Friday, October 24, 2008

Range Report - Springfield XD

A buddy in the office got a brand new Springfield XD, in 9mm. In a fit of generosity, he asked me to come shooting with him (thanks, Burt!).


I must not be the biggest fan of the Semi-Auto Europellet pistols, because I don't seem to shoot them much. This could make me reconsider. I enjoyed the Glock 22, and this was a lot of fun. Here's what I really liked:
  • Excellent iron sights. I'm surprised that the Springfield web site doesn't seem to feature this. The white-dots-on-black-background are very easy to see, and lining the dots up puts you bang on target (so to speak). Both my regular readers will remember that bad iron sights can ruin the whole shooting experience for me. No problem here.
  • Grip safety. I like 'em, this has one. It also has that neat "Ultra Safety Assurance™" safety in the trigger. Looks like to negligently accidentally discharge, you'd have to be both gripping the piece and have your finger on the trigger.
  • It points very much like a 1911.
  • Excellent surprise trigger break. This trigger actually surprised me, so it took a magazine to get my groups where I wanted them. Yeah, I know: "Ted, ur doin' it rong." One of the best triggers I've shot.
No complaints on accuracy. It will shoot much better than I can, but still gave me a big old grin. 7 Yards, 32 rounds (2 magazines), slow fire:

Since I don't carry for self-defense, I've never really focused on magazine size. The 16 round magazine lets you shoot for a while, though. Unless you're doing rapid fire:


Grouping not so nice here. You'll notice the flyer near the top of the target. The surprise break really surprised me there. 7 Yards, 16 rounds.

Shooting things is fun
. Boy, howdy. Thanks for letting me shoot it, Burt!

1 comment:

Eagle said...

You were shootin' the XD 9mm Service Model, 4" barrel, with the "night sights": Trijicon glowing dots in both the front and rear sights. The XD can be ordered with this option, and it's cheaper (and easier) to order it with the Trijicon sights than to install 'em yerself.

Here's a puzzle for ya: if ya hear someone bustin' up yer living room at 2am and the lights are off, do ya wanna turn the lights on and make YERSELF a target, or do ya wanna let yer eyes get used to the dark and use a set of glowing-just-enuf dots to aim with?

And, if yer at a range inside a building where some barstard with bad aim or a limp wrist shot up the lights, don't ya wanna be able to use a set of glowing-just-enuf dots to aim with -- and poke holes into the bull?

The point is to hit what yer pointin' at. But to point at whatcha wanna hit, ya gotta know where the sights are pointin'. THAT'S when you let off a round.. or a few rounds... or the entire clip.

Trijicon Night Sights. Highly recommended.

Heck, the Springfield Armory XD 9mm Service Model 4" - VERY highly recommended too.