Gun try outs

There was no kissing on this man date. A friend of mine let me take his Springfield XD for a test drive today. I shot 40 caliber 180 grain FMJ bullets. This was one of the guns I was considering before I decided to go with a DA/SA handgun. After having that idea knocked by anyone and everyone under the sun, the Springfield was again in the running.

I had collected several reviews about this gun here, but now it is time to give my two cents.

The XD has three features that glocks do not have: a grip safety, cocked indicator, and a loaded chamber indicator. The grip safety is not like several other grip safeties I have seen, kimber and colt fall into this category. The main type of grip safety I have see is where the grip safety is part of the back strap and nearly blends right in. The XD grip safety is just a simple latch in the middle of the back strap. It seems to be that it is a little easier to depress than the standard grip safety I have seen. You can see a good picture of the XD's grip safety here.

I really liked the way it felt in my hand, also. It was heavy, but it was not to heavy. The XD is heavier than a glock 23 by about 6 oz (the glock 23 weighs in at 21.16 oz and the 4 inch model of the xd .40 cal weighs in at 27 ozs). It felt more substantial when shooting in my hands than a glock 23 did. The weight could have been part of the reason for that, but it could have also been the grip angle and balance of the gun. It felt like I had something to aim in my hands, which sometimes the glocks can fell a little light to me.

When shooting the XD, I was very accurate. I was able to acquire and fire easily. The recoil was comparable to the glock 23, but I thought the XD was a little better. I liked the ball mag release better than the type of releases that are molded into the trigger guard (walther P99), I was able to operate everything from one hand. The mag release on the XD felt more durable than the glock release, but when a loaded mag was in the gun the mag release was much harder to press in. Which I like the idea it being a little hard to accidentally drop a mag.

One problem I had was that my friends gun's slide seemed harder to pull back than some other pistols I have shot. Another problem, was that the slide locked back unexpectedly several times and this surprised me. It could have been because I brushed the slide release, that was mentioned in several articles that I have read.

The range I was at had a XD package. The gun, gun lock, two mags, and a XD HOLSTER for about 489, which is a very good deal. If anyone is interested in that, email me and I will give you more information.

Of all the guns I have shot, this one is at the top of my autoloader list.

cube