Purpose: Home Protection, Personal Protection
About 500.00 with the extra 2 14 round magazines.
Now, let begin with some of the finer points here. The XD comes with three magazines as any battle pistol should. The Smiths sticks you with two. Advantage XD. Also the mag capacity of the XD is 13 rather than 10, but the the grip on the XD is longer making printing under clothing much more pronounced. Stand-off. Factory sights go to XD, with a red pipe front, whereas the Smith had the Glock like white dots. Point to the XD, though if I were to keep either of these pistols, Tru-Glo TFO sights would go on either. Far superior to both. But as factory guns, point to XD.
Dimensions of these guns are remarkably the same. The Smith has a longer barrel, but that does not hinder concealment like a longer grip, and does give better velocity. Point to Smith. The Smith has the grip inserts, and the XD does not. The XD is about a 1/4 inch longer in the grip, front to back. Feels much bulkier than the Smith. As you hold these pistols the XD feels much thicker and smoother ( I am talking grip texture) in the hand. It seems that Smith has nailed this as far as ergonomics go. The Smith has a hinged trigger, effortless at about 6 lbs. The XD has a
press-able trigger safety at 6.25 lbs., and no problem to depress as the Remington is. Both are completely acceptable in dry fire mode.
So, as before, with the Smith 9c 2.0 vs the XD9 mod 2, the Smith feels better in the hand, but the XD holds more rounds. Let's see how they shoot.
OK, we are at the range. We have over 350 hundred rounds per pistol to shoot. Here is the array.
Black Hills 230 grain JHP
Remington 185 FMJ
Fiocci 230 grain FMJ
Fiocci 200 grain JHP
Winchester 230 grain FMJ Service Grade
Winchester 230 grain Ranger T-Series
Silver Bear 230 grain FMJ
MagTech 230 grain FMJ.
Above are the first rounds I shot with these two pistols...Just wanted to see what POI they each had, and to get the triggers down, S&W on top, XD on bottom. These were shot at 12 yards. Both guns about right on. Both accurate. Below, is the next accuracy test with the Dot torture test. Remember, this had strong and weak hand shooting, multiple target, multiple hit, drawing and firing, and reloading drills built into it. If you only have a box of 50 rounds, use it on this exercise. I usually shoot it at 5 yards, but these being 45's I shot it at 3 yards, the standard. The results are unremarkable excepting I did not complete the last exercise with the S&W (thanks Woody), but actual performance is about equal. The only advantage here, is to the Smith. Note the lower left hand dot. That is the 5 round weak hand shooting exercise. The Smith cleaned it, and the XD was pretty off. I guarantee the ONLY reason for this is the grip stippling on the M&P. As usual, it simply cannot move in your hand while shooting. The XD was slippery in comparison.( as a side note, at the end of 350 rounds or so with each pistol, my hand was a bit sore from the Smith)
The target below is at 12 yards and I did a few rapid fire chest head drills with each pistol. Excellent results with both. The 1 & 3 dots on the left are cadence fire with the XD. S&W on the 3& 4 side. These pistols are shooters.
I moved these next two targets 2 yards closer and did 2x2 drills with each, as fast as I could fire.
The XD is the tighter winner here. The lite pipe front sight is faster to acquire than the boring white dot on the Smith.
As you see, I have misses here with the Smith. I don't like that. Tru-Glow TFO's go on either pistol I decide I like best. I am loving them both at this point..The XD timed average for this was 2.99 seconds and the Smith a mite quicker at 2.55 seconds.
The next target below is cadence fire at 25 yards with both pistols. This is with the excellent Black Hills 230 grain JHP round. Both pistols do well, but I prefer the Smith group. Again, I cannot fault the XD in any way relative to it's accuracy, but it tends to move in your hand a lot more. Incidentally I could tell no difference in the recoil impulses from these pistols.
As I always say, any pistol I shoot must pass muster with duty ammunition, and below you can see that both pistols at rapid fire, 10 yards are spot on with this. I feel safe. There was virtually no difference. The round is the excellent Winchester 230 grain JHP Ranger T-Series.
I Should have taken a picture of the 5x5 drill targets I did, don't know why I did not. But because these guns are both shooters, I shot them at 6 yards rather than 5. I time with a Pro-Timer and the average for ten completions for the XD was 2.95 seconds. The Smith averaged 2.38
At this point, I was unable to shoot more paper because of a lack of population control at this spot. I do know this. I can live with either pistol, so it is off to the steel. I do note at this point the right side of my trigger finger is VERY sore from dragging on the inside of the XD trigger guard as I pull the trigger. That would probably have happened on the Smith if I used the large grip insert to match the big grip on the XD, but the Smith has the interchangeable back straps to better fit your hand. Point to Smith.
So far, and as I expected, both pistols have functioned perfectly. The only glitch was a single light primer strike on the Service Grade rounds by the XD. I re-fed this round and it fired fine the second hit. It did not re-occur, and it does not concern me in the least. This is a brand new pistol. If it had happened two or three times, I would have been done writing this review an hour ago.
On the metal range now. Shooting plates at about 12 yards. Mixed ammo. I find that with both these pistols one must place the sight on the very bottom of each plate to hit. These 45's recoil more than the 9mm and so before the bullet has left the bore, the muzzle is rising. Like a shotgun slug, remember we aimed those shotguns at the groin to take them in the chest? Nice to know. These ARE light pistols. In any case, once I figured out how to orient these pistols I shot the six plates 10 times with each pistol. Even with some misses both did very well with the XD 45 averaging 2.77 seconds, and the Smith averaging 2.52 seconds. I call this a draw.
On to the 25 yard man size steel plate. Both pistols under rapid fire were boringly regular in hammering this target. And the 45 ACP makes a clear twang when it hits. The next steel plate is a 12 incher, and it was no problem connecting with it under cadence fire with either pistol. The last target is a 3 incher at 25 yards, and I fired a ton of rounds with both pistols on this one. With both I had to really concentrate, and most of the time walk my rounds onto it by watching where the misses went. I expected nothing less. With a 10mm target 1911, you can hit every time. But remember, these are combat pieces.
Notes:
There are shortfalls with each pistol of course. The Smith only comes with two magazines, and as I have said repeatedly, any battle ready pistol should come out of the box with three. The XD does.
The XD does not have grip inserts, which made the gun grip a bit long for me. Because of this, my tripper finger was quite sore after several hundred rounds from dragging on the trigger guard. The grip on the XD is also quite smooth like the Remington, and if your hand is damp, the pistol WILL move inside your grip. The Smith stippling is the best of any pistol I have ever shot, and the grip inserts made it very comfortable to shoot and a bit more practically accurate. In a bench vice I'll bet the accuracy from the XD is as good as any.
Sights. The front sight on the XD is superior to the white dot on the Smith. On the bright days I shot, both were quick to acquire. Under dimmer conditions, point to XD. In even dimmer conditions, both would be rather useless. Put on the TRu-Glow TFO's for either.
Capacity. Point to XD. This does come with a longer grip and grip width cost though. I had as you know purchased two 14 round mags for the Smith, but would not carry one in the gun if I was CCing.
Equal on the reliability fix. I always limp wrist, and do any manner of things to see if I can make a pistol fail. Did not accomplish that with these two. They are John Deere reliable. I shot a lot of different makes, loads and bullets through both pistols. All were accurate, and in a practical sense all hit to the same point of aim. Practice with whatever you want, and then carry the best stuff.
Both these pistols are superior to the 1911 platform for serious social assignment. Trust them.
Conclusion
I will keep the Smith, and if anyone asked me for a recommendation I would recommend the Smith over the XD. Not because it is a better pistol. They are both stellar .
But I find the Smith faster on target, more comfortable to shoot, and the hinged trigger is much more comfortable than the pressed type trigger safeties. That said, both triggers were very good with the takeup on the XD a bit smoother than the Smith. So to me, with subjective experience here, prefer the Smith and I will begin to shoot it a lot. With that said, if I could dump my Glock for the XD as a duty piece I would do it in a New York second. Both to me are ergonomically superior to the popular Glock rocks. Carry it in good health Lieutenant!
jackzeller@my fairpoint.net
Comments and hate mail welcomed!
