Info, Testing and Evaluation of Springfield XD's?

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DougD

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I posted about this on the XD forums but received no feedback on it. Can anyone please help me out with this?

I'm a police officer and competitive shooter. I carried a 1911 for about 10 years. After leaving SWAT and going into an investigative unit, I was looking for a high capacity pistol that was reliable and which I could easily transition to. Long story short.....I ended up choosing the XD Tactical in .45 ACP. It was great but it was a little too big for concealing. I later switched to the XDM in .40. I have been very happy with it and have maybe 10K rounds through it with no problems. The XDM is is now my primary duty pistol and I have used it in a few tactical competitions as well. I'm happy with it so far but have a few serious questions now that I've been reading some of the ongoing commentary about Springfield XD pistols on several websites:

1 - Can anyone document that Larry Vickers actually has a low opinion of XD pistols? (Did he write it or say it? Where and when?)

2 - Where can I find a record of any government testing or selection process applied to XD pistols? (municipal, county, state, or federal)

3 - Are there any documented failures or problems with XD's during "torture tests?" (Whose tests? When, and where?)

4 - Are there any reputable, professional trainers/shooters who have a low opinion of XD pistols? (Who and why?)

End users have their own opinions about the XD and every other pistol. With respect to everyone, that's not what I am looking for here. In the interests of professional-level documentation, please respond to the four specific issues above with any valid and true information that you have or that you are aware of (positive or negative). I'm trying to get past the internet rumors/myths and collect some meaningful and valid information. Any help or leads you can offer is appreciated. Thanks.
 
You got me curious so I tried out my Google Fu. The only test I could find is the 20,000 round test posted on Springfields website.
Apparently Vickers has been quoted as calling the XD a "bubba gun". Saying Bubba buys it to take to the junkyard & shoot rats. I couldn't find the original source on this though. He has also been quoted as not liking the G-21 IIRC.
 
Doug, I'm a lot like you. I like the XD and have been very satisfied with it. Therefore, I don't see why it would matter if someone with a name said they didn't like it. I like it, and it has never failed by any fault of its own. I think highly of Mr. Vickers, but if he or any successful competitive shooters don't favor the XD, I don't think I could care less than I already do. If a torture test were to induce a failure or any other problem, I wouldn't be surprised. Torture tests are relatively subjective, and I expect almost any machine to fail when it is tortured and abused.

But none of that could change the way I view or use my pistol. It has proven itself to me, time and again despite the internet rumors/myths.
 
There's a show on the Sportsman Channel called "Handguns". They are doing an ongoing torture test of a SA XDm. So far it's come through with flying colors. They have buried it in mud, sand, water, ice, and run 1,000 rounds through it in continuous rapid fire. It just keeps coming back for more. There are still a few torture tests to run before the final analysis.

I'm not sure what caliber they are using though.
 
First, I very much liked the XD that I owned once. It was fully reliable with everything I put through it. However, I shoot a match at a range that has some fine sand in different places. If I happened to release a mag into that fine sand (talc like) during a reload, then use that mag for later stages, inevitably, I'd get stuck followers. I had seven mags and carried four or five. On more than one occasion, I had to throw two seized mags back in my range bag and replace them with clean mags.

Granted, it's a special circumstance, but if you are shooting a match in similar conditions, it's something to watch for.
 
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Can anyone document that Larry Vickers actually has a low opinion of XD pistols?
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Praytell, why do we care ?

Vickers likes the H&K pistols, even tho they have a hard, rough, long DA trigger pull, coupled with an extremely long reset contained in a trigger guard trough that abrades the finger......but I should disregard all that and buy one simply because somebody says they like it?
 
you could ask on the m4carbine.net handgun subforum...some instructors post there and I remember seeing the Vickers thing a couple months ago on there
 
1 - Can anyone document that Larry Vickers actually has a low opinion of XD pistols? (Did he write it or say it? Where and when?)
Click to expand...

go onto m4carbine forum and ask him yourself. he's a mod on there, and cool to chat with :)


larry's referred to xd's as "range toys". based on my personal experience with one, i'd say that's putting it lightly.
 
*Some* (did I emphasize that enough?) XD45s have a failure to feed problem, this is not an issue with the other calibers.

Most people that write about this think that it is a weak mag spring issue. Although the mag springs are a bit weak on the XD45 and replacing the springs with AGP +20 springs resolves the FTF problem (in most cases), the problem isn't actually the springs.

The problem is that when a round is fired, the ejecting case hits the next round in the mag causing it to nose-dive as it comes up. The factory mags springs don't have enough tension to correct this in time and the chambering round gets hung up on the feed ramp.

Replacing the factory mag spring with +20 springs, in most cases, adds enough strength to correct the nose dive before the round is chambered.

If you experience this, you can replace the mag spring with AGP +20 springs or contact SA. SA has in some cases replaced the magazines and in others replaced the gun.

Here are some write-ups about this:

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-45acp-discussion-room/97757-jam-4-sa-xd-45-acp.html

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/xd-45a...3419-continuing-mag-problem-part2-w-pics.html

Here is what it looks like:

attachment.php
 
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Praytell, why do we care ?
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larry's got over 20 years experience in special forces. he's survived many a gun battle, and had to kill plenty of enemies to stay alive.

not to mention one of the finest 1911 'smiths in the country.

i'd say that's prob why folks take notice of his opinions. ;)
 
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