Comparing the XD-S and XD(M) Part 2

So when it comes to carrying these guns, there's also going to be some significant difference in regard to the way this gun actually feels on the body. So we know that in the hand, this gun feels slimmer and that's going to mean more perceived recoil and less to hold onto. But when we talk about going into the holster, that slimness is actually a huge advantage. And that's why this is actually the gun that I prefer to carry when I'm carrying one of the XD family of guns. This gun, inside of this CrossBreed, inside the waistband appendix holster, is very slim, very nice to carry.

And I still get seven-plus-one rounds, eight rounds of nine-millimeter. So, whereas a lot of the past gun options that we've had this size, this slimness weren't available in nine-millimeter and certainly weren't available in eight rounds. This was a really nice carry gun, set up right here, for inside the waistband carry. Now for me personally, for a number of years I carried guns of about this width inside the waistband, and it's just simple to say that this is less comfortable. And that's why for this gun, I don't even have an inside the waistband holster.

I've got one of this range and carry outside the waistband holster. So if I'm out at the range, I'm using this gun, this is the kind of gun that I might have available inside of a vehicle or inside of a home defense situation, inside of a quick access safe. The inside of the waistband holsters for carry, I think are much better suited to the slimmer gun. Now, both of these guns are going to be super reliable and share a lot of the same features that the XDs are known for. One is a medium weight, medium length trigger.

So what that means, like most modern striker fired guns, it's not too light and it's not too heavy. It's not the long, heavy double action pull. And it's not the short crisp single action pull that requires the use of an external manual safety. Now, this gun comes with a little bit of an asterisk in regard to the external manual safety issue, because it does have a grip safety. For a lot of people, this is an area of concern.

My experience with the grip safeties on the XD family really comes from the full size guns. When we look at the full size guns, and I include this double stack compact as part of that family of full size guns, what I have found is that in the shooting position, when people are shooting with this gun, this grip safety is very well designed and very reliably engaged. When people have this gun in a proper firing position, we don't really see any problems. The one time I've ever seen any problems with these grip safeties is when people have a problem with a malfunction that requires them to do a complex reload. So maybe a double feed, something like that, where they have to physically strip the magazine, and the magazine won't come out, and the gun needs to be locked open.

Well sometimes what happen is that people will shift the gun in their hand so much to get to this slide lock lever and get upward leverage on it, that they release the grip safety. And when they release the grip safety, this gun locks up. Now a vast improvement to the line, as far as I'm concerned, has been done with the XD-S models, because now I can leave the grip safety completely untouched and still cycle the slide. Which means that if I were to shift my hand and not be on the grip safety, I can still pull back and I can still pull back and lock back if I need to, to get the pressure off of a magazine to remove it during a double feed. So the XD-S model doesn't have that feature where the grip safety locks the slide.

And other than that, there's really no problem with this. One of the things I always say, when I'm looking for a defensive gun, is we want a gun that doesn't have any external manually operated safeties that require an action that is not already necessary for shooting the gun. Well, getting a grip on the gun is already something we would consider necessary. Touching the trigger and pressing it to remove this mechanical trigger block safety is also something that we would consider already necessary. So what we're seeing here is there are no levers.

Now, there are no extra buttons we have to press to get the gun to fire. And therefore the XD falls into that recommended category of modern striker fired guns. The sight setup comes with a fiber optic insert on this XD-S 4-inch model and a standard sloped sight. There is a little bit of an edge, so it's not one of the truly completely sloped angled sights that you just can't get a one-handed rack or a one-handed manipulation on. There's a little bit of an edge on the front of this.

So even stock, this comes with a decent option for rear sights. And there's also a flag here that allows you to tell that the chamber is loaded, if you want a loaded chamber indicator. I'm not a big fan of needing to check on that all the time. Certainly not in the range, constantly, administratively checking your gun. You should know the condition of your gun.

I'm on the visual ones. Obviously they require enough light and enough ability to focus on the gun to see what's going on. This is a really nice pronounced loaded chamber indicator. The rounds are not here, but I can pull up on that, and we can pull up and see that there's a little bit of a flag there. And that you can definitely feel with your hand when you run it over, if you're wearing gloves, something like that.

So if the gun is loaded, if there's a round in the chamber, it pushes up on this little metal flag and you absolutely know it. So the major features of the XD and XD-S and XD-M, the XD family are well-known to most shooters. There is an accessory rail. The textured grip is pretty aggressive. I personally like that.

Of course, I've tested these guns and these family of guns for a long time, going all the way back to the original HS2000 model that these are based on, and found them to be very reliable.