The Springfield XD 9MM Sub-compact Pistol

I just recently purchased the Springfield XD9 SC for my wife within the last month. Initially she really did not like the 9mm because my Glock 17 was a little too much for her to handle. A friend of ours recommended the Springfield XD line as something she probably would have an easier time with because there is less recoil and the gun itself is a bit heavier than the Glock 17. We have a membership at a gun range that allows us to get free rental guns and that was how my wife was able to decide this was the 9mm for her. She tried several different 9mm pistols including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Springfield XD, Beretta, Sig Sauer, Glock 19 and others whose names escape me. The Springfield XD9 was her favorite. It is worth noting that we were more looking at the Duty version with a 4 inch barrel as opposed to the sub-compact that only has a 3 inch barrel. I could not find a good deal on the Duty version and this we got the XD9 sub compact.

Most of these are currently being made in Croatia and then imported by Springfield Armory USA. There are a couple finishes that are available for XD9 SC. We found that black version and actually prefer that version. There is no external hammer and thus the XD9 SC is double action only. The barrel is 3 inches. The XD9 SC has a polymer frame and metal slide on it. It is very light at 26 oz. One of the great things about Springfield guns in generally is they with quite a bit more than most other guns. It comes with a case, 2 magazines (one 10 round and one 16 round with a grip extension), holster, double magazine pouch, magazine loader, safety lock, and bore brush. The safety is more unique than many guns. You have a trigger guard safety like Glocks, but it also have a button on the back of the handle that must be depressed for the weapon to fire.

As I mentioned one of the biggest benefits to the XD9 SC is that it has low recoil. From my shooting experience many women especially like the gun because of the low recoil. My wife has had injuries to her wrist. This by no means makes it a ladies gun. Many men like it just as much as Glocks. I would say that Glocks and Springfield XD9s are two of the better guns made.

There are only a couple drawbacks that may concern some perspective buyers. I personally notice that the slide seems to show wear more than Glocks or Smith & Wesson typically do especially were the barrel and slide meet to eject the rounds. This is not a major drawback, but I do think you need to have more lube on an XD9 than many other guns. After I clean my wife's gun (she still has not cleaned the darn things but that will be changing) I usually make sure to put extra oil all over the barrel. I don't want to say this is hard to field strip, but it's not as straight forward as the Glock. I would recommend watching a video on field stripping, but basically you need to engage all safety features including the one on the handle. You also have a special level that is only for field stripping you need to engage. I included a YouTube demo. The actual field stripping is about halfway through the video.

Thank you for reading

God Bless You and God Bless America.

Sources and further reading

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/32468

www.thegunsources.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRwtc4KXBFg&feature=related