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Xds And Dry Fire


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There may be a small issue with XDs and Heavy dry fire.

There is a roll pin on the top of the slide that holds the firing pin in place and limits its forward travel. It seems to bear the impact of the firing pin in dry fire.

Mine has just broken in half after about 5 months on extremely heavy dry fire.

(1-2 hours per day, and 6-8000 rds of live fire)

Rich at Canyon Creek has them in stock, and I would advise everyone to have them on hand, and replace them periodically to avoid this problem surfacing at a bad time.

I still believe the XD is the best production gun out there and in particular the best production gun for dry fire as the trigger works and feels similar after the striker falls. However, as an advocate for the XD and Dryfire, I feel compelled to pass this along.

Maybe Rich will chime in and tell us if a snap cap will ease this issue?

As for me, I'm taking a 3 day break from training with 2 broken guns, a nasty slice on my strong hand palm, and a bad work emergency in Pittsburgh. :) :)

SA

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That's the same problem we're experiencing with the CZ75 & 85B series guns. People I know just put a cushion between the FP and hammer. That seemed to do the trick for some time.

In the CZ forum, I've read about people replacing this pin with a solid one. And one mod lengthened the FP cut channel so it no longer hits the roll pin going forward.

IIRC, CZ now uses 2 roll pins to re-inforce it. Maybe XD can take the same steps now that it's IPSC-legal.

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Steve,

I don't know the gun well enough to know what pin you are talking about really. (Got a diagram online anywhere?)

I do recall, in the back of my head, that people were replacing some cheap roll pins with something better. Not sure it was on an XD, however.

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I would think snap caps would all but eliminate that problem. The firing pin would strike the snap cap first and reduce the impact or possibly eliminate the impact of the firing pin from striking that roll pin in the frame.

You could possible use taper pins there but that might require reaming the hole with a matching tapered reamer. Given how inexpensive those roll pins are I would just stock up on a bunch and leave a few in your range bag just in case. The roll pin is the weak link and was probably engineered that way to save so other part and since they are cheap to replace. I believe you can get the proper size (3mm x 16mm IIRC) from McMaster-Carr for like $8.79 for 200 of them.

I have not had any problem with either of my XD-40’s but then again I only have about 4000 round though the two guns combined. I do a moderate amount of dry fire but I always use snap caps with my XD’s.

mcb

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Flex,

XD_proto_15pct.gif

firingpin.jpg

The roll pin is in the slide vertically, just behind the chamber-loaded indicator. You can just see the little black spot where the pin is on the slide in the pic above.

Personally, I would *really* hesitate to put in a "better" pin, as the result will probably be broken firing pins. There really isn't all that much meat to that firing pin after it's clearanced for the roll pin. I wouild rather buy 20 cheap pins and replace them periodically than buy $23 firing pins - which are generally unavailable. In fact, I just went to XD-HS2000.com and virtually every, single, internal part that you would want for a spare is unavailable - including the roll pin. And I imagine will continue to be that way.

I spoke to SA on the phone a couple months ago and they absolutely will not supply internal parts to the public, because their lawyer(s) forbid them to. As far as I know, the only way to have spare internals is to become an armorer (dealers only), or to buy another gun (so the SA's lawyer can make his boat payment). I explained to them, that this is a pretty unrealistic policy if they expect practical shooters to adopt the platform. I doubt that their lawyer cares...

I'll pull the pin today and see if I can source an equivalent. If I can, I'll sell baggies of 5 or 10 pins for a decent price just to support the platform.

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I've got some pins on order. It will be about 2 weeks before they're in and I can test them. I'll keep y'all posted.

In the meantime, I took a look at the setup. The striker really beats the living crap out of that pin. I don't think I have over 1K of ammo and dryfire through my XD and the pin is deformed already. One thing to try and improve the longevity is to make sure that the pin is inserted with the seam toward the front of the gun. This will give the firing pin, the full radius of the roll pin to stop on.

I'll do a little more checking and see if this is an issue that a snap cap can help - as lukewarm as I am about that kind of a solution.

The way it looks to me, that roll pin is a "shoot-it-for-30-days-and-deep-six-it" item.

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Steve, can you post a photo of the pin that snapped? I'm curious to see how it broke. Did it break in both edge contact points or just one? I found this pin to be the most fragile one of any since its a roll pin rather than a straight one. I figure after disassembleing the slide a few times, it'd be good fashion to just replace it anyway.

For the extremely cheap cost to have extra parts for the XD laying around, even better that all service and tactical models excluding the GAP use the same parts and the fact that most are under $10 each, one is crazy not to have extra ones on hand.

If there's something you need not listed on the site, contact James Nicholas, ajamesp51@hotmail.com, he could probably get whatever you need. He's a class fellow to deal with (and owner of XD-HS2000.com)

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But Matt it's double action in the Spirit of the Division.

On the roll pin, I doubt anyone has dry fired one more than Steve so he would be the first one to find it. As in live fire I've got a gun at 30k with the original factory pin with no signs of being damaged. If anyone has more let us know how the pin looks.

Rich

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Matt,

The trigger is awesome, but it's not what attracted me to the gun. It just feels like it was made for my hand...

Rich,

Snap caps? Solid roll pins? Regular replacement? I'll go with regular replacement for now.

Jake,

I set a record last week, and learned some new stuff. I always learn more when I don't want to dry fire and make myself do it.

Later,

sA

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  • 1 month later...

I've got a CZ75B SA, and the word on the CZ board is that the B models break that pin pretty quickly. CZ includes snap caps as a presumable fix for the dry firing limitations, so I imagine they'd work in the XD as well.

Myself, I just drop an o-ring in between the FP and the hammer. Quiets it down, too.

Larry

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  • 1 month later...

I'm interested in getting some spare pins too if they fit and someone is selling. I use the XD for USPSA and have no spare and have now heard of SAs refusal to sell any parts. :angry:

Someone please share the source and details (e.g. fit) of a (non-SA) source for the pins when you can.

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I have broken a roll pin AND a cocking indicator pin.

Neat gun. Some poor execution.

SA sent me a roll pin after a protracted hissyfit on my part. It took them like 2 months.

I wound up finding some at Home Depot.

They made me pay for the cocking indicator pins!

Someone should offer a solid, taperered pin that is properly sized for the hole.

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I just picked up a 9mm XD tactical, looking forward to getting it to the range, haven't been able to yet. What are you guys using for holsters and mag pouches?

H4444

I purchased a Blade Tech XD holster with the DOH (Drop and Offset Holster) option. The DOH option was bought for competition purposes. It wouldn't be good for concealed carry. I also purchased Blade Tech Double Mag pouches. So far I like them both. I'm seeing some wear on my barrel from many dry fire draws. I think you're going to see that with any Kydex holster. Leather may be better for reduced wear.

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