Springfield Armory’s New Gear Pac

Economists have a term they like to use called “complementary goods.” It’s fancy talk for items that are often bought alongside others. A few examples? Hot dogs and buns. Printers and ink cartridges. Also, guns and gear. Just as you’re probably not going to buy a bare eight-pack of Ball Park franks, it’s unlikely you’re going to purchase a new firearm and not grab some goodies to go along with it. Here, Springfield Armory has shooters covered.

By the time you read this Springfield Armory will have launched “Gear Pac”, developed to offer purchasers of new Hellcat, 1911, Echelon or Prodigy pistols an amazing deal worth up to $375 in added accessories. Simply purchase a Gear Pac-designated pistol, and you will immediately receive a green dot optic, four magazines and a pistol case.

Additionally, the Gear Pac program isn’t a limited-time offer, nor is it something that must be redeemed post-purchase. These are permanent catalog offerings, meaning that interested customers can simply walk into their dealer and buy one of these packages.

Sounds like a great deal, right? Let’s dig a little deeper into what a Gear Pac buyer can expect.

The Optic

Each eligible “Gear Pac” pistol will come with a factory-installed Viridian RFX11 green dot reflex sight. That’s right: a gun that’s not just “optic ready,” but one whose dot sight is ready to roll as soon as the gun comes out of the box. This optic alone is worth $229.99, and represents an amazing added value to the Gear Pac package.

The factory-installed RFX11 by Viridian gives users a 3 MOA dot and weighs in at a scant 4 oz. It offers a rugged yet lightweight design with IPX4 water-resistance and a high-strength polymer housing. The reflex optic features Instant-On technology with an ambient light sensor and auto shut off to protect battery life. The unit is rated for 30k hours of runtime from the included CR2032 battery. The result is a compact yet capable defensive green dot for the optics-ready pistol of your choice.

A word here on green versus red dots. As it turns out, the human eye perceives green light more clearly than red. According to Viridian, green light is closer to the peak sensitivity of the eye’s photopic response. As a result, a green dot is easy to pick up in extremely bright daylight yet performs equally well in darker environments. Viridian also adds that green light is scattered less by fog and haze, allowing it to be seen better in varying atmospheric conditions.

If all of those benefits weren’t enough, the human eye’s higher sensitivity to green light also produces less eye strain when tracking the dot, according to Viridian. Given that a good number of us make our living staring at computer screens at arm’s length, even a little less optical fatigue is probably a good thing.

Incidentally, the RFX11 is the unit I currently have on my Echelon. I do find that the green dot shows up just a little brighter and clearer than my other red dot optics, but mostly I appreciate the dummy-proof feature set. You can leave this thing in a darkened safe for a week and, when you pick it up, it’s instantly ready to go at a good brightness level. I like gear that I don’t need to worry about or otherwise babysit.

Additionally, if a user buys either a Hellcat or Echelon through the Gear Pac program, they’ll find another pleasant surprise — the Viridian RFX11 for their pistol features serrations/grooves that match up perfectly with the slide serrations of their pistol. Nice. It gives you a bit more grasping surface when operating the pistol, and also just plain looks good. It’s a nice cosmetic touch that makes the optic seem like it’s truly integrated into these platforms.

Mags and a Bag

In addition to the green dot sight, Gear Pac-bundled guns ship with four total magazines and a sturdy pistol bag.

When it comes to magazines, we all know more is more. At the range, it may simply be more convenient to top off the gun with a pre-loaded mag. I know more than a few “time is money” type guys who like to prepare all of their kit the night before, with an expeditious, focused range session planned for the following day when free time is scarce.

Naturally, and in more serious use cases, an extra reload could make all the difference when it comes to successfully defending life and limb. If the hairs on your neck are standing on end, it’s probably not a good time to be worried about your roundcount. Having a fully loaded spare magazine or two on one’s person or within arm’s reach adds another layer of defensive capability.

There is also a training benefit. Extra magazines are what actually allow people to practice speedy reloads and reloading on the move — two skills that are better to practice well before you need to rely on them under pressure and/or an adrenaline dump. I’ve found that when users have “just the one” magazine, they’re hesitant to train intensively with the firearm.

I’d add that with four total magazines supplied through the Gear Pac program, users can separate them into carry/home defense use and “thrash on them”-type training range mags they won’t feel bad about ejecting at chest height. If you actually need to perform a reload under pressure, the last thing on your mind will be gingerly removing and storing an empty mag. With Gear Pac, you have the means of practicing reloading as a survival skill rather than as a purely administrative task.

And lastly, a magazine is clearly a critical element of your firearm. So, these are not low-cost components but rather a part representing a notable amount of engineering and quality control requirements behind them. While Springfield does offer all of their magazines at very reasonable pricing, four high-quality magazines can add up. So, this is definitely a value-added part of the Gear Pac system.

On to the bag. Though Springfield Armory has redesigned its pistol bag over the years (and may still again), I’ve always liked what they ship out with their guns. The bags are always solidly constructed, have space for a good amount of essential range goodies, and have a double-zipper design that allow them to be securely locked. It’s one more layer of security when it comes to keeping your firearms away from curious hands, as well as protected from bumps and scrapes. It’s also a very handy way to get your guns and gear to the range.

What’s Eligible

Springfield Armory has made sure that its most popular handgun models have a Gear Pac SKU, including those in the Hellcat, Prodigy, and Echelon families, along with several AOS-configured 1911s. A full list of Gear Pac-bundled models is available here.

If you’re a reader of The Armory Life, you probably don’t need too much arm-twisting to buy a dot sight or new mags, and it’s very likely you have your eye on one of the many great Springfield Armory handguns available. That said, Gear Pac will save you several hundred bucks on many of the things you were going to buy anyway.

Supposing you’re the type of shooter who feels like a modern pistol without a dot sight and a stash of magazines is like a burger without a side of fries, these bundles should be right up your alley. Check them out.

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