I've been doing some shooting with one of the standard size XD-40's with a stainless slide ...
The balance of the pistol is nice, as it seems to closely duplicate the grip angle of many of my preferred pistols ... 1911's & S&W's.
The trigger "feels" acceptable during shooting drills. Less "spongy" than the standard Glock. A couple of the 1911 & HP guys complained of irritated spots on the pads of their trigger fingers after minimal shooting, but that seemed to be caused by them placing their fingers at the bottom of the trigger, instead of higher against the trigger. I didn't experience anything like that ... Of course, I'm also used to higher placement of my index finger on the trigger, which is why the "ski jump" on the bottom of the 99 series pistols doesn't affect me, either.
I have the same concerns about the service life of the firing pin spring. It's not a hammer spring, after all ... but only time will reveal if the lighter firing pin spring is up to the task of being left fully compressed for long periods. Since this pistol was designed in a land where many sidearms are carried with an empty chamber until the user desires to prepare to shoot their sidearm, I just sort of wonder what extended testing was done when it comes to the service life of the firing pin spring. Of course, I know of a few SW99's that have had many thousands of rounds fired through them, which would compress and decompress the firing pin springs, and without any visible signs of weakening firing pin springs ... and Glock firing pin springs have certainly demonstrated an acceptable service life ... so this may be a non-issue. I guess we'll see ...
I understand that there's only something like a little over 50 L/E agencies nationwide that have adopted (and/or approved) the XD9/40 in the last couple of years, so it's probably a bit too soon to expect anything resembling a "longterm" report on service life and durability. I've spoken to one fellow (online) who reported having fired more than 10K rounds through his 9mm (HS version?) without problems.
I don't like the stock sights. Not at all. Too much reflection under sunlight. The dots could be more visible under a wider variety of lighting conditions. Easy to resolve.
I'd heard the Springfield folks are working on a new surface finish for the carbon steel slides. Personally, I like the stainless slide.
Disassembly is simple enough ... and having the slide locked back during the process, before the trigger can be pulled to complete disassembly, would seem to make it "easier" to double-double check the chamber to make sure it's empty.
The pistol is reasonably accurate, comparing it to other .40 S&W pistols I own and have been shooting in recent months.
I personally dislike the pivoting loaded chamber indicator design, but these devices are going to be increasingly with us. I just happen to prefer the visual inspection port design, and the Glock LCI extractor is easy enough to use under any lighting conditions.
The grip safety idea is okay ... but it was interesting to watch some "high speed-low drag" guys try to manipulate the empty pistol without first acquiring a proper strong-hand grip on it. One of them wondered if this design wouldn't make it more difficult to manipulate the pistol if you hand an injured hand.
Well, yeah ... probably ... depending on what you had in mind ... but having an injured hand in the middle of a shooting situation may introduce all manner of problems, regardless of what type of handgun you're using.
Personally, I'd file that concern away under the "training" issue, to be considered and prepared for from a training perspective ... and not overly worry about it from the particular handgun design perspective. The actual functional loss of either hand in a life-threatening situation, not to mention the effect of pain, is probably going to be a very serious matter in some respects ... regardless of handgun design. Don't know the answer, but the grip safety is probably a good idea since the XD is a fully-cocked, SA pistol design.
I like the metal-bodied magazines ... and the 12-round magazine springs are very, very strong.
I like the idea of the substantial frame rails being incorporated into the massive locking block. I happen to think that this qualifies as a "better idea" when it comes to polymer-framed pistols. Let's see how it holds up ...
After this design has been out there for at least a couple or three more years ... and in-service with more cops (who "know" how to break things
) ... I might be more interested in personally owning one. Depends.
Just my thoughts so far ...
