Leave it to me to foul things up. I get notified of a new product, get a request not to release information until the embargo date – and, while you’re about it, order up a top-tier handgun optic, because this gun clearly deserves one of the best. 

I order up a Trijicon RMR-HD, the magnificent device (on loan) arrives and I get notified that the guns are delayed. No worries, Trijicon gave me plenty of time. When the gun arrives, I have just the right mounting hardware, the glass and the tools. I mount the optic, look at the instruction manual from Trijicon: if the optic reaches the ejection port, don’t use it. It may create malfunctions.

Sigh.

I return it, later to get the chance to use the RMR Type 2; and I find that the screws I have are too long – with no time to get the appropriate fasteners. 

So, I shot the gun, the Springfield Armory TRP AOS, with iron sights. Still, it’s the first TRP I ever shot – years after the line was established. 

As a line of handguns, the Tactical Response Pistol has its roots in the FBI Hostage Rescue Team pistol from around 1998. Since then, the TRP has been in the Springfield lineup. It’s the top-of-the-line production 1911 related to the Springfield Armory Professional model, available from their Custom Shop. 

This new TRP is of the 2024 form factor with the addition of the Agency Optics System for mounting commonly available pistol optics. Using a series of plates to cover the variety of popular optics, Springfield has used this system on their Prodigy DS1911 pistols and single stack 1911s, and are now offering the system in the Tactical Response Pistol line.

The first service auto I carried in uniform as a peace officer was the 1911 and I’m fond of that pistol line. That first duty gun was a Colt National Match from the mid-1960s, an elegant gun in spite of the neglect it’d suffered from the previous owner(s). The TRP is not elegant. Like its predecessor the Professional, it’s solid, tough and all-business. 

The TRP AOS ships with three Mec-Gar 8-shot magazines. Below, the hefty, solid 45 rides comfortably in the Galco Corvus holster.

The sample is a 45 Auto with a five-inch stainless steel match grade barrel. The frame and slide are forged carbon steel, black Cerakote-finished. A two-piece mag-well, tritium front sight, black serrated rear sight and VZ Hydra G-10 stocks round out the features. The just-under-40oz. pistol is fed from three (supplied) Mec Gar 8-round magazines. The recoil spring system is their two-piece NM full-length guide rod and the piece features bilateral safety levers. 

Being a TRP full-sized pistol, the frame has the M1913 rail formed in the dust cover. 

As I was poorly prepared to evaluate the pistol, I proceeded to do the best I could. Using Federal Punch 230 grain JHP ammo, I fired a sad group of 3 5/8”. The best three hits though went into 2”. 

I could see the gun needed a better shooter than I, but I gave it an effort with Black Hills 230 grain JHP. The five-shot group was a little better, 3 3/8”, but the best three were in a similar two-inch group. I have a strong impression that a fair shooter could keep slow fire strings in the “10” of a B-8 without a terrible effort. 

As to the handling portion of the evaluation, I found that I’m slow with the “Government Model” format, a platform I carried in uniform in my youth. I noted a pair of stoppages. One was in accuracy testing over the bag on a bench, the other during the handling phase. Both occurred with standard pressure 230gr. ammo and both were failures to go into battery. 

For a “non-custom” factory gun, the TRP is tight, hand-fitted with matching slide-to-frame for best fit. It was well-lubed, but I wondered if the stoppages were caused by the frailty of the shooter. Then I shot some old stock Cor-Bon 230gr. +P. The TRP chugged through a box of that rather stout ammo, then functioned without complaint.

The aggressive checkering, the stocks and mag “funnel” are helpful in handling. The gun presented cleanly from the Galco Corvus Kydex holster, worn outside-the-waist. I shot the handling test on a 12x18” BC-IPSC “Practice” target. 

My other range trip with the gun involved shooting the FBI Bullseye Course. Used to qualify to get into (and stay in) the Instructor course, it involves 30 rounds shot from 25 and 15 yards. I used the FBI-IP1 target and the rest of the old stock Cor-Bon 230 grain JHP +P ammo. As I was shooting two-handed, I tried to even it up using hotter ammo. 

The resulting score was enough to reach the objective and it was shot “just in time.” I didn’t have a lot of time to spare. 

I’d used only 230 grain ammo in the TRP, but I had a remaining box of Ruger-branded PolyCase ARX ammo. With a fluted injection-molded copper/polymer matrix 118 grain projectile, it was the opposite of the standard-for-caliber 45 Auto loads used thus far.

The 20 rounds fed, fired, extracted and ejected without drama. I shot it from a mere 20 feet, using more a target focus to watch the hits go into the center of the target. While I wouldn’t rely on that light bullet hitting center further out with those sights, at that close range the tight cluster of hits was just atop the front sight. 

Good enough. 

The Springfield Armory TRP is a solid pistol, with classy touches. The top of the slight is flattened and serrated, the checkering is sharp enough and the gun runs like a thoroughbred. The AOS system, though I used it this time to find out my loaner optic wouldn’t work, I have used before. This brings the Tactical Response Pistol well into the 21st Century. I believe it’ll be a choice of professionals for some years to come. 

— Rich Grassi