First carry weapon

[darkwolf45]

... is like adding another deck chair to the Titanic.

Ahem, you do know that the Titanic sunk? Just saying...

Not that one, the new one

[XDM45]

... is like adding another deck chair to the Titanic.

Ahem, you do know that the Titanic sunk? Just saying...

Wait a minute!! I have a ticket from the White Star Line right here showing i'm booked first class on the Titanic next week............. well, forget them!! Their ship sank? I'm booking on Carnival. Nothing ever happens to their fine class of ships. See if I ever use the White Star Line again after this!!

[XDM45]

... is like adding another deck chair to the Titanic.

Ahem, you do know that the Titanic sunk? Just saying...

Not that one, the new one

You know what they say... sink me once, shame on you...sink me twice, shame on me. I'm STILL going to Carnival.

[mnhntr]

As a guy who loves 1911s and competed with an SR1911 I will say this. IMHO a requirement of any carry firearm is that it will run with ANY type of ammo you feed it. I had too many FTF issues with the SR1911 to continue carrying it. I am now carrying an XDM 3.8 in 45acp. My wife just switched to the XDS and it has been a great little gun so far.

This is useful info. Any idea why you had issues?

In my opinion it is a combination of a tight chamber tolerance and the SWC profile of the bullet. I also had FTF with one JHP but I do not rememebr the brand. The 1911 is a great bullseye gun and a great competition gun but unless you are a tinkering type you will have more reliability issues thatn with the newer tupperware pistols.

[rugersol]

http://www.nelsontactical.com/store/en/45/3573-para-gi-expert-ltc-1911-sa-ss-45-acp.html



I've never bought from this place ... so no clue if they're GTG ... or if the gun's actually in-stock ... if they are, and it is, that's a really good price ... and the gun's very, very nice! ... a buddy has one! ... and if I didn't already have two other S&W's which are basically identical to this gun, I'd have a couple of these, myself!

'Bout 28oz ... nice full grip ... with the right ammo, it handles as well as a lotta 9mm's! ... and with the right holster, ya forget it's on yer hip!

... pick up one these fer $10, and slip it on ... takes the corner off the back edge of the grip ... maybe even drops an oz?!

[mnhntr]

As a guy who loves 1911s and competed with an SR1911 I will say this. IMHO a requirement of any carry firearm is that it will run with ANY type of ammo you feed it. I had too many FTF issues with the SR1911 to continue carrying it. I am now carrying an XDM 3.8 in 45acp. My wife just switched to the XDS and it has been a great little gun so far.

This is useful info. Any idea why you had issues?

Good info, and right on.

I just got my XDs, so the first time I'll be firing it is this weekend. I also contacted Brass Stacker about making a tungsten carbide recoil rod like they do for the XD and XDm, but they said the XDs is pretty new yet and the demand isn't quite there yet for them to gear up for producing it, but perhaps in time. I know putting that rod in my XDm turned it into a new gun. Much less recoil, especially on consecutive shots. Now since I haven't fired my XDs yet, I'm not sure how that will be, but I know shorter barrel guns tend to have more recoil/muzzle flip to them. I bring all of this up as an addendum to the above statement about FTF concerns on an EDC, I think another factor to consider is recoil. How fast can you re-train that gun on your moving target and make accurate hits?

Another and even more important factor for EDC is to maintain, train with, and carry the weapon of choice as much as possible; but those aren't the only concerns by far. Holsters and belts make a difference too. It's really a whole deal package. I don't think that you can really just look at one or two things when it comes to EDC and BUC. It's a different purpose and mindset that buying a firearm for competition, home-only defense, hunting, etc.

Does your wife have and use the 7-round magazine with the XDs?

We just got the XDS and so far she just has the 5rd mags. I will be getting her some 7rd to compete in IDPA with. As far reliability of EDC guns it is important to note what the instructors are seeing. When you have instructors at places like gunsight and those schools that run hundreds of stundents shooting thousands of rounds a month you should listen to what they are seeing. I was told by one instructor that he sees a 75% failure rate of 1911s of all quality. What does this mean? It means that they had more than 1 FTF FTE or FTRB during drills. The XD(M), M&P, and Glocks, have a 5-8% failure rate with HK, and Sig running 2% failure rate. Some of this is shooter related (limp wristing ect) but it is factual from the people who see it on a day to day basis.

[XDM45]

We just got the XDS and so far she just has the 5rd mags. I will be getting her some 7rd to compete in IDPA with. As far reliability of EDC guns it is important to note what the instructors are seeing. When you have instructors at places like gunsight and those schools that run hundreds of stundents shooting thousands of rounds a month you should listen to what they are seeing. I was told by one instructor that he sees a 75% failure rate of 1911s of all quality. What does this mean? It means that they had more than 1 FTF FTE or FTRB during drills. The XD(M), M&P, and Glocks, have a 5-8% failure rate with HK, and Sig running 2% failure rate. Some of this is shooter related (limp wristing ect) but it is factual from the people who see it on a day to day basis.

Interesting.

I've never had a FTF from my XDm, but then I clean it after every range trip right away, only use new ammo (no reloads), if I don't shoot it often (like during the Winter months), I still do a maintenance lubing on it. Maybe it's not so much the gun that fails, but the owner of it? I don't doubt what they are seeing, but I'm pretty anal over cleaning and such. Heck, I even track how many rounds go through which gun, on which day, at which range, what date I cleaned them when work was done by a gunsmith, who did it and when, etc. I keep records like the Germans did.

[mnhntr]

My new 3.8 XDM had 5 FTF on reloaded SWC bullets that I put back into a mag and they fed fine s it was not the ammo. I attribute this to being brand new and only had a few rounds through it I will continue to test different handloads through it the next few weeks. And by the end of summer I should have 10k-15k rounds through it. The XDS had 3 FTF which I am sure was my wife riding the slide forward. I did have 1 FTF when I loaded it but it is very new also so time will tell.

[XDM45]

My new 3.8 XDM had 5 FTF on reloaded SWC bullets that I put back into a mag and they fed fine s it was not the ammo. I attribute this to being brand new and only had a few rounds through it I will continue to test different handloads through it the next few weeks. And by the end of summer I should have 10k-15k rounds through it. The XDS had 3 FTF which I am sure was my wife riding the slide forward. I did have 1 FTF when I loaded it but it is very new also so time will tell.

Yeah, riding the slide will do that, but that';s the end-user, not the firearm. I have around 3,500 through my XDM, but those are all new rounds too, no reloads, so that's a bit more expensive even when rounds were .25 - .35 each, let alone nowadays. I think all of the variables need to be looked at. Is the user riding the slide? Using reloads/handloads? Is the gun dirty? How often has it been cleaned? How has it been cleaned? etc.

As for my XDs, I haven't fired it, so I can't say. I checked for the known issue with the slide and it doesn't have that thank goodness. The previous owner put 250 rounds through it without a problem. I have around 5,000 rounds through my .22LR and even with great ammo like CCI, that thing would double feed, but that was before the removal of the magazine disconnect, so we'll see how it acts now that I removed that flaw, once I get it to the range this weekend. On any of these though, I've never had an FTF. Not saying I won't or can't, just saying I haven't had one yet.

[gun_fan111]

The guy was asking advice about a carry weapon, so reliability with reloads should not be a huge consideration as long as it is reliable with the brand of JHP the person will carry.

[mnhntr]

The guy was asking advice about a carry weapon, so reliability with reloads should not be a huge consideration as long as it is reliable with the brand of JHP the person will carry.

Sorry but I do not agree at all with this. A carry weapon should be as close to 100% reliable as possible with ANY ammuniton PERIOD. If I am in a situation that I need to use a different brand of ammuntion than I normally carry I want it to run. Aside from that carrying with reloads is fine as long as you are confident in your loads. Training is expensive if you do it as much as I do and shooting reloads is more affordable. Are you telling me that the only bullets you use to shoot out of you ccw is JHP at $30 a box of 25? You must be wealthy or not shooting much.

[2005 Vette]

The question you need to answer is how much you are going to carry and for how long? Plus how important is it for you to carry comfortably. If you're like me after carrying a full size pistol for a while I went out and bought a Glock 26 for carry. I can carry that one all day comfortably no problem. Just my opinion.

[gun_fan111]

The guy was asking advice about a carry weapon, so reliability with reloads should not be a huge consideration as long as it is reliable with the brand of JHP the person will carry.

Sorry but I do not agree at all with this. A carry weapon should be as close to 100% reliable as possible with ANY ammuniton PERIOD. If I am in a situation that I need to use a different brand of ammuntion than I normally carry I want it to run. Aside from that carrying with reloads is fine as long as you are confident in your loads. Training is expensive if you do it as much as I do and shooting reloads is more affordable. Are you telling me that the only bullets you use to shoot out of you ccw is JHP at $30 a box of 25? You must be wealthy or not shooting much.

To answer your question - I shoot whatever I can get my hands on and had zero failures so far . What I am saying is that if I do get a failure with a reloaded round I will not be running to a gunsmith . If I get multiple failures, now that is a different story...

[mnhntr]

It needs to reliable with any ammo.

[darkwolf45]

It needs to reliable with any ammo.

Dunno if it NEEDS to, but this seems like a reasonable place to start. My M16 in the army was great on paper as it was lightweight, fairly ergonomic and could carry more rounds. But the thing is that it was personally proven to be unreliable in any field conditions and with just about any round.

Reliabilty with a variety of types of rounds does seem like a good starting point since it stands to reason that if it cant fire multiple rounds, why should I expect it to work ina variety of environments it will be subjected to?