Springfield Armory XD Sub-Compact 9mm (Break-in) - XDTalk Forums - Your HS2000/SA-XD Information Source!

XDtasy · 03-03-2007, 06:18 PM

Model: Springfield Armory XD Sub-Compact, 9mm
http://www.springfield-armory.com/xd.php?version=59
Date: 3/3/07

Weapon status: Was NIB, field-stripped, cleaned & oiled 2x (Tetra), multiple rack & dry-fire, 2 x 10 round and 1 x 16 round XD mags
Shooting atmosphere: Indoor range, a bit crowded initially but a good natured and friendly group. By the end of my session it was down to just me and one other shooter 6 lanes away. Temp was cool, guessing high 50’s/low 60’s Fahrenheit
Targets: Shotkeeper Target, 5-Bulls Yellow/Red, 100Yards, Pistol/Rifle (45563)
Ammo:

Remington UMC 9mm 115 Gr. MC, 250 rounds down-range
Hornady 9mm 124 Gr. JHP/XTP, 25 rounds down-range
Federal Premium LR 9mm 135 Gr. Hydra-Shok, 20 rounds down-range
Speer GoldDot 9mm 115 Gr. GDHP, 20 rounds down-range

Summary: Damn…I should have considered plastic and “a nine” long ago. My stubbornness & ego prevented me from doing either for years, I was wrong. I logged some range time before making my final decision on this specific weapon and brought mine home this past Monday. After muddling through the anticipation factor all week I finally busted her cherry with a nice break-in session this afternoon. In all seriousness, I have not had as much fun at the range as I did today in a long time. It was just a pleasurable experience shooting this gun.

Went through the first two trays (100rds) of UMC and then performed a field-strip (man is that an easy task), inspection, quick wipe-down and reapplied a bit of oil to include running a lightly oiled patch through the barrel. Fired two more trays then moved through the Hornady, Federal and Speer and then finished-up with the last tray of UMC. I had not planned on shooting the federal but I figured “what the Hell,” let me throw one more ammo type/mfgr. in the mix and see what happens. Zero FTFs, Zero FTE’s, zero malfunctions, absolutely nothing regarding a failure or problem of any type.

My performance: Certainly leaves a lot to be desired and my targets are evidence of that. I had a few “flyers” but overall, I exceeded my expectations for the first-time out and not having “plastic, .9mm, sub experience” behind me. Candidly, I was surprised at how well I fired this weapon at a fast-rate with mags loaded to capacity (and +1), significantly better than when I attempted to go slow and concentrate on disciplined siting and pull as I did with the first 3 mags. I felt “crisp, confident, controlled and totally on” when bursting with 3-5 rounds or when tapping out an entire mag, including 16+1 with the extended mag. For good measure I again performed simulated clearing actions and familiarized myself with the “feel” of the Loaded Chamber & Striker Status indicators. I have much to learn but there is no doubt in my mind I will be shooting this weapon well in short-order.

Weapon performance/impressions: Again flawless with all 4 types of ammo used, well-balanced (for my taste), felt recoil is nonexistent, no problems with “flip,” sites are decent and I had no problem with acquisition or establishing point-of-aim, trigger pull/feel was great but of course that remains subjective. I spent the day running the aforementioned targets out at 7 – 15 yards (2 mags only at 20) and the gun is certainly more accurate than I am capable of (for now). Only time and a track record can validate the long-term viability & durability of the XDs, this model and my specific weapon but I am stamping its performance at break-in as “solid.” I will leave this gun in stock form for quite a while, at least to the ~5K round mark. I see no reason to pursue mods early-on, its decent out-of-the-box IMO. Of course, I fully respect the decision of others to make changes at their discretion and I will admit that I’m actively researching trigger jobs and springs for down-the-road.

Some free-form notes I jotted down during the session:

I am shooting much better using faster trigger-pull, seems to require less concentration & effort especially with the std 10 round mags
I’m diggin’ the rapid-fire, high-cap capability…WOW
Really like this gun/caliber
Love the mag-loader, nice
16+1, damn…this is ******* sweet
Round in chamber indicator…hmmmm…pretty nice
Trigger feel/pull is great, I’m not changing it
Prefer the “fit-n-feel” of the 10 rd mag over the extended
I’m doing well with 10+1
No irritating/problematic brass ejection
Federal is good, Hornady “snappy” and not grouping well, Speer is great - more testing required but for now, going Speer 115 gr GDHPs
I’m “left of aim” with everything except the Hornady and the flyers?

While she’ll never be considered acceptable by the “walnut & stainless crowd” this XD is a good choice for my current needs. As I stated the other day on a different board I never thought I would have "a nine" or "plastic" in my personal armory but...I was foolishly over-looking this necessary weapon/caliber. Will it meet the test of time? We'll see but price, features, build, etc. coupled with all of the published reports, anecdotal feed-back and now this opportunity to “prove it to myself” will allow me to find out.

After my experience today I can definitely say that given another two range sessions like this and another ~700 rounds of problem-free performance to validate integrity (e.g. confidence factor), this weapon will take over the role of HD handgun primary for me (she’s always backed-up by a 1911 and a .357 only steps away though!)

Posted to: http://www.xdtalk.com, http://forums.1911forum.com, http://www.thefiringline.com

**Hooz** · 03-03-2007, 07:06 PM

Nice report, and welcome to the dark side

As a fellow XD-9SC owner, I can't help but recommend that you try a Pearce Grip Extension (or two). It adds just enough extra grip to get your pinky on without ruining the concealability factor.

I have them on all of my 10 round mags, and the 16 rounders never leave the range bag.

Don · 03-03-2007, 10:47 PM

Well written review. Thank you for the effort!
I am not sure if there is a consensus on the Sub but there is a clear issue of shooting to the left on the larger versions. It does seem to be an issue of trigger finger placement. The grip size is small enough that people tend to wrap a lot of finger across the trigger. Center the trigger on your first pad leaving about a pencils width of space between the finger and the grip and your "aim" will usually improve

**PackerfanXD** · 03-03-2007, 11:00 PM

Nice report and +1 on the Pierce pinky extentions.

ChrisChris · 03-03-2007, 11:22 PM

Great post! I just picked up my XDSC9 and I love it too. I just wish I could afford more ammo. Going in for a lesson and another session monday night. Keep us posted about your next time out.

GypsyBill · 03-04-2007, 02:19 PM

Great report... we have only shot 250rnds thru ours (purchased 2 weeks ago) and we really do like it... we did have one FTF (light strike) about half way thru (CCI Brass 115gr FMJ), but once that round was put back in the mag, it and the rest of the mag (and the day) went off without a problem.. I hope to get so more range time this coming weekend.

XDtasy · 03-07-2007, 09:01 AM

Took the advice (and input from other SC threads searched & owner comments) on the Pearce extensions and ordered two this morning. Will add my comments pro or con post-install/range test. Thanks for the input on them.

slugger6 · 03-07-2007, 09:28 AM

XDtasy - That is one of the best, i.e. most specific, range reports I have ever read. Well done!

SpringfieldXD.40 · 03-07-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slugger6

XDtasy - That is one of the best, i.e. most specific, range reports I have ever read. Well done!

+1

XDtasy · 03-13-2007, 07:02 PM

Date: 3/13/07

Weapon status: Cleaned & oiled 2x since initial break-in (Hoppes oil this time), multiple rack & dry-fire, 2 x 10 round and 1 x 16 round XD mags. Change from initial report: Installed Pearce grip extensions on both 10 round mags, comments below.

Shooting atmosphere: Indoor range, virtually nobody there with only 2 other lanes in use at given time. Temp was mild, guessing high 60’s Fahrenheit

Targets: Shotkeeper Target, 5-Bulls Yellow/Red, 100Yards, Pistol/Rifle (45563) and National Target Co. (silhouettes) B-34RC ran out 7 – 15 yards

Ammo:

Remington UMC 9mm 115 Gr. MC, 200 rounds down-range
Federal Premium 9mm 124 Gr. Hydra-Shok JHP, 20 rounds down-range
Speer GoldDot 9mm 115 Gr. GDHP, 10 rounds down-range

Total round-count since NIB: 545

Summary: A lot of fun, just plain “fun” and comfortable. Went through three trays (150rds) of UMC and I intentionally did not clean and/or oil this session as I wanted to keep her running “a bit dirty.” Moved to the Speer for a quick 10 round mag, assessed my performance (not as good as I had hoped but acceptable) then on to the two mags of Hydra-Shoks. I intentionally selected the 124 Gr. JHP’s vs the LR 135 Gr. to determine a preference in Federal and to see how the gun would handle yet another ammo type. As with the initial break-in session same results today, Zero FTFs, Zero FTE’s, zero malfunctions or problems of any type.

My performance: I again had some flyers and frankly, “just some bad shots” but overall, I did “well” in the kill-zone and had more dead-on bulls than my first session. I struggled a bit today establishing point-of-aim but I am chalking that up to the fact that I was mentally tired (actually I’m just plain burned-out and it’s only Tue!) and I had squeezed in a lifting session and 2.5 mile run earlier in the day.

Weapon performance: Again, flawless with all 3 types of ammo used and as I said before, just fun to shoot. Trigger continues to feel good but I did catch myself “going in too deep” with finger placement a few times and I need to pay attention to that (mental note). I made one change that I am unsure about and the jury is out as of now. I did add the Pearce grip extensions to the 10-rounders and as I reflect on it, I’m not quite sure I like them yet. I know that goes against the conventional wisdom of most XD sub owners but, next session I am going to go with 1 on and 1 without and really see how/if it impacts my shooting. I caught myself “thinking about grip position and finger placement” with these things, I’m not sure that’s good for me and in a few instances I’m certain it was impacting my grip angle negatively. I preferred the 124 Gr. Hydra-Shoks today and while I only shot 20…they handled nicely out of this little sub (another mental note).

Some free-form notes I jotted down during the session:

(after my first tray)…I’m suckin’, not shooting well
Tightening my grip too much, over-thinking with these extensions
Mega Packs go fast in this baby
Need to reconsider grip extensions and retest next session
Still hittin’ left of aim…hmmmm
Speers- ok, all in the zone, 6 dead-on and 2 that needed improvement
Hydra’s- sweet, accuracy/grouping/felt recoil, digging these, don’t know what the Hell happened with that one though
Rapid fire full mags and 3-5 round bursts is a blast, 10/16 +1…oh yeah!

After session number two I can confirm that I made a good buy for my purposes so far, but only time and practice will tell. Another couple of range sessions with ~400 rounds of problem-free performance and I’ll be there regarding confidence. Next session will most likely be 200 rounds of Remington UMC 115 Gr. MC and 60 rounds of Federal Premium 124 Gr. Hydra-Shok JHPs.

Lastly, I’ll bore you folks with one more “break-in” update to this thread then...let er’ die and roll into the archive.

Still 'dirty' and with grip extension:

03-03-2007, 06:18 PM	#1
XDtasy XDTalk Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 55	Springfield Armory XD Sub-Compact 9mm (Break-in) Model: Springfield Armory XD Sub-Compact, 9mm http://www.springfield-armory.com/xd.php?version=59 Date: 3/3/07 Weapon status: Was NIB, field-stripped, cleaned & oiled 2x (Tetra), multiple rack & dry-fire, 2 x 10 round and 1 x 16 round XD mags Shooting atmosphere: Indoor range, a bit crowded initially but a good natured and friendly group. By the end of my session it was down to just me and one other shooter 6 lanes away. Temp was cool, guessing high 50’s/low 60’s Fahrenheit Targets: Shotkeeper Target, 5-Bulls Yellow/Red, 100Yards, Pistol/Rifle (45563) Ammo: Remington UMC 9mm 115 Gr. MC, 250 rounds down-range Hornady 9mm 124 Gr. JHP/XTP, 25 rounds down-range Federal Premium LR 9mm 135 Gr. Hydra-Shok, 20 rounds down-range Speer GoldDot 9mm 115 Gr. GDHP, 20 rounds down-range Summary: Damn…I should have considered plastic and “a nine” long ago. My stubbornness & ego prevented me from doing either for years, I was wrong. I logged some range time before making my final decision on this specific weapon and brought mine home this past Monday. After muddling through the anticipation factor all week I finally busted her cherry with a nice break-in session this afternoon. In all seriousness, I have not had as much fun at the range as I did today in a long time. It was just a pleasurable experience shooting this gun. Went through the first two trays (100rds) of UMC and then performed a field-strip (man is that an easy task), inspection, quick wipe-down and reapplied a bit of oil to include running a lightly oiled patch through the barrel. Fired two more trays then moved through the Hornady, Federal and Speer and then finished-up with the last tray of UMC. I had not planned on shooting the federal but I figured “what the Hell,” let me throw one more ammo type/mfgr. in the mix and see what happens. Zero FTFs, Zero FTE’s, zero malfunctions, absolutely nothing regarding a failure or problem of any type. My performance: Certainly leaves a lot to be desired and my targets are evidence of that. I had a few “flyers” but overall, I exceeded my expectations for the first-time out and not having “plastic, .9mm, sub experience” behind me. Candidly, I was surprised at how well I fired this weapon at a fast-rate with mags loaded to capacity (and +1), significantly better than when I attempted to go slow and concentrate on disciplined siting and pull as I did with the first 3 mags. I felt “crisp, confident, controlled and totally on” when bursting with 3-5 rounds or when tapping out an entire mag, including 16+1 with the extended mag. For good measure I again performed simulated clearing actions and familiarized myself with the “feel” of the Loaded Chamber & Striker Status indicators. I have much to learn but there is no doubt in my mind I will be shooting this weapon well in short-order. Weapon performance/impressions: Again flawless with all 4 types of ammo used, well-balanced (for my taste), felt recoil is nonexistent, no problems with “flip,” sites are decent and I had no problem with acquisition or establishing point-of-aim, trigger pull/feel was great but of course that remains subjective. I spent the day running the aforementioned targets out at 7 – 15 yards (2 mags only at 20) and the gun is certainly more accurate than I am capable of (for now). Only time and a track record can validate the long-term viability & durability of the XDs, this model and my specific weapon but I am stamping its performance at break-in as “solid.” I will leave this gun in stock form for quite a while, at least to the ~5K round mark. I see no reason to pursue mods early-on, its decent out-of-the-box IMO. Of course, I fully respect the decision of others to make changes at their discretion and I will admit that I’m actively researching trigger jobs and springs for down-the-road. Some free-form notes I jotted down during the session: I am shooting much better using faster trigger-pull, seems to require less concentration & effort especially with the std 10 round mags I’m diggin’ the rapid-fire, high-cap capability…WOW Really like this gun/caliber Love the mag-loader, nice 16+1, damn…this is ******* sweet Round in chamber indicator…hmmmm…pretty nice Trigger feel/pull is great, I’m not changing it Prefer the “fit-n-feel” of the 10 rd mag over the extended I’m doing well with 10+1 No irritating/problematic brass ejection Federal is good, Hornady “snappy” and not grouping well, Speer is great - more testing required but for now, going Speer 115 gr GDHPs I’m “left of aim” with everything except the Hornady and the flyers? While she’ll never be considered acceptable by the “walnut & stainless crowd” this XD is a good choice for my current needs. As I stated the other day on a different board I never thought I would have "a nine" or "plastic" in my personal armory but...I was foolishly over-looking this necessary weapon/caliber. Will it meet the test of time? We'll see but price, features, build, etc. coupled with all of the published reports, anecdotal feed-back and now this opportunity to “prove it to myself” will allow me to find out. After my experience today I can definitely say that given another two range sessions like this and another ~700 rounds of problem-free performance to validate integrity (e.g. confidence factor), this weapon will take over the role of HD handgun primary for me (she’s always backed-up by a 1911 and a .357 only steps away though!) Posted to: http://www.xdtalk.com, http://forums.1911forum.com, http://www.thefiringline.com

03-03-2007, 07:06 PM	#2
Hooz XDTalk 1K Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Hilliard, OH Posts: 1,894	Nice report, and welcome to the dark side As a fellow XD-9SC owner, I can't help but recommend that you try a Pearce Grip Extension (or two). It adds just enough extra grip to get your pinky on without ruining the concealability factor. I have them on all of my 10 round mags, and the 16 rounders never leave the range bag. __________________ XD-9 Tactical : XD-45 Tactical Member: IDPA, USPSA, ASSA, NRA, GOA

03-03-2007, 10:47 PM	#3
Don XDTalk 4K Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Pullman, WA Posts: 4,167	Well written review. Thank you for the effort! I am not sure if there is a consensus on the Sub but there is a clear issue of shooting to the left on the larger versions. It does seem to be an issue of trigger finger placement. The grip size is small enough that people tend to wrap a lot of finger across the trigger. Center the trigger on your first pad leaving about a pencils width of space between the finger and the grip and your "aim" will usually improve __________________ Don geek with guns Why don\'t you all f-f-f-fade away.... FAQ - Don\'s Guide Rod

03-03-2007, 11:00 PM	#4
PackerfanXD XDTalk 5K Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ground zero of the invasion Posts: 6,816 Blog Entries: 1	Nice report and +1 on the Pierce pinky extentions. __________________ The wealthiest nation in the world with the mightiest army man has ever assembled could not stop them. Mexican 300 http://www.break.com/index/mexican-300.html An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject. -Author unknown.

03-04-2007, 02:19 PM	#6
GypsyBill XDTalk Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Spanish Fort, AL Posts: 32	Great report... we have only shot 250rnds thru ours (purchased 2 weeks ago) and we really do like it... we did have one FTF (light strike) about half way thru (CCI Brass 115gr FMJ), but once that round was put back in the mag, it and the rest of the mag (and the day) went off without a problem.. I hope to get so more range time this coming weekend. __________________ Bill SA XD9SC Bersa Thunder 380 Bersa/Firestorm FS22 Walther P22 Walther P1 ___________ Onward my friends, onward through the fog...

03-03-2007, 11:22 PM	#5
ChrisChris XDTalk 100 Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 146	Great post! I just picked up my XDSC9 and I love it too. I just wish I could afford more ammo. Going in for a lesson and another session monday night. Keep us posted about your next time out.

03-07-2007, 09:01 AM	#7
XDtasy XDTalk Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 55	Took the advice (and input from other SC threads searched & owner comments) on the Pearce extensions and ordered two this morning. Will add my comments pro or con post-install/range test. Thanks for the input on them.

03-07-2007, 09:28 AM	#8
slugger6 XDTalk 10K Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 19,066	XDtasy - That is one of the best, i.e. most specific, range reports I have ever read. Well done!

03-13-2007, 07:02 PM	#10
XDtasy XDTalk Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 55	Date: 3/13/07 Weapon status: Cleaned & oiled 2x since initial break-in (Hoppes oil this time), multiple rack & dry-fire, 2 x 10 round and 1 x 16 round XD mags. Change from initial report: Installed Pearce grip extensions on both 10 round mags, comments below. Shooting atmosphere: Indoor range, virtually nobody there with only 2 other lanes in use at given time. Temp was mild, guessing high 60’s Fahrenheit Targets: Shotkeeper Target, 5-Bulls Yellow/Red, 100Yards, Pistol/Rifle (45563) and National Target Co. (silhouettes) B-34RC ran out 7 – 15 yards Ammo: Remington UMC 9mm 115 Gr. MC, 200 rounds down-range Federal Premium 9mm 124 Gr. Hydra-Shok JHP, 20 rounds down-range Speer GoldDot 9mm 115 Gr. GDHP, 10 rounds down-range Total round-count since NIB: 545 Summary: A lot of fun, just plain “fun” and comfortable. Went through three trays (150rds) of UMC and I intentionally did not clean and/or oil this session as I wanted to keep her running “a bit dirty.” Moved to the Speer for a quick 10 round mag, assessed my performance (not as good as I had hoped but acceptable) then on to the two mags of Hydra-Shoks. I intentionally selected the 124 Gr. JHP’s vs the LR 135 Gr. to determine a preference in Federal and to see how the gun would handle yet another ammo type. As with the initial break-in session same results today, Zero FTFs, Zero FTE’s, zero malfunctions or problems of any type. My performance: I again had some flyers and frankly, “just some bad shots” but overall, I did “well” in the kill-zone and had more dead-on bulls than my first session. I struggled a bit today establishing point-of-aim but I am chalking that up to the fact that I was mentally tired (actually I’m just plain burned-out and it’s only Tue!) and I had squeezed in a lifting session and 2.5 mile run earlier in the day. Weapon performance: Again, flawless with all 3 types of ammo used and as I said before, just fun to shoot. Trigger continues to feel good but I did catch myself “going in too deep” with finger placement a few times and I need to pay attention to that (mental note). I made one change that I am unsure about and the jury is out as of now. I did add the Pearce grip extensions to the 10-rounders and as I reflect on it, I’m not quite sure I like them yet. I know that goes against the conventional wisdom of most XD sub owners but, next session I am going to go with 1 on and 1 without and really see how/if it impacts my shooting. I caught myself “thinking about grip position and finger placement” with these things, I’m not sure that’s good for me and in a few instances I’m certain it was impacting my grip angle negatively. I preferred the 124 Gr. Hydra-Shoks today and while I only shot 20…they handled nicely out of this little sub (another mental note). Some free-form notes I jotted down during the session: (after my first tray)…I’m suckin’, not shooting well Tightening my grip too much, over-thinking with these extensions Mega Packs go fast in this baby Need to reconsider grip extensions and retest next session Still hittin’ left of aim…hmmmm Speers- ok, all in the zone, 6 dead-on and 2 that needed improvement Hydra’s- sweet, accuracy/grouping/felt recoil, digging these, don’t know what the Hell happened with that one though Rapid fire full mags and 3-5 round bursts is a blast, 10/16 +1…oh yeah! After session number two I can confirm that I made a good buy for my purposes so far, but only time and practice will tell. Another couple of range sessions with ~400 rounds of problem-free performance and I’ll be there regarding confidence. Next session will most likely be 200 rounds of Remington UMC 115 Gr. MC and 60 rounds of Federal Premium 124 Gr. Hydra-Shok JHPs. Lastly, I’ll bore you folks with one more “break-in” update to this thread then...let er’ die and roll into the archive. Still 'dirty' and with grip extension:

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