I understand that all guns of the same are still very different because of variance in material and tolerances. However, this is my experience with MY XDm.

 

This is not so much cutting down the XDm, it turns out to be more of a testament to the XD.

 

The XDm opted for the XD Tactical’s non-problematic non-captive recoil spring, thank you Springfield, more options and better reliability.

 

Feeding and firing in the XDm is perfect, the system is borrowed from the XD series (HS2000)

 

The standard magazines in the XD 45 are a little thin and the steel could be better, after 4000 rounds or so the back edge of the magazine gets blown out. This makes the magazines no longer drop free. You can take vise grips and mash them straight again but that will only go so far before you fatigue the metal into uselessness. The XDm’s magazines (at least for my 9mm) have a greater angle of attack on the back wall of the magazine, I hope this helps but I have not fired enough to tell.

 

The grip is very nice on the XDm and not to mention it holds 19+1!!!! NEAT!

 

The barrel is about 4.5 inches long so going from a tactical to the XDm you lose about ½ an inch of barrel and a ½ inch sight radius.

I believe I got a lemon for accuracy, although when sent back to Springfield they said the 3 ½ inch groups at 25 yards are within their specs; My XD-Tactical 45 does 1.5 maybe 2 inches ALL DAY LONG with the stock barrel (must have gotten the best gun in the batch)

The finish of the XD is the best I will ever know; you can sharpen your knife on the finish. Go ahead, rub your keys on the frame, all that metal color will rub off with an eraser, that’s where is shaved off some of your keys!!! Melonite is a name for a carbo-nitriding process also known as Glock’s Tenifer. This process case hardens the parts and makes them very corrosion resistant. Even after that “black” finish is gone, the treatment is deep in the surface of the steel, in fact it IS in the steel not the black finish. Now for my XDm, which has the same surface treatment as the XD. The finish of my slide came off while I was cleaning the gun!!! With a rag!! Now my XD has been in holsters thrown in bags, boxes, cars, etc, the finish looks like the day I bought it, perfect. The XDm had 100 rounds through it from new, was placed in the plastic case it came it, etc. If it was something I did it was a real FREAK of nature. When returned to Springfield, two telephone calls and A MONTH LATER, after they had pretty much called me a lair (saying I misused the gun, which I had not) they refinished the slide and gave the gun back to me (free of charge). This refinish job seems on par with my beloved XD.

 

I also noticed that if you chamber the same 9mm round regardless of manufacturer, three times, the round will be pushed into the case, in some cases up to a tenth of an inch!!! Not good. I even took one I had made with a relatively heavy crimp, same. I know that many 9mm do this and it’s not good to chamber the same round more than twice, but many 9mm DON’T do this; And I have never owned a .45acp that does this. Maybe a different barrel (aftermarket) will have a geometry that takes care of this problem.

 

 

Here is the long and the short of it. I believe there is no finer tactical gun than the Springfield XD tactical series chambered for .45acp, at ANY PRICE. You just cannot buy a better, simpler, design. The gun is made from good materials also and good tolerances. The XDm will be my IPSC/USPSA shooting gun. I will get a trigger, a barrel and some sights. Maybe I got a lemon or maybe they are all built as the one I received, but my favorite and the one I will be trusting with my life for right now is my XD. 9mm and .40 for that matter are such pussy rounds anyway and when recoil can be controlled with practice with .45 there really is no excuse to go smaller. Except for a nice cheap ammo-ed 19+1 shooter, ah the XDm.