Springfield Armory Inc. (not to be confused with the U.S. Government arsenal that was closed in 1968, Springfield Armory which was located in Conn.) is located in Geneseo, Illinois and is well known for its civilian version of the M14, the M1A, and its M1911. In 2002 SA began importing a semi-automatic striker fired polymer framed pistol which they called the XD-9. The name was really the only thing that was new. In Croatia the military and police forces had already been using the same pistol since 1999, they called it the HS2000. After Springfield got their hands on the design, they did something wonderful, they chambered it in .45 ACP (among other cartridges). They now have 6 different barrel lengths and 5 different color finishes, and yes, it comes in black.
The cartridges left to right are: 9mm Kurz (.380 ACP), 9mm Luger (Parabellum), 10mm Kurz (.40 S&W), and furthest on the right is my range practice reload .45ACP using a Lee TL452-230-2R mold to hand cast the round nose tumble-lubed bullet which is pushed by 4 grains of IMR Trail Boss. And the bottom one is my carry round, Hornady TAP FPD 230gn HP.
There are 3 external safeties on the XD if you opt for the thumb safety. It has the Glock trigger safety, the 1911 web safety and an optional ambidextrous manual slide/thumb safety. In order to rack the slide the web safety must be pushed in and the thumb safety must be disengaged. If any 1 of these 3 safeties isn't in the proper position (slide safety off, grip safety pressed in and trigger safety pressed in) the pistol wont fire.
In this picture you can see how the slide safety is off and the grip safety is pressed in in order for the slide to be locked back. Both of which need to be off or depressed in order for the slide to be able to be pulled to the rear.
The pistol has a cocked striker indicator which you can see here
And a loaded chamber indicator (loaded with empty pre-fired brass for safety sake)
And here you can see the cocked striker indicator and the loaded chamber indicator.
The field stripping process is very similar to the S&W M&P Shield without the sear disengage lever. To field strip the pistol you must lock the slide to the rear and rotate the forward field strip lever clockwise and up.
Now return the slide forward and pull the trigger after being absolutely sure the chamber is empty and the pistol is unloaded (you can see that the magazine is removed and the loaded chamber indicator is down, however a thorough visual inspection is still recommended as well).
Here you can also see the empty brass used earlier to illustrate the loaded chamber indicator in the top right corner, safety first!
This pistol has a smaller grip than the Glock 21 SF which is one of the reasons I purchased it. However, in hindsight I must say that the Glock trigger is more crisp on the first pull compared to my XD. The XD fits my hand better than the Glock. Between the two choices I'd rather have a pistol that fits comfortably. The stock grip panels on the XD .45 felt a little slick to my hands so to get a better purchase of the pistol I first tried Hougue rubber grips and have recently switched to Talon grips in the sandpaper variety. I strongly recommend Talon grips. You can also get Talon grips that are rubberized instead of sandpaper. Personally, my hands are pretty well calloused already so I'm not too perturbed by the sandpaper grips. IWB carry with sandpaper grips is slightly annoying at first but after a couple days it feels as normal as my pocket knife in my pocket does. If you want to, you can wear a ribbed A-shirt underneath it all an it stops the rubbing.
Stay safe, and God bless!
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