tambarika

1. your problem has nothing to with amount of lube -- running the gun wet is as idiotic as running it dry. 2. your problem has nothing to do with dirt in the extractor groove -- unless you dropped the slide into the dirt and didn't clean it out. 3. it is nearly impossible to run a lighter recoil spring successfully with the XD slide. while they will run well in the beginning, they (lighter recoil springs) will fatigue quickly. you will need to have the slide lightened to run one continuously. i have had lighter springs being to fatigue in as few as 500 rounds. 4. your problem is too light a load. period.

Hey, if you can get a $150 trigger job on an XD, go for it. I charge $300 and up for my trigger jobs (and i have done plenty of them). i can make an XD *nearly* shoot like a 1911, but it takes about 2.5 hours of labor and over $180 in parts.

i have not found the lightest springer sear spring to provide a consistent and reliable reset of the trigger when over travel and pre-travel and been reduced to nearly zero. my 4 XDs are all set up for a very short trigger pull, around 3.5#. i compete with a 9mm, 2 40's and a 45. i have found that the mid weight spring yields the best overall reliability, especially in matches of 200+ rounds without cleaning. i shoot in the desert -- which means a lot of sand is getting kicked up all the time. i leave my 45 set at 5# for IPSC Production. the let off is as close to a 1911 trigger as you can get with an XD. Actually, the only light primer strikes i experienced were on the 45 with the reduce power striker spring and CCI primers. i have yet to have a light strike on 9mm or 40 -- i suspect due to the smaller cup size. i built a 40 limited gun for a buddy of mine with a 2.5# trigger that goes bang all the time -- but he only uses Fed primers and the lightest set of springs. while your mileage may vary -- and you obviously have found a combo suitable for your needs, my guns need to function in 110+ heat, sand, etc. i regrind the sear release angle with a modified Powers Custom #1 tool, and usually have to braze up all of my trigger bars to remove the rest of the pre-travel. i have found recently that the Springer sub compact trigger bar can be used in Service and Tactical models without requiring brazing to reduce take up (I don't grind anything off of the pre-travel nub, but i do reshape the engagement notch for the striker safety). i do my trigger adjustments with the sear angle i grind instead of modifying the trigger bar. i also do not use the recommended position for the XD adapter for the Powers tool. i find that rotating it clockwise about 15-18 degrees, with 10-12 clicks up yields a superior trigger release when coupled with a polished striker.

it is possible to move the trigger engagement point back -- but there is one drawback. if you purchase the XDm trigger bar from Springer and put it in an XD, it will move the engagement point forward around 3/8 inch. Drawback: it disables the trigger safety. the XDm trigger bar is longer than the XD bar, hence the fulcrum point is moved back.

i have never heard of anyone using rifle primers in a pistol.

17# is factory standard. i wouldn't recommend going lighter with major (or factory loads). while you can go a pound lighter, you *may* run into cycling issues if you lighten your load too much. the factory slide is quite heavy -- requiring the 17#. to get reliable cycling with lighter loads, you may have to have your slide lightened. if you don't, expect to replace the lighter spring every 1000 or so rounds. they will fatigue more rapidly due to the slide weight. different height front sights are available to adjust POA to POI, but i would find a standard load before changing sights.

I use 155g Rem HP's with 6.8 VV 3N37.

For an XD to run reliably at 3#, you must be reloading and only using Federal primers. if this is so, let me know and i will detail how to get down to 3#.

the XD 45 ACP is a slightly different gun than the 9mm and 40 S&W. I have four XDs and have done trigger jobs on all of them. the 45 requires heavier springs than a 9mm or a 40 for proper reset. i have actually manufactured my own springs (trigger and sear) in an attempt to get the trigger pull below 5#, to no avail. part of the problem here is the reduced clearance in the sear area. I had to stone about 10-12 thou from the ejector to get sufficient clearance to install a Springer Precision sear without binding. the tolerances are much tighter on the 45 than the 9mm and 40. while the gun will function with lighter springs, it won't always reset consistently with them -- so i have chosen to stick with the heavier ones. that being said, i love my 45. it shoots well and i enjoy the extra weight -- front sight doesn't bounce as much as my other XDs.

boost your load up a bit and go to a 17# spring. the slide is too heavy to cycle properly with a light load and a 16#. also, replace you mag springs with Wolff +5%.

there is no free lunch. a match barrel usually means a tighter chamber (Bar-Sto chambers are SAAMI minimum), which means potential feeding issues. with a properly fitted barrel, whether it be a stock barrel refitted by the factory, or an aftermarket fitted by a competent gunsmith, you are probably looking at about a 1/2 inch decrease in group size at 25 yards. i own 4 XDs, all with factory barrels. after spending a lot of time in load development for each gun, they all shoot such tight groups that i cannot see any definitive reason for installing a match barrel. of course, your mileage may vary. our club routinely has one match where we are shooting 6 inch steel plates at 32 yards. i can drop these 90% of the time on the first shot with my 4" XD, and over 95% with my 5 inchers.

i have been competing regularly for about 5 years now. while i love my 1911, i have been using my Springfield XD for the last few competitions because the sight alignment was much more natural than with my 1911. i decided i needed to figure out why. i typically break my shots with the 1911 without accurate sight alignment, and it has been driving me crazy. being ambidexterous, i can shoot either hand strong. i am naturally a lefty but decided to switch to my right hand to see if my NPA changed. it did. all of a sudden my sights came up in perfect alignment. after examining my wrists, grip, etc, i noticed i had more flexibility in my right wrist than my left. also, i had been using a mainspring housing with a decided 'bump' to it. the combination of the angled housing and slightly less flexible left wrist caused me to keep breaking my shots high. i replaced the ms housing with a flat one, and no my NPA is perfect -- no more breaking high. this took me at least 5 months to figure out.

i have used Starline exclusively for over 10 years (40 s&w, 45 acp) -- maybe 5-6000 cases. I have never had a case failure or primer seating issues with any brand of primer (that wasn't my fault for a light push on the press handle).

i shoot 4.4 of Clays with 185g Nosler HPs. While 4.0 will work, it's under the fill factor you need for consistent shot to shot ignition, especially with a 185, which doesn't seat very deeply in the case. i have worked with Clays for many years and have found that under 4.0 with a 200g FP leaves just a tad bit too much air in the case.

I would not go below 16lbs. Maybe 15lbs but I think the sweet spot on an XD 9mm is 16lbs for handloads. you are correct. I tried 15lb and the spring wore out after 200 rounds of 850fps ammo. I can't even run a 17lb spring at 1000 fps for more than 300-400 rounds without it fatiguing. i also found a lot of battering on the rod face and bushing. Cutting springs is a bad idea also. tried that an did not like the results. i'm shooting a service model in .40 S&W.

this is an update on a common problem i had been facing for some time -- the inability to align a case in the first stage of my Dillon 650. Since I swapped out the die head and aluminum bridge, I have loaded nearly 500 rounds of 45 acp with no problems at all. i believe the die head was the culprit.

Attached are modification i have made to my 650 over the years, i'm sure most of you have made similar alterations, i'm hoping they may inspire some of the new members to solve some of the more obvious issues we have to deal with. i have made three basic modifications: 1. Added a tube to catch live primers 2. Added a tube to catch spent primers 3. divided the powder canister rod into two pieces attached with a key to make removing the and sapping powder dispensers much easier. the first two tube holders were fashioned from brass tubing that was soldered together after bending to shape.

be careful with the extra long ejectors. you need to chamfer them (the bottom leading edge) so they don't interfere with the rim of the brass with a mag installed. this one bit me and it took weeks to figure out why i was having feeding issues on the first round of a mag. the ejector was catching the rim of the brass ever so slightly, but enough to hamper proper feeding.

I had a 650 about 10-12 years ago back in England. I am sure that there used to be a small spring under that bridge. Or perhaps my imagination is playing tricks on me. When the case feed slid the case down the bridge the spring would compress and as the feeder retracted (as the plate rose), the ramp would rise up and the lip on the end would rise above the case rim and keep it in the slot on the shell plate... Did Dillon used to have a spring there or am I going nuts ? If they had one, why was it removed, if not then why don't they add one. It would solve the problem permanently. just checked my dillon manual. no spring. great idea though...

i replaced my station #1 bridge last night and ran about a dozen pieces of brass through. while that is not a definitive number to say it solved the problem, it did appear to help. i won't be reloading any more .45 for about 2 weeks -- i'm stocked up for this weekend's training and next week's match, so if i notice any other problems when i begin to reload, i will swap out die heads and report back. Keep us posted when you load a hundred or more... OK. problem solved. it was the die head. i had been loading .40 S&W for the last week with nary a squeak, and switched back to .45 ACP today. i didn't really want to go through the hassle of readjusting all of my dies again -- but i figured i would bite the bullet -- if you will pardon the pun -- and try a different head. Sure enough, the brass moves up into station one perfectly aligned now. i did replace the aluminum bridge also, but the swapping of the heads made such a noticeable visible difference, that it was plain to see where the problem was. hope this helps other people afflicted with the same ailment -- it certainly can be annoying to constantly have to push the brass into the shell plate to keep up a decent loading routine.

I couldn't AGREE more. The Extreme Engineering kits are fantastic! +2 Based on Howard's advice I put one of the Extreme kits in my Edge and it was no problem to get a reliable 2.5lb break. I actually had it under 2lbs at first, but I got worried it might not be reliable (not long before a big match) so I bumped it up to 2.5 and have left it there ever since....it's been perfect. R, if you are going to go below 3 pounds for trigger pull, i strongly urge you to weigh your trigger first. anything over 88-90 grains will more than likely cause hammer follow, making the firearm extremely unsafe. the best way to test for hammer follow is to lock the slide back, depress the grip safety and release the slide. Repeat at least 3-5 times. if your hammer drops to half cock, or worse, you are probably experiencing too much trigger weight, insufficient pressure on the left leg of your sear spring, or a variety of other issues. while i do not recommend using a trigger this light, you may want to drop your mainspring (hammer spring) down from the 24# stock one to a 19# for full house loads. i shoot a 17# mainspring for reduced loads.

i replaced my station #1 bridge last night and ran about a dozen pieces of brass through. while that is not a definitive number to say it solved the problem, it did appear to help. i won't be reloading any more .45 for about 2 weeks -- i'm stocked up for this weekend's training and next week's match, so if i notice any other problems when i begin to reload, i will swap out die heads and report back.

#15 is too heavy for 700 FPS. I shoot 720-740 with a 13# spring, changing it out every 1500 rounds max or I will get FTF's. 700 FPS would require a 12# spring.

practice makes permanent. perfect practice makes perfect.

i just ordered another bridge. will report back when i have it installed. the die is square -- i have adjusted it several times. i appreciate everyone's contributions. i have loaded at least 10000 rounds of 45 acp on this machine, only about 1400 40 S&W. everything else is tight and right. i shoot around 1000 rounds of 45 acp per month, so this is a major source of aggravation. i looked closely at the aluminum bridge / channel -- it does show some wear compared to the one for the 40. i'm going to swap out heads and load some .40 tomorrow, and maybe switch shell plates.