I’ve switched from carrying the Glock 19 gen 4 to the Springfield Armory XD45 subcompact in Mod 2 format.
Why the change?
I’d always been interested in the XD45. I bought this used (see my last post). It appears to have a very low round count…there’s slight barrel wear (just the black finish has worn) and there’s one place on the slide that has finish wear. I took it to the range and shot a bit over 100 rounds from it. It has VERY manageable recoil (remember, it shoots .45ACP) for a firearm it’s size. I had no issues firing it…there were no hiccups or malfunctions. I shoot this better than I do my 1911 of the same caliber. The grip safety doesn’t bother me and I’ve carried the 9mm counterpart in the past so I’m familiar with the platform.
There was nothing to not like about the gun. It is a good bit smaller than my G19 and I’d been thinking of going back to my XD9 anyways. The XD45’s raw price was $320 but after all the fees, it was $420, which is still a great price for a basically new firearm. I can basically switch carrying the XD45 to the XD9 (and back) without any issue. I did that during my last range visit and because the two guns share the same platform, I had no issues being accurate or getting used to triggers when switching between both handguns. Recoil happens after the round has been fired, so it doesn’t affect my accuracy (unless I’m anticipating it).
I’d been using the Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 3.0 holster with the XD9 subcompact shell when I first started carrying. The XD45 will fit in that holster without issue.
Magazine capacity is 9 rounds with the normal magazine, although it comes with a 13-round extended magazine as well (which I use as a backup mag). I’ll be getting a few other 9-round mags soon, so that when I go to the range, I don’t spend most of my time loading up mags.
The sights are great, but are not good in low-light situations, so I may have to get new sights. I’ll probably not go with XS Big Dots this time. If I can find a set that have the same profile as the current ones but are night sights, I’ll be fine. Or, I can keep them as-is and not mess up a good thing. I’ll figure out which direction I want to go soon.