[jackrabbit]

Without paying too much attention, I recently bought a couple boxes of Speer Gold Dot 124-grain short barrel hollow points for my XD 9 compact (4-inch barrel). The side of the box says this ammo is designed to "maximize optimum expansion in handguns with 2 inch barrels." Since my 4-inch barrel's not exactly short, what can I expect from these rounds? Should shoot okay?

Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but I'm fairly new to shooting (except for my old 20-gauge) and to forums.

 

[EME]

I have and do use the short barrel ammo for 3" and 4" handguns. It does shoot very well out of a 4" revolver and a 4" semi auto. It also expands out of the above ( in water) very good. You could expect a little increase of the FPS out of the 4", but it will not be so much faster as to upset the ballastics of the bullet.

 

[mhillsing23]

Welcome jackrabbit. That ammo will be fine in your XD. You mentioned it was a 9mm compact with a 4" barrel...that doesn't exist. It is either a Sub Compact (3") or Service (4"). I have both a SC and a Svc, and I have used the 124g short barrel Gold Dots through both without any problems.

 

[agalindo]

The bullets will shoot OK the thing is they are designed to expand at a bit slower velocities. Let's say 50 fps per inch of barrel so you might get jacket seperation and bullet fragmentation or over penetration at the slightly faster velocities. More than likely they will function as designed.

 

[Wired]

Welcome from UT!

These guys are crazy. I think you should send me the ammo and I will let you know how it works. J/k.

Seriously, You'll be fine. You might want to inspect the barrel though after shooting and make sure that everything is ok just to be sure.

 

[fsmith2610]

I tried the GD 124 +p short barrel in my 9SC and was a little disappointed with the expansion. Accuracy and feed were both quite good however. I get better results with the HST 147 +p (and that's what I carry).

 

[Brush-Wolf-Lady]

I haven't done a "perfect" test yet with the 9mm short barrel from my 3" sc, but I got a beautiful gold dot .40 from my 4" .40 after firing it through deer neck meat. It even clipped the edges of the vertibrae a bit, but did not deform or break up or anything.

The 9mm tests I did with the rounds going right through the thick parts of the deer neck vertibrae only penetrated 3.5 ( jast past the neck bones) and deformed quite a bit. Was messy looking inside that neck though. The one I fired through 4 stacked skinned fox carcasses exited and had some deformation, but had expanded very nicely.

Yeah these are half assed tests LOL

 

[Jack the Toad]

Welcome jackrabbit. That ammo will be fine in your XD. You mentioned it was a 9mm compact with a 4" barrel...that doesn't exist. It is either a Sub Compact (3") or Service (4"). I have both a SC and a Svc, and I have used the 124g short barrel Gold Dots through both without any problems.

With all due respect , it does exist. The compact has a shortened grip frame and a 4" barrel.

 

[rgeliske]

With all due respect , it does exist. The compact has a shortened grip frame and a 4" barrel.

Sorry to disagree but the "Compact" model is only available in the XD45ACP and it does have a shorter grip and a 4" barrel. This combination of short grip and 4" barrel is not available in the 9mm/357SIG/40S&W calibers. However the short grip 3" barrel is not available in the 45ACP format.

 

[jackrabbit]

With all due respect , it does exist. The compact has a shortened grip frame and a 4" barrel.

Sorry to disagree but the "Compact" model is only available in the XD45ACP and it does have a shorter grip and a 4" barrel. This combination of short grip and 4" barrel is not available in the 9mm/357SIG/40S&W calibers. However the short grip 3" barrel is not available in the 45ACP format.

Thanks to all who have welcomed me, and for all the helpful replies. I won't worry about shooting the short-barrel ammo now. Thanks, too, to Jack the Toad and rgeliske for helping me learn more about my gun.

Interestingly, the gun dealer's label on the factory carrying case identifies the gun as "XD-9mm Compact Semi Bi". It's definitely a 9mm semiauto, it definitely has the bi-tone finish, and it's definitely a 4-inch barrel. How would I tell whether it has the shortened grip? (I bought it becaues it fits my hand well. I wasn't too concerned about what it was called.) A glitch is keeping me from the SA Web site right now, so I can't get any help there.

 

[D_Fence]

I've seen retailers label the 9mm and .40 service models as "compacts" not following SA's naming conventions, so I'm not surprised some folks are confused. For example, see bottom of page two in this ad:

http://www.vancesshooterssupplies.com/flyer/flyer.pdf

 

[pbass]

Hey Jack.
I agree with the other posters. You`ll be fine with those Gold Dots.
If your gun has a 16 Round Mag.,you must have the "Service" Model.
Regards, Pete

 

[rgeliske]

Hey Jack.
I agree with the other posters. You`ll be fine with those Gold Dots.
If your gun has a 16 Round Mag.,you must have the "Service" Model.
Regards, Pete

If you have a 9mm with a 4" barrel it is a Service model, there is no mistaking the Sub Compact because it is much smaller. In addition the Sub Compact comes with 1 10 round short magazine and 16 full size magazine. The Service model comes with 2 16 full size magazine. I would not make a big deal out of this except that when you are ordering parts there are many parts between the 2 that are not interchangeable and it can become very confusing. The good news is that the 9mm Service was the first model released and has the most parts available. I have heard of many dealer misidentifying the Service model as a Compact, obviously they don't take the time to become familiar with the products they sell.

 

[jeepinbanditrider]

Hey Jack.
I agree with the other posters. You`ll be fine with those Gold Dots.
If your gun has a 16 Round Mag.,you must have the "Service" Model.
Regards, Pete

You can get x-tension sleeves so the 16 rounders fit good on the compact frames.

There is a "grip chop" mod that lots of folks do where they chop down their service model's grip to the Compact length grip and use the x-tension sleeves when carrying their 16 round mags.

This mod works well for concealment when using the 10 round mags.

When I had my subcompact I used the 10 round mag in the pistol for concealed carry with a 16 rounder with x-tension sleeve carried as a spare mag.

 

[fsmith2610]

SC's have "sub-compact" stamped on the left side of the slide.

 

[jackrabbit]

I'll close my own thread before I hijack it any further. I looked at the XD Compact info on SA's Web site, and sure enough, the Compact comes only in 45ACP. My XD9 was mislabeled at the dealer. But as I said, it fits my smallish hand well, so I'm happy with it.