Any do's/don'ts for modding XD's?

[20nickels]

Looking at XD's as a gun I can use for many informal competitions one of which being a .357 sig comped open gun on a 5" slide. Can I start with any XD caliber service or Tac and go from there or is there any hard and fast rules that make this work like extractor changes, barrel conversions, caliber to start with? Would it be easier to just get one and buy an extra uppers/slide and go from there. Where do I buy extra slides/uppers? I am buying used so I can't get to picky about which caliber or slide length I start with, but I see the service models going much cheaper than the tacticals.

Lotsa questions I know, I'm one of them roundy gunners dipping my toes in the auto waters and want to do it right.

[philg80]

Ideas I have on the above is this.....there are 40 to 9 conversion barrels and 40 to 357 sig barrels but you cannot go from 9mm up to 40 or 357. The service model should work just fine and if you look at Springer Precision you will see lots of parts and pics of Open versions. Now a question....why 357 sig open? Major 9 would hold more rounds and work well in the Springfield platform. The 357 sig would be expensive ammo to shoot and since you aren't gaining any extra rounds then why not shoot a 40 open?

[20nickels]

Ideas I have on the above is this.....there are 40 to 9 conversion barrels and 40 to 357 sig barrels but you cannot go from 9mm up to 40 or 357. The service model should work just fine and if you look at Springer Precision you will see lots of parts and pics of Open versions. Now a question....why 357 sig open? Major 9 would hold more rounds and work well in the Springfield platform. The 357 sig would be expensive ammo to shoot and since you aren't gaining any extra rounds then why not shoot a 40 open?

phil, tks for the reply. This is a carry gun that I screw on a comp for games, putting it in the Open division. I find the 1911 platform too heavy and expensive among other things. I want the range of the 357 and assume it will work a comp better than a 40. If reloading, wouldn't it be approx. the same $ to load for as .40? More powder but less lead and using resized .40 brass.

[philg80]

Ideas I have on the above is this.....there are 40 to 9 conversion barrels and 40 to 357 sig barrels but you cannot go from 9mm up to 40 or 357. The service model should work just fine and if you look at Springer Precision you will see lots of parts and pics of Open versions. Now a question....why 357 sig open? Major 9 would hold more rounds and work well in the Springfield platform. The 357 sig would be expensive ammo to shoot and since you aren't gaining any extra rounds then why not shoot a 40 open?

phil, tks for the reply. This is a carry gun that I screw on a comp for games, putting it in the Open division. I find the 1911 platform too heavy and expensive among other things. I want the range of the 357 and assume it will work a comp better than a 40. If reloading, wouldn't it be approx. the same $ to load for as .40? More powder but less lead and using resized .40 brass.

Sorry it took a little to reply back......IMHO Major 9 would still be cheaper in the long run and would hold more rounds. Barrel is the same as any other barrel you plan to replace with, brass is cheaper, less powder, same bullet as the 357 sig, yes you will probably have to buy magazines or at least followers and base pads, but in the long term it should still be cheaper. As far as the range of the 357 I am not well versed. I have shot only a few hundred rounds and nothing at extended distances. As far as 9mm Major, I can hit accurately out to 100 yards with my Limited XDM with a reload that is +P around 140 power factor. My Open gun that was an SPO1 shot even better with Major 9 rounds. I know nothing on the 40 cal at distance, but there is a 40 Open section in this forum. With the pressures you are loading for I do not know if you can resize 40 brass to 357 sig. Do you currently reload like this know? Is this a load/loading technique you know works? To me I would think the brass would not neck down quite that much. If so what is the lifespan of the brass. My Major 9 loads could be reloaded 8-9 times on the same brass. Just some ideas. Would love to see how this works out.

[Classic_jon]

I shoot a 4" XD .40 with 200gr BBI bullets and have no problems at 25 to 35 yards as long as I keep the power factor in the 150's and up. Same goes for 180gr and 155gr bullets as well.

A .40 can be loaded to major fairly easily and since you mentioned you are using a comp I bet you would not have any issues making major with a .40

I will agree with the other poster that 9mm and 40 generally should be cheaper to reload than .357 Sig as they are much more common. You may also want to take into account what I have read elsewhere in that the .357 Sig is a bottleneck cartridge and has all of the benefits and limitations in reloading/headspacing that other bottlenecked brass does. Having never reloaded .357 sig ammo I will leave that to others to go into more detail on.

Personally speaking, I will say that having shot a 9, 40, and 357 sig in an XD the recoil from the .357 sig is much more sharp than the .40 or 9. I find it much easier to take a follow up shot with a 9 or .40 than with a .357 sig. Personal preference can apply here so I would say to see if you can borrow or rent a any of the calibers you don't have in an XD and go from there.

The final decision is up to you.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Classic_jon

[20nickels]

Springfield answered one of my questions;

Me -Can I purchase XD slides/uppers for caliber changes in my XD's? If so, where can I find them

Springfield -No, there are no XD/XDm slides, frames or barrels available for purchase separately.

I am not opposed to major 9mm if it works on the XD platform. One would think that if 357 works major 9 would as well, but these things are rarely as simple as they appear. Any idea what pressures major 9 runs at?

As for reloading, I did some extensive searching on this forum and others at one time and the consensus was that the bottleneck was not a big deal. In fact one bloke from Australia, where the 357 is big due to caliber restrictions, got hold of a pile of .40 brass and runs it right through the sizer mixed in with his necked brass. If I remember right he used the Hornady One Shot in the big ziplock bag and shake the brass around trick. This is something I do anyway. It doesn't take long and really eases things up.

I shot a friend's XD9 recently and absolutely loved it. That's the only caliber I tried in the XD, though I regularly shoot and carry a 5 shot .357 magnum so I get the idea. Really wakes up the new RO's

[Classic_jon]

Springfield answered one of my questions;

Me -Can I purchase XD slides/uppers for caliber changes in my XD's? If so, where can I find them

Springfield -No, there are no XD/XDm slides, frames or barrels available for purchase separately.

I am not opposed to major 9mm if it works on the XD platform. One would think that if 357 works major 9 would as well, but these things are rarely as simple as they appear. Any idea what pressures major 9 runs at?

As for reloading, I did some extensive searching on this forum and others at one time and the consensus was that the bottleneck was not a big deal. In fact one bloke from Australia, where the 357 is big due to caliber restrictions, got hold of a pile of .40 brass and runs it right through the sizer mixed in with his necked brass. If I remember right he used the Hornady One Shot in the big ziplock bag and shake the brass around trick. This is something I do anyway. It doesn't take long and really eases things up.

I shot a friend's XD9 recently and absolutely loved it. That's the only caliber I tried in the XD, though I regularly shoot and carry a 5 shot .357 magnum so I get the idea. Really wakes up the new RO's

When I e-mailed Springfield about conversions about a year ago on part of what you are asking this was their response: "If you have an XD in .40S&W, our custom shop can install a .357 Sig barrel for $275, barrel & installation." That came from Deb Else their Custom Shop Coordinator. You also have to take into account headspacing differences between a bottleneck and a straight walled brass when doing "conversions." There are several threads on the board about that so I will not repeat it here.

I would say that you can do all of what you are talking about doing but I have a question to ask that I feel is the root of the issue. Why? Why go to all the trouble to resize and make your own brass (and risk that it may not work correctly if you make a mistake) just to shoot .357 sig if the 9mm and .40 will do the same thing, is cheaper, and much more common? I will bet that if you ask several competition shooters, and do some searching on this board, you will find that very few people will shoot a .357 sig in competition because the economics and, from what I have read and experienced, the time it takes to reacquire the target and fire a second shot.

In my opinion, if you shot a 9mm and liked it, what is stopping you from getting it or a .40? From my knowledge, balistically at the ranges that are shot in competition they are very very close to each other when loaded properly. I too was looking into a .357 sig at first but when it was all said and done a .40 made a lot more sense mainly for economic reasons. Overall, the next pistol I buy for competition will probably be a 9mm just because I can buy more bullets for the same price.

[20nickels]

Deb is who I spoke with as well. I guess the simple answer is, Mas Ayoob has sold me on the Sig. I used to think it was an answer without a question, but they did it, a 125gr 357 in an auto. I'll contact some barrel MFG'ers and bounce some of these questions off of them. I don't mind tinkering a bit, I'm just trying to keep from making a costly mistake like "oh, you should have bought a 40 or 357 in the 1st place because the 9 won't convert to Sig". Minor 9mm is certainly the most practical answer though for a litany of reasons.

[Classic_jon]

Deb is who I spoke with as well. I guess the simple answer is, Mas Ayoob has sold me on the Sig. I used to think it was an answer without a question, but they did it, a 125gr 357 in an auto. I'll contact some barrel MFG'ers and bounce some of these questions off of them. I don't mind tinkering a bit, I'm just trying to keep from making a costly mistake like "oh, you should have bought a 40 or 357 in the 1st place because the 9 won't convert to Sig". Minor 9mm is certainly the most practical answer though for a litany of reasons.

Before you do all of that, give Springer Precision a call. http://www.springerprecision.com/

If anyone knows what can and can not be done "correctly" on an XD platform, he will know. He is also a vendor on the board. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=160 I have spoken with him previously and have a couple of Springer parts in my XD.

[High Lord Gomer]

I picked up a .357 Sig barrel for my M&P 40, as it is simply a barrel swap to go from .40 to .357 Sig and back.

I spent a fair bit of time trying to get my crimp right to prevent bullet setback when using resized .40 brass. I have to crimp it *A LOT*! I certainly wouldn't do it with anything but a jacketed bullet.

No idea on how it will behave when comped, but in standard configuration the .357 Sig is a more violent round that takes me longer to reacquire the sights with. The .40 makes major power factor more easily and is much faster and more pleasant to shoot.

[philg80]

Deb is who I spoke with as well. I guess the simple answer is, Mas Ayoob has sold me on the Sig. I used to think it was an answer without a question, but they did it, a 125gr 357 in an auto. I'll contact some barrel MFG'ers and bounce some of these questions off of them. I don't mind tinkering a bit, I'm just trying to keep from making a costly mistake like "oh, you should have bought a 40 or 357 in the 1st place because the 9 won't convert to Sig". Minor 9mm is certainly the most practical answer though for a litany of reasons.

As I said in my original post....you can gor from 40 to 9 and 40 to 357 but you CANNOT go from 9mm to 40 or 357. The OD on the barrel and the bushing on the slide will not allow you to go UP in caliber. Contact Springer Precision....he has built OPEN guns on the XD and XDM platforms and they are in his gallery. If you are wanting this to be a dual purpose gun of self defense and Open competition then I would go with the 40 and 9mm Major conversion with comp.

[20nickels]

Deb is who I spoke with as well. I guess the simple answer is, Mas Ayoob has sold me on the Sig. I used to think it was an answer without a question, but they did it, a 125gr 357 in an auto. I'll contact some barrel MFG'ers and bounce some of these questions off of them. I don't mind tinkering a bit, I'm just trying to keep from making a costly mistake like "oh, you should have bought a 40 or 357 in the 1st place because the 9 won't convert to Sig". Minor 9mm is certainly the most practical answer though for a litany of reasons.

Before you do all of that, give Springer Precision a call. http://www.springerprecision.com/

If anyone knows what can and can not be done "correctly" on an XD platform, he will know. He is also a vendor on the board. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=160 I have spoken with him previously and have a couple of Springer parts in my XD.

I had no idea, tks. I'll talk at them. I'm not particularly set on the Sig I just thought the added blasty gases would work a comp real well and tame the beast. If I can get the same result from 9 or 40, that would be the smart choice.