Press the trigger on a loaded pistol and the gun should fire. When properly aimed, you should expect to strike the intended target. Actualizing this concept for a purpose in the hands of an individual is a challenge addressed by many since the invention of the hand cannon.
The XD pistol was first seen in Guns & Ammo’s January 2002 issue. Since then, Springfield Armory has offered the market a multitude of variants, evolving the platform and satisfying the different needs of American shooters. That history took me to the HS Produkt factory in Karlovac, Croatia, in June 2021. There I surveyed multi-axis machines, robotics, investment casting, and hammer-forging, as well as the manufacturing of the XD and Hellcat models. Unexpectedly, I was introduced to a watershed moment. Every innovation and design improvement had led to this.
CEO Dennis Reese stood at the head of a long conference table topped with historical firearms in a room filled with executives, engineers and media relations. Reese began, “Building a gun is relatively easy, but building a great gun is a challenge. When we look for a firearm component, we’re looking for a partner. We’re looking for the best, and one of the greatest relationships through the last 20 years is the one we have with HS Produkt.” It was then that I was handed a prototype of the Echelon. Looking it over for the first time, I realized that there wasn’t just one feature that made this pistol unique. It’s the combination of the chassis system, the modular design, the optic system, feel of the slim grip and trigger press, and the layered texture for each control and touchpoint.