XD back from Custom Shop

[jedi573]

Timeline:

Purchased 4" 9x19 bi-tone XD in July 2005. Decided over the summer of 2006 that I could go for some modifications. I decided I'd go for a trigger job (for carry), night sights, Bar-Sto barrel, and Black-T on the whole gun. I shipped the gun through a local UPS Store on 19 August 2006. Arrived at the Custom Shop on 21 August; they called on 31 August telling me they were beginning work, and to confirm that I wanted the entire gun finished in Black-T - as the slide was stainless and it wouldn't stick as well - and I confirmed. I was quoted six to eight weeks for the work. Gun was shipped from IL on 28 September and arrived at my doorstep on the morning of 29 September 2006.

Initial Handling and Thoughts:

Sights - About what you would expect. Trijicon night sights, three-dot. The height was good, a bit higher than the OEM white three-dot sights which was nice. White rings were unmarred and the vials themselves were crisp and clear. They were marked "06."

Finish - Beautifully done. I've always been a fan of Black-T. The slide, grip safety, mag release, slide release, and barrel were all finished. With the exception of the crown (around which the finish seemed a little broken and uneven) it was very well done. I know it won't stick as well to stainless, but with the minor rust issues I was having, it was better than leaving it bare.

Barrel - Bar-Sto usually turns out good work. OD was a nice fit, and the lockup and barrel hood were well done. I didn't have time today to do much accuracy checking, but it was holding within the ten ring at seven yards with fairly rapid fire (one or two seconds per shot). Slow fire was in the center of the x-ring at seven yards with WWB 115-grain FMJ. Thumbs up.

Trigger - Could have been a little better. Break was noticeably lighter than previously (down to a little under five pounds, give or take), but its length was about the same. The slack was shortened a little, but it still had the characteristic XD mini-two-stage thing going on. I don't mind much, I actually kind of like it. Reset was a little better. Of the four things I had done, the trigger was the bit I was least impressed with. Don't get me wrong - it was well done, great for carry. And overall I'm impressed with the work they did, so saying I liked the trigger least isn't saying much. But, still, worth mentioning. I'm sure trigger jobs on the XD meant for competition are nicer. It's more than adequate for a duty gun.

Initial Druthers - The gun had some lockup issues that I'll continue with when I get to the range report. I broke it down to have a look at the fitting - everything looks nice, by the way - but had trouble putting the slide back on. It would get about half an inch from battery (this is pulling it back before going past battery to lock the slide to flip the takedown lever back up) and then stop. I'm not Arnold, but I'm not a dancer either. I couldn't get the slide to budge. Finally I let the slide move back forward, and with one hard motion pulled it as hard as I could. The slide pulled all the way to the rear, and at the same time, the takedown lever sort of bobbled up and down quickly and left me a nice little idiot notch on the lower edge of the slide right above the takedown lever. I chalked it up to lack of oil from shipping, new barrel, and new finish.

Shooting Range:

I brought three hundred rounds of WWB 115-grain FMJ for some initial break-in work. All shooting was done at seven yards at an outdoor range. Accuracy was pretty good, eight-ring with rapid fire (two to three rounds a second, give or take), ten-ring with one or two seconds per shot, and dead-center in the x-ring with slow fire. Weather was about sixty degrees with a cool brisk wind. The white outlines on the night sights were easy to see, and the Black-T on the slide cut down on glare compared to when it was stainless.

I had an odd malfunction that caused concern on round #293. On the previous round, I pulled the trigger, had a good ejection of the brass, but the slide returning towards battery didn't feel exactly right. This was during a rapid-fire string at the end of my ammo, and the next one didn't fire. My finger came out of the triggerguard and I relaxed my stance while pointing the weapon towards the target; I assumed it could have been a hangfire, so I held it there for a minute. As I was waiting, I noticed the slide was out of battery approximately three-quarters of an inch, and I could see the glint of a casing through the port. After waiting a bit, I hit the base of the mag with my left hand and attempted to pull back the slide; it didn't move. I dropped the magazine (there were still seven rounds in it), and attempted to pull the slide several more times to no avail. After trying to pull it back with both quick jerks and steady pulls, I hit the rear of the slide with my left palm vigorously several times and it finally returned to battery.

As this was a malfunction I'd never had before (failure to return to battery when loading a new round that didn't double-feed but where the previous spent casing ejected fine), I held it towards the target again for thirty seconds. Then I fired off the round with the magazine out and it went fine.

Break-in glitch? Passing gremlin? Bad round? Not sure. I talked to a pleasant fellow at the Custom Shop about it (just now hung up with him in the middle of writing this!) and he informed me that it might have been a reaming issue with the Bar-Sto barrel. He agreed with my plan to run another thousand rounds through it and then have another detailed look. If it keeps doing it I'll send it back in, but considering it didn't for the first two hundred ninety-two rounds, it may have been a one-time thing. I'll be honest, though, it turned me off a little on the excitement of getting the gun back (which was now $1100 instead of $500) with that malfunction.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the work, especially with the five-week turnaround! The finish looks great (it's hard to describe Black-T on stainless), sights are solid, barrel is good quality, trigger is pretty good, and except for the two odd malfunctions (first when putting it back together after the field-strip and the second during firing) it's a very nice piece. Deb was great to work with as always, so kudos to her. Jeremy - with whom I spoke just now about the malfunction issue - was also very nice to deal with and concerned with my satisfaction of their works, so he gets a kudos too. Overall, I'd highly recommend Springfield's Custom Shop to anyone.

Satisfaction with Custom Shop's work: A-
Overall satisfaction with the newly-modified XD: B+

Photos upon request; I'm no Lunde, though, I can tell you that!

Andy

[XDAndMe]

I have exactly the same gun (XD9 service, bi-tone), so I would love to see how yours came out.

[TheXDkid]

+1

[jedi573]

Photos as requested! Please excuse my less-than-amateur photography.








Andy

[XDAndMe]

Well it came out good. I just don't see the point of covering up the stainless slide, though.

Glad you're happy with it

[jedi573]

I was having some rust issues with the stainless, unfortunately. If I went to the range and didn't clean it, a few days later I'd have minor surface rusting. I figured I might as well have it refinished while it was there.

Andy

[Pappa Bear]

I had the FTF issue. And while in, I had Night Sights put on.

Took it to the range immediatly, FTF on round 39 then another 6 failures within 100 rounds.

I have a call into SA, waiting to hear back. I plan to send it in.

They have been great with service, but did not deliver the fix.

Newbie, any lemon laws on SA XD40's?

Bummin

[TheXDkid]

i dont know about your expirience with 1911's however after the barsto barrel how close will an xd come to the accuracy of the 1911??

[jedi573]

In theory, the accuracy will be comparable, but the trigger on a 1911 is easier to wring out top-notch accuracy.

That being said, this was my first shot of the afternoon, at ten yards.





Andy