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Big Problems w/ My Little XDs

97K views 162 replies 80 participants last post by  Woodwrkr221 
#1 ·
I want to start off by saying that I'm not usually a "gun basher". I understand that guns are machines and any machine can break down (including whatever machine made my SA XDs). With that said, I bought the supposed gun of the year, the XDs on Friday. I was like a 12 year old kid I was so excited to get my hands on one. I'd been doing my research on forums, reputable magazines, YouTube, and had talked to 3 guys I know who have them. All gave sterling reviews and I couldn't wait to get mine and throw some lead down range. Once at the Range on Saturday, my balloon got popped real quick! I had a failure to fire about every 5th round. I would pull back the slide enough to cock the gun and it would go bang after the next trigger pull. I inspected almost all of the spent brass from the FTF's and they would have a light firing pin strike right next to a heavier strike. I used 3 different kinds of ammo and put a total of 220 round through it with the same problem every 5th round or so. I took it back to the guy I bought if from and got my 90% refund (minus 10% for restocking fee) which I was happy about. I then went straight to the Glock 36. I fondled the Kahr CW45 and the PM45 but the CW45 was too tall for my liking and the PM45 was too expensive for my budget. I walked out the door having joined the Glock family and couldn't be happier with my G36. Took it out on Sunday for its inaugural run and it performed true to it's reputation. Flawless. I was so so sad to see the XDs let me down because I know almost everyone else out there has been great with it, but I guess I just had bad luck. I will say that the recoil was exceptionally manageable on the XDs (identical to the taller, thicker G36) and it was wicked accurate for only a 3.3" barrel. I shot the bullseye out of my Shoot-N-C with the rounds that did go off. The grip was a bit small for my hand, but hey, that's what you buy a pocket gun for anyways. The G36 is a nice happy medium as I always IWB carry anyways. Just thought I'd pass this along. I don't hate Springfield but I have lost a good bit of respect for them.
 
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#139 ·
With anything that goes thru a manufacturing process, there will be the occassional lemon. I had a Kimber Ulta Carry II that was not cheap. Everyone said go for it and it had a good reputation. Had nothing but problems, jams, misfires, and it was brand new. A local Gunsmith did some work to it as the wait time to send it back to Kimber for repairs was 3+ months. Made it better but still had issues. Sold it at a huge loss and moved on. Would I buy a Kimber again, sure would. I just got a lemon.
 
#141 ·
Im on the waiting list for an XDS and i have the same 12 year old child feeling. I have had an XD9 and an XDM40 for about 7 years and not one problem with either of them. Its the first and third handgun that i purchased and im going back for my third XD just for that reason of never ever having an issue. I cant say that i have any complaints other than the loose feel of the long magazine in the XDM 40 sub compact. I would take advantage of the warranty as i did for my S&W, no question. I want 100% reliability on something that im counting on to save lives.
 
#144 ·
I had a nasty first 640 rounds through my XDS with numerous light strikes, slide locking back in middle of mag, FTE, brass hitting my forehead, slide failing to lock back on last round, trigger not resetting, cartridge splitting and jamming in the barrel - I think that's all of them. I was ready to give up on it but had my LGS test fire it. (I wasn't sure I wanted SA to try it out first.) He had ZERO failures. Then, I knew it was me. I put a Talon "gritty" grip on it because I have sweaty hands. I also revisited how my stance was and found I wasn't fully extending my arms out - too much elbow bending. I have since put 140 rounds through it with ZERO failures!!! I was convinced it was the gun but it was just me and I am not embarrassed to admit it.

I am a 2 year newbie but I had never had a problem with my XD9SC, XDM.45, SA 1911.45 and others of lesser caliber. That's why I didn't think it could possibly by me. But, it was.

Try a Talon grip before you give up.
 
#146 ·
I recently purchase an XDS as well. Target ammo works fine. I have tried 5 different types of self defense ammo and cannot get it to shoot without multiple jams with any of them. Not sure what to do with it but it is frustrating since I purchased this gun as a carry weapon. Trigger keeps pinching my finger as well. May have to just trade it in.
 
#154 ·
My little XDSs swallowed all the ball I put in them. They swallowed all the JHP too. I bought mine in Fberuary and April respectively. Great little gun , light, easy to carry and conceal .Some FTE issues but these were all my doing or my daughter's .. I think it is a fine little gun for job it is designed for .
 
#149 ·
Have a XD40 and never had a single problem. Want to get the XDs 45 soon. A state trooper with whom I am friends with has one as back-up. He absolutely loves it.
 
#152 ·
I think it's interesting with gun owners.

I bought a new Camaro, and discovered it would creep forward even though it was in park, and if on a slant downhill, it would creep as well with engine off. The transmission linkage was adjusted and never had the problem again. NOW ... would I complain and say that all Camaro's are trash ? Would I say, I'ld never buy anything from Chevrolet again ? No.

I had "one" out of many Springfields which had extraction issues, called... sent it in... and one week later I had it back in my hands. Did they fix the problem ... yes ! Not only that, they polished everything, worked everything over and the thing was like the smoothest operating gun I think I've ever had. Now, I HOPE .... to find a problem on any Springfield so I can send it in, to get it back in that kind of condition.

Springfield has had the best customer service of any of them, and I think I've had experience with all of them.

Send it to Springfield and quit complaining... they'll make it right. Springfield has not had nearly the issues that Glocks have had.
 
#153 ·
I agree with Springfield fixing it. But with my Springfields my Glocks never had any problems either. I only read about "new' models of guns having problems?? Just like anything else. But from a good co they will fix the problem and work the bugs out. Usually best to wait 6 months before buying anything new model JME
 
#155 ·
I have the XDs Bi-Tone .45acp. In looking it over, I could make it come short of going fully into battery with a loaded mag inserted. This will cause light primer strikes, off-center strikes and FTF. Two prominent things cause this.

1. The pressure of the top round in the mag against the pickup rail on the bottom of the slide, and
2. The extractor hook digging into into the recess of the web as the round comes up into the hook.

Two things one can do to help this issue is use some crocus cloth on the pickup rail and buff that thing until it gleams. The next, and more important thing is, the extractor hook needs dressed. You can really mess things up if you remove metal so this is on you if you goof it up.

The edge of the hook is sharp and pointed. You can take a round that has been chambered and fired and see where the hook digs in and leaves about 1/16th" mark dug into the brass in the recess of the case. This "edge" of the hook needs dressed down "ever so slightly" and highly polished so it doesn't dig in so bad. Remove too much and back to SA it goes. They won't mail you a replacement. Caution... Don't change angles on the hook. Don't remove coils on the extractor spring and don't trim or toss the rubber plunger inside the spring. Reducing tension on the extractor "can" cause FTE because it takes a lot of grip on that case to yank it free of the chamber. Again, mess up the hook and back your gun goes. And finally, one last thing I did on the Bi-Tone is polish (DO NOT remove metal) the breech face of the slide.

Try these things if you have the skills. Mine runs like a cadillac. Good luck. ;-)
 
#156 ·
Light primer strikes are very common with the XDS. XDtalk.com has threads all over it regarding XDS issues. I found my XDS very unreliable too and like you I sold mine.

Guys I'm sorry but with good companies like Glock around, guns should honestly work right put of the box. Anything else is an excuse. It's like telling people it's ok for your brand new Chevy to die on you 20 miles from the dealership and that you need to be patient and wait for them to fix it five times before complaining. Hold companies accountable for bad products. Like everything else.
 
#158 ·
With any model of gun there are lemons. Believe it or not, the very first Glock I ever owned was a G17 and it was a lemon. It jammed all the time. It also had some failures to extract. It went back to Glock twice and they finally fixed it but I sold it after that because I just didn't trust it. That one gun was responsible for me having a very bad attitude toward Glocks for many years. I bought that G17 in 1993. I didn't try Glock again until I bought my G23 in 2007. The 23 has been flawless. The new 26 has been flawless so far. The G27 I owned for a time in 2010 was flawless. And I suspect the new G19 I will be picking up soon will be as well.

That being said, the single most frequent problem I have heard with the XDs in either .45 or 9mm seems to be light strikes. Springfield might have to make some adjustments to the line. This is an example of why I tend to wait at least a couple of years after a model of gun is introduced before I consider buying one. I'd like all the bugs to be worked out before I spend the money.
 
#159 ·
Most of my Guns are Glocks. So I'm not a Xds fanboy. Mine has never had a problem with any ammo. I believe a portion of the problem is the shooter. My G27 I never had a ftf. But when I let other shoot. It happens once in while. The is 18+ yrs of having it never fail for me. 1000+ rds in my Xds flawless
 
#162 ·
I bought my xds 9mm last Saturday. Started doing some research and found issues folks were having with the xds going out of battery. I cleaned and lubed mine, pushed back slightly on the slide and guess what, it stayed out of battery. My jaw dropped because I had just spent $ 550. Because a police officer I speak with has the xds45 and said he loved it. I called Springfield and they said that was normal for that pistol. So I guess if your gun goes out of battery and misfires is normal, I think I will be selling mine. The dealer I bought it from said all semi autos do that.. Funny, my Glock 29 won't do it. Have a bad feeling about this pistol my first SA gun.
 
#163 ·
There's a long thread over on XDTalk that keeps getting longer:

XDS Light Strikes - XDTalk Forums - Your XD/XD(m) Information Source!

In short, there's more than one thing causing the light strikes.

1. Striker assembly is dirty, gunked up or has been lubed (it should be clean and dry).
2. Too much extractor tension or an extractor that needs tuneing.
3. Weak mag springs that are allowing some degree of inertia feeding that can cause both the light strikes or a hard jam.
4. Out of spec ammo.

I would strongly encourage y'all to check out the thread I've given the link to.

BTW: I'm Toolman on XDTalk.
 
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