Hello. The ice/bad weather was enough improved to head to the range with the XD9 again to do a bit more shooting and testing.
Today, due to the weather, each group fired was done at 15 yards in slow-fire while one rapid-fire group was done at 10 yards.
Furthermore, since most would consider the XD series pistols as defensive arms primarily, only ammunition from all over the defensive type was used.
Ammunition Used:
Left to Right: Remington 147 gr Golden Saber, Corbon +P 115 gr JHP, Federal Nyclad 124 gr HP, Federal 115 gr JHP, Federal 124 gr +P+ HydraShok, Corbon 124 gr "Bonded" +P JHP, and Glaser 80 gr "Silver" Safety Slug.
15-Yards: Five-shot groups were fired slow-fire with each brand shown. While not a definitive reliability test, 10 rounds were loaded into the magazine, a round chambered, and the magazine topped off for a total of 11 rounds in the gun. That way, the XD was being fired as it would likely be carried.
Groups were satisfactory considering the temperature. I was not sure whether it was me or the ammo with the normally very accurate 115 gr Federal JHP, but the groups are about the same. In my earlier "Range Report" on the XD, this load grouped considerably tighter; this was from a different lot and shows the need to check one's carry ammo on a regular basis.
I did use a 6 O' Clock hold this time and the work at home dry-firing does seem to've helped. Also as one gentleman had advised, after some rounds went downrange in his pistol, "first-shot flyer" syndrome went away. I did NOT notice it this session. The gun's had about 350 rnds or so through it since the original report and before today's shooting.
The second set of ammunition fired for group at 15 yards.
I remembered wrong. The Glaser is 80 gr, not 70.
Were I to experience any problems, I would have expected it to have been with the blunt Corbon 115 gr JHP, but such was not the case. The round fed "slickly" from both magazines be they full or only partially loaded.
The Corbon 124 gr "Bonded" JHP is an older lot of their ammunition from when they used the Speer 124 gr Gold Dot instead of Sierra's 125 gr JHP. I didn't have any Speer 124 gr +P GDHPs to try so I used these as the GDHP from Speer's a pretty popular round and velocities between the Speer and Corbon are very similar.
Not so popular as in the past, I also fired some of Glaser's +P Safety Slug. There was a problem with this round which will be brought out under "Observations."
Some prefer the heavier bullet weights in 9mm and to my surprise, I found a box of Remington's 147 gr Golden Saber and included it in today's shoot.
10-Yards:
The group consists of 11 shots firing in 5 sets of controlled pairs with the final shot fired as quickly as a sight picture picture could be obtained. It does appear that at speed, I'm "slapping" the trigger from the number of hits that are low and left. I'll work on this.
I used the Corbon 115 gr +P as it had the sharpest feeling recoil of any load test, though this was not at all "bad."
Observations:
The gun's capable of very good accuracy. I was not able to wring it out today, but am satisfied that it'll group better than I'm capable of. I'm becoming familar with the trigger which helps and has not proven difficult.
Ejection was similar to that reported in the initial report. However, I did have
two malfunctions today, both with the Glaser. Both were failures to eject. It
appears that the XD does not like this light, fast round's recoil impulse.
Note that the extractor seems to've torn the rim of this case. Though this exact same jam was repeated in firing 3 more Glasers, the rim was NOT torn. After noting this, I checked every fired case, particularly the +P rounds, for defects like the one shown; there were none. Checking the extractor claw itself showed nothing wrong.
I also included the "scientific mud expansion tests" on a couple of rounds. Doesn't prove anything, but folks seem to like it. If interested in how these rounds do in 10% ballistic gelatin, one site you might find of interest is
www.ammolab.com , and others.
Two Corbon 115 gr +P JHPs fired from the XD.
...and Remington's "heavy" 147 gr Golden Saber.
In closing, the Federal 124 gr Nyclad standard pressure hollow point is discontinued for public sale, but if you locate some, I've found it to be accurate and reliable in all 9mm pistols I've tried it in. Accuracy runs from "good" to "excellent" in my experience. In animals, it has expanded pretty nicely...should you prefer a standard pressure load.
Best.
