MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE SPRINGFIELD XD45 COMPACT MOD 2
I have been looking for a small carry .45 for a long time and I have always felt a bit like Goldilocks in this regard. This is too big, this is too uncomfortable, this recoils too much, this is not reliable etc. In no particular order I have tried the following. (All of which are fantastic small .45s that you would do well to evaluate should you want such a beast).
Glock 30 - Foolishly sold, great gun. However it is still a fairly big gun.
Glock 30s - This was to be the one........the grip design channeled the recoil right up my wrist and arm bones. I would limp wrist within a few mags, causing malfunctions.
Glock 36 - Too big, too few rounds, not the most reliable Glock to come out of Smyrna
SIG P245 / P220 compact - Awesome guns but I really prefer plastic for carry
Smith CS45 - Great gun, thin. Still don't like aluminum as much as polymer for this.
HK45c/USPC etc. - Other than the P7 series I just cannot warm up to HKs
Commander sized 1911s - I simply am not trained enough in using the thumb safety to have it committed to muscle memory and most of what I would carry would be very expensive.
XD45 Compact - I liked this one so much it became my house gun complete with light and 13 round magazines. It was a big compact to begin with and set up like this would be too much of a pain to constantly transition from home to carry and back etc.
So there is my general, although, not exhaustive list of what I have tried for small .45s and none of them worked for me. I was just about to give the XD(m)45 compact a go since it was a hair smaller and I really liked my XD45c. Around this time I handled a 9mm MOD2 and really liked it. In 9mm or .40, however it does nothing the Glock 26/27 don't do from a practical standpoint and the are bigger.
Then one day I came across a Mod 2 in .45!!! WOW, I thought. This thing feels great and is really only about the size of a wide Glock 26. Could this be the one??? So I ordered and I waited and I worried. Would it be reliable, would I be let down like the Glock 30s etc.
Well it came in and I recently got to run around 160 rounds of varied ammo round nose and hollow point through it and to cut to the chase I, personally, am astounded with how good it works for me.
Model - XD45 MOD2 Compact Bi Tone
Price - 548 Out the door for me.
Fit and Finish- Excellent. Everything is robust feeling. Everything moves together well. The feed ramp, like all XDs is like a polished mirror. Really XD seems to be about the best in tactical tupperware business as far as feed ramps go IMO.
Trigger - Very good. I like XD triggers. They are smooth, break nicely, have an audible click reset etc. They are good triggers for me. That being said the reset is longer then a Glock and although the manual of arms is more or less the same as a Glock the trigger is pretty different feeling.
Reliability - Perfect as all my XD experiences have been. I ran it mostly with the compact mag but ran rounds with the extended magazine, the extended magazine from my original XD45c, the 10 rounder from my 45c, non sleeved 10 and 13 round magazines pretty much all of them. Not one slow down, hiccup etc. I ran rounds limp wristed, one handed, pushing on the extending mags etc. Just ran like a top.
Accuracy - At around 7 yards with the first time I shot the gun with only a cleaning out of the box I was very happy to put the first 60ish rounds into the target below with ease.
Shootability - The gun is a pussycat. It is very soft shooting with most of the recoil being a bit more muzzle flip. It was extremely pleasant to shoot and I could run it all day without any problems. Dare I say the XTREME GRIP ZONE!!!!!!!!!!HELL YEAH!!!!!! sorry, but dare I say the grip zone works. It felt great and quite possibly did actually aid in shooting.
Sights - Very nice, steel and fiber Optic.
Parts - Everything is basically steel except the frame. I like that. Does it really matter in the real world.........notsomuch but I like it.
Value - I feel like the XD series has always been and continues to be a good value. I think they offer a fantastic gun, designed from hard military use and package it with passable / usable accessories and cases.
Mag Release - I am a sucker for ambi magazine releases. I prefer a trigger finger push. Hence I love paddles and the XD guns scratch that itch as well. The mag releases work very well and hold the magazine very positively until time to eject, when the mag drops very easily free.
Cons - Aftermarket support is NOWHERE near most of the direct competitors, the rear frame rails are plastic (again does it matter I dunno but I don't like it), they tend to be a bit heavier then the competition, support isn't as good as Glock or Smith and you either love or hate the grip safety. I kind of like it. The trigger mechanism from what I understand is actually single action vs. something like Glock's action and a half kind of thing so that may or may not sway you. I have had no issues myself.
All in all my final thoughts are I love this gun. I really feel that the Austrians make a better 9mm but damn if Croatia doesn't seem to make fine .45s.
