springfield XDS

Love my XDs45

Very pleased with XDs45; more *comfortable to shoot than my Shield 40, more accurate (for me) than my Shield 40, and a shorter grip makes it easier to conceal than my Shield 40. With equal range time no malfxns w/either.

*think pachmayr grip for XDs45

I've had a failure to go into battery on mine twice, but I was not shooting it. It was being shot by two individuals who were limp wristing it and had little experience with guns. SA even made a statement to American Rifleman that a lack of proper lube, or limp wristing can cause this problem. So the bottom line is grip and shoot it like you mean it, and the gun works properly. You need to have a firm grip to control this gun anyway. This aspect of the gun makes it a great tool for learning trigger control IMO.

Trigger is fine. Perhaps a bit gritty, but nothing that stands out as "bad".

Mine has a few hundred rounds through it, and has been great. I trust my life to it. I still practice with it when ever I get the chance though.

I have owned my XDS for 9 months and continue to have problems with light strikes. Cleaning and oiling the gun does not eliminate the problem and limp wristing is not an issue with me. I did some research over at the XD Forum and found a number of owners with the same problem. I just got off the phone with Springfield and I must admit that I am not encouraged by their response. They first said to oil it....then talked about limp wristing. They then offered to send a shipping label but said that if it fired two mags without a problem, they would return it to me as ok. The rep on the phone told me that they (reps) had tried to get the company to look into the problems further based on the number of calls from customers....with no luck. I got the distinct impression that most guns are being returned to owners with "no problems found". I'll take it even further. I got the distinct impression that I would be wasting my time by sending it in. Based on my gun's history, I'm not sure that it will misfire if they only try 2 magazines. I absolutely love everything about the gun...except the light strikes.

Looks like I have a decision to make. I have nothing to lose by sending it in, but do not have another carry gun to use in the interim.

Are you certain the firing pin channel is perfectly clean and UNlubed?

Yep

Bought my XDs last week and ran 185, 200, and 230s in both lead, FMJ and hollow points with no trouble at all. Shot a 4 shot group of 200 grain lead RNFP handloads into an inch at 35 feet off a rest. Not a polymer fan, but I'm impressed.
I shoot thousands of handloads through a dozen 1911s every year and I am a steel frame fan. I find the XDs to be a great shooting CCW choice.

I love the XDs .45. It works great with 230 Gold Dots and light and heavy lead and jacketed hand loads including 200 grain SWCs. I have tried to get it to malfunction using a weak grip both strong and weak hand only. The only malfunction I have experienced was a failure to eject after I accidentally fired a .40 S&W 180 grain Blazer through it. That obviously is not a gun problem and the .40 bullet exited the barrel. My wife did manage to get a failure to return to battery after I told her to try to get it to malfunction. It is the coolest new gun I have tried in a while!

rangerphil said:

I have owned my XDS for 9 months and continue to have problems with light strikes.

Click to expand...

I picked up my XD-S tonight, so before heading home my FFL buddy and I shot 40 rounds of Remington 230gr MC. The pistol had plenty of oil on it so I figured it should run well and it did. I made an effort to pick up as much brass as I could find so that I could inspect the primers. No light strikes with this pistol and this ammunition.

I have had two light strikes with mine over the course of several hundred rounds. Both rounds I then re-loaded and they fired. It is problematic for me because racking can be a pain. if it ever had a light strike when i really needed it, i would really have to be on my game to re-rack without a jam.

still, i love that little gun.

Bought one for the wife and had a few what I thought were light strikes but it turned out to be the ammo. It has been a great gun with approx 300rds down it so far.

just want to say that i love mine. Have had no malfunctions. the recoil with 230 +p and the non extended grip is a little much and takes to long to get back an target. But i shoot 230 hst and there is not much loss in velocity and can shoot good groups at 20 yrds quick fire. I like the fiber optic in the daylight but would like to put some XS or trijicon sights on it. The fiber optic doesn't do much in a dark house.

I want to love this gun.

Right size, right caliber. I thought I did all my research and kept waiting for it to show up locally. I happened into Academy on the day it came in and bought a black .45 on Tuesday, properly cleaned and lubed it (I had read this is a must) then put it to bed. Went to the range on Wednesday with 250 rounds of 4 different loads (2 factory and 2 of my own rolls) to do a proper break-in before turning this into my primary ccw, that’s when the fight started.

My 1st reloads, (light target loads 200 gr plated SWC, cci primers, mixed brass, Lee Factory crimp, Universal powder) did about what I expected them to do – stovepipe, fte, ftf as well as the unexpected failure to return to battery– 1 to 2 per mag, every mag. I tested these to find the lower power limit of this gun.

My 2nd reloads, (target loads 200 gr plated SWC, cci primers, mixed brass, Lee Factory crimp, +1.5 gr Universal powder) did better than I expected them to do – no stovepipe, and fewer fte, fewer ftf and still the unexpected failure to return to battery. 1-2 per mag, about every other mag, but both mags failed equally.

I then tried Remington 230 gr FMJ round nose. Really noticed the recoil increase from the 230 gr rounds and surprisingly still had – ftf and failure to return to battery. 1 per mag, every mag

Finally fired Federal 185 gr JHP. – no stovepipe, but did ftf and failure to return to battery, but not as often, 1 per mag every 3rd or 4th mag.

I cleaned the gun twice during this session, no difference. I’m pretty sure all the ftf are because of the failure to return to battery. Hard to tell as the light strike would move the slide into battery. If this gun had 2nd strike ability the 2nd pull of the trigger would make the gun go bang.

After examining the 1st few ftf, and seeing they were light strikes I rechambered them and they all went bang.

Then after each subsequent ftf, I then started pulling the slide back just far enough to reset the trigger and pushed the slide into battery and they all went bang.

I do not trust this gun (yet) as a carry gun. I also generally keep the guns I buy, but am actually considering selling this one. It is great at the range, very accurate, fun to shoot. But I bought this for ccw, don’t need a small range gun and do not trust it as much as I do my keltec p3at for ccw at less than 1/3 the price.

It has a fired case date of 20-05-2013 and ser # xs665 so I thought these would have been ironed out by now (like the small slide release issue has been) but it has not in mine.

Any help MUCH appreciated.

Hey guys, over on the XD forum they've tracked the problem down and found a solution for the light primer strikes.

Y'all need to read this:

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-s-discussion-room/238511-xds-light-strikes.html

clicked on the link and this is what came up:

502 Bad Gateway

nginx/1.4.1

Click to expand...

can you post a better link, would like to know the solution

thanks!

is this the thread?

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-s-discussion-room/238511-xds-light-strikes.html

if so, do you think the frog lube or the mag spring is the solution?

Thats it. Yes the mag springs are the solution. Sounds impossible but it really is the mag springs. It's been confirmed by another poster.

FYI: these are the springs

www.trippresearch.com

Part no. MS-14C048

The springs are easier to install if you cut 1/4" off of the bottom of the spring.

Frog lube may help but I haven't tried the Froglube.

I've had the 45 version since it came out. Flawless, accurate, little recoil in such a small gun. No issues going into battery, no problems at all. Does not like RWS ammo but will shoot any other brand ive run thru it without any issues. Loaded with Speer and is my EDC.

can someone verify from their own experience that changing springs makes any noticeable difference?

Thanks woodwrkr.

It is posts like ejfalvo's that made me buy the XDs.

So many people say the same thing, and I believe him and them.

I just wish mine was like his and not like the all too many that have failure to return to battery problems – unacceptable for a carry gun!

I also wonder if springfield has not already adjusted their mag springs, mine are VERY strong out of the box. I am going to disassemble them and compare them to the pictures. If they look like the old springs I’ll order the trippreearch springs.

Glad I could help y'all out. I'm Toolman on XDtalk so I'm the one who figured out what is going on and found a solution. One of the other members of XDtalk has tried the springs and he confirmed my findings. Another member has the springs but won't be going to the range until Monday. He's going to keep us posted.

I'm trying to spread the word so other XDs owners who are having problems with their XDs can get them running right and begin carrying them. After all thats why most of us buy the XDs, myself included.

If Springfield Armory has changed anything I haven't heard about it. Mine has been back to customer service twice and they didn't think anything was wrong. I have no idea whether or not they tested the mags even though I told them to the second trip back to CS.

I shot 50 rounds through my XD-S today including 25 rounds of Rem Golden Saber 185gr BJHP and 25 rounds of Rem 230gr JHP without any issues. I only have 100 rounds through this pistol but it's worked fine with three different loads. The magazine springs in the 5 and 7-round magazines seem to be plenty stiff and quite a bit stiffer than anything I use in my 1911 magazines.

No issues with my xds 45. approx.300 rounds.

I could have made this vid as i also love the way my XDs fires when it fires and it has the same failure to return to battery problems he does. (see my post #37 above)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqyXhuu3GvM

It seems to me that they are related but different problems.

The 1st failure to return to battery problem in the vid looks like it is looking for the new mag spring solution. I haven’t had the chance to check my mag springs but I think the new ones will only cure the failure to return to battery problems after firing (this 1st problem).


The 2nd failure to return to battery problem in the vid looks like a modified extractor/extractor spring is needed.

Some say that failure to return to battery #2 in the vid is common, so I checked all my other automatics and they all return to batter with 1 in the pipe like they are supposed to, except my new XDs.

I haven’t given up wanting to love the little XDs, from an ergonomic perspective it is a perfect ccw, but she has lost some shine.

Thoughts gents…..

Thoughts? If the principles of the 1911 in general not including hammer fired versus striker fired can be applied to the XDs, meaning recoil, recoil springs, mag springs, feeding, etc. then hand cycling to check for feeding problems doesn't tell us anything. Feeding issues are only revealed with live fire. After all, many tightly fitted competition 1911's will stop short of returning to battery when hand cycled but during live fire they function just fine.

My experience with the XDs and all the testing and studying i've done says the XDs needs stronger mag springs. The XDs has inertia feed problems when limp wristed or when people with small hands and wrists are shooting.