XD-S 45ACP - first impressions

[Guest BillOfRightsFan]

Hey Gang,

 

I hope everyone is excited for our 4th of July. Remember to fight for your 2nd Amendment Rights in the spirit of '76. OK on to my mini-review of my latest personal defense weapon.

 

My office moved to downtown, near the courts and jail as well as to a plethora of bars and nightlife. While I like having more variety of foods to choose from for lunch and the option of open air music on the waterfront some nights, I am faced with an interesting increase in probability of wandering across someone who means me ill. Between the drunks and criminals its a bit different than my last office which was in Green Hills. So I decided to take advantage of my right to carry. The gun I was bringing back and forth was a Sig Sauer P220 (1990's make) and while that is the best damn gun I have ever owned in terms of accuracy, reliability and smoothness of operation - it is a howitzer. 8+1 45ACP in a bulky package. I am using a Maxpedition bag as my method of carrying and the gun fits... but it is big. So big it takes a few tries to pull it. Using that weapon meant no clean draw when possibly fractions of a second would count. So I went shopping for some new Iron. I went looking for the smallest, most reliable 45ACP gun I could find.

 

I looked at the Glock 30, 36 and the Springfield XD-S. Feature for feature the XD-S looked good and is significantly smaller than the other guns, including the hand howitzer. Out of the box it lacks night sights but it does have a single position rail. It is so small it almost gets lost in my Maxpedition bag. I have to make sure it is aligned right otherwise it will sit upside down and I'll be grabbing the trigger guard rather than the handle. That's a solvable problem. It is light and much less bulky than the P220 by a mile.

 

At the range I familiarized myself with it's  operation. It is very similar in all respects to the Glock in terms of safety and operation and none at all to the Sig! However I would say the learning curve is quite low on it and the weapons operating system was very obvious. No surprises there. The trigger pull is about 6lbs. The Sig is about 7lbs on the first pull and then about 7oz on subsequent pulls. Having trained quite a bit with the hammer up I was ready for dealing with the heavy pull. I will say this, the trigger is very nice. It appears to be a double stage trigger as there is a zone where it pulls half way and then meets resistance and then the rest of the pull is a crisp break which aids accuracy if you pause and correct aim at that halfway point. It may be part of the "Ultra Safety Assurance" trigger system on the weapon or it may be I'm a noob. Either way I liked it and found it easy to adapt my shooting style to this trigger.

 

On top it has a positive chambered round indicator that you can both visually inspect and feel. This is great. When I was dealing with a suspected burglar in my house I wish I had had something like that on the Sig. I could not remember if the weapon was loaded and cycled the slide, ejecting a precious fresh round out into the bedroom. That was a real joy later trying to find.

 

Overall the grip is pretty good. My hands are not super large or small. I prefer the full sized grip of the Sig, no doubt but I was able to make due with this grip. In firing the weapon, since there is less I am holding onto it tends to torque the barrel up, as expected, but it is harder to keep that rotation to a minimum like the Sig (which also has so much mass that it's absorbing a lot more recoil energy with just inertia.) The end result was a sore spot at the base of my thumb which a week or two later I can still see a bit. So I still have some work to do in getting my grip perfected.

 

Overall the accuracy is good. It compares well to the Sig out to 20 feet. The Sig is a bit more accurate past that line though. Most encounters are at 5 feet so not a big deal. I definitely like the way this gun shoots. Like anything, practice makes perfect.

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrots: Nothing really excepts the springs in a new gun are pretty stiff! I hung up rounds trying to cycle the slide. I'm going back to the gym and doing some serious curls and tricep exercises because you have to be pretty manly with this gun! Hopefully it will ease up a bit as I break it in. Otherwise I'll be doing protein shakes and working out like Schwarzenegger! That said, if you do it right the gun is flawless. Once I was operational it was a precise machine and I didn't have any other issues.

 

I just ordered a TRL-4 Streamlight light and laser attachment for it since it looks certain I'll be keeping this one. I'll update on my experience with those accessories.

 

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[jcoosi]

I edc mine unless I am have the xds 9 on me. I put 200 rounds through mine the first day I got it and have since put 3-400 more through it no problems. WWB,federal,TN cartridge.

I am going to order a talon grip for both of the xds's.

[itchytriggerfinger]

Get the Pierce grip extensions.  They make a world of difference.

[tercel89]

I would buy one for sure if they would just remove the grip safety , the loaded chamber indicator , and use solid pins all the way instead of roll-pins AND solid pins .  Other than that I love them and almost got me one .

Edited July 6, 2013 by tercel89