"Just finished practicing with a friend of mine from Mexico. We were both shooting Tactical XD9s. I am becoming more and more impressed with how easily shooters are able to adapt to and benefit from the trigger on a tuned XD. I switched halfway through the session to a Custom Shop 1911 9mm operator with a 1-lb. trigger, fully expecting to obliterate the scores I shot with the XD. Wrong! As I become more familiar with the workings of the plastic wonder, I am liking it more and more.
I am old school and love the 1911, but it took me several runs to get up to speed and then I only beat the XD score by a couple tenths of a second. I must confess that I am getting pretty good results from my latest trigger tuning experiments, and while it is some times 2 steps forward and 1 step back, my knowledge of what the mechanism can and cant do is getting better.
There are now several folks I have personal experience with and can recommend to do trigger work.
My personal guns are from the home of the Custom XD, The Springfield Armory Custom Shop. Dave Williams runs the place and Jeremy and Jason, who do the bulk of the work on my guns, can give you just what you want; A trigger job that is light, clean and reliable. Order a set of sights, have the barrel fit tightened up and you are ready to win in production class.
Springfield of course has an advantage over the rest because we make the XD and know more about the guns ins and outs. Another plus is you do not void your warranty when we work on your gun. Of course, they can do more than just a trigger job! No matter how far you want to go, The Custom Shop will take you there. I have seen some pretty exotic stuff come out of those doors and the quality and service is the best in the business. My shooting career is testament to the performance they can put into a pistol.
Marty at Accuracy Speaks Gunsmithing is doing triggers for many in our area and he is getting very proficient. Plus he is a really nice guy, but dont tell him I said so. Ask him about his non-slip grip, it is awesome!
Rich Dettelhouser at Canyon Creek is one of the XD pioneers and also on the approved list. Rich does XDs from mild to wild and can definitely deliver what you need.
If you have your XD work done by any of these guys, I know you will be happy with the results.
Springer Precision is making quite a few parts for the XD now and the quality is outstanding. They are worth a look for sure.
A part I am now testing in one of my guns is from Powder River Precision. They call it an XD striker safety lever kit and it will reduce your trigger travel and trigger reset distance when properly installed. I see he has kits available for the XDM and I am going to try one in my .40 soon. The M already has a shorter trigger movement than the standard XD, so I am excited to test that out.
All custom XD work needs to be done by someone who knows the mechanism! While experimenting with the XD I have ruined about every part imaginable, so save yourself the grief and only allow work on your gun to be performed by those who understand its function. If in doubt, send it to The Springfield Custom Shop. Rob"