Letter Re: Pros and Cons of Springfield Armory XD Pistols

Hi Jim,
I am grateful for your suggestion of the [Springfield Armory] XD in 45 ACP. I hadn’t heard of it before and the price is appealing. Could you take a few minutes to address the “cons” listed at Wikipedia? That would be much appreciated! – Eric M.

JWR Replies: As you will see in the following paragraphs, I’m now having serious second thoughts about suggesting the XD pistols for a survival battery. The following are the XD “Cons” mentioned in Wikipedia (in orange text). My comments are in-line:

* Though some parts can be purchased through aftermarket suppliers, Springfield Armory refuses to sell some individual XD parts. Springfield Armory’s position seems to be that with a lifetime warranty that includes repair work, parts sales are not necessary. This is a major stumbling block for shooters who are involved in competitive pistol activities, because they are unable to keep a small stock of parts on hand for emergencies. People who carry their pistol every day (and thus are unable to ship their gun off for a week while it’s being repaired) have also complained about the policy.

That is a huge issue, and one that would prevent me from buying one of these pistols until parts do become available. I just consulted with master pistol gunsmith Teddy Jacobsen. When I asked him about obtaining spare parts for XDs, this was his reply:

“Hi Jim,
Sad to say I can not [get parts for XD pistols.] This is not the kind of gun to buy because the factory will ask you to send the gun to them for repair. That alone cost one hundred dollars FedEx over night, round trip.

They will not sell anyone critical parts.
I had a man call me who broke his trigger bar and SA would not sell him one. He was going to take it to a local welding shop and have it welded up so he could sell it.

Its a nightmare trying to replace the pressed-in extractor. I called a plater that I know very well and asked him how he gets the extractor out in order to plate the slide. He told me he can not get it out and he plates the slide with the extractor in place.

I wish I had a better solution but for a survival weapon the Glock is the way to go. I just did some work for special ops in “The Big Sandbox” and one was a Glock and the other an HK. You can buy any part for a Glock an change the extractor in 30 seconds.”

* Those who have tried installing aftermarket or custom sights on XD’s have reported that removing the existing sights can be an extremely difficult process, often requiring the services of a gunsmith.

I’d recommend having Trijicon do that work. To do that you mail just your slide to Tooltech Gunsight. (That is Trijicon’s custom installation shop.)

* Pre-2006 versions of the XD were protected with a metal treatment called Burinal™. Some who own pistols with the Burinal™ treatment have reported significant rust problems – especially those who carry the XD against their skin. Fortunately, current versions of the XD are being manufactured the Melonite™ brand of Carbonitriding, which is the same process as the Tenifer™ coating used on Glocks.

That is no longer much of an issue. No new XD pistols will be delivered with the old finish, and 80% of these guns hitting the secondary market have the new finish. The ones that have the old finish often sell at a discount. (That, BTW, is a good bargaining strategy.) If you do buy one with the discontinued porous Burinal finish, you can send it off to Arizona Response Systems, The Robar Company, or Century Gun Works for coating in an exotic, rust-resistant finish.

However, in my opinion the spare parts issue is a “show stopper” for XD purchases. Unless or until parts become readily available, then I’d recommend not buying an XD and instead buying a HK USP or a Glock Model 21. If you get a Glock, you can have its grips re-contoured (or “reduced”) by gunsmiths like Mark Graham at Arizona Response Systems.

BTW, I would appreciate first-hand comments from SurvivalBlog on the HK USP and other polymer frame high capacity .45s. There are now a lot of makers offering them, including the S&W 99, and the Taurus 24/7. Steyr also plans to produce a polymer frame .45, but it will use a single column magazine. Perhaps even the “also ran” Ruger’s 8 round P97 bears mentioning.