Is the Springfield XD gaining acceptance among LEO's?

[heavyshooter]

Pardon my ignorance, but if I pull the trigger on Glock in remains in the reward position until the slide cycles and resets the trigger. How is that DAO? Am I missing something?

 

[Cards81fan]

The striker firing mechanism has a spring-loaded firing pin that is cocked in two stages, powered by the firing pin spring. When the pistol is charged, the firing pin is in the half-cock position. As the trigger is pulled, the striker is fully cocked. At the end of its travel, the trigger bar is tilted downward by the disconnector, releasing the striker to fire the cartridge. The disconnector also resets the trigger bar so that the striker will be captured in half-cock at the end of the firing cycle. This is known as a pre-set trigger mechanism, referred to as the "Safe Action" trigger by the manufacturer. The disconnector also ensures the pistol can only fire in semi-automatic mode.

This pre-setting of the striker by the recoil, while not completely cocking the firing pin, is what Glock uses to classify this as a "Safe Action" or double-action pistol. One could say the pistol is "all-but completely cocked" until the pull of the trigger completely sets the striker.

It's a slick way to design the pistol to function effectively as a single-action, but also market as a double-action to law enforcement agencies, who perceive them as safer.

. . .

That said, I own an XD but only because I got a smokin' deal on a used one at a pawn shop. I would have been equally ready to purchase a Glock had I found as good of a deal.

To keep this related to the topic of the thread, no more 22s in OKC:

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/leo-talk/114185-glocks-out-okc.html

 

[Pizzagunner]

I wouldn't authorize the XD as a department issue weapon for no other reason than Springfield Armory's asinine policy regarding the availability of spare parts. Why have a department trained armorer if you have to send a problem child XD back to the factory for something as simple as a diagnosis and small part change, like an extractor? Perhaps SA would get all friendly for a cop shop and allow a generous stockpile of small parts spares, but unless those parts were generally available on the market, I would not trust in my department's ability to keep the pistols running.

Maybe SA's spare parts policy is a direct reflection of the tolerance variances discussed earlier requiring factory fitting? If so, that's not a good duty weapon for a large organization to adopt and it has nothing to do with slick marketing or low bidding by competitors.

 

[Guillermo]

Glock and Smith go after the law enforcement market with gusto. Springfield does not.

Also as previously mentioned, Springfield does not ship spare parts.

If Springfield changes policy and goes after the LE business they will get alot of it. The XD is a great platform.


Heavyshooter...you are correct that none of the guns in question are double action but rather than take that tangent, check out this sticky http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=248556

 

[legion3]

I have only seen 1 cop ever with an XD. And he was with a city police force which has 3 officers. A large local Security firm (the type people hire to protect physical plants and power plants and such) issues the XD 9mm to its "tactical" team, but that's it.

Even with the two sheriff's departments that allow "free choice" carry (you can carry just about anything - even revolvers) I have not seen an XD.

Lots of older Smiths (not the M&P much but the 2nd and 3rd gen's) and lots of Glocks.

I like the XD but don't see its acceptence in LE so much. I carried a Beretta 92 for 8 years, then the Glock 17 for several while in uniform and the Glock 19when I went plain clothes. Glock just offers so much for departments that its hard to justify not getting them. XD has been around quite a while and does not seem to have made much of a splash in the LE world.

Does anybody know any large agency federal or State that issues them?

Not just "approves" them.

 

[TG13]

it's approved by Harris County Sheriff's Department, also..

 

[LancerMW]

Glocks and Sigs is all the agency down here allows

 

[afvoo52]

Never had a problem in well over 3 thousand rounds of reloads, and various factory ammo in either of my XD's. One is a XDm 40 and the other a standard XD40.
Accuracy has been excellent with both, the XDm being very accurate.

 

[hwp]

Truth be told I would say XD's ride in way less than 1% of LE holsters.

 

[AcceptableUserName]

XD's are very rare for LE use from what I've seen. I also greatly agree with what the above poster stated about the very proprietary way XD/Springfield deals with repairs and parts and such. I prefer Glock for that reason, but I've owned an Xd Tac-45 and it was a DANG fine gun in a lot of ways.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I live in Plymouth Township, a NW suburb of Philadelphia, PA and haven't seen any XDs carried by cops.

The Philly cops I've seen have been armed either with revolvers (older guys with Rugers or S&Ws) or SIG Pros. The cops in Plymouth carry cocked & locked Kimber 1911s, which replaced Beretta 96s a few years ago. AFAIK the 1911s have been working out fine.

 

[Billy Shears]

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.

This doesn't surprise me a bit. My department issued the 5946TSW for a while, and I personally had three different ones; the first two were sent back because they wouldn't shoot reliably. My department had numerous problems with these guns, and we withdrew them after less than two years, replacing them with Glocks. I had an opportunity to buy mine for $200 when we changed over, and the only reason I took it was because I knew I could sell it for more than that. I wouldn't have the thing for my own use; it was a piece of crap. Virginia State PD had some problems with Smith & Wessons as well. I personally know one state trooper who carried a Glock for a backup, and said he'd draw it first.

Basically, Smith & Wesson, despite having built autos since the 50s, still can't get it right as far as I'm concerned. I know lots of people own them and like them. My personal experience with S&W autos has been uniformly bad. I wouldn't own one. I love their revolvers. Wouldn't keep one of their autos if you gave it to me.