Here's a higher res shot with a newer camera.
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So you might have noticed that "Wow, lots of people were suddenly talking about this pistol yesterday!"
That was, of course, what Springfield Armory's marketing department wanted.
Generally, manufacturers will send out guns to reviewers and holster makers and the like in advance of a predetermined release date. Some companies will go full-on with Non Disclosure Agreements and others will rely on everyone pinkie-swearing under the threat of future ostracism to not let the cat out of the bag until the launch day.
This gives everyone a chance to get a lot of hands-on time with the pistol before the official announcement date, and buys the manufacturer time to make sure they have their website ready, SKUs up to date, manuals printed, et cetera. This also means that websites will have their FIRST LOOK! pieces written and Vloggers will have their YouTube vids produced and in the can and all cued up and ready to publish the minute the embargo period ends. All that stuff hitting the web at once can generate a lot of buzz if done right.
Springfield is pretty savvy about this. Launch a new polymer striker-fired pistol at the traditional times, like SHOT Show or NRAAM, and it might get overlooked in the mob of everybody else's new polymer striker-fired pistols that get launched at SHOT or NRAAM, clever MRDS mounting system or no.
Coordinate your release date for, say, the middle of July, however, and it's going to automatically stand out more because it's the only big gun buzz happening at the moment.
Well-played, Springfield.
Now to finish typing up this review and send it to my editors.
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