XDm vs 2011

[drysideshooter]

My son has been shooting USPSA production with a XDm 9mm, I also own one but shoot open class USPSA and Steel Challenge with a custom 2011. My son wants to try using his XDm for USPSA open, shooting minor PF. It already has a great Powder River trigger, solid guide rod, extended mag release, etc.

We've put a Leupold Deltapoint on it, and it absolutely rocks on the XDm. We are going to add a Pistolgear magwell to it.

This morning while making sure his extended 140mm mags dropped well I was reminded how nice the XDm's are. I have spent quite a bit of time tuning my 2011 mags. They drop well, but no better than any of the 12 mags my son has for his XDm, and they've never been tinkered with other than adding different springs and followers. We each have well over 15k rounds through our XDm's and they're always been really reliable. For the money I think they are a heck of a value.

I wish there was a realistic way to turn an XDm 9mm into a 9 major PF that would be competitive in open. I've talked with Scott Springer quite a bit about it and I just don't think it's very realistic. If my son gets really serious we may end up getting him a 40 and building an open gun off of that platform.

[speedrrracer]

Very cool experiment! Your son can dip his toe into Open waters while minimizing the expense.

I didn't see you mention it, so I should mention one of the most amazing things about shooting open -- a comp!

Any chance of calling Scott back and asking him to hook you up with a threaded Bar-sto and one of his comps?

[ErichF]

I wonder is the SA Custom Shop could convert a 9mm 525 barrel for 38 Super? That would be very competitive in Open...

[drysideshooter]

Converting to 38 super comp would be very cool. I already load 38SC for my open 2011.

I think we are going to go with the SJC 5 port comp instead of one of Scott's comps. I've talked with a few folks that have used both and prefer the SJC comp. I will probably contact the SA custom shop and ask about a 38 Super barrel threaded for a comp. If that can't be done I will probably get a Bar-Sto threaded barrel from Scott. I've actually been in Scott's shop and he has done some work on my open 2011. He is a great guy.

ON EDIT:

I just tried loading some 38 Super into a 9mm mag and it's a no-go. Might work if the bullet was seated deep, but if giving up that much capacity might as well stick with 9mm.