This is an XD9 after 10,000 rounds... Lots of pics!

[propellerhead]

Last weekend I hit that 10,000 round mark on my XD9 Service. It's been a great gun all the way. Here's my story...

Back in March of 2005, my friend and I decided to buy ourselves handguns. We made several trips to the gun range and tried out different ones. We rented the Glock 19 and the XD9 side by side. We both favored the XD9. We weren't satisfied so we went back two more times and rented the same two pistols. Each time we both liked the XD9 better. The following month, we both owned brand new Springfield Armory XD9 Service Models at $469 each.

At the time, Winchester White Box ammo was $4.96 per box of 50 at Walmart. Target practice was cheap. When Walmart raised their prices multiple times, the next best thing was CCI Blazer Aluminum from Academy Sports for $5.97 a box. I also shot a few boxes of Federal Hydra-Shok and a box of Winchester Ranger. Out of the 10,000 rounds I would estimate about a 100 were Winchester Rangers or Hydra-Shok. About 5,000 were WWB and the rest were CCI Blazer Brass. I experienced a few Failures to Eject early on. This was when the round count was below 500. For the next 9,500 rounds it has performed flawlessly. I never shot reloads.

I was using the 5-inch Shoot-N-See targets and would usually keep most hits in the target. Eventually, I was keeping my hits inside the inner rings of the 5-inch Shoot-N-Sees. The Range Officer told me to quit buying those and go to the 3-inch ones. He said I had the talent. Uh-huh... Well, my groups got tighter with the 3-inch ones. He later added it was just a matter of concentration. It's what I was focusing on. Another few hundred rounds later, I now use the 1-inch orange dots. I can consistently keep 10 rounds in a 2-inch group. The pics of the targets below were a result of 40 rounds per aim point. That's all two handed, free standing shooting at seven yards. What's the point here? Many people talk about the accuracy of a gun or the accuracy of ammo. At 7 yards, I feel it's really 99% the shooter and 1% the equipment.

Since I was going out to shoot every weekend, I never saw the point in cleaning the gun after every trip. Early on, I was even going twice a week. In the 11 months that I've had this gun, I've only cleaned it maybe seven or eight times. Has this caused the gun to fail or be less accurate? I think not. For whatever it's worth, I had the gun professionaly cleaned at the range after I hit that 10,000 round mark. They do the ultrasonic cleaning which really cleans areas we can't see or reach.

Would I do it all over again? Hell yea! I love this gun. It is very nice to shoot and I have no complaints about its accuracy or reliability. Would I ever sell it. Hell no! I almost did once but I'm glad I kept it.

Click on the pics to zoom in.

[Flyer]

Holy loads of pictures batman. 

Interesting write up. 

[Taurus_9mm]

Looks & sounds like you had quite a lot of fun reaching that 10K mark.
Are you planning on getting any of the other XD models in the future?

An XD Tactical in .45 ACP is on my short list in the near future. 

[propellerhead]

I have an XD45 Service model. It shoots great. The only bad thing is ammo costs twice that of the 9mm. I'd like to get an XD40 subcompact someday.

[Tweeternpi]

I took my CCW class with an XDSC9 I like the gun alot. They are Great Guns. I have a Friend that has two of them and loves them.

[propellerhead]

More pics by request.

[locknload]

 Hey PropellerHead:

    This is a bit off topic, but what digital camera did you use to take
those photos?  They show excellent detail, very fine pics, they are.
Oh by the way, I also enjoyed the writeup!

[Flyer]

I noticed that as well.  I didn't want to know because I just bought one for my wife for xmas.  I can't get closeups like that with mine, na dif it's capable, I don't know how just yet.

[propellerhead]

Just a Casio Exilim ZX40. Nothing fancy. I chose the camera due to it being pocket sized. It has a macro mode and that's what I used for the pics. I had the camera set to Fine so it makes hi-res pics. Other settings are Normal and Economy. I have a good sized memory card in it so I never worry about my pic file sizes being too big. Also, indoor lighting is usually not enough. Most of the good pics were taken outside in the sunlight.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Casio/casio_exz40.asp

Thanks for the comments.

[Flyer]

It must be me then ... I have a 10+MP Kodak. 

[BbnLbpt145]

IM at a lost for words ,,, but good stuff man.

[GerbilWarrior]

Very, very nice photos.  Thanks for posting them.

[Taurus_9mm]

Older posts are better the second time around. I finally picked up my XD .45 ACP Tactical awhile back and really like this pistol alot. The only downside is the ammo prices for .45 ACP anymore is 1/3 more, on average, than 9mm. I still shoot it frequently though and an XD 9mm is now on the list of future purchases.