Christmas comes early, XDM 5.25

[mpeltier]

Yaahhhoooo...My XDM 5.25 came in today, and I am happy as a clam at high tide. I just gotta relay a bit of my recent frustration and current jubilation with you all on the forum. I have been searching high and low for a couple of years for the "Holy Grail" of pistols and this just might be it (for me anyway).

I started with a couple of Para-ord pistols that just would not work out. One of them was reliable but not accurate and the other was the opposite....Then SIG came out with the 226 X5 L1, 9mm. This is the most accurate pistol I have ever handled, and really reallly wanted it to work....but it was a dud...several trips back to SIG for constant FTE's had me pullin my hair out. Then I built a caspian full on custom high cap, 9mm, 6" long slide. Most beautiful, reliable, almost as accurate as the SIG, and did I say beautiful??? But heavy. Repetitive work strain to my right wrist has made holding a heavy gun quite painful, so my search then turned to polymer. I have owned 3 Glocks and never liked the grip angle, and with my wrist it hurts just to aim it. Aaaaahhhh the M&P was just the ticket I thought, and ended up with 3 of them. My first has been comondeered by my son and I recently sold my Pro. Just never cared for the trigger. My sons has the trigger worked over, so its nice but I just dont shoot them as well as I thought I would.

Now, over the last few weeks I have been diggin real hard for information on the XDM 5.25. Heard all the good and bad and finally concluded the little bad was not so bad. Like the super wide front sight, stiff mag release and wet soap bar slippery grip. Some had said the trigger wasn't very good out of the box. After talking to The wife about it she said "well why dont you order it, I wasn't sure what to get you for christmas." Well I just had to roll the dice and take a chance. I figured either TGO is a master of marketing, or truthful about raising our expectations about what a polymer pistol can be or a bit of both. I am happy to say its the later in my opinion. If springfield would thin the front sight, smooth up the mag release, and put something grippy in the grooves of the grip, it would be that much closer to perfection. And my triger is outstanding right out of the box. It has a little more overtravel than I like, but easy to fix. The break and reset are better than any of my M&P's or Glocks.

First thing I did was fire a couple of 25yd groups (75ft) with just some 124mg reloads I have on hand. Nothing worked up for this pistol yet. First 5 shots I ever fired out of this gun went 2 3/4" right to point of aim. Pasted target and ran off a 2 1/2" group...spent the rest of the afternoon doing 15 yd speed drills on a full size IPSC steel and dont think I had a single hit outside the A zone. Not a hick up. Robs enthusiasm for this pistol is genuine in my opinion.

I ordered it from Dawson Precision who has a deal that addresses two of the three complaints, the front sight and the slippery grip,(the mag release does take a little effort when the bullets are in it but its not un manageable). They were great in getting it out fast. I cant wait for the next match.

Now, how do I explain the rocks in the otherwise empty XDM case under the christmas tree come christmas morning......

[CMV]

Congrats!

Not much better than a new gun!!!

[Airedale]

I am happy with mine.

I put grip tape on it and have no slippery problems.

Have fun with it.

Dave

[wackodacko]

awesome. I have the XDM 4" something model (the predecessor) and was not impressed at all with the accuracy. I purchased a storm lake barrel but it still shoots the same. I love everything else about it, so i will be buying the 5.25" model and putting in a powder river drop in trigger kit

[Powder River]

You should take a look at the traction sand grips from x-treme grips. They make a huge difference.

[Airedale]

I forgot to add-I have installed PRP match trigger kits in both of my 5.25 XDMs. They make a huge difference in the trigger.

They are pretty easy and, the folks at PRP are quite helpful should you need to call them.

Dave

[mpeltier]

Like I said, I did my research and had the x-treme grips and the PRP ultimate trigger kit ordered before I even recieved the XDM. I liked the X-treme grips much better than the Dawsons. I think the Dawsons will work on something else with a little trimming. I also ordered stuff from Springer. I must say that both PRP and Springer shipped fast. Wish I could say the same for My Blade Tech DOH, but its worth the wait. Not neccessary to throw out a bunch of alternatives to the BT DOH as I have tried literaly all the Kydex holsters and am willing to wait for the BT.

[The_Vigilante]

I would add this re the BT DOH. Red Dot Shooting carries a large inventory of BT holsters which they can ship almost immediately. Next time any of you want a BT holster and don't want to wait for it give Red Dot a try. I have had very good results with them.

[Kyreb]

I just got one in from Dawson last week. I sprang for the SA Custom shop action job. I can't wait to get it to the range!

Blade Tech said two months before production is scheduled on a DOH for it though.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Kyreb

[mpeltier]

Tried Red Dot. Always like to give the local shops my business. They do not have any for the XDM 5.25. The nice lady at BT told me I would have mine before christmas. They have always kept their word to me in the past. In fact they are typically more prompt than they promise.

[Aglifter]

I believe Shooter's Connection has DOH's in stock for the 5.25 XDm- at least, they did when I bought mine a few weeks ago...

[The_Vigilante]

I am using a Blade Tech DOH for the XDm 4.5-the barrel sticks out a little at the end otherwise it's an exact fit.

[ErichF]

Congrats on the new XDM. According to my RangeLog.com shot log, my 525 is up to 2971 rounds since new (Oct 21st) and has been a load n go gun in every match (8 now, including the Monster Match) and practice session.

Will you be at the Factory Gun Classic in a couple weeks? How about our Classifier Match here in Gainesville on Sunday? You should come on up and we can compare notes and punch some holes together

See ya,

Erich

[mpeltier]

Man I would love to, but I work nights, 3 on and 3 off. Saturday night I work so sunday is a no go. If you have a schedule and dates for the factory gun match pm them to me and will see if any if them work with my schedule.

[ErichF]

www.matchsignup.org

Check it out.

[biggair]

Congrats on your xdm 5.25. I'm loving my too. I was not sure about the gun, but every thing I read and watched on youtube looked good.

so I started pricing them,and looking what i wanted done to the gun. I found (Springer Precision LLC) and started emailing them about the

things I wanted done, (and needed done) not knowing the gun my self. The guys there know these gun. They were very helpful. after many

emails and a few calls. I know this was the place.

I ordered the gun from them direct too save shipping and faster shop time. both came true.

This is what I had done.

Xdm 9mm 5.25

competition trigger job 2.5-- wow very clean so nice!!!!!

Dawson front sight-- I got the smaller 1.25 love it

Extended mag release-- very nice I don't have to move my hand at all to drop the mag.

stippling grip texture-- wow this this something the gun will not slip at all.

factory 'clean up' --I was not planing this, they said it would help so for the price I said ok

Tungsten 1.9 oz insert- not sure about this yet.

Well I got 1,155.00 shipped to my ffl But O my God what a gun.

[ChristianHE]

Nice choice Mark!... I love my Xd-m 5.25 in 45 with the Canyon Creek extended mags!

[fred5876r]

This is what I had done.

Xdm 9mm 5.25

competition trigger job 2.5-- wow very clean so nice!!!!!

Dawson front sight-- I got the smaller 1.25 love it

Extended mag release-- very nice I don't have to move my hand at all to drop the mag.

stippling grip texture-- wow this this something the gun will not slip at all.

factory 'clean up' --I was not planing this, they said it would help so for the price I said ok

Tungsten 1.9 oz insert- not sure about this yet.

I just had about the identical work done on mine at Powder River. I am very pleased with the work, and the complete turnaround was 2 weeks (I waited 18 weeks for some mods to a M&P 9L at a different smith). I am pretty sure you couldn't go wrong with either firm (and probably some others). I may wish I had the .100 Dawson sight instead of the .125, time will tell (my stock front sight measured .147).

Edited December 3, 2011 by fred5876r

[bmusick]

I could not be happier with the powder river trigger in my 5.25!

[waynes_world_45]

Finally got to shoot mine today at Deon's range in Wildwood.....CC did the trigger (2.5lbs, no creep, unbelievable reset) and I had Rich mill the factory rear sight and insert green fibers.....it glows better than a Dawson...some folks don't like rear fiber, but I do. Bought the laser cut grip tape from PRP. CC also installed a tungsten guide rod and polished the feed ramp. Can't wait for next weekend at the Factory Gun Challenge.

Edited December 4, 2011 by waynes_world_45

[ErichF]

You gotta let me dry fire that CC trigger at the Classic. I'm trying to decide on PRP or CC. I already decided against Springer.

I thought a weighted guide rod was illegal for USPSA Production...or was it IDPA?

Edited December 4, 2011 by ErichF

[waynes_world_45]

You're allowed +2 oz which is right where the tungsten comes in

Btw...nothing wrong with a Springer trigger...I had one and it was nice...I'm just kinda loyal to Rich at CC

Edited December 6, 2011 by waynes_world_45

[mpeltier]

Here is an update on my new XDM 5.25. All the parts came in and I did a little load development experiment before installing the parts. I started with my old load of 4.0 gr of bullseye and worked from 3.0 on up in .3 gr increments pushing MG 124cmj. 3.0 would eject but not feed (this was the only load to cause any problems)

and chrono'd at 840 fps. I was hoping to not change the recoil spring and stay just over 125 pf

This I achived with 3.7gr and cycles flawlessly. Velocity was average of 1014.

The parts I ordered were from Springer and PRP. Both shipped very quickly and there were no dissapointments ( Thanks guys I know you read these threads). The following is what I ordered;

PRP:

Ti striker indicator kit

Ti striker safety kit

Ultimate trigger kit

Ejector

Striker retainer endplate

Xtreme grip both the sand and rubber

Springer precision:

1.9 oz tungsten guide rod insert

Alloy striker guide

Extended mag release

Extended grip safety

Pistol gear Patriot magwell

.375 basepads

The first thing I tackled was the grip frame components. Extended mag release was easy and came from Springer already polished on the internal contact surfaces witch was a nice surprise. The trigger and ejector was next. I watched the video a few times to get familiar with it then took it apart about fifteen times fitting the sear to the grip safety and the overtravel stop. That's all the fitting required with my example of all the parts. The sears sides and the ejector were nicely polished but the engagement surfaces were not to my liking, so I carefully polished that as well bieng very careful not to change angles or round edges.

Slide was next and took way less time than did the lower end. After dissasembly I noticed the factory strikers engagement surfaces were very rough. So much so I could not believe the factory trigger pull was as good as it was. I quickly dressed that up and put a nice polish on the entire striker. I also polished all contact surfaces of the striker safety. Lubed things up as appropriate and re assembled.

I gotta say, next to my custom caspian and SIG X5, this is as fine a trigger as one could ask for. And at less than 1/2 the cost of either of them. I do not have a trigger pull gage but would guess it to be right around 3 pounds but feels lighter. First time I pulled the trigger ( with a snap cap of course) it surprised me, and generated a big smile. The little bit of take up is much farther forward and the overtravel and reset are as claimed wayyyy shorter.

But after all this, would it shoot? I loaded it up with some ammo with Tula, CCI and federal primers. I am happy to say they all went bang, and didn't miss the 6" center of my steel IPSC target from 10 yds pullin the trigger as fast as I could. I had another big smile. I repeated this till it almost got boring. Man im luvin this XDM.

I ordered both the rubber and sand xtreme grips as well as had on hand, the Dawsons. My favorite by far is the sand xtreme grips but the one complaint I have is that the front strap piece is a perfect fit and very precisely made, but the piece for the back of the grip is more generic and seems more of an afterthought. The rubber ones are only marginally better than the grip with nothing. They are not very grippy.

The magwell is perfect for my needs when I don't shoot production, but man are the edges sharp. This thing will cut you. For the money I would think it would get a little de horning between the cnc machine and anodizing.

As soon as my holster and promo mags get here I will be all set to test this thing out long term.

Edited December 9, 2011 by mpeltier

[kreativecid]

I have the Ultimate Match in my xdm 5.25 9mm. Polished all contact areas. Pull weight is 4 pounds on the dot.

Can I get any less weight or more smoothness by taking apart the slide and polishing internals?

Or is your estimated 25% less trigger weight due to the ti components?

[mpeltier]

I have the Ultimate Match in my xdm 5.25 9mm. Polished all contact areas. Pull weight is 4 pounds on the dot.

Can I get any less weight or more smoothness by taking apart the slide and polishing internals?

Or is your estimated 25% less trigger weight due to the ti components?

Probably yes to both. I also found the trigger spring added a bunch to the weight of the trigger. I fiddled with it a bunch to try to loosen it up a bit by flexing it. Lubed it real good too with TW25 grease. Seemed to help a little. In my case it seems that spring is the single biggest contributer to the overall triggerpull weight.

Those Ti parts also come with reduced power springs to further reduce things. I learned long ago that mechanical things like this are best looked at as a system, and all the little things in the system add up. No one thing is a fix-all.