Failures to fire with xds

[thefamcnaj]

So I bought an xds yesterday and took it out today. It was fresh out of the box. I shot 250 rounds of ammo through it. The ammo I was using was Federal Champion, Tula, and Hornady Tap.
Out of the 250 rounds I shot I has 7 failures to fire. I had 5 with the Tula and 2 with the Federal Champion, and 0 with the Hornady tap.
Each time this happened I dropped the mag and ejected the cartridge. Each one was then reloaded and fired upon the 2nd trigger pull. Each time I inspected the primer of the 7 misfires there was a mark that looked like each of the 243 trouble free rounds. I own lots of semiautos and shot many of thousands of rounds and never have experienced a failure to fire when the trigger was pulled, so this is new to me completely.
At first I was going to chalk it up to the crappy tula ammo but then it happened with the federal's. I had no problem with the quality hornady tap ammunition, however I only shot 20 rounds of it.
Are these light primer strikes? A firing pin problem? Is this a problem that requires me sending the firearm back to SA? Or do I chalk it up to cheap ammo? I've never experienced problems with tula or Federal champion through my various other guns.

 

[PabloJ]

You don't have to send it back since it's little defensive weapon just keep it loaded with quality JHPs. Tulammo is about the worst ammo one can get and 'Champion' is American version of the Russian stuff. If you experience stoppages with quality defensive ammo that is another matter.

 

[76shuvlinoff]

I've never had my XD40sc fail to feed or fire. I can't say it's your ammo because I have never tried either of those you list but that would be my first thought.

Good luck!

 

[thefamcnaj]

I bought the xds to rotate with the cm9 for the summer time. I planned to start carrying it right after purchase but the failures to fire have really made me not want to carry it. I hope its the ammo. I'm going to buy some more quality fmj's and see how that goes. I've never had one issue out of a SA firearm. That's why I'm suprised this little weapon had any problems.
If this happens with wwb fmj's then i'll consider sending it back to SA. I can't afford to just send hornady tap and speer gold dot through it.

 

[Rmart30]

Ive put 500 rds thru mine...... broke it in with 150 of S&B 230 RN ... the next 100 were mixed. All brass cased, different brands and weights. So far no problems at all. Super accurate for that small of a firearm.

There are a few threads about field stripping , cleaning the firing pin channel well and relubing the slide.

 

[Hunter125]

I have an XDm and an XDsc both in .40. They get a regular diet of Tula and occasional Federals. I have somewhere around 1000 rounds through both with no failures of any kind. I would say you have a problem. Send it to Springfield, they will make it right.

 

[cuba]

Did you clean it before trying it out ? I know that my XD 45 tactical will give me light strikes if there is any lube on the striker assembly.

 

[thefamcnaj]

No I didn't clean it first. I shot it right out of the box. I've browsed some other forums and it seems a lot of people are having light strikes.

 

[2wheels]

I've seen guns not like Tula before, my P238 for example occasionally has light strikes with them. I just ignore it since that's the only ammo that gives my P238 trouble. Not a lot of experience shooting Fed Champion.

You can give Springfield a call, they'll take care of you.

 

[cuba]

At this point you aren't sure if the light strikes are caused by excessively hard primers or a pistol failure, you need to rule out the pistol first, try shooting the ammo thats in question with a thoroughly clean and dry striker assembly and see if that will clear the problem up first.

shoot safe, shoot straight, and have fun

 

[smalls]

I'd say it's the ammo. I once picked up a few boxes of 9mm tula ammo, and had almost 10 duds in a gun that hadn't had a hiccup in 2,000 rounds.

It's cheap stuff, but it's also crap.

 

[thefamcnaj]

The federal caused 2 ftf's as well. I'm going to take white box to the range tomorrow and see what type of results I get, now that its been cleaned real good.
Should I do a detail strip and clean?

 

[flip888]

among extractor and mag problems i also had light strike issues with my xd40sx. i would send it back to SA if i were you.

 

[FireInCairo]

I just saw it in a thread where someone said that Tulammo steel casings hate certain magazines. They suggested it was worse at the top of the magazine where the pressure is greatest on the spring.

I ran some Tul through an M&P .40 last week and had 5 ftf's. Sure enough, they were early on in the magazines. The Winchester Whitebox I used had none.

 

[cuba]

I always suggest a detail strip and clean for new pistols, for they are usually packed with heavy lube prior to shipping, the striker assembly of the Xd line of pistols are designed to operate with virtually no lube around the spring and striker compartment area, if you don't want to detail strip the pistol down you can field strip it and boil it for 10 minutes in water treated with some degrease, after set the parts up to drip dry, the parts will be so hot that all the water will dissipate and everything should come out spic and span, then lube everything lightly. Remember water only boils at 212 degree and the ploy won't melt.

shoot safe, shoot straight, and have fun

 

[thefamcnaj]

I just got off the with Springfield CS. I explained to her what was going on and asked if it needed a trip to the factory.
She told me that SA is in fact having a lot of the xds pistols sent back citing failure to fire as the reason its been shipped in for warranty work. She then tells me that Springfield Armory can not duplicate the failure during testing. She said she'd be more than happy to have the gun come in for a "check up".
Before I send it in she said that I need to let someone else shoot it to see if they get the same trouble I'm having. She also said the gun is really grip sensitive, to always keep a firm firm grip. She explained that with such a quick cycle and a large cartridge that Springfield was asking a lot from such a small gun.
She thinks the problem is the gun is not going fully back into battery due to a soft grip and firing. I guess I may be limp wristing but I've never had that problem before, with any of my other semi autos.
Lastly she said to use Liberal amounts of lube on the rails and locking lugs.
So I'm suppose to go to the range and concentrate on my firm grip and get back to her. If it does this with a firm grip she'll send me a label to ship it.

 

[CTGunner]

Very interesting. Thanks for that information from SA. I have 100 rounds down range with mine (more to come soon) and so far I have had zero malfunctions. I did break the gun down and clean it thoroughly before shooting it the first time.

 

[burk]

I don't recommend the Tula ammo at all in short bbl, pistols. It's just not a good match up. Ak's, and AR's (outside) maybe. I've gone to CCI Lawman and Blazer Brass and find that both have much more consistency than the Am Eagle, White Box or UMC.

 

[ny32182]

If it is not going into battery you should be able to visually see that, and further it should not be hitting the primer at all of it is out of battery. What you are describing sounds like a FTFire due to light strikes. Personally I would doubt limp wristing is a factor.

Tulas are known to be the hardest primers on the market, but I would expect a new, stock spring to light them 100% of the time.

First thing I would do is pop out the striker assembly and make sure it and the striker channel are clean and dry/free of lube. I know Glock and S&W ship theirs in this condition but don't know about the XD.

 

[meef]

I have had exactly the same issue. I was getting a 1 in 20 light strike failure rate on the average. And it was NOT about limp-wristing. I know how to hold a pistol. Springfield Armory is just having a tough time admitting to the light primer strike issue with the XDs.

If you look at fired cases, the primer strike will be strong and deep and in the center of the primer. When you inspect the light strike failures the indentation will be much less deep and off-center.

If you look at XD Talk there is a very large thread there dedicated to this problem.

I consulted with a gun writer friend of mine and he diagnosed it for me. Here's what he came up with:

The slide isn't going fully into battery when the failures occur. The striker will still impact the primer, but off center and with inadequate force to ignite.

The XDs is a very tight gun. In some cases (such as mine) it needs a thorough cleaning (be sure to look at the striker channel) and a substantial initial lubing to slippery it up, then a range session or two to work out any rough spots or binding.

After doing the above with mine, I fired 250 rounds through it with no failures at all - something that I had not been able to achieve previously and it was making me very testy, to say the least.

Don't give up on your XDs, it's a great little gun that in some instances (like a number of other quality guns - Kahr, for example) may require a break-in period. I found the above stated procedure to work perfectly for me.

I know that some people may want to respond with "But with what I paid for it, it shouldn't need to be broken in!"

I couldn't agree more. But hey, it is what it is. Take it or leave it.

As for me, my Kimber has been retired from EDC status and the pleasure-to-carry XDs has been put into service.

 

[flgunz]

I'm going to consign my xds back to my FFL, I'm sure someone will buy it. Normally I wouldn't want to pass off a weapon that is unreliable, but according to Springfield, all I need to do is grip my gun tighter and lube it up. They also said that since my problem is intermittent, 1 ftf every 2nd or 3rd mag (250 rounds fired), it was more than likely a grip issue.

Unfortunate, I love everything about the xds, but I bought it to replace my, very reliable, glock 26, and I need an EDC that actually works.
I’m not trying to bash Springfield, but I think they are in denial.
I guess my expectations are too high for only a $640.00 hand gun.

 

[meef]

I guess my expectations are too high for only a $640.00 hand gun.

You paid $640 for an XDs?!?

You seriously need to find a new dealer.

 

[thefamcnaj]

I took the xds to the range today after I cleaned it really good and lubed it on the heavy side like the lady from CS told me to. I kept a kung fu death grip on it today during my shooting with it. I shot 100 rounds of white box with zero failures.
I hate, I mean really hate to admit it but I must have been limp wristing. Like the lady said its grip sensitive. I've shot guns from all other manufacturers and never ever had this problem, but I guess the little xds likes to be shot with a strangle hold on it.
I have mixed feelings about this because in a SD situation I don't want to draw and say firm grip firm grip.
I can not induce a failure with any other gun in my carry rotation which consist of: kahr cm9, glock 26. These guns have ran and continue to run flawless.
I don't know if I'll be keeping the xds or not. Its tough to consider retiring two dependable firearms that work with the grip and stance that I'm accustomed to. I don't dis like my xds by any means but I'm not in love with it like I thought I would be. I kind of wish I'd of saved the extra money up and bought the kimber ultra cdp 2.

 

[340PD]

You do not need to give it a death grip. All it needs is a firm wrist so he gun has something to push against when cycling. It is a easily learned technique.
BTW. Keep your gun clean. My guess is that was half of your trouble from the start.

 

[meef]

I kept a kung fu death grip on it today during my shooting with it. I shot 100 rounds of white box with zero failures.

Now that you've cleaned and lubed it substantially and managed 100 consecutive rounds through the gun, maybe you might try taking it to the range again and shooting it without the kung fu death grip?

That could tell you if a good breaking in was what it needed all along.

That was my experience.