[wfrazee]

I saw this item linked to in another thread and figured Id take a stab at it. I snapped it up via buy it now and just got it today.

Needless to say, I unwrapped it faster than my significant other on valentines day... ok, maybe not THAT fast.... and slapped the DVD into computer #2.

The Complete Springfield XD with Lenny Magill
Disassembly and Reassembly

Contents:
Standard DVD Case
DVD
a nifty little CAD-like diagram of how the whole thing fits together.

Its actually NOT the piece of crap that I thought it might be. Length is something like 90-some-odd minutes and each step of disassembly and reassembly is explained step-by-step. I have seen alot of people refer to the fact that ajames offers this information for free. He does indeed. Everything on here (well, pretty much anyway) can be found in general terms on ajames' website. The difference? Well its like saying why pay for a handgun training course when all the drills and so forth can be found online for free.

Its true but there is no comparison between learning from reading and having something actively demonstrated to you. Im working on taking some notes and getting a scan of the diagram onto the web, more to come soon after I have some time to dissect this DVD. My first watch of it was definitely a positive experience.

THE REVIEW IS UP ON PAGE 2 (or scroll down depending on your posts per page).

 

[Eric_Oh]

cool thanks for the intial review. I was interestd in the same as i was a bit anxious about doing a complete strip on my gun for a clean. I'm gonna consider pickin one of those up too.

 

[ScottQ]

Sounds like it was worth the investment?

Scott

 

[wfrazee]

Here is a color-coded version of the CAD drawing thingie. I re-sized it, recolored it, cleaned it up a little bit. Blew it up to full letter-size and saved it at something like 300dpi.

http://www.waynefrazee.com/downloads/SpringfieldXD.pdf - 2MB

Please do not repost this link. If someone would review my color coding, I would appreciate it. The drawing is right now a little fuzzy. SOrry about that, its because of the type of PDF i saved it as. Ill resave a higher quality one and edit this post with the better link.

Pink should be the firing assembly and parts related to firing the gun.
Yellow should be parts related to barrel, extraction, et al.
Green should be parts related to the slide.
Blue should be the frame only.
Purple should be magazine release.

The coloring is not perfect as I was worried about speed over making sure that everything was perfectly colored.

 

[Noxio]

Sounds like it would be worth picking up. Just curious does it cover what basic tools etc.. that you need to do these tasks?

I would like to setup my spare bedroom as work area to disect my XD and learn some more in the process. Just need to know what tools and other stuff to get.

Frazee thanks for the preview of the review of the DVD

Oh btw: new to the forum, lurked here for months but just got my XD a few weeks ago. Great place this is. Love it. So does my GF so now i gotta go get another one for her.At least she no longer complains that spending money on gun stuff is a "waste" :wink: This is the same GF who till i convinced her to go to the range with me a week ago had an "What do you need a gun for anyways" attitude

Regards

Noxio

 

[bobert1]

Just need an assortment of punches and a slightly modified pocket screwdriver. A small Brass/Nylon hammer. Here is what was used on the video.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=7996&title=DELUXE+HAMMER+&+PUNCH+SET

 

[polloi]

nice diagram!! dvd sounds quite good too.

 

[ajamesp51]

It was a good video,
But to be really really nit picky he did not do a complete disassembly. The loaded chamber indicator was left in and he did not attempt to remove the extractor. Also if you are putting your slide together do not I repeat do not hammer in the firing pin safety retainer pin. this pin just slides in and should have no binding, something was wrong with lennys xd in that respect. Other than that Some people learn better by watching and not reading. Another complaint would be not to use the firing pin status indicator to put your mag catch together. Why not just use the punch you used to get that pin out? The reason I say I would not recomend using the inducator becuase you can break or bend it. This is a part that is known to break and there is no reason to use it. Next if your teaching someone about the xd at least know what the part names are there are plenty of times during the video he takes a peek at his nifty notes to tell you what the part is and stumbles on the names repeatedly. I am interested to hear from the others that bought the video from me and what their take was.

 

[omreb35]

OK guys hook me up to a link to this DVD! I need it! :wink:

 

[bobert1]

see below

 

[bobert1]

OK guys hook me up to a link to this DVD! I need it!


http://www.xd-hs2000.com/shopping.html

 

[TriggerMan]

Is that CAD type drawing an actual CAD file or a graphic file? Reason I'm asking is I'm drawing my XD in a CAD program, Microstation, and want to compare mine to Springfield's drawings.

 

[wfrazee]

Is that CAD type drawing an actual CAD file or a graphic file? Reason I'm asking is I'm drawing my XD in a CAD program, Microstation, and want to compare mine to Springfield's drawings.

That was created off of a scan of the thingie that comes in the DVD case. I cleaned it up quite a bit, got read of evidence of the folds, I should do a bit more editing of the image, get rid of all the scan coloration, then resave it as a high quality JPEG compressed PDF and it should be a smaller file size with higher res image.

Problem is, the significant other is home and its dinner time. It will have to be tonight along with the remainder of the review.

 

[ajamesp51]

The same picture is in your owners manual pages 29-31
or online at
http://www.springfield-armory.com/Manuals/XDManual.pdf

 

[TriggerMan]

Dang! I was hoping for a CAD file to get some measurements off it

 

[Don]

I saw this item linked to in another thread and figured Id take a stab at it. I snapped it up via buy it now and just got it today.

Needless to say, I unwrapped it faster than my significant other on valentines day... (blah blah blah)... need to get some house re-arranging, et al, done before the significant other gets home from work too.

Let us know how the unwrapping goes tonight and give us a complete reveiw, DVD to follow later. :twisted:

 

[mcone]

I bought the DVD last week also - and am very excited about watching it all the way through. (Only seen the first section so far.)

I did notice that the XD is probably not Lenny's everyday gun. When he pulled the slide off, he kept the trigger pulled, which catches the trigger mechanism on the slide. I learned a long time ago to let go of the trigger during slide removal (after pulling the trigger), and the slide falls off. I figure he's not taken the slide off a thousand times like some of us have.

Also, he does not cover sight removal. I had to figure this out on my own with the help of this forum (and a good freezer ). This is something that would have been interesting - Lenny hammering for 10 minutes on the XD sights!

But he's done something that I've never done - take the pistol apart (and put it back together). And that is worth seeing.

I think that this DVD combined with James' online tutorials are plenty to get me through a complete disassembly.

Also, I look forward to comments like those of James. Like "do not repeat do not..." etc., improving on the advice given in the DVD. These are important aids in keeping me from really messing up my pistol during first disassembly/reassembly.

 

[wfrazee]

Alrighty, took some time this evening, told the fiancee to let me be for a bit, and sat down and went through this thing.

For those without attention spans:
Cinematography - 7/10
Dialogue - 7/10
Clarity - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Common Sense Test - 8/10
Overall 7/10

Summary - If you are new to hanguns, a visual learner, want the quick path to knowing your XD fairly well, or just one of those who could use another XD reference, get the DVD. If you are more advanced and know the generalities but could use help on only a few things, you have plenty of resources here and on the web, save your money.

The movie starts with about 50 advertisements for Gunvideo.com and associated businesses. Then a few safety disclaimers....you know... we arent responsible if you shoot some parts off your body watching this video, dont use your handgun as a nose cleaner, things like that.... then the music starts. My first thought sitting down with this movie is "Oh my god, this gives gun porn a whole NEW meaning." Seriously, the first minute of the movie is cheesy porn music, closeups of the springfield XD and what could very well serve as a springfield armory conference product introduction, announcer voice and all.

The movie as a whole is split into chapter-like segments. As an example, the first one is *gasp* "Introduction" where you meet Lenny Magill, the guy who will be doing everything in the movie, you see the cheesey "workshop" with a public-access-television-like backdrop, and he reviews tools and safety procedures. Like I said at the beginning, if you are new to handguns and purchase an XD, buy this movie and watch it before you go to the range for the first time. He reviews common handgun safety rules, and some of the common handling actions with a Springfield XD handgun.

The disassembly and reassembly are each split into several pieces corresponding to general assemblies on the handgun (first to disassemble and last to assemble, for instance, is the slide assembly). On the whole, the explanatory bit is very clear but he pauses from tiem to time and frankly it became annoying to listen to himi after a bit because it seemed to me that this might be something he thought of and even rehearsed once or twice but with all the pauses it felt more like he was running it from the seat of his pants. The movie is cheap and production values showed it.

Cinematography is ok, often using closeups and so forth to better explain or demonstrate points that he is making. IN some places, the camera goes in too far and parts of the gun get cut off or the action of the camera becomes distracting from the point of the text at the time.

Sound, as a whole, is well done. The scant music is reminicent of cheap porn... not that I ever... well.... never mind. The voice recording is crisp wthout any sort of "breath" or "rasp" as you sometimes encounter with second-rate gun videos, there is little variance in tonal reception and the voice is crisp and easy to understand throughout.

As was pointed out earlier, there were a few points that didnt pass my common sense test. For example, as ajames also noted, dont EVER EVER use parts of the gun to push other parts of a gun. I laugh at the dumbass who breaks his gun because he was too stupid to use the punches WHICH HE ALREADY HAS THERE ANYWAY. Why risk pieces of your $400-plus handgun when you have relatively cheap pieces of metal right there that are expressly made for the purpose of manipulating objects in tight spaces?

On the other hand, there are a few highly intellegent things this movie provides that I hadnt really seen before. The "slightly modified" screwdriver, for example. Essentially, a hand file has been used to carve a small V shape into the middle of a flathead ("standard") small screwdriver to create a tool similar to the "Springfield XD Reassembly Tool" offered directly by SA to manipulate springs. Further, for those that are not initiated to gunsmithing, he explains the uses of each of the tools and why using those specific tools is recommended as opposed to using makeshift objects that "might just work". A particular example, is the explanation of a brass/nylon hammer so as to avoid marking the steel of the gun because brass is softer than steel (but usually not softer than your finish).

Overall, an excellent reference. There are some things that you need to just make sure that if common sense would tell you there is a better way to do it, you keep an open mind and perhaps run it by someone more knowledgable with handguns and smithing. This is a DVD particularly well suited to the beginning smith or handgun owner. A good reference for those familiar with handguns but still less than expert on the function and assembly of the XD.

 

[ajamesp51]

Good review I like what you had to say. a nail set will do the same thing the screwdriver with the v notch will do. A nail set is a punch with a dimple in the end. Take the spring arm and put the end in the dimple and you do the same thing plus the nail set does not want to slide down the spring arm like the screwdriver does since the end of the spring fits in the dimple.

Like a porn movie that was funny and I will have to agree. Lenny sounds like one of those guys that sells some thing on tv for 19.95 this time only.

 

[wfrazee]

My review and its resources with links to where the DVD is from are all now availible from my personal website at http://www.waynefrazee.com/scribblings.php/da/69 . Feel free to link to my site or the color coded PDF from my site.