kit when I was working there. LOL

[TunnelRat]

Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

Thanks, I have tried several different types of penetrating oil to no avail. I’m guessing it’s possibly installed with some heavy duty loctite type product, so I’m hoping heat and a punch will loosen it. My problem with doing this is I don’t have access to a good strong vise other than my former employer who is so anti gun I doubt he’d even let me access the vise in their shop just to do this. Good thing he never checked my lunch kit when I was working there. LOL

You can try that, but I believe in the case of my XD the gunsmith explained that the sights are moved into place by a hydraulic press. They don’t even need Loctite. I removed the rear sight of a S&W M&P recently and in the case of this slide with this sight I essentially had to hammer on the wheel/capstan of my Wheeler engineering sight tool. When I got the sight off, no Loctite residue at all.

[MGG300]

Can't speak to the Pro but been carrying a Hellcat for over 4 years. Only complaint about it was the stock trigger. Otherwise, easy to conceal, good grip texture, eats anything I feed it, and with well over 1000 rounds through it has been nothing but reliable. I did briefly run a Swampfox Sentinel on it but I ended up going back to the irons. Personal preference. Will co-witness with some optics like the Sentinel.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

You can try that, but I believe in the case of my XD the gunsmith explained that the sights are moved into place by a hydraulic press. They don’t even need Loctite. I removed the rear sight of a S&W M&P recently and in the case of this slide with this sight I essentially had to hammer on the wheel/capstan of my Wheeler engineering sight tool. When I got the sight off, no Loctite residue at all.

Hmm, I never thought to add a hammer to using the sight tool. Maybe in my case that would get it to move a bit. Sounds like a good project for this morning. It doesn’t need to move much. I’d really like to get this shooting to POA, it’s actually a pretty accurate pistol and for a smaller gun not difficult to shoot.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

You can try that, but I believe in the case of my XD the gunsmith explained that the sights are moved into place by a hydraulic press. They don’t even need Loctite. I removed the rear sight of a S&W M&P recently and in the case of this slide with this sight I essentially had to hammer on the wheel/capstan of my Wheeler engineering sight tool. When I got the sight off, no Loctite residue at all.

Thanks for your suggestion, I gave it a little squirt of some pretty good penetrating oil and jigged it up in the sight pushing tool this morning. I then applied as much pressure as I could with the tool and took a punch and hammer and gave the pushing block several good hard whacks and lo and behold it moved. Hopefully next trip to the range will tell if it’s too much or not enough, but at least I know I can keep adjusting it now until it’s right on.

[44 AMP]

My Dad's standard was Liquid Wrench, and its quite good for many things.

Fitters and millwrights supporting DOE nuclear sites I worked at use Kroil, or AeroKroil.

Some things take more than a "little squirt" and require some time (overnight, even days, sometimes).
Glad you got your sight to move, before anything got damaged. Good Luck in the future.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by 44 AMP

My Dad's standard was Liquid Wrench, and its quite good for many things.

Fitters and millwrights supporting DOE nuclear sites I worked at use Kroil, or AeroKroil.

Some things take more than a "little squirt" and require some time (overnight, even days, sometimes).
Glad you got your sight to move, before anything got damaged. Good Luck in the future.

Kroil is good, also mouse milk, I have been using Lube Job for a long time with pretty good results. I had a case of it left from when I sold out my business about 23 years ago and still have a few cans left. I used to sell a lot of it in my store for years to local farmers and ranchers back home in NoDak and they all loved it.

[TunnelRat]

Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

Thanks for your suggestion, I gave it a little squirt of some pretty good penetrating oil and jigged it up in the sight pushing tool this morning. I then applied as much pressure as I could with the tool and took a punch and hammer and gave the pushing block several good hard whacks and lo and behold it moved. Hopefully next trip to the range will tell if it’s too much or not enough, but at least I know I can keep adjusting it now until it’s right on.

Glad I could help. It’s nice to think someone else is benefitting from my trials in the past . If you’re lucky, once you’ve gotten it to move once it will move more freely. When the sight is really tight like that it can be hard to make fine adjustments, but hopefully it will be better than it was.

[stephen426]

I feel that I’m fairly qualified to answer this question as I’m on my fourth version of Hellcat.

I first got the standard Hellcat non-OSP. It was like $50 more and I never thought I would carry with a red dot. I kept that gun bone stock and carried it for about a year and a half before the red dot bug bit me. The trigger smoothed out a bit after firing a bunch of rounds through it. There is about 3/8” of take-up and about 1/4” of trigger travel after it hits the “wall”. It was very reliable and held up well to the South Florida heat and humidity (sweat).

The main reason for going with the red dot is much greater precision for a short sight radius gum. Of course Springfield Armory didn’t sell a OSP side so ended up buying a Hellcat OSP that came with the Hex Wasp Optic. The Hex line of optics SUCK. The Wasp has a fairly slow pulse rate and is always on. You will notice the slower pulse rate as you move around. The always on with auto-brightness wasn’t terrible and the battery lasted about 2 years. I decided to put the Powder River Precision trigger and spring kit on that one. It lightened up the take up significantly and gave a “more defined wall”. There is still about 5/16” of take-up, but it is much lighter. There is also still about 1/4” of travel after the wall.

The guys in my pistol club pushed me to get a bigger gun as it is easier to shoot. I resisted for a while since I had 13 and 15 round mags for the Hellcat. The thing is the mags have an extra sleeve to make a flush grip, which can pinch your hand during reloads. The sleeve can also ride up and make reloading harder. While the Powder River Precision trigger kit was okay, I decided to try out the MCARBO trigger and spring kit. I think it is the best trigger for the Hellcat line. My buddy has the Apex and he said mine is better for sure. There is a light 1/4” take up (adjustable) to a well defined wall, then about 3/16” of pull through before the break. Reset is about 3/16” with a positive tactile click. I put a Holosun EPS Carry with the green multi-optic. I initially carried with the 3 MOA dot and 32 MOA circle, but decided to switch to the 32 MOA circle only. It is much easier to find the large reticle and you can still get precise shot placement. The Hellcat Pro is 1/2” longer and 3/4” taller. The extra grip length makes the gun much easier to control under rapid fire. I have a Streamlight TLR-7A. I adds a little weight to the front and helps break up the outline of the gun slightly.

I carried the Hellcat Pro for about a year before the Hellcat Pro Comp came out. While the Hellcat Pro is definitely easier to shoot than the Hellcat, adding a compensator makes a huge difference in keeping the muzzle down. I can rapid fire the Hellcat Pro Comp and not lose sight of the dot in the optic. I put the MCARBO trigger and spring kit in the Hellcat Pro Comp and moved the Holosun EPS Carry and Streamlight TLR-7A over. I love this set up and shoot extremely well with it. My only issue was I noticed some major rusting on the locking block. They tried to blame the South Florida heat and humidity, but I told them that was BS. I have 3 other versions that had no issues at all. I sent it back and they fixed it.

For reference, I am 5’7” and weight 160 lbs. I carry concealed in a strong side Black Scorpion Gear IWB holster on my strong side. About half the guys in the club carry appendix, but I don’t like how that feels. They are really quick on the draw though. My brother in law carries the Sig P365 AXG Legion. That gun is more than double the cost of the Hellcat Pro. The ergonomics are nicer, but I like the Hellcat trigger better. The Sig feels like it has more pull through after the wall. I put the MCARBO trigger and spring kit on my brother-in-law’s gun. The P365 is a PAIN IN THE BUTT to work on, especially compared to the Hellcat.

I would (and do) trust my life with a Hellcat Pro Conp. It is a great shooting gun that holds 15 rounds in the flush fitting mag. There are 17 round mags available as well, but it makes it harder to conceal.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by stephen426

I feel that I’m fairly qualified to answer this question as I’m on my fourth version of Hellcat.

I first got the standard Hellcat non-OSP. It was like $50 more and I never thought I would carry with a red dot. I kept that gun bone stock and carried it for about a year and a half before the red dot bug bit me. The trigger smoothed out a bit after firing a bunch of rounds through it. There is about 3/8” of take-up and about 1/4” of trigger travel after it hits the “wall”. It was very reliable and held up well to the South Florida heat and humidity (sweat).

The main reason for going with the red dot is much greater precision for a short sight radius gum. Of course Springfield Armory didn’t sell a OSP side so ended up buying a Hellcat OSP that came with the Hex Wasp Optic. The Hex line of optics SUCK. The Wasp has a fairly slow pulse rate and is always on. You will notice the slower pulse rate as you move around. The always on with auto-brightness wasn’t terrible and the battery lasted about 2 years. I decided to put the Powder River Precision trigger and spring kit on that one. It lightened up the take up significantly and gave a “more defined wall”. There is still about 5/16” of take-up, but it is much lighter. There is also still about 1/4” of travel after the wall.

The guys in my pistol club pushed me to get a bigger gun as it is easier to shoot. I resisted for a while since I had 13 and 15 round mags for the Hellcat. The thing is the mags have an extra sleeve to make a flush grip, which can pinch your hand during reloads. The sleeve can also ride up and make reloading harder. While the Powder River Precision trigger kit was okay, I decided to try out the MCARBO trigger and spring kit. I think it is the best trigger for the Hellcat line. My buddy has the Apex and he said mine is better for sure. There is a light 1/4” take up (adjustable) to a well defined wall, then about 3/16” of pull through before the break. Reset is about 3/16” with a positive tactile click. I put a Holosun EPS Carry with the green multi-optic. I initially carried with the 3 MOA dot and 32 MOA circle, but decided to switch to the 32 MOA circle only. It is much easier to find the large reticle and you can still get precise shot placement. The Hellcat Pro is 1/2” longer and 3/4” taller. The extra grip length makes the gun much easier to control under rapid fire. I have a Streamlight TLR-7A. I adds a little weight to the front and helps break up the outline of the gun slightly.

I carried the Hellcat Pro for about a year before the Hellcat Pro Comp came out. While the Hellcat Pro is definitely easier to shoot than the Hellcat, adding a compensator makes a huge difference in keeping the muzzle down. I can rapid fire the Hellcat Pro Comp and not lose sight of the dot in the optic. I put the MCARBO trigger and spring kit in the Hellcat Pro Comp and moved the Holosun EPS Carry and Streamlight TLR-7A over. I love this set up and shoot extremely well with it. My only issue was I noticed some major rusting on the locking block. They tried to blame the South Florida heat and humidity, but I told them that was BS. I have 3 other versions that had no issues at all. I sent it back and they fixed it.

For reference, I am 5’7” and weight 160 lbs. I carry concealed in a strong side Black Scorpion Gear IWB holster on my strong side. About half the guys in the club carry appendix, but I don’t like how that feels. They are really quick on the draw though. My brother in law carries the Sig P365 AXG Legion. That gun is more than double the cost of the Hellcat Pro. The ergonomics are nicer, but I like the Hellcat trigger better. The Sig feels like it has more pull through after the wall. I put the MCARBO trigger and spring kit on my brother-in-law’s gun. The P365 is a PAIN IN THE BUTT to work on, especially compared to the Hellcat.

I would (and do) trust my life with a Hellcat Pro Conp. It is a great shooting gun that holds 15 rounds in the flush fitting mag. There are 17 round mags available as well, but it makes it harder to conceal.

I too added the Mcarbo trigger kit and it is very good. I have their kits in a couple of my guns and they’ve all been good.

[wild cat mccane]

I am not going to dig it up and don't know if true, but the hellcat had a thing about if it had a design flaw on the trigger dingus I think. I do know there was some big threads on it at the XD forum.

Overall, I like the P365 WAY better for every other reason.

That said, I do know for a fact there was a moment in time that the Hellcat had discussion on it's safety.

Dig around or ask someone who knows, cause I do not.

I don't agree the P365 "is hard to work on" as above. It ridiculously easy.

If I was looking at something, I'd not be offended if someone brought up something that was a thing but didn't prove true. I'm just passing it along. If you like the Hellcat more than the P365, there won't be convincing you how wrong you are JK

[stephen426]

@wild cat mccane, you probably have much better gun smithing skills than I do. That thing gave me fits trying to put it back together. I also hate the stupid plastic striker sleeve that has to be pushed to the side. MCARBO has a fix for guns that have a channel for a pin to hold the back plate in. There are also two guys I know that won’t carry them anymore due to reliability concerns. To each his or her own I guess.

I think the Sig has better ergonomics. But I prefer the Hellcat’s trigger. I also

[ammo.crafter]

After carrying and going through drills with the Hell Cat and the SIG P365, I chose the SIG.

Just feels natural in my hand and is lighter.

Give the SIG a try before committing.

[stephen426]

@ammo crafter… little late for me. LOL. I’m on my 4th Hellcat. I went with the original Hellcat, then the Hellcat OSP, then the Hellcat Pro, and now the Hellcat Pro Comp. I’ve fire the Sig P365 AXG Legion. It’s fine, but I’m good with the Hellcat Pro Comp. Even with the MCARBO trigger, spring, and striker kit, plus the Holosun EPS Carry, plus the Streamlight TLR-7a, it’s still less than the Sig P365 AXG Legion alone. I also feel like the whole Legion thing is a cheesy gimmick. I have other Sigs including two P229s and a P320 X-Five. Frankly, I haven’t been impressed by them lately.

[Average Joe]

I prefer a simple gun for carry, don't really need special sights for a carry gun.