Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished Review: Beauty That Shoots

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

The Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished looks like a pistol you should handle with white gloves. Don’t. This glossy, walnut-gripped 9mm delivered smooth cycling, a 0.99-inch best group and enough carry appeal to earn a spot in my everyday rotation.

Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished: Classic Looks, Carry Proportions

The High Power is going through a renaissance these days, and Springfield Armory is due the credit for resurrecting an iconic, classic platform as the SA-35. The Polished 4” SA-35 is the latest model of Springfield Armory’s interpretation of the original FN High Power pistol. This version sports a polished blue finish, giving the pistol an air of sophistication and elegance. Damn, I miss polished blued pistols and checkered wood grips.

While this pistol will scratch that itch for nostalgia, it is also proportioned like many modern handguns today, with a full-size grip and a compact slide and barrel, just like the Springfield Armory Echelon 4.0FC, Glock G45, Walther PDP, CZ P-10, and others. The full-size grip offers plenty of real estate for excellent control and the shortened slide and barrel make the pistol easier and more comfortable to carry, as well as offer nice, controllable cycling for fast follow-up shots.

I took longer than usual testing this pistol, since I was fortunate enough to receive a Polished 4″ SA-35 weeks before the announcement and because I just like shooting and carrying it.

Springfield SA-35 Evolution: From Matte Blue to Polished Steel

Springfield Armory has evolved its SA-35 pistol since it was introduced in 2021. The original came in a discreet, all-business matte blue finish. Then Springfield Armory threw on the obligatory Crayola Cerakote finishes like Coyote Brown Cerakote, because you can’t introduce a pistol these days without offering it the color of desert sand. There’s a Tactical Gray Cerakote model, too. And that’s my point. The SA-35, like its patriarch, the FN High Power, is an iconic pistol befitting a traditional polished blue finish.

This year, Springfield Armory introduced a unique SA-35, one that neither FN nor Browning ever produced: the SA-35 4” with a 4-inch barrel. Full-size SA-35s use a 4.7-inch barrel, and FN did not deviate from that spec. Does 3/4 of an inch make a difference? That may sound like the lead-in to an off-color joke, but it does if you are looking for a compact, daily carry handgun.

Before the SA-35: High Power Clones and the 4-Inch Detective

The SA-35 design was introduced in 1935 by FN just before World War II. When the German army invaded and occupied Belgium and the FN plant, they knew a good pistol design when they saw one and continued production. FN design drawings slipped through the Nazis’ net and ended up in Canada, with licensed copies being produced by John Inglis and Company, which was one of two firearms manufacturers to license the design. The other was Fabricaciones Militares (FM) in Argentina, which licensed and produced the standard size pistol in 1968 as well as a variant of their own nicknamed the “Detective Hi Power.” The “Detective” featured a 4-inch barrel and was produced from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

The Argentine-designed pistol also had finger grooves built into the front grip strap. Other than the finger grooves and shortened slide and barrel it is exactly like an HP. The 4-inch barrel on the “Detective” offered easier concealed carry than the standard-size High Power.

Clones of the High Power popped up all over the globe in countries that reverse-engineered the design. In Hungary, FEG made the PJK-9HP. India, Israel, Bulgaria, Turkey and Indonesia all produced standard-size High Power clones. The popularity of this older pistol design is only surpassed by the popularity of the 1911 platform. And like the 1911, the High Power is an evergreen design.

SA-35 4″ Polished Features: Old-School Beauty, Modern Hardware

The main differences between the standard-size SA-35 and 4” SA-35 are the length of the slide and barrel. The recoil spring in the 4” SA-35 is longer and uses a flat wire; the standard has a typical round coiled spring. The 4” also uses a one-piece recoil spring guide rod, which really smooths the cycling of the pistol. I noticed a difference between the full size SA-35 and the 4” SA-35. The receiver for both pistols is the same.

The Polished Blue finish on the 4” SA-35 is glossy and deep. You can see your reflection in it. The controls, hammer, trigger, thumb safety, magazine catch and slide stop, all wear a slight matte blue finish. Metal work was excellent. With the checkered walnut grips the 4” SA-35 is a beauty to look at, but don’t think that the striking good looks are a sign of weakness. This SA-35 is a shooter.

One of the features Springfield Armory improved on with the SA-35 series is the sights. The front post wears a white dot that is easy to pick up on a dark target, and the Tactical Rack rear sight offers a U-shaped notch to drop that dot into. The rear sight is also flush with the rear of the slide to eke out as much sight radius as possible, and the user-facing edge is serrated to reduce sun glare. Good sights for a pistol intended to be in a fight. And as the name implies, the edge of the rear sight can be used to rack the slide. Yes, I did try it on the edge of the shooting bench and the mouth of my holster, and it worked. This 4” SA-35 is polished, but that doesn’t mean you need to baby it.

The thumb safety is modernized and slightly oversized and extended. I found the thumb safety easy to engage and disengage with the thumb of my shooting hand. I am right-handed, and the SA-35 does favor right-handed shooters.

Springfield Armory also changed the contour of the hammer so those of you with hands the size of bear paws don’t experience hammer bite. I have average-sized hands, and hammer bite is not a concern. The rounded hammer gives the 4” SA-35 and all of the SA-35 models, for that matter, a retro look. The edges of the pistol are broken and smooth. Nothing sharp to abrade skin during recoil.

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SA-35 Trigger, Grip and Magazine: Familiar High Power DNA

The trigger on the SA-35 pivots, unlike a 1911, which slides. There is about 1/8 of an inch of take-up before you hit the wall and need 3.8 pounds of pressure to break the trigger. This is a good trigger pull weight for a concealed carry gun. Not too light, not too heavy. Reset is soft with no tactile indication, which may weird out shooters who teethed on striker-fired triggers and expect to hear and feel the click when the trigger resets. I’m old school, and still have muscle memory for SA-35 style triggers.

The front and rear grip straps are void of texture, but I have never really thought that this was a ding on the design. The checkered wood grips provide sufficient adhesion without any abrasion.

The grip angle on the SA-35 is similar to a 1911; about 18 degrees. I can shoot pistols with this grip angle better than pistols with sharper grip angles. I can also reload the SA-35 quicker than a traditional single-stack 1911, too. The SA-35 has a beveled magazine well, and the magazines taper at the top.

The Polished 4” SA-35 comes with one 15-round steel magazine. Original FN High Powers were equipped with a 13-round magazine. There are witness holes on the right side. I suspect Mec-Gar produces the magazines for Springfield Armory because the aftermarket Mec-Gar magazines I have are exact except for the Springfield Armory logo. Loading the magazines is easy on your thumbs even on the last few rounds.

SA-35 4″ Polished Range Test: Fast, Smooth and Accurate

I used training, competition, and defense loads in the Polished 4” SA-35 to see how a variety of bullet shapes and weights performed. The training load was Panther 124-grain FMJ, and the competition load was Atlanta Arms Steel Challenge 115-grain FMJ. The Atlanta Arms Steel Challenge ammo is loaded at a lower velocity, 1009 fps out of the 4” SA-35, for more controllability when shooting fast. Panther ammo clocked 1062 fps out of the SA-35. Defense loads consisted of Shell Tech 65-grain fluted copper polymer bullet and Remington Ultimate Defense 124-grain Golden Saber BJHP. The Shell Tech ammo is loaded for speed and screamed out of the 4-inch barrel at 1408 fps. The Remington load had a respectable 1140 fps muzzle velocity.

To get acquainted with the shorty SA-35, I used a Birchwood Casey Bad Guy silhouette target at 15 yards and topped off the magazines. I would shoot one mag at the head and the other at the center of mass. This allowed me to better understand how to run the SA-35. I rested my support hand thumb on the slide stop. The pistol cycled smoothly with not a lot of muzzle flip.

SA-35 4″ Accuracy: A 0.99-Inch Best Group at 15 Yards

Moving to accuracy testing at 15 yards and using my range bag as a rest, the best 5-shot group at 15 yards was with Remington Ultimate Defense that measured 0.99 inches; average was 1.00 inches. Atlanta Arms had a best of 1.2 inches and averaged 1.42 inches. Panther averaged 2.17 inches and had a best of 1.35 inches. Shell Tech averaged 1.75 inches with a best of 1.5 inches. I’d stoke the 4” SA-35 with either the Remington or Shell Tech ammo for concealed carry.

SA-35 Reliability: Zilch. Nada. No Issues.

I had no issues with the Polished 4” SA-35 during the review and testing. Zilch. Nada. I ran the pistol like I had been shooting it for years. I attribute that to the grip angle and the large sights. And my familiarity with the High Power platform.

On a second trip to the range, I ran a BAER Solutions Standard Drill. You shoot this 13-round drill cold. Load 10 rounds in one magazine and 3 in the other. Load the mag with 10 rounds. I ran this drill at 7 yards. Five rounds go into the left rectangle, transition to the right rectangle, and fire 5 more rounds as fast as possible. Slide locks back, reload the three-round magazine, and surgically punch 3 holes in the center circle. When I’m low on ammo, I run this with 10 rounds: 4 rounds each in the rectangles and 2 rounds in the circle. This drill gives me a sense of how a pistol will run fast, reload, and shoot for accuracy. You can time yourself if you have a timer.

I had to pay more attention to the reloads to ensure I inserted the fresh mag clean. I bumbled the first few fast reloads because I am so used to magwell funnels. With repetition, reloads were smooth. I used the slide stop to send the slide home after a reload. It was positive and easy to press.

The only complaints I have, and they aren’t really complaints, but I would add a thumb groove in the left grip and slightly increase the magazine release catch height. I was very pleased with the way I ran the pistol and how the pistol performed, so much so I worked it into my everyday carry rotation.

Carrying the SA-35 4″ Polished: Old-School Steel Goes EDC

I carried the Polished 4” in a leather minimalist holster, similar to a Galco Yaqui Slide or Don Hume JIT holster. It’s an old-school style holster that uses gravity as a retention device. One drawback is the pistol can be pushed out of the holster if you are not paying attention when you sit down in an armchair, depending how broken in the holster is. And, because the holster is open on the bottom the front sight can snag when being drawn. I had no issues with the Shorty SA-35. Don’t use a Yaqui Slide if your pistol is equipped with tall sights. The holster worked perfect with the 4” SA-35. Working in the office, running errands, the Shorty SA-35 was comfortable and easy to carry.

Springfield Armory SA-35 4″ Polished Specifications

Model	SA-35 4″ Polished
Caliber	9mm
Action	Semi-auto, tilting barrel
Barrel Length	4 inches
Overall Length	7.1 inches
Weight Without Optic	29.8 ounces
Capacity	15-round magazine
Finish	Polished blue
Stock	Checkered walnut
Sights	White dot front, serrated Tactical Rack rear
Trigger Pull	3.8 pounds

Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished Pros and Cons: Beauty With Bite

• Pros: Very reliable, excellent grip angle, good trigger, good sights
• Cons: I miss a gas pedal and funnel magwell

Springfield SA-35 4″ Polished Verdict: A Defense Pistol With Class

The Polished 4” SA-35 is a beautiful-looking pistol. The glossy blue finish is pretty to look at, but make no mistake this pistol is designed for personal defense. I’m glad Springfield Armory decided to buff up the 4” SA-35. It is a performance defense pistol with class.

Related Reads From GunsAmerica Digest

• Springfield SA-35 4″ Review: Fast, Flat, Deadly
• Springfield’s New SA-35: Iconic Design With a Modern Flair
• More Springfield SA-35 Coverage From GunsAmerica Digest

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