Springfield Armory Saint Victor Pistol Review
I wanted to add a scabbard to my tractor to house an AR platform rifle to be readily accessible while I do work around the redoubt. It’s always been my luck to have a coyote run out in front of me, attempt to stare me down and I have nothing handy but my trusty Springfield – Armory 1911 TRP handgun in 10mm to throw lead 50+ yards its way. So, a rifle safely and conveniently carried on my orange mount made total sense.
Thinking of John Wayne riding his horse into battle with his handy ‘73 Winchester in his rifle scabbard got me thinking and hitting the interwiz to see what was available. After several days of looking and analyzing offering’s I chose the
Fox Outdoor Products Tactical Assault Rifle Scabbard. It arrived in a couple of days and when it arrived, I excitedly opened the box took off all the tags and wrappings on the scabbard. Then attempted to shoved my Colt 6920 AR with a
Dead Air Sandman S suppressor on it into the scabbard. My enthusiasm immediately changed to disappointment. The rifle with the 'can' was at least 4-inches to long. Okay, I am a man who will compromise so, I took the can off the rifle and tried to reinsert the dang thing into the scabbard but again it still would not fit. The Surefire light on the side of the rifle would not allow me to insert the rifle all the way in.
Obviously, I needed to re-think my plan and the obvious choice was to buy a new rifle. Maybe the Ruger Mini-14 or one of those new-fangled AR pistols.
I attended Palmetto State Armory’s media days last fall and tried their AR pistol which operated well but my Springfield Armory 1911 was so nice and operated with no issues that I figured I would give the 5.56 Saint Victor Pistol a try. Springfield-Armory also offers the pistol in .300 Black-out; However, I do not need an additional caliber to stock ammunition for. Called my local FFL and promptly ordered the pistol.
It came this week and soon as I got home, I opened the nice range bag it came in and pulled it out to show MrsMac. Well she went nuts with excitement I have never seen in her face over a firearm. She asked to see it and I handed it over to her. After she pulled it up a few times she exclaimed, “That is mine! You will have to get another one for yourself.” Then she asked, “can you put a red dot sight thingy on it for me?” Oh crap, I thought!
Once I pried the pistol from her soft warm hands, I went over grabbed the Fox scabbard and the pistol slid nicely into the scabbard. Okay, we are halfway there I thought.
I decided to mount a
Burris FastFire 3 on the pistol that I had laying around from a previous application. Paired the optic with the
Burris AR F3 mounting system and we were good to go. Springfield-Armory also recommends this sight and mount pairing too.
I then added a
MS3 push-button OD sling swivel which worked nicely as the Saint Victor pistol comes with a female attachment point for the sling just behind the pistol grip. Then off to the range to sight it is. The pistol operated flawlessly, and I quickly had her sighted in.
The trigger had a crisp release and the average pull-weight measured with a Lyman Trigger Pull Gauge just under five pounds. My friend and I then really put that pistol to task putting over 300-rounds of assorted ammo through it. There was not one mishap and that is with a semi-auto pistol right out of the box.
The Fox scabbard is a great buy and is doing double duty. It is being used on the tractor as originally intended and hanging on the back of the passenger seat within easy reach if needed in my F-150. Using the pistol in the truck or car is easy to manipulate due in part to its 7.5-inch barrel. Pure pleasure to shoot in the open or in a vehicle.
The scabbard is made up of a tough twill fabric, a lot of Velcro® to apply moral patches if you like, many molle points to add accessories such as magazine pouches, with a tough carrying handle and shoulder strap. Along with this it has two reinforced straps with snaps on both sides that allowed me to affix the scabbard to the starboard side of the tractors housing easily for tractor use around the redoubt.
This project turned out to be a triple hitter. Great firearm that operated flawlessly, a great sight and housing by Burris, and a versatile quality scabbard that meets all my needs. It doesn’t get much better than this. Well of course I now must find the money to duplicate it for MrsMac.