[Guest]

Well, I finally managed to get out with the XD and 140 rounds of ammunition.

The gun was cleaned and lubed prior to shooting, and seemed to be in good working order to my admittedly untrained eye.

It's very accurate, for a service gun, with five-shot, slow-fire groups coming out to about 3." This is very good for me, as I'm not nearly as good a shot as some of you guys. I imagine it's capable of much better, but I just can't quite get that out of it. At any rate, keeping them in the 9 ring was no problem, and it would take an extreme novice or a bad day to make it difficult to keep them in the black.

Recoil seemed soft for a .45, -- no worse than most 9mms I've shot -- and the trigger, which seemed good when I got the gun, smoothed up quite a bit over the course of the afternoon.

It fed FMJ, and both Hornady XTP and Speer Gold Dots, the two most radically different Hollowpoints I could find, with no difficulty, but that didn't keep it completely trouble-free.

It had two malfunctions, which I'm attributing, for the moment, to the gun not being broken in, yet. On the 36th round, the gun's slide locked open with rounds still in the magazine, and on the 95th round, it failed to return to battery. In order to fix that problem, I had to lock the slide open, and then release the slide-stop, so that the slide slammed shut. The gun would not return to battery, otherwise.

To it's credit, it never malfunctioned again. However, I only fired 45 more rounds, beyond that point, as my ammunition budget was rendered a bit tight by the purchase of the gun, itself.

I really like this gun, so I'm hoping these problems clear up, but if they don't, I'll discard it. There are lots of good .45s out there.

 

[Guest]

I've had 1911s that cost over $1000 do worse than that for the first 500 rounds...

 

[Guest]

I know. It's just kind of disheartening when you hear everyone reporting how "My new XD went 300 rounds out of the box without a single malfunction, and I didn't even realize until I took it down to clean it that I'd completely forgotten to lube it."

I imagine it'll loosen up a bit and start running like a champ, given another hundred rounds or so. I was just hoping I'd get to give one of those glowing "It didn't even really need a break-in period" reports.

I guess it just goes to show that any new autoloader had better have at least 200 trouble-free rounds through it before you use it for anything serious.

 

[slidestop]

CP; Average breakin for a semi. My dad told me three things to take with a grain of salt when somebody tells you; how much mileage (mpg) he gets, how much money he gets, and how much a** he gets. One should add the cyber bragging on how his weapons (guns) perform.

 

[Guest]

Almost forgot:

What about that "XD Gear?"

It's surprisingly good stuff, actually.

The belt-slide holster is very secure, but a bit unstable for duty use or daily carry. A decent range holster.

The Magazine carrier is very secure and stable, and with a bit of tension adjustment, holds the magazines nicely. It's good enough that I feel no particular compunction to buy a new magazine carrier to go with this gun.

The magazine loader works well, and it's a good thing, too. That thirteenth round makes you pay for putting it in there.

 

[Chris Stephens]

Hi chubbypidgeon,

Thanks for the range report!!

Strangely enough, earlier this afternoon, I was at the gunshop looking at the SA/XD set-up in a brand new 9mm pistol with the XD gear packaged together in the foam case.

I was pretty amazed by the light trigger pull and the way the grip sat in my hand. It is a very nice gun.

Chris

 

[Guest]

Well, this one's a keeper.

After a nosedive at the 150th round, the gun simply ceased to malfunction. 90 rounds without a hiccup, today, and I suspect many more to come.

Also, it delivered two 2" groups, among several 2.5 and 3" and the trigger smoothed up to something somewhat reminiscent of a ruger revolver (not perfect, but still quite good.)

I am quite pleased.

 

[Guest]

I really want/wanted an XD45ACP, but...

I bought my HS2000 (pre-XD9) a few years ago. Accuracy, reliability, ergonomics, etc., etc. have been nothing short of outstanding. A couple of years later, I bought and XD40 and it too has been fantastic for the same reasons. I even invested $200 for an aftermarket 357SIG barrel from Bar-Sto because the XD357 was not yet available.

To date, I have fondled and dry-fired two new XD45ACPs. They both look fine and feel fine except both triggers were awful IMVHO. I was sincerely hoping that the first one I tried was an anomaly, but not so. The one I tried today was just as bad, i.e., heavy and creepy.

Until I find one that has a trigger that feels like my HS2000 and my XD40, I'm going to have to pass.

I am happy for your good fortune, though.