Hyve Mag Extension Review for the Hellcat

By Adam Scepaniak

So, you have wisely weighed your choices for possible concealed carry pistols and decided on the Springfield Armory Hellcat. Congratulations! You have chosen one of the most popular CCW pistols on the market with U-notch combat sights and the world’s highest capacity for a micro-compact.

In today’s Hyve mag extension review, we look at one way you can further increase the capacity of your Hellcat.

Hyve Technologies

As you begin to converse with your range friends about your latest gun acquisition, you realize a few of them own the same gun. No big deal, though, because great minds think alike, but now you want to make this gun your own, jazz it up a bit, and give it your own personal flavor!

One company that can help you accomplish this is Hyve Technologies. They make an assortment of quality accessories for various firearms on the market. Hyve’s been around for more than three decades – machining precision parts for the automotive and aerospace industries. More recently, the company expanded its offerings to include firearms parts.

The firearms accessories that most interested me was the +1/+3 Magazine Extension and the Slide Cover Plate for the Springfield Hellcat. In addition to offering tangible performance benefits, both are available in a range of colors to spice up your felon repellant applicator.

Both parts are precision machined aluminum and finished in the company’s own, unique colors.

I took both products for a spin at the range to see how they assembled and performed. Let’s jump into that now.

How to Install the Hyve Magazine Extension

The install of the Hyve Technologies +1/+3 Magazine Extension was very easy. It comes with instructions, but they are not necessary if you have changed magazine floorplates before because it is so intuitive.

I recommend using a small flathead screwdriver to depress the spring in your factory Springfield Armory Hellcat magazine.

Once the spring is depressed, slide off the factory magazine floorplate.

The Hyve Technologies extension slides onto the magazine body. Once in place, tighten down the Allen screw to secure the extension to the mag body. Hyve includes an Allen wrench for you to secure the extension.

Reversing the process is a bit harder. When I attempted to put the factory floorplate back on the magazine it was a difficult endeavor to remove the Hyve extension. You either need a third helping hand or your handy-dandy flathead screwdriver to compress the magazine spring down while attempting to slide off the Hyve extension.

More Ammo Is More Better

So, the Hyve extensions allow you to pack more ammunition into a Springfield Hellcat magazine. But, how much more?

On a factory 11-round Hellcat magazine, the Hyve +1/+3 Magazine Extension bumps your capacity to 14 rounds. On a Springfield Armory 13-round magazine, the Hyve mag extension increases your carrying capacity to 14 rounds. So, it can be used with any factory Springfield Armory Hellcat magazine for a +3 or +1 increase.  

That’s impressive.

The Hyve extension makes the magazine a tad bit longer than a 13-round Hellcat magazine. Whereas the Hellcat 13-rounder extension has a height of 0.784″ from flat bottom to flat top, the Hyve extension measures 0.960″ at its longest and 0.647″ at its shortest point.

While it is longer, the Hyve doesn’t feel like it is a lot bigger when handling or carrying it. If it was not for the distinctive styling, you may not even notice the difference.

Slide Cover Plate

While I had the magazine extensions for review, I also took the company’s Slide Cover Plate for a test drive. The Hyve Technologies Slide Cover Plate does not impede or improve the accuracy of your Hellcat, but it is a nice accent and complement to the Hyve Technologies +1/+3 Magazine Extension.

The Slide Cover Plate was a little more difficult to install, not because of the Slide Cover Plate itself, but the fact that the factory cover plate is under spring tension from two different forces — the striker assembly and extractor.

So, you want to be careful removing and installing your new cover plate so no springs go errantly flying into the atmosphere. If after a period of shooting you ever want to revert back to the factory slide cover plate it is an easy process, but you again want to be careful to not have springs go flying.

Testing the Hyve on the Range

Throughout a lengthy range session, both the Hyve Technologies Slide Cover Plate and +1/+3 Magazine Extension worked flawlessly.

After repeated shooting, the Hyve Technologies Magazine Extension remained secure and did not shift from its original position. There was reliable feeding of every round. I could find no fault with the function of these Hellcat accessories.

Also, the splash of color of red on my samples was a unique flair to the Hellcat that definitely sets it apart from all of the other black polymer pistols on the range that day. More than one person stopped and asked me what those accessories were that I had installed on my Hellcat.

Conclusion

If you are interested in getting either the +1/+3 Magazine Extension or the Slide Cover Plate from Hyve Technologies, they go for $29.99 and $16.99 respectively, with your choice of black, blue, purple, gray, OD green (olive drab green), red, tan and copper for color choices.

After reviewing these accessories, I can genuinely say I enjoyed them, and I believe you would, too. Slip this pistol into a Crossbreed Reckoning holster and fit it with a Surefire XSC weapon light and you will be well prepared to handle any threat that may pop up.

As always, join us again soon on The Armory Life, be safe out there, and happy shooting!

Editor’s Note: Since the publication of this review, Springfield Armory upped the ante in the concealed carry market. It now offers a 15-round magazine for the Hellcat. This new mag gives the owner full-size handgun power and capacity in an exceptionally compact package. 

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