I love the Springfield Armory XD/XDm line of pistols. I have owned/shot XD’s in 9mm, .40S&W, and .45 ACP. I have shot from XD Subcompact to XDm 5.25 Comp guns. I love the way they look and they way they feel. YMMV.
Anyways, about 2 months ago I opted to sell my Bi-tone XDm in .40 so I could fund an XDm compact in .40. I made a decent deal for my old XDm with another INGO member and then found the gun I wanted at Plainfield Shooting Supply for a price I was happy with. The biggest difference between the two is that the full size only accepts the 16rnd mags where the compact is made for 11rnd mags but will also take 16 round mags. The kit comes with 1-11rnd mag, 1-16 round mag, paddle holster, double mag pouch, cleaning rod, lock, 3 interchangeable back straps, and 3 different grip sleeves for the 16rnd mag.
With my new toy at home, I did the standard break down and cleaning that I love to do with any new gun. It really didn’t need it but you never know, sometimes they are covered in oil from the factory. Besides I wanted to play with it!!!
After stripping it down, I very very very lightly oiled the weapon, I didn’t want to run it completely dry, but I wanted to see if it was rubbing anywhere once I started shooting it. Now, many things I have read said that you need to fire a good 250 rounds through the weapon before you can consider it broken in and reliable enough to carry, plus I wanted to test it out with my normal carry ammo (180gr Speer Gold Dot)
I already had about 4 mags worth (16 round mags) of Speer gold dots, but I went and bought 4 more boxes….OUCH carry ammo is expensive!!
Next stop was for some cheap target ammo that I could just burn through. So my dad and I stopped by walmart on the way to the range (MCFG, He’s a member, I had to pay the $10 guest fee….I really need to get my own membership). We picked up 600 rounds of Federal in the 100round bulk packs. $25.95 before tax for 100 rounds of .40S&W is pretty decent I think.
While waiting for the sporting goods person to find a key to the ammo cabnet we checked to see if it was mistakenly left open…..it was. So we grabbed what we needed, LOCKED the cabnet back and headed for the front of the store. My dad and I were both OC and then we were carrying several boxes of ammo around….really a normal sight in my eyes, but I guess not everyone’s.
While waiting for the sporting goods person to find a key to the ammo cabnet we checked to see if it was mistakenly left open…..it was. So we grabbed what we needed, LOCKED the cabnet back and headed for the front of the store. My dad and I were both OC and then we were carrying several boxes of ammo around….really a normal sight in my eyes, but I guess not everyone’s.
I then proceeded over to the hygiene area because I figured while I was there I would get shave cream, toothpaste, and deodorant. About halfway across the store I realized that two employees were following us. I didn’t think much of it figured they were just going to the other side of the store like we were. After getting what I needed, I noticed they were still behind us so I waved at them. At the checkout we heard people behind us talking about our handguns and how it must be legal to carry openly in Indiana. Gave the brief speech about how it is with license, etc.
Next stop was the range. It was getting later that we had anticipated because we had some other stuff going on earlier in the day. We were only going to have about an hour and 20 min at the range because the main part closes down at 5:00 on Thursdays for trap shooting. This wasn’t a problem because we had figured on a relatively short trip anyways.
The first thing I shot were the Gold Dots in the mags I had. I wanted to check my carry ammo in this weapon. All 4 mags, no problem at all. I was hitting a little low and left which I knew was probably just me, not the gun. It had been about 10 months since I had been to the range with a handgun so I figured it may take a moment. I wanted to do this after the gun was broke in with FMJ's but they were already loaded and I didn't have any problems with them.
I then put a 14x14 target up just for something to aim at while I ran the rounds through. I did some slow fire, but a lot of controlled pairs and rapid fire to just get rounds through the gun. In the end I was sitting with about 300 rounds down range, most of them towards the center of the target if not just a little to the left.
I then put up a 12x12 shoot’n’c target and did an 11 round magazine into it. I was pretty happy with my groupings at the closest range (12 yards I think).
At this point we only had about 5 min left before the range closed so I wanted to have a little fun. So I grabbed two magazines and moved down where the steel gongs are hanging at 50 yards, 75 yards, and 100 yards. I started out on the 50 yard and missed my first few. Then I nailed 3 in a row, shot low on one and then hit another one. Another guy was shooting the 75 yard gong so I moved to the 100 yard gong. I had 8 round left in my mag and so I started shooting. I couldn’t tell where I was hitting but I was told low left. I adjusted accordingly and concentrated on squeezing for a surprise break. ‘bang’, ‘ting’, ‘bang’…’bang’ ‘ting’ and so on till the mag was empty. I ended up hitting the 100 yard gong 3 times. I was pretty happy with the accuracy of this 3.5’ pistol with cheap federal target ammo!
All in all, it was a great quick trip to the range with my dad. No failures of any kind, even when I tried to limp wrist the gun. I am extremely happy with the looks, feel, and shooting ability of my new carry piece.
Anyways, about 2 months ago I opted to sell my Bi-tone XDm in .40 so I could fund an XDm compact in .40. I made a decent deal for my old XDm with another INGO member and then found the gun I wanted at Plainfield Shooting Supply for a price I was happy with. The biggest difference between the two is that the full size only accepts the 16rnd mags where the compact is made for 11rnd mags but will also take 16 round mags. The kit comes with 1-11rnd mag, 1-16 round mag, paddle holster, double mag pouch, cleaning rod, lock, 3 interchangeable back straps, and 3 different grip sleeves for the 16rnd mag.
With my new toy at home, I did the standard break down and cleaning that I love to do with any new gun. It really didn’t need it but you never know, sometimes they are covered in oil from the factory. Besides I wanted to play with it!!!
After stripping it down, I very very very lightly oiled the weapon, I didn’t want to run it completely dry, but I wanted to see if it was rubbing anywhere once I started shooting it. Now, many things I have read said that you need to fire a good 250 rounds through the weapon before you can consider it broken in and reliable enough to carry, plus I wanted to test it out with my normal carry ammo (180gr Speer Gold Dot)
I already had about 4 mags worth (16 round mags) of Speer gold dots, but I went and bought 4 more boxes….OUCH carry ammo is expensive!!
Next stop was for some cheap target ammo that I could just burn through. So my dad and I stopped by walmart on the way to the range (MCFG, He’s a member, I had to pay the $10 guest fee….I really need to get my own membership). We picked up 600 rounds of Federal in the 100round bulk packs. $25.95 before tax for 100 rounds of .40S&W is pretty decent I think.
While waiting for the sporting goods person to find a key to the ammo cabnet we checked to see if it was mistakenly left open…..it was. So we grabbed what we needed, LOCKED the cabnet back and headed for the front of the store. My dad and I were both OC and then we were carrying several boxes of ammo around….really a normal sight in my eyes, but I guess not everyone’s.
While waiting for the sporting goods person to find a key to the ammo cabnet we checked to see if it was mistakenly left open…..it was. So we grabbed what we needed, LOCKED the cabnet back and headed for the front of the store. My dad and I were both OC and then we were carrying several boxes of ammo around….really a normal sight in my eyes, but I guess not everyone’s.
I then proceeded over to the hygiene area because I figured while I was there I would get shave cream, toothpaste, and deodorant. About halfway across the store I realized that two employees were following us. I didn’t think much of it figured they were just going to the other side of the store like we were. After getting what I needed, I noticed they were still behind us so I waved at them. At the checkout we heard people behind us talking about our handguns and how it must be legal to carry openly in Indiana. Gave the brief speech about how it is with license, etc.
Next stop was the range. It was getting later that we had anticipated because we had some other stuff going on earlier in the day. We were only going to have about an hour and 20 min at the range because the main part closes down at 5:00 on Thursdays for trap shooting. This wasn’t a problem because we had figured on a relatively short trip anyways.
The first thing I shot were the Gold Dots in the mags I had. I wanted to check my carry ammo in this weapon. All 4 mags, no problem at all. I was hitting a little low and left which I knew was probably just me, not the gun. It had been about 10 months since I had been to the range with a handgun so I figured it may take a moment. I wanted to do this after the gun was broke in with FMJ's but they were already loaded and I didn't have any problems with them.
I then put a 14x14 target up just for something to aim at while I ran the rounds through. I did some slow fire, but a lot of controlled pairs and rapid fire to just get rounds through the gun. In the end I was sitting with about 300 rounds down range, most of them towards the center of the target if not just a little to the left.
I then put up a 12x12 shoot’n’c target and did an 11 round magazine into it. I was pretty happy with my groupings at the closest range (12 yards I think).
At this point we only had about 5 min left before the range closed so I wanted to have a little fun. So I grabbed two magazines and moved down where the steel gongs are hanging at 50 yards, 75 yards, and 100 yards. I started out on the 50 yard and missed my first few. Then I nailed 3 in a row, shot low on one and then hit another one. Another guy was shooting the 75 yard gong so I moved to the 100 yard gong. I had 8 round left in my mag and so I started shooting. I couldn’t tell where I was hitting but I was told low left. I adjusted accordingly and concentrated on squeezing for a surprise break. ‘bang’, ‘ting’, ‘bang’…’bang’ ‘ting’ and so on till the mag was empty. I ended up hitting the 100 yard gong 3 times. I was pretty happy with the accuracy of this 3.5’ pistol with cheap federal target ammo!
All in all, it was a great quick trip to the range with my dad. No failures of any kind, even when I tried to limp wrist the gun. I am extremely happy with the looks, feel, and shooting ability of my new carry piece.
