Pistols I saw last week & what stood out

[Sigfan26]

What stands out to me is that someone paid $1600+ to take a class and buys a bargain-basement pistol.

The P320 isn’t my thing, either... but it isn’t bargain basement by any means.


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[RevolverRob]

Clearly “bargain basement” is the Wilson EDC X9. At $2500 it is the best bargain for a hammer fires double-stack 1911-esque 9mm.

I’ve never seen an XD fail in a class, and yes I’ve seen more than one. In fact, once on Clint Smith’s (!!!Eleventy!!) hip.

[EJO]

Glock 34 (midweek switch from a -19)


Just thought I’d share.

Erick, do you know why the switch was made from the 19 to the 34?

Thank you

[HopetonBrown]

I’ve never seen an XD fail in a class, and yes I’ve seen more than one. In fact, once on Clint Smith’s (!!!Eleventy!!) hip.

I saw an XD die in my third class. One of Clint's former co-workers told us he sent his XD back to Springfield during the grip safety recall with a note saying they could keep it.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Also that the M&Ps in attendance were 1.0s.

I taught with my RDS equipped 1.0, as my duty 2.0 is at Atei;
The student with a 1.0 was loaned it when she realized the Glock she was using wasn't viable for her;

Roughly 800 rounds each through 5 guns isn't exactly a conclusive sample size.

800 rds isn't right. While I'm not a math guy (thank god for statistics, I wouldn't have any degrees if it wasn't for that class), the ball round count varied between 880-920 and 45-50 frang. By my math that means right about 950 rds each. Yes, it is not conclusive. However, given the belief that XDs will poop the bed on contact to see five make it through a five day / 1k rd class without breakage is interesting. Given the errornet's stance on that gun means its pretty interesting.

Erick, do you know why the switch was made from the 19 to the 34? Thank you

His words - because he had it with him & he wanted to shoot it.

ETA:
My org has right about 300 gun toting cops plus some correctional deputies who can carry off-duy. I don't see any XDs in an on-duty capacity and while we issue G17s, there is a whole lot of latitude about what they carry. This was my first experience with multiple XDs in one setting.

[11B10]

On Friday I finished up teaching a five-day General Pistol class (#250) at Gunsite. More than twenty students, they gave round counts between 880-920 ‘live’ rounds with another 40-50 frangible rounds fired in four indoor/outdoor simulator runs.

Here are the student guns:

Colt Gunsite Pistol .45ACP

Six Glock 17s
Four Glock 19s
Glock 34 (midweek switch from a -19)
Glock 43 (no, not a typo)

Guncrafter 1911 Hoss Cat 45ACP

H&K USP .45Compact
H&K p30
Sig P226
Sig p320
S&W M&P 1.0 9mm full size (switched to it after day one)

Two Springfield Xd45s
Two XD 9mm
Springfield XD-M 9mm w/ Vortex Venom RDS

STI 2011 .40SW

Wilson CQB Elite 9mm
Wilson EDC x9

(Instructor pistols were two Glock 17s, two Colt 1911s, and a M&P 1.0 9mm with a Trijicon RMR)

When I looked at the list of student guns on Monday and saw the number of XDs, I thought I’d see a whole bunch of visits to the range by the gunsmith. Wasn’t the case.

The STI had repeated feed way stoppages with what looked like a flat point / truncated cone 180gr load. I did not catch the man’f. The shooter had manipulation issues, involving consistency & sequence that may well have contributed. Don’t know the date of manufacture;

None of the XDs had any memorable issues aside from a trip to gunsmith over a rather stiff mag release.
The Vortex Venom RDS ran all week. I don’t know if it shifted zero as I don’t know how the shooter had it set-up, however I shot it and made a minor windage adjustment on Wednesday afternoon. It appeared that worked as there weren’t any other issues with it the last two days;

The Wilson EDC X9 had a pretty good stoppage early in the week. The slide locked to the rear as far past the slide stop as it could go. Tap, Roll Rack, Etc. could not budge it. Eventually smacked the snot out of the back of slide which broke it loose. No visible interior damage nor any functional deficit. It appeared to run fine the rest of the week.

The Colts, Glocks, H&Ks, Sigs, and M&P all ran fine. The student with the G43 ran that thing pretty well, with just a couple issues manipulating the slide and completing reloads based on gun size / hand size differences.

Just thought I’d share.

What I love about this is the information comes from REAL world experience, not a "gun writer."

[Bucky]

Didn’t realize there was such a dislike of XD pistols here. They had a good short term run in USPSA many years back. They were quickly abandoned when Springfield refused to sell parts for them.

I still have my XD .40 5” Production gun, with a Canyon Creek trigger job. Best trigger I have in any striker fired gun.

[fixer]

Every match I go to, it never fails, the most malfunctions come from 1) the guy with the most tricked out gun, regardless of manufacturer 2) re-loads and 3) both.

I've yet to see an oem pistol with factory ammo malfunction (in a match setting).

Anecdotally--This includes an older gentleman who has a Kimber that looks like it is older than me, rattles when he walks around, yet with good mags and factory ammo it runs great and is accurate...meanwhile the guy with flame-graphics on his glock 34 with cool-guy high speed trigger, etc, has given up minutes to everyone else due to malfs.

[olstyn]

Every match I go to, it never fails, the most malfunctions come from 1) the guy with the most tricked out gun, regardless of manufacturer 2) re-loads and 3) both.

No disagreement there. Making mods to a gun willy-nilly is bad ju-ju, as is reloading without understanding deeply what you're doing and having careful attention to detail and/or skimping on QA/QC processes when making your ammo. Reloading can be both effective and satisfying to do, along with significantly reducing your per-round costs, but it's definitely not for everyone, and I'm honestly surprised that more people don't injure themselves and/or blow up guns doing it, and that's coming from someone who shoots reloads almost exclusively.

[JonInWA]

In 12 years of shooting IDPA, I've seen multiple credible users (people that I know, trust and have demonstrated their shooting acumen and abilities to make judicious choices) choose and shoot XDs for years; I've only observed one malfunction, and that was with an XD shooter who reloaded (but as I recall, the issue{s} were both mechanical and reloading-related-the gun went back to Springfield).

I don't personally like them, and am wary that they have not successfully negotiated any significant LEO testing protocols without experiencing parts breakages, but in the competition use that I've personally observed, they seem to perform quite well. But obtaining one is not on my radar.

I would, however, be predisposed to trust an XD over a first generation M&P (particularly in 9mm).

Best, Jon