The Blockbuster Sequel

The Hellcat RDP compensator is milled out of 8082 aluminum and puts
a little of that muzzle chaos to work mitigating recoil and muzzle flip.

In September 2019, Springfield Armory raised the bar for micro compact carry pistols with the Hellcat. Stuffing an industry-leading 13+1 rounds of 9mm Parabellum into a package most typically reserved for .380ACP mouse guns, the Hellcat brought responsible armed Americans unprecedented, concealed carry capabilities. Just when you thought it was safe, however, the Springfield Armory skunkworks has now bumped the standard up yet higher.

The basic chassis is classic Hellcat. This palm-sized pocket rocket lacks any protruding ditzels, fits my hand like a tailored suit, and is as reliable as Daniel Defoe’s death and taxes. The gun comes with two magazines, one packing 11 rounds and the other 13. With this as a foundation, the good folks at Springfield Armory just took everything to the next level.

With 13+1 onboard, manual safety, and HEX Wasp micro red dot sight, the Hellcat RDP
packs service pistol capabilities into a package you can hide comfortably underneath
shorts and a T-shirt. The SureFire XSC weapon light is custom designed for the Hellcat.

The manual thumb safety is there if you want it. Its low-profile design keeps
it out of the way. Will likes the added level of security.

Movies And Math

I do so love a good action movie. I’m the geeky guy clutching the plastic light saber who’s spazzing out during the opening scrawl of the latest Star Wars installment. Perhaps you’ve seen me in your local theater. I’m personally responsible for a not insignificant percentage of Hollywood’s annual box office take. If ever I get abducted by aliens, George Lucas could starve.

There is a reliable formula Hollywood screenwriters use to keep dweebs like me coming back for more. If the first movie is impressive, the sequel must be all the more so. The problem is once you get through several iterations, it gets tougher and tougher to attain the same level of cinematic awesomeness. The end result has a geriatric John Rambo hobbling out of his memory care facility on a quad cane to battle al Qaeda Nazis on Uranus. In mathematical terms, the upper limit to the function seems to be, well, ill defined. The same phenomenon is at work in this new Springfield Armory handgun.

I was an early adopter of the Hellcat and have proudly packed mine for more than a year now. Now in one fell swoop this new RDP version leaves me in the dust. With radical new features and value-added capabilities, the new Hellcat RDP is like the action movie sequel. Everything just got a little bit more awesome.

You need to ask yourself if you’re awesome enough to rock such a rarefied
carry piece as the Hellcat RDP. For those that make the cut, the new Hellcat’s
threaded barrel accepts this stubby Gemtech Lunar sound suppressor.

The new Hellcat RDP is still a basic Hellcat underneath. Upgrades include
the HEX Wasp red dot, the manual safety and a muzzle-mounted compensator.

Less Chaos, More Safety

The Hellcat Rapid Defense Package enhancements fall into three broad categories. The most obvious is the niftiest little compensator. The new RDP Hellcat comes with its extended barrel threaded 1/2×28. The tiny thumb-sized compensator is machined from 8082 aluminum and indexes automatically without shims.

This compensator redirects some of the chaos to help counteract muzzle flip and perceived recoil. The device latches rigidly in place and takes up very little space. It should also not interfere with most existing holster solutions.

The new Hellcat RDP is also available with an optional bilateral thumb safety. Manual external safeties are a sore subject among certain professional gunmen, some of whom object on basic principle. I respectfully disagree. I feel the addition of a manual safety on a combat pistol is 100% ballistic sweetness.

I am personally acquainted with four different sordid circumstances wherein law enforcement officers experienced negligent discharges involving pistols that lacked manual safeties. Each case was an undeniable training failure, but that doesn’t change the fact during these four episodes three officers got shot. In the case of this thumb safety, use it if you want or ignore it if you don’t. I don’t see a downside.

The Hellcat RDP still retains the standard bevy of automatic safety mechanisms. An internal drop safety keeps the gun inert despite rough handling. The blade safety keeps the pistol hibernating until your finger is on the trigger. Despite all this mechanical security, the Hellcat RDP is still instantly responsive when you need it.

Look, Ma, no switches! The HEX Wasp micro compact red dot sight is
always on and automatically adjusts for ambient lighting conditions.

Wasp Vision

Springfield Armory has offered their Hellcat as an OSP (Optical Sight Pistol) for some time now. In this configuration, the rear slide deck is cut to accept a micro red dot sight. However, this design also retains the superb Hellcat luminous sights.

The Tactical Rack U-Notch tritium-powered sighting system on the Hellcat is, in my opinion, the finest in the industry. This design looks like a grinning glow-in-the-dark cyclops and is both fast and intuitive. The RDP allows you to retain the use of your iron sights co-witnessed through the new Hex Wasp micro red dot optical sight.

The Hex Wasp is Springfield Armory’s first foray into electro-optical sights and is purpose-designed for this micro compact application. There are no external switches. The sight is always on and includes an auto-dimming feature that automatically adjusts the brightness of the dot for ambient conditions. The rugged lightweight housing is cut from 6061 T6 hardcoat anodized aluminum and features easy-to-grip serrations on the front, rear and sides. The glass lens is scratch-resistant and treated to minimize glare. They also offer a slightly larger version suitable for full-sized handguns and rifle applications called the Dragonfly.

The dot is 3.5 MOA, and the unit runs more than 65,000 hours on a CR2032 battery you can buy at Walgreens. Under real-world conditions, you can expect two years between battery changes. Refresh the battery every other birthday and you’re good. The Wasp is IPX7 waterproof. This means it can be submerged to one meter for up to half an hour. If your life involves putting your carry gun through stuff like this, then your problems are worse than mine. The architecture of the Wasp mimics that of the Shield RMSc, so it mounts without an adapter.

The unit weighs a mere 0.7 oz. and will still fit in most standard Hellcat holsters. Windage and elevation adjustments are accomplished via a small included hex wrench, though mine was zeroed perfectly from the factory. All up the Hellcat RDP synergistically becomes more than the sum of its parts.

How Does She Run?

The Hellcat RDP carries just like my unadorned Hellcat. I use the same holster and the same manual of arms. I like the manual safety. I work among kids, so I prefer additional safety over tactical prickliness. Thumbing the safety clear on the draw is an intuitive exercise, and there’s no law saying you have to use it just because it is there.

If you’ve never run a red dot-equipped handgun before, there is a learning curve. The first few presentations, you will find yourself hunting the dot. However, like any shooting discipline, your hands and eyes get the memo after a while. With a little practice, the red dot jumps into your field of view of its own initiative.

I shot the new RDP alongside my unadorned Hellcat, and the compensator makes a difference. The Hellcat never was unpleasant, but recoil is nonetheless brisk. It’s still vigorous, but muzzle flip and mechanical recoil reduction are better on the new gun. The end result is handy, cool and fast. I could easily keep my rounds in a juice can lid at 12 meters.

At the end of the day, I dragged out my checkbook. I couldn’t resist the siren’s song of enhanced control and the capacity to mount a sound suppressor on my micro carry gun. Anybody want to buy a well-maintained first-generation Hellcat? I’ll let it go cheap.

For more info: Springfield-Armory.com

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