This is my gun

For months now, I’ve been drooling over the new Springfield XDm. I resisted as long as possible, but finally gave in. What drove me over the edge you ask? In this case, it was the promotion that Springfield was running where you get 2 extra magazines and a magazine carrier for free (that makes a total of 4 magazines, and two double mag carriers).

Here’s the basics.

Caliber: 9mm

Action: Single Action, semi-auto

Magazine capacity: 19

BBL: 4.5″ traditional land and groove rifled match grade.

The XDm line of pistols come in a very sturdy high quality pelican case.

Inside the neatly organized case, you’ll find along with the pistol, 2 magazines, a double mag carrier, paddle holster, cleaning brush, safety lock, and two extra grip back straps.

19 +1 capacity. What’s not to like?

The interchangable backstraps make the pistol suitable for just about any size hands. Even though I have very large hands, I ended up going with the medium size backstrap. The large backstrap started to effect the natural point of aim in my hands.

Very nice friction retention paddle holster. Unfortunately, I can’t use it as I shoot southpaw.

Magazine carriers are very solid, and are adjustable for tension on the magazines.

The bore brush is big enough to double as a magazine brush. The lock, well, it’s another one to add to my collection in the box on my shelf. All my firearms stay locked tight in the safe if they are not on my person.

I’m not a big fan of 3 dot sights, but these work well.

One of the big improvements of the XDm over the standard XD line is the take down procedure. They have eliminated the need to pull the trigger to take the weapon apart, reducing the chances of a negligent discharge. The procedure is as follows

While pointing in a safe direction:
1- Unload the weapon
2- Verify chamber is clear
3- Lock the slide back
4- Flip the take down lever up
5- while holding the slide back, release the slide and ride it forward all the way off the frame.

Takedown lever flipped up

Slide removed from frame

The XDm usesa full length guide rod, with a non-captive spring.

Here you can see the extractor mechanism and the internal firing pin safety

Here is a shot of the fire control group.

Trigger safety

Cocked indicator protruding from back of slide

Loaded chamber indicator

How does it shoot?

I absolutely love this pistol. The recoil is very soft with very little muzzle rise, allowing you to get back on target very fast. The trigger is not the best out there, but it’s still pretty good. I would call it a rolling break. Very similar to my P7M8 although a little heavier.
The target below is 3 magazines worth of rapid fire at 10 yards.

I’m alrIeady wishing that I had bought this pistol in .40 S&W instead of the 9mm. The .40 S&W version has 9mm bbl’s available, but you cannot get a .40 S&W bbl for the 9mm version. At least I have an excuse to go buy another one!

Overall, I can highly recommend this pistol to anyone looking.

The wife is has FINALLY got her concealed carry gun. Back in november I started to chronical the efforts to find the perfect concealed carry gun for the wife. I promised to get her anything she wanted so long as it wasn’t a snubbie or a minor caliber pocket pistol. We started off by getting her familiar with all the different pistols that are out there. This was accomplished by dragging her to every gun store we could find so that she could wrap her hands around them to get an idea of grip size, trigger reach, action types etc. After handling about 40 different pistols (whithout shooting any of them), the front runner was the Kimber Ultra Carry in 9mm. Then I enrolled her into a womens shooting course at a local indoor range. After a few hours of classroom instruction, the class had the opportunity to shoot about 15 different handguns. Most of them were 9mm autos (S&W M&P, Beretta, Glock, Kahr, Springfiled XD’s, Walther PPS and p99 to name a few), but there were also a few .38 specials and a kel-tec .380. The only major style of handgun they didn’t get to shoot was the 1911 (I think that had to do with the instructors bias agains the 1911). After the class, it was between the 4" S&W M&P in 9mm and the XD Sub Compact in 9mm. We spent the next three weeks going back to the range shooting both pistols (rentals) head to head. She shot the S&W M&P a little better than the XD, but in the end, the concealability of the XD Sub Compact won out. She decided to get the XD Sub Compact for her concealed carry rig, but still wants the 4" M&P "just because".

 The Springfield XD Sub Compact is very similar to the standard XD, but has 3" bbl and a shortened grip. Like glocks, it is a striker fired pistol, and has a similar trigger safety. Unlike the glock, it has a 1911 style grip safety, and it is a single action. The striker on a XD is fully charged when cocked, where as a glock is only partially charged. Glocks are technically classified as a double action because when you pull the trigger, it draws the striker back before it releasing it. It comes with two magazines (10 round and 16 round with a grip extension), belt slide holster, double mag pouch, magazine loader and a cable style security lock.

 Here you see the included belt slide hoster. The pistol is securely is held securely in place by friction which is adjustable by turning the allen head screw just in front of the trigger guard on the holster.

 The grip extension sleve that comes on the 16 round magazine brings the grip to the same size as the standard 4" XD.

The shortened grip with the 10 round magazine makes the pistol very concealable without making it hard to handle.

Here you see the loaded chamber indicator.

The loaded chamber indicator provides a visual indicator that you can verify by feel if necessary. It’s a pretty handy way to tell if if a round is in the chamber. However, a loaded chamber indicator is not a reliable substitute for performing a press check to verify the pistols ready condition.

Magazine loader, holster, and dual mag pouch.

Cable lock

Dual mag pouch with 10 round and 16 round magazines. Notice the 1913 type rails on the front and back of the mag pouch. This could be handy to carry a weapon mountable tac lite or the included mag loader (see below).

The 16 round magazine is a standard XD magazine that uses a slip on grip extension sleeve.

While I don’t use magazine loaders for my pistols (too slow for me), the provided loader is very well built, and even has the ability to attach to a standard 1913 rail (like the ones on the included holster and mag pouch).

The mag loader in action.

Although the XD comes with a belt slide holster, she really wanted a paddle holster. She ended up picking out the Blackhawk Serpa holster. The Serpa holster is designed for the 4" XD, so I trimmed about an inch off the muzzle end of the holster.

Here you see the XD Sub Compact in the modified holster.

As far as carry ammo, pending function testing with a couple hundered rounds, she will be carring XD loaded with 124 grain +P Remington Golden Sabers. All in all, she is extremely happy with her new Christmas present, and can’t wait to get to the range to break it in. Needless to say, there will be a few more concealed carry classes in her near future.

-Thomas