XD45 Tactical

[bubbacrabb]

Well, I went to the gun shop today with only intentions to look, and maybe pick up another glock cause with my LEO discount I get a pretty sweet deal. I do a lot of reloading, so the idea of a glock 21 kind of pushed me away with the poly rifling and cast bullets. I looked at a XD45 tactical. Has a 5 inch barrel which really seamed sweet. The guy shot a price at 500 a bit below the normal price sense he knew I could get a g21 at 450 with my discount. So i picked it up, and an extra mag. I really like the feel of it. Im going to the range here in a bit to blast a few of my reloads to see if i made a good decision. Hopefully it shoots great. I just wondered anyone that might own this guns opinions on it. If you shoot cast or not? I cast my own 230 grain lead round nose because that is what I shoot in my 1911's. Im hoping this functions fine. They passed the plunk test in this barrel. Take care

 

[harmon rabb]

i have a xd 45. great gun. not much else to say about it. fits the hand well, soaks up recoil well, decent trigger, flawless reliability, 13rd mags. at the range, mine gets nothing but the cheapest steel cased garbage walmart sells, and it never cares. i save the good stuff for my 1911's

you definitely did not make a bad decision. honestly, in choosing between a glock and an xd, you can't make a bad decision, so your choice is pretty irrelevant

 

[wally]

I can hit what I aim at with the XD45, can't say the same for the Glock 21, its just too big and blocky for me to shoot effectively.

Despite all the bad folks have to say about the Gen4 Glocks, its the first I can shoot effectively as fit is much better for me.

My XD45 shoots little but hard cast relaods or Wolf steel cased FMJ.

 

[harmon rabb]

I can hit what I aim at with the XD45, can't say the same for the Glock 21, its just too big and blocky for me to shoot effectively

I am the best with my XD of my polymer guns... which irks me, because I like my FNP better.

 

[G27RR]

Despite owning a number of other options, and being partial to the 1911 for carry, I choose to use my XD45 Tactical with a TLR-2 as my home defense pistol. If I had a railed 1911 I might switch, but I like the extra capacity and concealment isn't a concern at home. The XD45 points and shoots very naturally and very well for me. It also has very good balance with and without the TLR-2 attached.

 

[Whiskey11]

Since March 3rd, 2011 (first day of owning it), my XD45 Tactical is at 2615 rounds with no malfunctions that are firearm related. I think maybe 6 that are ammo related (plated bullets develop burrs when chambered then ejected then rechambered for test fitting) and ZERO failure to fire.

A bit of advice, avoid SWC profile in the standard XD as the standard XD does not reliably feed SWC's. The XDm will, but the XD will not. What has been known to happen is that the rim of the round being ejected hits the SWC profile and pushes the top round in the magazine back into the magazine. Eventually it damages the magazine. Round Nose profiles are good to go as well as triangular HP design, but SWCs are no go.

I love my XD45 Tactical




My "pet" load for my XD45 Tactical is:
Rainier 230gr Plated RN
4.9 gr of W231/HP38
CCI300 Primers
Mix Cases
OAL of 1.27"

Accurate enough for me

 

[bubbacrabb]

Well my XD Tactical was tested today. I shot 200 rounds of 230 grain lead round nose missouri bullet softballs out of it. Then shot 3 magazines of 230 grain fmj precision delta bullets just to help out on the clean up afterwards. I like the way the gun shoots. It was very accurate. I was just blasting steel targets. Point of aim was point of impact. I shot it along side my pt1911 and it was pretty good. 1 time I had a stove pipe, which I dont find to be such a big issue with my cast reloads. It did chew up the brass on 1 case. Not so much a big deal. Overall Im pretty happy. First time out with the gun, and it cycled pretty much everything i put thru it. I had lunch with a buddy, which I think if the 4 budwiesers in wasnt there I would of shot a whole lot better I broke the gun down when I got home to clean and was fairly simple. Im happy with my purchase. Now I just need to find a good deal on some magazines

 

[CZ57]

Congrats on the new XD. I have the XDm in .45 and Whiskey's advice is true. The XD doesn't like SWCs. Round nose or truncated work fine. I shoot 200 gr. RNFPs through my XDm and it loves them. Missouri Bullet Co. even refers to this bullet as XD in it's model number. If you want to make your Tac an absolute tack driver consider a trigger kit from Powder River Precision. I have one installed and my trigger rivals many 1911s that cost a lot more $.

 

[wally]

A bit of advice, avoid SWC profile in the standard XD as the standard XD does not reliably feed SWC's.

The 200gr cast SWC was designed specifically to hit the feed ramps on a 1911 same as ball ammo. They fail to work in a lot of .45ACP pistols that are otherwise fine with JHP ammo.

Now that I rarely shoot paper, prefer steel plates, I quit buying them. But back when I shot IPSC the full diameter holes they punched could be worth an extra point or two.

 

[jhansman]

I shoot nothing but lead out of mine, and if I don't push them too fast (200 gr LRNFP), I get no leading and great accuracy. I bought this gun back in 2005 and stupidly sold it; re-bought it last year for keeps. FWIW, mine will feed moly coated wadcutters, but it still choked on them often enough that I switched permanently to round nosed bullets.

 

[Whiskey11]

@Wally - I guess I misstated what I meant. It's not that they wont feed, it's just that occasionally the rim of the case that is being ejected hits the SWC lip and will jam the the top round in the magazine into the back of the magazine which damages the magazine and can make it difficult to remove. The XDm has a bump on the bottom of the slide to push the top round in the magazine down so it will safely feed SWC profile bullets without damaging the magazine. SOME people shoot SWC out of their XD without incident, but I prefer to avoid it all together, mainly because I like 230gr out of my XD45 and I don't mind the profile of RN

 

[Moose1995]

Love my XD 45 tactical. LOVE. However, was thinking if they finally pass a concealed carry law in Illinois, I may trade it in for an XD with a 3.8 inch barrel. Unless I can convince the wife that owning both is a good idea.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

Well you'll need the Tactical with a light attached for HD and the 3.8 for CCW. I mean if she's home alone you would want something there for her to use JIC while your out carrying concealed. Its a simple fact....

 

[ojibweindian]

I've got two XD45 Tacticals w/ thumb safties. LSWC, as mentioned by others, don't feed well in mine, but everything else, from RNFP, ball, and JHPs with aggressive profiles feed just fine.

 

[Browns Fan]

Quote:"Despite owning a number of other options, and being partial to the 1911 for carry, I choose to use my XD45 Tactical with a TLR-2 as my home defense pistol."

Excellent! This is my choice as well.

 

[G27RR]

 

[harmon rabb]

Despite owning a number of other options, and being partial to the 1911 for carry, I choose to use my XD45 Tactical with a TLR-2 as my home defense pistol. If I had a railed 1911 I might switch, but I like the extra capacity and concealment isn't a concern at home. The XD45 points and shoots very naturally and very well for me. It also has very good balance with and without the TLR-2 attached.

You know, your post reminds me of how much I hate my XD 45 for how well I shoot it. It's such a soul-less, boring, tupperware personal protection appliance. In terms of how much a given gun excites me, it scores about a 0. Big chunky slide, plastic everywhere, nothing exciting whatsoever......

But I'll be damned if I don't shoot it as well as any of my 1911's, perhaps even better considering I don't ever seem to require practice or getting used to it -- I shoot it instinctively well, no matter how long it's been since I've touched it, every time I take it to the range. No warmup required.

I kind of hate that something that boring works that well for me. No match grade nothing, no hand fitting, no trigger job, no high quality small production, no tight tolerances, just a plain old off the rack gun that springfield manufacturers by the truckload. I love my 1911s, but I can't argue with the results, so my XD 45 sits on my nightstand as a backup to my 12ga. Likewise, if I had to march off to war and could choose my sidearm (not worrying about the far more important rifle choice here), it wouldn't even be a question, my XD 45 would be coming with me.

 

[G27RR]

Harmon, I feel pretty much the same way. It may not be pretty, but it just plain works and shoots too well for me to change to something else.

 

[james_bond]

Glad you are happy with your new XD-45 Tactical Mr. Bubba,
mine has been a fantastic pistol for 4.5 years now.
just got a TRL-1 and I love my XD even more

 

[roadliner]

Another vote for the plain jane XD. This gun has never brought forth the emotions that a fine wheelgun or a nice 1911 will do, but it goes bang EVERY time and points so naturally. On occasion I will pick up one of my handguns and admired the style and design of the piece, not so with the XD. But it is probably the most dependable pistol I've ever owned and I've owned quite a few.