Question about the XD service

[dale roper]

I'm pretty much a Glock nut but I am considering the purchase of an XD 45 Service. Just wondered if You guys that have a lot of experience with them could tell Me the pros & cons? I read in one of the reviews that it shot low @ 25 yards but was spot on @ 10yds. and a lot of shooters find the grip angle superior to that of the glock; any issues of interest. Would like to get a dark earth model. Please hit Me with everything You know up to and including what a good price for one is. (making the purchase in the Phoenix metro area.) Thanks ahead of time for the great info!!!

[Reeek]

Mine hits POA at 25 but Springfield does have different front sight heights. I'm told they may send you a different height free if you ask for one. You need to shoot yours first. I think the shooting low part has most to do with the human factor. You'd need a definitive bench test to know for sure I think. Mine hits what I aim at if I do my part and it still has factory sights. I am going to put some night sights on it next. I just had them installed on my XD9SC and CZ P-01.

I tried on a handful of guns when I went shopping for my first pistol and the XD won primarily because of how it fit and pointed. The Glock was a bad fit for me and the S&W MP was too new for reliability characteristics at the time. The .45 S&W MP was not out then anyway. I didn't want to pay the Sig prices and the Sig 220's of modern day had been getting less than stellar reviews in the quality stats.

My overall impression of the Service is that, IMHO, it's the best overall XD45 available. Not the most versatile like the Compact but it is nearly as accurate as the Tactical and it conceals great at 1, 2 or 3 o'clock although almost on the heavy side for sure. That's what you get with a well made gun though.

It shoots like a dream. The second time out with it I placed a water filled 16 oz water bottle up on the ground at least 25 yards out. Probably more like 30-35 and I hit it dead center with my first shot of the day. Lucky? Maybe. But like a hole in one, I was aiming for it

I'm not a real experienced handgunner yet but I'm at the point now where I am hitting almost all my shots inside an 8" diameter circle at 25 yards with it until I get tired. Many are in the center and clustered into a big ragged hole but that is out of many, many rounds too. I usually fire 200 rounds on average when I go out to shoot.

Recoil is soft.

Take down is as easy as any gun I have ever seen myself.

I've had no quality issues yet but altough you may have to pay to ship to Springfield for some warranty issues, Springfield customer support is as good as it gets and is almost no questions asked in most cases I've heard about. They seem to always come through with no effort whatsoever. You do have to be careful with aftermarket uppgrades when sending your gun back to Springfield. If you had an aftermarket trigger job or parts added they tend to send it back to you reverted back to stock. Probably for liability reasons. You can ask them to return your after market parts and they will.

Accessories are getting more and more abundant. Holsters are a breeze.

The only real con I can think of is the sights almost always require a gunsmith to replace because of how hard pressed in they are. The upside is you have a plethora of sights available for it.

Some people who are used to C&L carry may not care for the USA safety method and may miss a manual safety. I'm fine with it.

The triggers are just fine for CCW out of the factory and like many other guns, they smooth out after a few hundred rounds. You do have choices for trigger parts and tirgger jobs that improve the trigger immensely depending on what you will be using the gun for.

I have had the opportinuty to break down and play with other guns and I can certainly say the XD45 Service (all XD's actually) are very well made guns. You can really see the quality in them when you can compare them to other guns in the same or less price range, side by side. I have a Taurus PT145 that I love for the size and concealability buit when I have both guns field stipped in front of me the overall heft and quality of the XD really stands out next to the Taurus. And so it should for the price difference.

I paid $519 in Reno, out the door.