Impressions of the XDE-45 3.3?

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

Curious to know others' experiences. Should be picking mine up this week. Mostly good reviews on youtube but not very many in all, for the .45.

As others have mentioned, as have you... there is not much out there about the .45. I have shot the 9mm and found the trigger pulls hard.

However, my contribution to this thread is more along the lines of the barrel length. Though I'm sure you are up to snuff on ballistics, I just wanted to recommend a video on Federal HSTs that uses a 3.3 XDS. I carry and shoot .45. I looked at this video and similar ones to try to find if bullet weight or loads would be much affected by barrel length. My PX4 .45 has a 4.1" barrel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqM3grAiyI

It is possible that a lighter bullet weight could recover some velocity in the 3.3. It also might reduce recoil, enhancing follow-up shot times.

[JAH 3rd]

I like tnoutdoors9s videos. How scientific they are I don't know. He appears to use the same media when testing various calibers, so it's possible to see how various bullets react to the gel. I find it helpful.

[Nephrology]

/sigh

Because he didn’t come here asking for advice. He came here asking for fucking validation on a purchase he had already made. If his post had been “hey I’m thinking about buying this”
I would have tried to gently dissuade him from making a stupid purchase. But it wasn’t, it was “I bought this please validate me!”

This is an assumption predicated on your ability to read minds, which I am not so certain is a skill you (or anybody else) possess. His exact words were:

Curious to know others' experiences. Should be picking mine up this week. Mostly good reviews on youtube but not very many in all, for the .45.

You are correct that the OP had already purchased the gun in question, and I am certain that on some level he would have appreciated hearing that the gun he decided to buy is Good. Everyone likes validation. Pretty normal human behavior.

That does not necessarily mean he is/was allergic to criticism about the gun. While I understand why you interpreted his post the way you did, nothing in those three sentences tells me explicitly that he was looking to be validated. In fact, he may have been receptive to effectively the same message, told slightly differently. However, you jumped in with this:

If you'd bought it in 9mm from Langdon Tactical you would have bought the only "XD" line gun worth buying. As it is you got a gun with a crappy DA trigger, a marginal SA trigger, in a caliber that doesn't make any sense from guns that size. Congratulations, you bought the wrong gun.

If you were coming here hoping to have your purchase validated, you're in the wrong place, friend.

Which, of course, was guaranteed to piss him off. As a corollary, it also guaranteed that your message was going to be lost on him, which I think is unfortunate.

I like you and recognize/respect that you're a very talented, dedicated and experienced shooter, and sincerely appreciate your contributions to this forum. I especially like your YouTube channel as you are clearly a very intelligent and articulate person with a lot of insight to share about firearms. I learn a lot from you whenever I browse to your channel. I think your experience with this pistol is especially germane to the OP's question.

For this reason, I find it regrettable that this thread has become so confrontational. I feel that if you had phrased you first reply a little differently, the OP may have been more receptive to your input, and maybe even would have been persuaded to return the gun/cancel the purchase and buy something else.

Of course, it's also possible that your assessment was correct and that he would not have been interested in your feedback. Either way, it costs nothing to take a friendlier approach. If your advice is rejected out of hand anyway, then they are the only one who loses out.

I'm not your mom and can't tell you what to do, but hopefully you find this feedback helpful in some way.

[all42a]

I did share it. "I had one for review that wouldn't feed through a box of ammo so I yeeted it into the sun." I guess I figured you were smart enough to realize that I didn't actually launch a pistol into the sun. I guessed wrong.

I also have completely forgotten my first rule: I can't reason someone out of a position that they arrived at unreasonably, and I'm wasting my fucking time here. I hope you're genuinely happy with your purchase and I have no doubt that it will absolutely perform to the limit of your capabilities.

As the admin intimated, it's how you word things that governs how your words are received. I've stopped expecting anything helpful from you.

Look whether you realize it or not, when a question is asked of you, irregardless of how you think it should be asked your answer can be useful not only to the person who asked it but also everyone who comes later asking the same question. It's how information repositories like this are supposed to work. I searched before asking but not all who come later will, that's just the nature of people. Now if you've ever asked a question of someone yourself you might see that as a debt you've incurred which you can repay in kind later, to someone else. That too is how things normally work in forums. Just as journeymen answer questions because they too were once the person asking the question, and they know that they're giving back for what they too once received. And that their answer will be passed down again at a later time. At least some of them do.

Also, places like this are an echo chamber and should be if new people or people new to a particular gun, tactic, piece of equipment, or anything else need the information they have not been able to find. None of us asks questions that are entirely new or have never been asked before. Not even you.

I was not trying to cut corners, or piss you off. But I get it now, you're easily pissed off. Perhaps if you focused on the question while also realizing that your answer will be read later by many who are new to this place or the subject at hand, whether they've searched first or not, you might be able to see past your preconceived notions of the person asking and instead just answer it without being insulting and condescending. Or not. But know this, how you answer is more telling of who you are than of the person asking.

[BehindBlueI's]

@all42a @jetfire

Enough with the slap fight. It's still PF and it's still a technical forum. Drop it or take it to PM.

[HCM]

Love to hear all the long term experience with XD's.

What LE or .gov agencies are rocking the XD?

About the only shit left in the cases at LGS are XD's

At some point we need to get beyond feelings and deal with reality.

How many forums can one ask the same question on?

I wish people were required to show proficiency with a search function before being able to post.

It seems there are two parts to answering the OP's question. First XD series guns.

No significant Agencies are issuing or allowing XD's or XDMs. NYPD allows the XD-S as an optional back up and off duty gun. Langdon has gotten XDE's in 9mm to run but that is not necessarily an endorsement of the stock gun. One of the issues with the XD/XDMs for life-safety use is the grip safety locking the slide. The XD-S has a grip safety but it doesn't lock the slide, the XDE does not have a grip safety.

XD Series guns are attractive because they are accurate and have relatively light trigger pulls but have significant durability issues when shot in any volume. They literally self destructed in some agency testing. The HS2000 was a great $299 gun. Then Springfield Armory Inc doubled the price and Jedi mind tricked low information gun buyers into thinking it was a "American" gun on par with vetted service pistols.

Second part are small .45s viable self defense guns ? They are better than no gun but the are not optimal. regardless of slow fire accuracy, .45 and .40 guns in general suffer when time is added to the equation and in the real world, time is always a factor. All handgun rounds are lacking in power and multiple hits are usually required to stop threats. Now factor in that gun fighting is not the same as shooting so not all shots will be hits in the real world. Tom Given's analogy of a single stack .45 being a 1 or 2 bad guy gun is spot on.

If one was required to use .45 acp or had a source of free .45 ammo the Glock 30/36 and S&W Shield .45 would be be the best options.

[all42a]

As others have mentioned, as have you... there is not much out there about the .45. I have shot the 9mm and found the trigger pulls hard.

However, my contribution to this thread is more along the lines of the barrel length. Though I'm sure you are up to snuff on ballistics, I just wanted to recommend a video on Federal HSTs that uses a 3.3 XDS. I carry and shoot .45. I looked at this video and similar ones to try to find if bullet weight or loads would be much affected by barrel length. My PX4 .45 has a 4.1" barrel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqM3grAiyI

It is possible that a lighter bullet weight could recover some velocity in the 3.3. It also might reduce recoil, enhancing follow-up shot times.

Thanks for the link, good video. I would not want to trade places with that ballistics gel, even if he hadn't been using +P ammo. Or to stand in the way of any caliber bullet. Just trying to hedge my bets with this small .45 at certain times of the year.

My use for this will be condition one carry, so not real concerned about the DA pull, but thanks for your take on it. I have seen other videos and remarks that echoed the dislike of the DA pull. But then even with a D spring my Berettas have not been entirely pleasing to me in DA.

[SiriusBlunder]

Thanks for the link, good video. I would not want to trade places with that ballistics gel, even if he hadn't been using +P ammo. Or to stand in the way of any caliber bullet. Just trying to hedge my bets with this small .45 at certain times of the year.

My use for this will be condition one carry, so not real concerned about the DA pull, but thanks for your take on it. I have seen other videos and remarks that echoed the dislike of the DA pull. But then even with a D spring my Berettas have not been entirely pleasing to me in DA.

I look at that video and see a load that does not penetrate adequately for me from a 3.3'' barrel since it did not penetrate at least 12'' in a 4LD test. (Assuming that penetration in SIM-TEST is the same as 10% OG, which I kinda doubt.)

There was a recent short barrel .45 ACP thread here: Does a short barrel .45 make sense

The recommended short barrel .45 ACP load per DocGKR (the Ammo SME here) is:

In .45 Auto barrels under 4" or so, I'd also likely choose a Barnes all copper 185 gr +P loading.

[HeavyDuty]

I was never able to get my old G36 to run right and dumped it years ago, but several years back (five?) I picked up a first generation XD-S .45 4” to fill that role. I’m not a fan of anything shorter in .45, and it has been reliable with very light usage.

[Jared]

Thanks for the link, good video. I would not want to trade places with that ballistics gel, even if he hadn't been using +P ammo. Or to stand in the way of any caliber bullet. Just trying to hedge my bets with this small .45 at certain times of the year.

My use for this will be condition one carry, so not real concerned about the DA pull, but thanks for your take on it. I have seen other videos and remarks that echoed the dislike of the DA pull. But then even with a D spring my Berettas have not been entirely pleasing to me in DA.

On two separate occasions I had the 9mm version in hand dry firing and pondering the purchase. Ultimately I didn’t it’s either time. I found the rather stiff DA pull and the grip ergos made it pretty hard to make a good DA press without sight disturbance. I decided to stick with what I know works for me in the small gun roles and skipped the XD-E. Now, @Langdon Tactical is working with them, and that’s an endorsement that means a lot to me. I’ve a lot of respect for Ernest, and if I were you, I’d seek his advice out if possible.

Now, for the other part of your question, a small 45 like that is nowhere near the top of my list for shooting guns. I know you mentioned up thread you wouldn’t be shooting it a lot. I’d like you to reconsider that, on the basis that if you’re going to carry it you should be proficient with it. That means you’re gonna have to shoot it. At least, that’s how my philosophy works. Small 45s really really suck to shoot more than a few mags through for me.

So I guess my recommendation would be to find something else. If you’re gonna carry it condition 1 because you dislike the DA trigger, I’d counsel to get something without a DA trigger. I’d be at least a little concerned about accidentally decocking while trying to disengage the safety, then you’d end up with that DA shot. Just my $.02