Want an old school XD 45

[Sarge]

I have always wanted an old school XD 45 Tactical. I can buy a new one for less that $400 and am just wondering if , even at that cost, are they a decent gun? Just for range fun, etc. I have been all over the web tonight and it seems you either love them or hate them. Probably be the same here LOL.

Thanks in advance

[RJH]

I've had a lot of the XD and XDM series guns and they've all worked better than most other plastic guns I've ever seen. I still shoot an xdm in limited, and I have one that I use for three gun with a red dot on it. Hell, I even carry one.

 

I've never had a 45 though, always nines or 40s. If I remember right the original XD series in 45 doesn't like semi-wad cutters, something to do with a notch in the slide hitting the bullet or something. I think that was corrected with the XDM series

 

People talk about the grip safety being an issue but, for me and my son who also shot them quite a bit for a while it never was, and I have to pin my grip safeties on 1911s because I sometimes lift them and lock the gun up, but I've never had that issue with the XD/XDM. Probably because the XDs don't have a safety for me to lift against, if that makes sense.

 

 

The highest round count gun we had was in XD9 that had over 30,000 rounds through it, with no issues.

 

Basically if a gun doesn't work I get rid of it, I've never had to get rid of an XD or XDM. If you want you can get them down to about a 2 lb trigger with powder River stuff.

 

I'm not saying they're the best thing going, because everybody likes what they like. I am saying that between me and my son we have around 80,000 rounds through the series and have never had an issue with any of them.

 

I do tend to prefer the XDM over the XD though, not through anything functionally just the ergonomics and slide shape and such.

 

So there's the basic rundown off the top of my head LOL. If there's anything specific you can think of, I'll try to answer that. But, like I said my experience is really only with nines and 40s, but I'm sure most of it crosses over.

 

 

[Farmer]

A XD Service 45 was my first poly gun. Grip angle is right for me and point-ability is spot on. Never had any functional problems that weren’t my fault. The 200 SWC problem is basically when the rim of the fired round comes back and catches the mouth of the next round in the magazine. My P90 Ruger was really bad for that and would actually peel the brass back.  Proper seating of the SWC’s pretty much cured that and I haven’t had that problem with the XD. Seating them out so there’s a little more shoulder exposed seems to help. The XDM has a bump on the underside of the slide that helps hold the round in the mag down for clearance.  There’s lots of XD bashing online but most of it is BS or from people that are just idiots. 
All of mine are very accurate and have been very dependable. 

[Tampa-XD45]

I've had mine for many years and love it.  My only mods are Talon grips and a night sight.

Best grip angle for my hand.  Shot it in production division a few times.  Never shot wadcutters ... FMJ for USPSA & range practice.  It's normally loaded with Winchester 230g Ranger hollow points with an attached Streamlight TLR-1 HL.