Beginner Gun Review: Springfield XDs .45
Love is a funny thing. True love can last forever. Sometimes, it’s love at first sight. Other times, sadly, lust is mistaken for love and that never ends well.
I’ve carried an LC9 for a long time now. It’s not a bad gun, by any stretch. It’s a great choice for a pocket 9mm pistol. I love that gun but I have never been “in love” with it. It’s never been a gun that I’ve gotten excited about. I don’t sit and talk about it with fellow gun nuts the way I talk about my Glock 19 or Taurus PT-92 or Cobray M-11/9. I don’t light up when I mention my LC9.
Then, I saw it at a gun store. It was a Springfield Armory XDs .45 with a stainless steel slide. It was lust at first sight. I ran into it again at the SHOT Show this year. I spent a lot of time with it. Lust turned to love. I hadn’t even had a chance to shoot the gun but still, how could anything that nice not shoot beautifully? It made me break all the rules of firearm journalism. I had fallen in love with a gun. I wanted the world to know.
Sadly, we were star-crossed lovers. The XDs was from the ritzy part of display case and I, sadly, am currently relegated to the discount side of the store. A fleeting glimpse, an occasional flirt. Despite all my efforts, this beauty stayed beyond my grasp.
Until now! I finally got my hands on one, albeit temporarily. I promise, however, to put my feelings aside and be 100% objective. They say to never meet your heroes. Would this be a case of misplaced feelings? Would the XDs look different with its makeup off? Would it belch and fart all the time?
Let’s start with the features. It’s a .45 caliber “pocket” pistol that holds 5+1 rounds. At 6.3 inches long, 4.4 inches tall and 0.9 inches wide, it’s essentially the same size as the Ruger LC9 (the Ruger being 6in long and 5.4in tall). The only real difference between the two, dimension wise, is how the Ruger is tapered all around it making it seem smaller. In terms of weight, my LC9 fully loaded with the beefy self defense ammo comes in at 1 pound, 4 ounces where the XDs has a respectable 1 pound 9 ounces. After carrying it for a week, I honestly don’t feel much difference between the two in my pocket.
Now I have personally trolled multiple forums with the age old “which is better for self defense: 9mm or .45?” question. Try it sometime. The fireworks are spectacular. I don’t think there’s a more heated debate in the firearm world. It’s the gun geek equivalent to the “which was the better captain: Kirk or Picard?” debate (Kirk, for those wondering). As far as which size I prefer? I fall into the rare “It depends on the application” group. I put shot placement over size and feel just as comfortable with 9mm as I do with .45 or even .380 in a gun.
That being said, there is something strangely comforting in having a pocket full of those big, beefy .45 rounds.
Speaking of which, this is a small pistol. One common trait among small pistols is that they’re a bit on the snappy side in terms of recoil. While there are lots of reasons why, the big reason is a combination of the short barrel and a lighter pistol. I can only put 2 or 3 magazines worth of ammo through my LC9 before my hand starts getting sore. I’ve put a great deal of rounds through the LC9 but it was in small bursts over time. I couldn’t imagine spending a day shooting that thing. The XDs, on the other hand, had surprisingly light recoil. It seems to be a common observation among other reviewers as well. I don’t know what kind of witchcraft Springfield has going on but the fact that this little .45 pocket pistol seems to have less recoil than my 9mm LC9 is nothing short of magic. I could have easily shot this gun all day, ammo providing.
I should also note that Springfield has started shipping a 9mm version of the XDs for those that still don’t like the idea of carrying .45. The gun is the same dimensions as the .45 and the only real difference is that you get 2 extra rounds. Oddly enough, according to their site, the weight of the 9mm (unloaded) is 3 ounces heavier than the .45 version. I find that odd.
Let’s get to the tests!
Ease to Breakdown
Lock the slide back and check for empty. Then you rotate a lever towards the front of the gun and release the slide. Pull the trigger (with the gun still pointing in a safe direction) and then continue to pull the slide forward until it’s off. Then you just pop out the spring and the barrel. It breaks down exactly like the XDm’s I’ve handled. I’ve heard some complaints about having to pull the trigger but the fact that you have to lock the slide back in the first place, to me, is a forced safety step. I still like this process. Last time I reviewed an XD_ pistol, it got a 5 out of 5 here so why mess with a good thing?
Maintenance
Again, just like it’s full sized cousin, the XDs breaks down almost exactly like a Glock. There is a slightly increased difficulty with cleaning as this gun is smaller. I had to break out quite a few cotton swabs to get into the little nooks and crannies. The striker assembly comes out easy enough and will have to be cleaned every 5,000 rounds or so. Even with my tiny fingers, however, it was tough getting some areas sparkling. It’s not size discrimination, but the increased difficulty warrants a 4 out of 5.
Reliability
This isn’t a competition gun. This isn’t a weekend shooter (although it could easily be). This is a working pistol. This gun is made for one reason and one reason only: personal defense. This is a gun that you are going to carry with you every day and bet your life on it working. It needs to be reliable. when I tested this gun, I brought along the my first full box of reloaded .45 ammo (the first rounds I had made in mass). I’ll admit, I hadn’t quite gotten my QA testing process down for the reloads with this box. There were some rounds that were…underpowered…to say the least. It was only on the lightest loads that this gun gave me troubles. One or two failures to eject on rounds that would have jammed up any gun and that was it. If this thing could handle my super crappy reloads, it could handle anything. I would never load it with my reloads for self defense. I feel comfortable saying that, with good quality ammo (or at least reasonable quality), this thing will go bang when you pull the trigger.
Safety
Like it’s bigger cousins, the XDs doesn’t have an external safety. It has a safety lever on the trigger itself and a grip safety. There’s also an internal safety for protecting from drops. Personally, I’ve grown less and less fond of a manual safety. I feel like A) it provides a false sense of security that might result in less attention to the safety rules and B) it’s an extra bit of fumbling during draw that can go wrong in so many ways. I’ve practiced drawing my LC9 over and over again. I’d say one out of 20 times, my thumb might slip off the safety before it gets disengaged. In a life or death situation, that slipping could be disastrous. With the XDs, it’s just a matter of draw, target and fire. As long as I’m holding the gun like I’m supposed to, it will go off. If I’m not gripping the gun, it won’t. Combine proper safety practices with a proper holster that covers the trigger like you’re supposed to and you don’t have to worry about this gun going bang when it’s not supposed to.
Poor Technique
You ever have a manager or co-worker that doesn’t really have much power beyond their title but still tries to make himself/herself seem more important than they are by shouting a lot or micro-managing or directing projects they’re not involved in or just plain being difficult/abusive? Kind of like the workplace equivalent of a Napoleon Complex? I think pocket pistols have the same issue. For some reason, those tiny guns are so much more finicky than their larger counterparts. It’s like they’re making up for their small size by being overly picky about your technique or choice of ammo. With my LC9, if I don’t have my grip absolutely perfect it will stovepipe almost every time. I’ve also been bitten by the slide numerous times as well.
While I would love to say that I didn’t have those problems with the XDs, I can’t. It still wants to complain about bad grips. While it didn’t happen with the frequency of the LC9, there were still some issues when it came to limp wristing the gun. When I did my poor technique tests, I had one or two times where it didn’t eject the round properly when the wrist was particularly limp. There was also one or two times, while limp wristing, that the final round didn’t lock the slide back.
While I had to work pretty hard to get it to malfunction, it still malfunctioned with poor technique. While I’ve fired far, far worse, it still had enough issues that I can’t give it a perfect score in this category.
Starter Kit
Springfield should have called this series the XB series for “X-Treme Bling” (omg did I actually type that?!). Seriously, you get some nice toys with these guns. Their whole philosophy seems to revolve around making sure you have everything you need when you take the gun home. It comes with a very nice carrying case, a paddle holster, 2 magazines, a magazine holster, replaceable backstraps, a cleaning brush and the all important gun padlock. Far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth, I do have one issue. The holster is an outside the waistband paddle holster. This gun is meant to be concealed. If I could pull a lever and force any decision at Springfield Armory, I would have them send me one of every gun they make (don’t lie, you would too). For the second lever pull, however, it would be to swap out the OWB holster for an inside the waistband style. This is a concealed carry gun, it should have a concealed carry holster with it. Yes, I realize you can conceal an OWB holster with a jacket or over-shirt but I live in Florida. Too many clothing layers in Florida heat can be hazardous to your health.
On an even more important note: there are functioning picatinny rails on the carrying case. This is great for when you need to mount lasers and flashlights on to the case itself for tactical entry into the gun range.
Accessories/Upgrades
Due to the wonderful set of toys that comes with the gun, there isn’t much need for anything else. Keep in mind, however that “need” and “want” are two entirely different things. You will need to get a holster for it and there’s some good ones on the market (Crossbreed Holsters makes a great one). There are extended mags available that increase capacity to 7+1 and gives your pinky a little better area to hang on to. The sights are replaceable so you could drop on some night sights but, in all honesty, I really liked the fiber optic front sight that it has now. It also has a picatinny rail which is a feature unheard of with small pistols like this. That gives you all kinds of options like flashlights and lasers, if you’re not planning on using them on the carrying case, that is. Since my review of the XDm 5.25, they’ve come out with all kinds of accessories for that gun. This one has only been out a year or two now so, again, the 3rd party options are still a bit on the slim side. For now, it gets a 4 out of 5 but give it time and I think you’ll see all kinds of stuff on the market.
Final Word
Well, I like it. This is a great gun. By the time you read this article, I will have given it back to the family member that so graciously allowed me to test it out. I still want one. At this point, I can say with 100% certainty that I will be trading in my LC9 for one of these. Even Mrs. Noob, who tried so hard to hate the XDs because I wouldn’t shut up about it from the moment I saw it, wound up saying “are you sure we have to give it back?” after she fired it a bit. This is a phenomenal gun and it’s definitely another feather in Springfield’s cap. I’ve said it in more than one review: Your carry gun shouldn’t be your first gun. Because of how comfortable this gun is to shoot, it could easily be the exception to that rule. As a result, after averaging out the scores, this gun gets a healthy final score of 4.5 out of 5.
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