Earlier I wrote my impressions of the used, but in excellent condition, 4 inch barrel XD .45. To sum up, I liked it very well, my only problems were I though it had a higher perceived recoil than my other .45s and it didn't like lighter loads or wadcutters. Saturday I bought a new 5 inch .45 M&P with no safety and no magazine disconnect. Couldn't pass up the rebate offer since I have been thinking of getting one of these anyway.
I and a friend put over 250 rounds through it today and also shot the XD for comparison. At this point the XD has a better trigger, but we got used to the M&P trigger as the day wore on and I think the trigger wore in a bit also. I tried the smaller grips on the M&P and they didn't work real well with my big hands, the point of impact was low. Gooseberi tried it, and the small grips fit her hand, but she said the trigger guard banged up her middle finger. She doesn't really like any .45 but the Sig P220, and she loves that. When I put on the bigger grip, Matt and I both liked the way it felt, and got to where we shot it pretty well, He dialed it in faster that I did.
The M&P has a smaller magazine capacity 10 vs 13 and, being new was pretty hard to load. The XD was easier and had stainless magazines. The magazines on the M&P where finished black like the slide.
The M&P ate everything I fed it without a bobble, the XD still only likes full power round nose loads. I haven't tried either with hollow points as I don't feel that hollow points are all that necessary for the .45 acp. While experimenting with different grips on the XD I managed to hit the mag release button a couple of times and partially dropped the magazine. This did not happen to Matt.
Sight picture was about the same for both guns, just the standard 3 white dots. They both have the rails for lights and such which I don't care about.
At this point I'd give a slight edge to the M&P as a service/carry gun because it fed everything. The XD is a little easier to shoot at this point, but I did have the problem with hitting the magazine release. Matt and I were both able to stay in the center of the silhouette target in rapid fire at 7 and 12 yards with group sizes 3 to 5 inch groups, one and 2 handed. With slow fire and a 2 hand grip we shot smaller groups, but I shoot for self defense rather than groups and don't really pay much attention to slow fire unless I'm learning to use a certain pistol, as we were doing with these 2 today.
I think they are both fine pistols and I intend to keep and shot both.
Matt brought his new Millennium Pro .40 along and shot that about as well as these 2. But he said that I had sabotaged him and he now felt he needed a big .45.
I and a friend put over 250 rounds through it today and also shot the XD for comparison. At this point the XD has a better trigger, but we got used to the M&P trigger as the day wore on and I think the trigger wore in a bit also. I tried the smaller grips on the M&P and they didn't work real well with my big hands, the point of impact was low. Gooseberi tried it, and the small grips fit her hand, but she said the trigger guard banged up her middle finger. She doesn't really like any .45 but the Sig P220, and she loves that. When I put on the bigger grip, Matt and I both liked the way it felt, and got to where we shot it pretty well, He dialed it in faster that I did.
The M&P has a smaller magazine capacity 10 vs 13 and, being new was pretty hard to load. The XD was easier and had stainless magazines. The magazines on the M&P where finished black like the slide.
The M&P ate everything I fed it without a bobble, the XD still only likes full power round nose loads. I haven't tried either with hollow points as I don't feel that hollow points are all that necessary for the .45 acp. While experimenting with different grips on the XD I managed to hit the mag release button a couple of times and partially dropped the magazine. This did not happen to Matt.
Sight picture was about the same for both guns, just the standard 3 white dots. They both have the rails for lights and such which I don't care about.
At this point I'd give a slight edge to the M&P as a service/carry gun because it fed everything. The XD is a little easier to shoot at this point, but I did have the problem with hitting the magazine release. Matt and I were both able to stay in the center of the silhouette target in rapid fire at 7 and 12 yards with group sizes 3 to 5 inch groups, one and 2 handed. With slow fire and a 2 hand grip we shot smaller groups, but I shoot for self defense rather than groups and don't really pay much attention to slow fire unless I'm learning to use a certain pistol, as we were doing with these 2 today.
I think they are both fine pistols and I intend to keep and shot both.
Matt brought his new Millennium Pro .40 along and shot that about as well as these 2. But he said that I had sabotaged him and he now felt he needed a big .45.
