Is the Springfield XD gaining acceptance among LEO's?

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heavyshooter

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I live in a suburb of Denver (not Denver proper). I have been paying close attention to the firearms of the local LEO’s and of the 5 officers that I have come across, 3 of them are carrying XD’s (the other two were carrying Glocks). I mention this because, while I like the Glock, I love the Springfield XD. The grip angle makes it a better shooter for me, and I want the grip safety (I may be alone on that one ;)). The XD I own has malfunctioned twice since I purchased it and they were both because I had been shooting all day and the gun was filthy. This seems like a good combat pistol to me and I wanted to get the opinions of The High Roaders.

Let’s not turn this into a Glock vs. Springfield battle. I am just curious about you review of the XD and I was wondering if you noticed Law Enforcement Agencies adopting the Springfield XD?
 
heavyshooter said:
I am just curious about you review of the XD and I was wondering if you noticed Law Enforcement Agencies adopting the Springfield XD?
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The XD/HS2000 is a good combat pistol.
The Croatian military and state police issue the HS-2000 (XD9).

AFAIK, no major US (ie. state/Federal) LE agency has adopted the XD.
 
I think the XD 45 is a good gun. But I did initially have some FTF problems with it.

I replaced the factory magazine springs with AGP +20 springs based on a recommendation from a member over at xdtalk.com and that fixed the problem.

The problem isn't actually the springs (although they are weak). The problem is that the ejecting case slams down on the next cartridge in the magazine causing it to nose dive as its being fed. The factory mag spring isn't strong enough to compensate and the cartridge hangs up on the feed ramp.

Based on the research I have done on this problem over the past few months it only affects the .45s and it doesn't happen with every gun. It seem to happen more on newer models.

I would check out xdtalk.com. Posts about this are increasing.

If you want to check your XD, fire a round and check the next cartridge, look for a chip in the brass.

Either way, just to be on the safe side, I would recommend replacing the mag springs.
 
I came across a list of agencies in the mid 2000's which were reported to issue the standard XD in either 9mm or .40 S&W. As I recall, there were just over a dozen agencies named on the list at that time. I wouldn't be surprised if the list would be a longer one at the present time.

This past year I saw a cop from a local agency using a XD9 as a uniform weapon. He was from a very small agency and I suspect it was probably a personally-owned weapon. I know of a very few cops from a couple of larger agencies who have bought XD's of various sizes and calibers for use as off-duty weapons.

It's difficult for manufacturers to keep up with which agencies may authorize use of their firearm as an optional/approved weapon. Naturally, it would be easier for them to track the number of agencies who have purchased their firearms for use as issued weapons. Ask Springfield. Feel free to share whatever they may be willing to provide.

FWIW, last time I checked, as of 2004 there were over 836,000 full-time sworn law enforcement officers in the country and more than 17,800 state & local LE agencies.

On the other hand, S&W maintains press releases on their company website which announce such things. As of June 22 of this year S&W announced that "537 domestic law enforcement agencies have adopted or approved the M&P for duty use". Bear in mind that the M&P Pistol was only released in Jan 2006, too.
 
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I've seen just one officer carrying an XD and it was also in a small rural town and suspect it was personally owned. I had an XD for a while and the grip safety is the main reason I sold mine. I'm one of those guys who feel the 1911 would be better off without it as well. Don't think they are a bad gun otherwise and if I worked in law enforcement and was issued one I would learn to use it and feel well protected.
 
some departments have approved the xd to be purchased and carried by individual officers.

however, exactly ZERO departments actually ISSUE xd's. they're all going for mp's or glocks (even though mp's haven't been out nearly as long-says good things for the mp's)


i had an xd 45 with numerous issues (reliability and accuracy issues), so i sold it. that's the only gun that i owned for less than a month and a half. fired 700 rounds through it (well past the break in period). lost $200 on selling to a gun shop too.

the xd's have far great tolerance variances than glock or mp- i think this causes a lot of issues with them (i'm sure croation quality control doesn't help either lol). they are extremely popular though, a lot of folks love 'em-i'm just not one of them. just a theory as to why they might not be issued by law enforcement.

i actually had a thread on this issue (got locked though lol), you can still read it. here's the link:


http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=457271
 
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i read a while back that one of the main reasons xds arent accepted by more leo is the trigger classification. Both glocks and the mps are considered dao. Xd's are considered single action
 
hmm, maybe, but back in the day glocks were accepted pretty quickly into law enforcement with their new (at the time) firing system.

yeah i can't remeber where i saw the tolerance variables, but they are much greater on the xd. this is why aftermarket parts makers like storm lake precision list the glock and mp barrels as drop in, but the xd is "semi" drop in. i saw the variance numbers after i bought the xd, wish i had seen them before, definitely would've never bought one as i was very surprised to see the numbers.
 
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It's marketing, plain and simple. Smith & Wesson took a page from the Glock marketing book and ran with it. Gaston Glock figured that if he offered all kinds of services that departments weren't used to getting, they would buy his guns. It worked. He flew 5 officers from my department back east and put them through a week long armorer's school, for free. He then offered replacement parts for the guns that were purchased.

Our department's decision to buy the Glock had nothing to do with the quality of the gun, only the back up service and free training that came with them. One particular person in the training division was wowed by it all, and convinced the Sheriff that it was the hot ticket. I could tell many horror stories about our Glock 22's, but that not the subject of this thread.

Smith & Wesson has been sending reps to all the departments, large and small, with a trunk full of guns and all the ammunition the officers want to shoot. He was here about three years ago, and the small department in my town went through about 3,000 rounds of Smith & Wesson's free ammunition, firing every M&P the guy brought. After an all day session, they didn't buy one gun from him, but had a great time. Because I chair a group of retired cops, I was invited to the affair and shot all the S&W M&P's. After it was over, I let everyone shoot my XD 357 Sig Service Model, and they all shot better than they had with any of the M&P's, and most shot better than they do with their issue Glocks.

Springfield is having a hard time keeping up with the civilian demand for the XD as it is. I've talked to the Springfield reps at the SHOT Show and they just can't keep them in stock, so there's no need for them to push the pistol to law enforcement at this time. That may change at some point in the future, but only time will tell.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
i think mp quality probably has a little to do with it too. depts won't issue guns that don't pass their quality tests.

i saw a website that showed tolerances for mp's glock and xd, prob the same one s&wmp45 was talking about in the previous post. the xd's variances are quite generous.
 
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I think Tooquick11 nailed it.

While the Glock, M&P and XD have triggers that feel very similar to people pulling the trigger, there are big differences internally. The Glock and M&P are not fully cocked, pulling the trigger both cocks and fires the gun in what is a short, light DA trigger pull. They are classified as DAO. The XD is fully cocked and pulling the trigger simply fires the gun. It is classified as a SA firearm. That is enough to probably keep the majority of police departments from ever using them.
 
I can't give a link but I have seen posted recently on a couple of forums where some departments are taking the M&P off their approved list due to some problems. I would think it'd be really hard to push Glock out of their spot with Law Enforcement Agencies. I do think the XD being classified single action probably has something to do with it not being used by more LEO's. That doesn't matter to me though I like mine.
 
i saw a website that showed tolerances for mp's glock and xd, prob the same one s&wmp45 was talking about in the previous post. the xd's variances are quite generous.
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Take two, can you tell me where you saw that info? No offense to you or s&wmp45, but uncited facts on the internet don't hold a lot of water with me. Even coming from two people. My searches have turned up nothing but more internet speculation.
 
Heres a little tip on Police departments, they sometimes go for the lowest bidder.........thats why I have a belt that is made out of cardboard and a handcuff case that costs about a dollar and has broken after the first day of light use.

Smith and Wesson has given many PDs sweetheart deals on their trade ins and new MPS.
 
Las Vegas Metro does NOT issue XD's. The officers buy their own and the XD is allowed.

I have never and I mean never seen an XD in a LE duty holster. In my area it is 90% glock and the rest are S&W and SIG.
 
I have never and I mean never seen an XD in a LE duty holster. In my area it is 90% glock and the rest are S&W and SIG.
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I have seen three in the past three months. One of them showed quite a bit of wear. Obviously he carried it a lot.
 
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