[DieTrying]

Pistol-Gear has great turn around time. Thing is...I brought my XD-9 stock Rod and Spring along to the range and was interchanging them and I noticed absolutely no difference in recoil or muzzle flip. NONE!! In fact, I even let others shoot my handgun and asked if they felt any difference, no one felt a bit of difference. The only difference I noticed is that, with the new Don's Rod and Spring...my shots were off, often it shot low. Even bench resting @ 15yrds, my shots went low.
Besides putting the stock rod and spring back in, does anyone have any suggestions?? Thanks

 

[willbond]

The difference isn't night and day, but it's there. I conducted my own little "single blind" test when I got mine. I changed springs and took my eleven year old, who was used to shooting my XD357, to the Range with me. I didn't tell him there was anything different. I used the same Speer Lawman 124 gr. Ball Ammo I usually do. On the way home I asked him how he liked shooting the XD that day. He said "The XD wasn't kicking as hard today".

 

[dbrownusarmy]

I shoot my XD9 a few times just to get the feeling of the stock spring before I dropped the DGR and 22# spring in. The difference that I noticed was tha the recoil felt a lit stiffer. Not really more kick or less kick, just made the gun feel a lot tighter when fired.


Dave

 

[Son of Norway]

There was an aiming difference for me. The Springfield XD Manual suggests a 6:00 O'clock sight picture, and with the stock setup that works good. After I put in the DGR and 22# spring I had to switch to "Point of Aim" sight picture.

 

[Don]

from my FAQ:

I have an XD9 what spring should I get? The recoil on the 9mm is so nice even with the stock setup that I don’t feel strongly about a heavier spring in my 9mm. But many users love it, and feel it really brings the recoil down even further. The 22# spring is still my spring of choice for this model.

It does change the peak force felt, but the standard spring is very comfortable to shoot in the 9mm, and the feel is subtle. My motivation for doing a rod was for the .40 and .357 models.

Benefits beyond recoil is that is is easy to clean, the head can't fall off and jam the slide, and you get some bling at the end of your pistol. :wink:

 

[DieTrying]

Hmmm, I guess I was looking for some kinda magic after I switched to a Dons Rod and Wolff Spring. I noticed that the Rod is not perfectly centered, it is noticeable because I used the Brass (yes i know, Black is Tactical and Tactical Rules All) and I can see it is off center. I tried to work in so it was centered, but it just went off center again. Was wondering if this might have something to do with the difference in accuracy??

 

[Don]

The bronze rules, you have been misled by the men in black! :wink:

The rod does not have to be centered, it's true function is as simple as keeping the spring from sproinging sideways as it collapses. Since the end of the spring that contacts the washer is just in one point (open end spring design) it can set it off to one side. I try to keep the fit pretty tight, the trade off is how easy it is to install. For a typical rod and washer, the clearance between them is 0.006", and if my drill bit is getting dull it can wander to around 0.010". If the fit seems on the visibly sloppy side send me and email and I will send out some new washers for you.

The difference in the point of aim is probably because the muzzle has not risen as much when the bullet exits the barrel. Hotter ammo will do the same: shoot lower since it is out of the barrel before it rises.

 

[DieTrying]

Thanks Don! I just emailed ya. Appreciate your response. As for the color of the washers...I think a stainless would be cool, then it would match the rod.