Striker indicator prevents pistol from firing?!?!

[Tomcat088]

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR PISTOL IS UNLOADED BEFORE TRYING THIS!!!

Ok I ran across something strange with one of my buddies and wanted to see everyone else's experiences with this matter. He has a XD-45 compact, I have an XD-45 Tactical. At one time he broke his striker indicator, said it was a total failure, and had to have it replaced. He then told me that he didn't trust his XD because of that issues, I understand how it can cause some people to lose faith. Today we were talking and he said that if he holds his striker indicator with a pair of pliers back (like it was wedged or caught) his pistol won't fire or go click. I pulled out some pliers and held my striker indicator back, pushed in the grip safety and pulled the trigger and "click!". My pistol makes a slightly odd sound because it's just the firing pin and assembly moving forward, but it still goes click. When I releave the striker indicator, it obviously goes forward, showing that the firing pin did indeed go all the way forward. Now my buddy does it on his and says that it won't click, and that he did it on a buddy of his 9mm SC and his won't go click either.

This kind of has me confused because in my experience of field stripping and servicing my pistol, the indicator just sits in that striker. There isn't anything that necessarily attaches them to each other. There's the flat spot that stops the indicator and pushes it back when the striker is cocked, but no attachments. I'm wondering if his striker has some how bound to the striker or what, because I tried it several times and my pistol goes click every time. Any of you had this experience? Does your pistol go click when you do it? This isn't a buddy who's sipping on the glock kool-aid, this is a friend that I trust very much so, and owns an XD. I have absolutely faith in mine, and have never had any sort of failure in 5K rounds, so I'm a bit confused. I haven't tried this with a live round, obviously holding something behind the slide might not be such a good idea, but does your XD go click?

Edit: He told me his indicator didn't break, it was held back in the channel. My apologies gentlemen, and it better explains why he would hold it back with a pair of pliers to see if it would still fire or not.

[tomfoolery]

I shot an entire match with my XD40 service with the firing pin indicator broken. Appearently it snapped off and i didnt know it until half way through, continued the match without a hitch. Springfield sent me one that week.

[ScottyT]

In one of the torture test articles the guy was drop testing an XD9 and broke the indicator off. It still worked beautifully at the end of the test.

EDIT: This article
SPRINGFIELD ARMORY

[RogueXD]

??? thats doesn't sound right. During the torture test somewhere around the 12k round mark, the indicator broke and they continued to 20k rounds without it.. I'm stumped..

[jtprevatte]

Ok...the first question that comes to my mind is "why is he holding the indicator back with a pair of pliers in the first place?"

[Tomcat088]

Well, the idea is, what is something lodged the indicator back. I have been on the forum for quite a while and seen lots of broken indicators. The idea is that what if something got in the channel and lodged the indicator back. Would the indicator prevent the pistol from firing? I don't think it will, and mine still clicks. That's what I was trying to figure out.

[Loves2Shoot]

If you held the striker indicator back with pliers you are taking up all the tension on the striker spring, as the indicator has a ridge that goes in the front of the striker spring that it seats in. As soon as you released the pliers and had the trigger pulled rearward the striker would go all the way forward.

No offense, but it is an ignorant test, take it apart and you can deduce the results just by looking at how the part works.

You would harm nothing mechanically by removing the indicator.

[RogueXD]

Originally Posted by Loves2Shoot

If you held the striker indicator back with pliers you are taking up all the tension on the striker spring, as the indicator has a ridge that goes in the front of the striker spring that it seats in. As soon as you released the pliers and had the trigger pulled rearward the striker would go all the way forward.

No offense, but it is an ignorant test, take it apart and you can deduce the results just by looking at how the part works.

You would harm nothing mechanically by removing the indicator.

I think your missing the point. "intial" test.. test.. To an expert it would seem dumb, to us (being not experts in the gunsmithing world) it is something worth looking into. Now we know, but the question still remains, was the broken indicator a possible reason for the weapon not to fire??
Its possible, from the way it sounds..

[Tomcat088]

Originally Posted by Loves2Shoot

If you held the striker indicator back with pliers you are taking up all the tension on the striker spring, as the indicator has a ridge that goes in the front of the striker spring that it seats in. As soon as you released the pliers and had the trigger pulled rearward the striker would go all the way forward.

No offense, but it is an ignorant test, take it apart and you can deduce the results just by looking at how the part works.

You would harm nothing mechanically by removing the indicator.

Scott, I'm a huge fan of your work buddy, but I didn't think it was that dumb of a test. I've fully stripped my pistol several times, and know what you mean by just how the parts work it appears to be a stupid test. That's what I thought also, but either way, he still says that his wasn't firing. I can't explain it, and it doesn't make sense in my head really, but that's what he said. When I released the indicator, it went forward exactly like I predicted, because of the spring, and because the firing pin had indeed moved forward. What you said though made me have another question.

You said it takes the tension on the striker spring? That makes me think you mean the actual striker spring, and not the indicator spring (if I remember correctly, it's been a while). Could that result in light primer strikes because there isn't enough tension or mass behind the firing pin? Could this possibly result in the pistol not firing? I'm not an expert on this pistol, I just know how things appear to work, and have shot mine quite a bit. You are the expert, and I trust your opinion on this matter more than anyone else, you're the premier gunsmith for this pistol and the aftermarket parts. Please don't call it a stupid test Scott, I'm just trying to learn something new.

Edit: had my head up my butt, lol

[englandcrown]

Only thing that prevents my XD from firing is when I'm out of ammo!!!!! ahhhhh ha ha ha ha ha