So how many rounds before XD's are "broken in"?

[JAguirre]

So Ive had my XD40SC since May '09 and put exactly 750 rounds downrange. I have noticed that the slide action is considerably smoother than when I purchased the pistol and I think the percieved recoil is less, and I shoot a helluva lot better than when it was new, consitent 2'' groups at 15 yrds ( Im not a marksman!)...but his may be from practice and getting used to it.

In regards to the semi-auto pistols that Ive had before (Colt M1911, Ruger P-89, Glock 17, Beretta 92) , I never really paid attention to any difference between brand new and after being fired considerably, and I cant say that I noticed anything-maybe because I didnt pay attention? Is there something that I should be looking for in th XD now that Ive had this many rounds through it?

Also, when is my XD due for a complete disassemble and cleaning? I field strip, clean and lube after each range session, but I have never taken any of the "small" pieces/springs or retainers out and cleaned them. I should have my CHL in about 3 weeks and my XD will be my primary carry weapon and if its due for a thorough cleaning Id like to do it before carrying it everyday.

Thanks for all y'alls the expertise on this.

[SpringerFan]

I usually start to notice things "smoothing out" at around 500+ rounds on my XDs. Mostly in trigger pull, but also in the slide action. I also polish my barrels, which makes the action much smoother. As far as a detail strip and clean, maybe 1,500-2000 rounds? Don't know, never have done it with any of my pistols. Just field strip and basic clean after each range trip. No problems. My .02

[rexracer]

Nothing wrong with a thorough cleaning, especially if you tend to over lube. If you do take it down, I wouldn't (haven't) mess with the mag release. I hear it's a b**** to get back together. The rest is pretty easy, and there are diagrams and videos on the net to walk you through it.

[dtd80]

Haven't done a full tear down yet but I really notice things started to smooth out at 500 and at 1000, the trigger got even smoother! I probably will be doing a full tear down at the 5000 mark or when poor performance is felt, whichever comes first. It doesn't seem too difficult but I think the main thing is to keep spare parts for a "tune-up" once in a while. your mileage may vary.

[TMP]

I full on tore down my XD9SC at about 3300 rounds and gave it a deep cleaning. I did not mess with the mag release as I too have heard the stories. I think the gun felt good from day one, 'bout time for a trigger job now.

[Samtu_Ray]

I deep clean my firearms when performance tells me to and as such, have not yet done my Gen 1 HS2k.

Of course, I have only been shooting it for a decade.

Did not clean it at all the first 10k rounds...just to see if it would fail.

It didn't.

[mongoose33]

How long? 1 round.

As noted, the trigger smooths out after a few hundred rounds; it's a good reason to dry fire it.

I used to detail-strip and clean my XDs fairly regularly, just because it made me feel better, but it is somewhat time consuming to do that in addition to the cleaning. Maybe an hour the way I do it.

More recently, I've taken to spraying out the lower with Breakfree Powder Blast, which flushes the junk out of the lower quite effectively. Once it dries (maybe 10 minutes if you shake the pistol a few times), I follow with a few squirts of Breakfree CLP to coat all the metal parts.

With the slide I simply clean it as best I can without stripping it, though once in a while I will take it down all the way and clean it. You can Powder Blast that as well, but you have to be cognizant of the fact that you'll get this stuff into the striker channel, and it won't dry out readily. You don't want a lot of crap in the striker channel anyway as it will eventually gunk things up and may result in light primer strikes.

PS: I talked to Springfield Armory about using Powder Blast on the polymer and they said it's fine. And my experience is that it is.