Dear Jim:
Well the Glock may finally have been outclassed in the self-defense pistol category! A diehard 1911 guy sings the praises of the XD for ergonomics and reliability, see this post at 1911.com. …and rates it BETTER than the Glock:
“Both have polymer frames, are square and blocky, and have the little trigger flange safety thing. The sights and trigger on the Glock are plastic; they are steel on the XD. I think the trigger and grip on the XD is better. The XD has a grip safety like the 1911; the Glock does not. The XD pistols tend to be a bit heavier than their Glock counterparts. The grip angle of the XD is similar to the 1911, and for 1911 shooters, the XD points more naturally. The rifling of XD barrels is traditional, making them a tad more friendly to reloads and lead bullets than the polygonal rifling of the Glock. The chamber in the XD is fully supported in contrast to the partially unsupported chamber design of the Glock. While both pistols are striker fired, the XD is fully cocked by the recoil of the slide, making it a single action pistol. The Glock is partially cocked by recoil, and then the cocking is finished by the trigger pull. Opinion time: I feel that the better trigger and grip, the supported chamber, traditional rifling, grip safety and steel sights make the XD an improvement over the Glock.”
And gun guru Chuck Taylor gives it a big thumbs up:
…and the XD is finally available in .45 ACP (NOT just .45 GAP)
I’ll have to borrow one from one of the IDPA shooters who sold his Glocks to replace them with Springfield XDs.
Regards, – OSOM – “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
JWR Replies: I’ve been hearing from several sources that the Springfield Armory XD series pistols–in particular the new .45 ACP variants–are the ars nova. The only substantive complaint that I’ve heard about them is that their bluing is more prone to corrosion than the Glock’s finish. This could be an issue for those of you that live in damp climates. But of course there are always exotic gun coatings available from folks like T. Mark Graham at Arizona Response Systems.