Rob Pincus

Comparing the Springfield XD Mod.2 and XD(M)

Rob Pincus
Duration:   3  mins

Rob Pincus is often asked what the difference is between two Springfield Armory pistols: the standard model, the Springfield XD Mod.2, and the Springfield XD(M), and which is the best choice for personal defense.

This video features close-up camera work that lets you examine the physical features of these two pistols to help decide which is best for personal defense, as well as firearms training.

Grips

Rob has two Springfield XD series pistols that have very similar features and sizes: the Springfield XD(M) 3.8-inch model and Springfield XD Mod.2 4-inch model. The main difference most people find when they pick them up is the way the grip feels. The XD(M) models are wider and fill the hand more. If you have small hands, you may not like the feel of the XD(M) as much.

The contours of the XD Mod.2 are more aggressive and appealing to a smaller hand, though a large hand fits the Mod.2 very well also.

Concealability

Another significant difference is the Springfield XD(M) 3.8-inch model has a shorter grip than the Springfield XD Mod.2 4-inch model. This makes it easier to conceal when wearing inside the waistband. It prints less than the XD Mod.2, because the length of grip is one of the hardest parts of a handgun to conceal.

Magazines

Another advantage of the Springfield XD(M) is that it takes not only a compact magazine but also a full-size, which offers a big increase in rounds on board: 20 rounds total. The Springfield XD Mod.2 with its full-size magazine has 17 rounds total.

Shooting

No surprise, they both shoot great. For handgun training, Rob prefers the feel of the XD Mod.2.

Magazine capacity and grip: These are the choices to make when looking at these two Springfield carry guns.

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2 Responses to “Comparing the Springfield XD Mod.2 and XD(M)”

  1. Tino

    Wouldn’t it have been a closer comparison to the XDM 3.8 full size then to the compact? Perhaps the Mod2 is a compact so it was compared against the XDM Compact?

  2. John Beatty

    Rob- 71 year old Marine, but have shot very little lately. Thinking about a Chiappa Rhino. Like the idea of a revolver after firing the semi auto's the last several years. Could you give me a short view of your opinion please?

One of the things I get asked about with the Springfield line of pistols is what's the difference between the XD the standard model or now the Mod 2 and the XDM and which one should I choose for personal defense? Well, we've got two examples here that are really close to one another in terms of all the features and the sizes. We've got the XDM 3.8 inch and we've got the Mod 2 XD in a four-inch model. Now the main difference that I think most people are going to find when they pick these two guns up really just comes down to the way the grip feels. Generally, the M models are a little bit wider and fill the hand a little bit more.

If you have smaller hands, you're probably not going to like that M model quite as much. If you go to the Mod 2 model, you're going to find that the contours here are a little bit more aggressive. The contours are much more appealing to a smaller hand. Now it doesn't mean that a large hand isn't going to fit these guns well and in fact, I find that the Mod 2 and even the standard XD tends to fit more hands than just about any of the other standard, reliable guns that we recommend for your first choice when it comes to personal defense. So when we go back to the 3.8, here's one of the biggest differences.

The 3.8 has a smaller grip obviously than the four-inch and what that means is you're going to be able to conceal this a little bit better. It's going to print less appendix or behind the back because of that shorter grip, it's going to print a little bit less and you can see what that difference looks like when you carry the gun. When we put them side by side like that and that may not seem very significant but if you've carried guns underneath your clothing, inside the waistband, you know that that length of grip is one of the hardest parts to conceal. So that's going to be one of the advantages to this XDM. The other advantage is that when we get away from the compact magazine that sits flush, and we look at the full-size magazine that we can also put into the XDM, we're going to see a dramatic increase in capacity.

This is a 19 round magazine. That's a 20 round pistol with your spare magazine. Or if you were going to double duty this for home defense when you weren't carrying it, weren't worried about printing, you put one of these on there, you might even have one of those extensions on there, you now have a 20 round gun as opposed to this gun with its full size magazine, you're going to have 17 rounds, three extra rounds. Is it going to make a difference? I don't know.

To some people, magazine capacity is a big issue and the XDM definitely wins out there. As far as shooting the guns, obviously I have my eye protection, ear protection on. As far as shooting the guns go, you do notice for someone with any kind of a moderate or large size hand that the hand isn't going to completely fit on there. Your pinky fingers probably going to float a little bit with the standard magazines, but not a big deal. Relatively easy to shoot that gun, get the hits.

This gun fills the hand a little bit better and like I said, I probably have, you know on the larger size, larger side of medium sized hands. And I find that this Mod 2 is just about perfect. I really like this grip as have a lot of my students. So magazine capacity and grit really come down to the choices that you're going to make when you look at the XDM versus the XD Mod 2 for your personal defense carry gun from Springfield.

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