Don't judge your xds based on shooting Tula. I'm not bashing Tula, if your XDS likes it that's great. I have 2 friends with XDS 45, one of the 2 pistols has feed issues with Tula the other and mine don't. But all 3 feed and eject brass (either factory or my reloads) with no problems.
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I'm sorry, I should have been more specific...
I have never run any Tula ammo through my Springfields or 1911s. I've only ever run Tula through my Hi Point 45. I figured, cheap ammo, cheap gun... The reason I mentioned running the Tula in the XDs is twofold. One is I figured the steel cases would put more wear on the gun and two is that I'm tired of wasting good ammo on a gun that doesn't work properly.
I bit the bullet (haha...) and went to the range today at lunch time. The new 7 round magazines Springfield sent me fixed the nose down feed issues, however I still have the nose up feed issues with any type of ammo in the 7 round magazines. I have the same nose up failure running Hydrashocks and Winchester PDX ammo from both 5 and 7 round magazines.
So far the only reliable combinations of magazine/ammo I have found for my XDs is:
5 rd mags -
230 grain ball (WWB, CBC, Federal and Berry's Bullets handloads)
200 grain LSWC handloads
230 grain Hornady XTP handloads
7 rd mags - Nothing feeds reliably.
The portion of the feed ramp that resides in the frame seems to be at too steep of an angle causing the nose of the bullet to get hung. Being that 7 round magazines sit about .010" lower in the magwell this problem is exasperated causing the angle to steepen that much more. This is why some people have so many and varied nose up problems depending on bullet shape and how well the magazine fits. The lower ramp needs to be cut and polished. I was able to duplicate this problem 8 times during the course of firing 21 rounds (7 rounds x 3 mags). If you hold the gun at just the right angle you can see where the wall of the case is wedged right up against the lower ramp and the nose is firmly planted in the top of the mouth of the chamber.
Hornady XTP HP bullets have a tapered nose which allows the upward force of the round to push the nose against the top of the mouth of the chamber. The same goes for the LSWC bullets. If you rack them in slow-mo you can see this happening. The tapered nose acts as a lever and pushes the round into place to properly chamber. This is why these hollow points work, but the more round/flat nosed shaped bullets no not. The hollowed portion of the non XTP bullet crashes into the chamber squarely enough to cause a stoppage.
Ball ammo works because the bullet passes the center of the circumference of the nose allowing the bullet to 'roll' across the mouth of the chamber and fall down into place like it should.
The tolerances are so close, that when you add the extra depth with a 7 round magazine between the bottom of the ramp and the top of the magazine that the angle is just right to get the nose of the 230 grain ball bullet to pitch itself perfectly into the tip of the mouth of the chamber which is why they jam like hollow points in the 5 round mags.
A few thousands of adjustment to the ramp would have a huge impact on the angle at which the bullet approaches the chamber and correct both of these issues.
I spent about half an hour on the phone with Springfield CS - I could have been speaking greek... I don't think the lady knows what a feed ramp even is. She said she couldn't guarantee they would work the ramp for me. I even offered to pay them to do it but she still refused to guarantee me they would do what I ask. I've ramped and throated a few 1911's in my day, I guess it's time I figure out how to do it for the XDs, because Springfield is no help. They don't even understand the problem, let alone how to fix it.
I know this is long winded, but it's a somewhat complex problem. I hope this post can help others with malfunctions understand what is going on inside their pistols.
