Springfield XDM review

Note: if you loathe weapons in any form, go ahead and pass on this post! In light of recent events at my neighbors house as well as the outcome of the presidential election, I decided it was time to purchase something for defense of my person, my home, and my friends/family as well as something that I can use while out on the ranch in case I encounter feral hogs, rattlesnakes, and other vermin. A good varmint rifle can cover these tasks with the exception of being easily portable. I though about getting a shotgun however being a southpaw when it comes to shooting makes this a bit more difficult due to the direction the spent shells will fly (towards my face). A lefty Benelli semi-auto 12-ga is also a bit out of my price range (right now!).

I had narrowed down the plethora of options to something in the .40 S&W caliber, semi-auto category. The big reason for a semi-auto was that to qualify for the concealed carry permit in the State of Texas, you cannot carry a semi-auto IF you tested on a revolver. I also envision getting a little revolver to carry as most semi-auto frames are too big to easily conceal. Another item to consider was that the semi-auto would come in quite handy working around the home place or when out rounding up cattle should we come upon varmints or snakes. After two weeks and several hours at the local gun shop, I finally had my choice. "Say hello to my little friend!"


You are looking at the Springfield Armory XDM. There were several reasons I chose this firearm over the plethora of other ones available. Those reasons include:

• Fit, form and function. Out of the 8 options I had, this fit my hand the best. Being a southpaw, I needed something that could easily be used by my left hand. All the controls on this beauty meet that need.
  
  
• Capacity. I never envision nor hope that I will ever be involved in a firefight. However, I can hold 16+1 rounds in this firearm. That might actually come in handy if we run across a herd of feral hogs. Also, the .40 S&W ammo was one of the more powerful rounds that was more common, with the .357 SIG being the only one more powerful.
  
  
• Trigger. The XD and XDM series have a trigger safety similar to that of a Glock. Out of all those tested, this trigger felt the sharpest, had the best length of travel, and the best reset. It is nice and crisp which is good for accuracy but less important for other uses.
  
  
• Match-grade barrel. Although this isn't a necessity, the barrel is designed for competition which theoretically means better accuracy. More on this in a moment.
  
  
• Durability. The XDM is another polymer-based frame with steel slide. My research and reading shows that the finish should stand up for MANY rounds. Also, I saw a recent article that they ran 20,000 rounds through the XDM after being submerged in sand and water, frozen in ice, and run over with a truck. There were some minor issues with the sand (what firearm doesn't have that problem) but it never failed to fire. The only fail to fires were with sub-par ammunition.

I took my XDM with me when visiting family a couple of weeks ago and squeezed off several rounds on a target at 25 feet; the standard distance for sighting in a pistol and for competition practice. The best free hand (meaning standing/no bench rest) 5-shot group I had measured 1 inch in the horizontal and 1/2 inch in the vertical! Unfortunately it was 4 inches high due to poor sight picture on my part. This grouping was much better than any of those published (at least that I could find). All rounds fired easily would have been in the thoracic cavity of a full-body target.

The recoil is easily manageable by my standards although my arms were tired by the end of shooting. As a result, the groupings towards the end of practice were much worse than at the start. This is something I can work on with a bit of weight training and dry-fire practice. Disassembly for cleaning is a BREEZE compared to some of the other models I looked at. I also liked the consistency the firearm had with ejecting the spent cartridges which never were in any danger of impacting my face (another problem faced by some southpaw shooters).

My only very minor disappointment is that the XDM is built in Croatia and imported into the USA. I prefer to support the USA firearm companies (well, those that didn't cave to the Clinton Administrations Firearms...cough cough...Smith and Wesson). This is so minor that I wouldn't even bring this up when discussing with friends. The quality is outstanding, reliability looks good, the fit is perfect, and the fun factor is quite high. I like it!

Stay tuned as I squeeze off a few more rounds with my XDM, especially once I start hand loading some ammo to really hone the accuracy as much as possible...