The Official Rust Poll

[ichy_trigger]

Originally Posted by Old School

I believe he mistook the count for a percentage.

Duh, thanks for correcting me...still higher than it should be though. Someone should produce a gun care video...lol

[[TASF]Overkill]

Just got back from my gun-hating destination trip... DC... Maryland... New York... New Jersey...

Left my XD in the gun room (humidity controlled) with a ****-ton of other guns, including very old collector pieces. When I got back, lo and behold....

Pretty much all of the parts that weren't Armory Koted by Springfield had that fun light coating of rust-dust on them...

I didn't Eezox it before I left, but it also didn't get wet or anything...

My particular XD (My finish must be weaker than most) is the most sensitive-to-moisture firearm in the entire gun-room, apparently.

[Last Rites]

I own 2 XD's. I have only had a rust problem with my newest one, the XD9 I got in march 2005. Apparently I made a little scratch on the slide about in inch in length, very light one, from holstering in the xdgear holster. I apparently didn't oil the slide good, cause when I took it out of the case, that little scratch had turned brown in 4 weeks time. It wiped off no prob and I check it very often.

Now the xd-357 I got in nov 2002, no rust at all. It has holster wear around the front of the slide and on the back sights from my non xdgear holster. Never had a problem. The finish on my old XD, from just looking at it, appears to be of higher quality. Even the stampings on the xd-357 are deeper than on my newer 9mm.

[ken_mays]

Originally Posted by [TASF

Overkill]Pretty much all of the parts that weren't Armory Koted by Springfield had that fun light coating of rust-dust on them...

Dude, don't you know? All you gotta do is take care of your damn gun and you won't have any problem.

Obviously you don't know anything about maintaining your weapons.

Oh, wait -- didja use any Armadillo on it? I have it on good authority that this stuff actually CAUSES rust. Even though it's just wax.

:P

[XD-9Sub68]

Had xd9 sub.. went to the range, put it up in plastic case.
took it out the next day... and the fine red rust was there.

I just took a rag with oil and wiped it off.

Now after every use I wipe it down with dry cloth, and then a light coat of oil. I also use armadillo. Seem to help things along.

This has only happend once and i have owned it for 1 1/2 years.

[wjc]

I voted "yes," because when I picked up my new stainless XDSC-40 from a transfer gun dealer, some little rust shown on the slide serrated.
Due to my curious, using a magnet to test the stainless slide, the magnet can stick on the slide firmly. If good stainless steel alloy, the magnet won't stick or barely can put on it. You can try to see your stainless slide also attract magnet.
After using WD40, CLP, Sheath, & hard nylon brushed on the rusted areas, the rust gone, but the areas became little darker silver color than the rest of the slide.
I look at the package, the QC bullet case envelope dated Jan 2005, I guess it may be in stock or exposed in some moisture environment more than half year, even the stainless slide shown rusted.

[[TASF]Overkill]

Dude, don't you know? All you gotta do is take care of your damn gun and you won't have any problem.

I do take care of my XD. This is the first time I've had any rust since they armory koted it. It's the only gun I've ever seen that develops rust if you leave it be for 4 days, regardless of whether there's any water on it or not. I guess it gets sad and its tears tear it up. I lub my XD though. The rust always just brushes off, it's odd. I just think it's sad that they have these finish issues, because it will prevent more widespread adoption by people / departments / agencies that don't expect to have to wipe down a gun every day.

If good stainless steel alloy, the magnet won't stick or barely can put on it.

I believe it was a post a while back that said... Stainless steel in slides is not that kind of stainless steel. That rule may apply to knives or car parts, but not to firearms. I could be wrong though, it's happened before.

[stunksinatl]

I believe Overkill is right, though I don't have the specifics...

Stainless is actually a pretty soft metal, so it has to be "beefed" up for use in guns. This changes the anti-corrosion/rust properties of the metal just enough...

By the way, are we sure the slide of a Bi-tone XD is really stainless? On the 2 tone P99s for example. they call the finish titanium, but it's really just a light coating of titanium over a regular ol' carbon steel slide. I've not seen a bitone in person, though.

By the way, I bought my XD9 sub from a gunshow in one of those "kits" that come with extra mags and a holster. I had ZERO rust on my gun out of the box. My fired case was dated January 2005. The gun was not in any sort of plastic at all, and was hardly cosmolined from the factory.

To counteract anything, I simply wipe it down with a silicon cloth every week or so. Also, when cleaning, I use some of that thick "outers" 3 in 1 stuff on a patch and really massage it into the surfaces of the slide and barrel. So far, NO RUST!

-stunks

P.S. if the bitone slide IS stainless, then there's a good chance the black XD is also stainless. This'll cut down on having too many component parts, ya know?

[Delija]

Originally Posted by [TASF

Overkill] I just think it's sad that they have these finish issues, because it will prevent more widespread adoption by people / departments / agencies that don't expect to have to wipe down a gun every day.
.

I never thought about that before. If a police dept., or any LE agency is considering a new pistol, I wonder how much weight is put on the amount of maintenance required to keep the gun cosmetically attractive.

Maybe it is a bigger issue than I would have thought. After all, you do see a lot of Glocks in service. They are certainly reliable, but pretty much any modern handgun is. Many LE agencies will not use a pistol without an external manual safety, yet the Glock is very popular anyway.

Could their Tennifer finish be a serious selling point? I hadn't given this any thought until I read your post. I guess anything is possible.

Peace,,
D.

[j2fast]

Originally Posted by Delija

Could their Tennifer finish be a serious selling point? I hadn't given this any thought until I read your post. I guess anything is possible.

Peace,,
D.

I've got to believe it's (the finish) a factor to some degree. Even though I've never had any problems it's hard to argue the results of the survey. If though web polls aren't fine science I feel safe in saying that some where between 1 out of 4 to 1 out of 3 XD's are having some type of rust issue. To me that is a VERY high ratio and I would think that SA would find this unacceptable.

Part of my job involves QA'ing software that my company builds. I realize this is NOT an apples to apples comparison but if 25% of the features we rolled out failed in the hands of the users then a lot less of us would be employed.

The XD is a fantastic handgun and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Although I am concerned about whether my next XD will be as good as the first. As much as I support the platform sometimes I think I dodged the bullet in a sense by ending up with a rust free blaster.

Some SA folks seem to lurk around the forum hopefully they see this thread and it at least sparks some discussion on their side.

Maybe there's a way Old School can blast out a PM to all of the forum members to increase participation in the poll so SA can't look at it and say "well there's only responses from a 100 or so people. That's not a big enough sampling of the thousands who have purchased XD's....."