#XD

Springfield Armory has released pre-cut, optics-ready slide kits for the XD series of handguns. This makes it a breeze to add a red dot sight to your gun, without having to ship it off to a machine shop. How does XD optics-ready slide kit hold up in practice?

Springfield Armory has announced optics-cut replacement slides for the XD series of handguns. These optics-ready slides are drop-in replacements for current XD owners who want to add a red dot to their slide without obtaining an aftermarket milling job.

Many discount programs out there focus heavily on law enforcement and military personnel. However, Springfield Armory’s new FIRSTLINE discount program aims to extend its discounted deals to more than just MIL and LE personnel. The new FIRSTLINE program extends these discount benefits to firefighting, medical, judicial, and select aviation personnel specifically in regards to some of their most popular firearms families currently on offer. All that is needed to take advantage of this program is the appropriate identification associated with the job.

CAA Gear Up keep expanding their MCK line of handgun chassis/conversion kits. A couple of weeks ago we reported about their new  Polymer80 frame compatible kits and today we’ll take a look at the latest additions to MCK family of products – chassis designed for a variety of Springfield Armory handguns as well as for Glock G43, G43X and G48 pistols.

Springfield Armory is announcing a new promotion called the Instant Gear Up. With the purchase of a qualifying pistol, customers will receive five additional magazines, a hard case, soft case, holster and magazine carrier at the time of purchase. There are no rebate forms to fill out or waiting for gear to be shipped. All qualifying firearms in the Instant Gear Up program come packaged with the bonus accessories.

The Springfield XD Mod 2 Tactical is an updated version of the classic Croation made XD (previously known as the HS2000) in a longer form factor geared towards the practical/tactical style of shooter. In this episode, Patrick takes both the 9mm and the .45 ACP versions out to the range to see how much of an improvement over the originals was made with the GRIPZONE! Will he like it? Watch and see.

The Glock 19, along with its close clones and equivalents, is in my opinion the ideal “universal” civilian pistol. Small enough to carry concealed, but large enough to shoot well, the Glock can serve equally well as an every day carry gun or as a home protection tool. These features, plus Glock’s reputation for reliability and durability, as well as the company’s nigh indestructible magazine pattern make the Glock 19 my default recommendation for anyone looking for their first “jack of all trades” pistol.

Previously, we looked at the most common type of locking mechanism for rifles, but what about handguns? Well, today we’ll be looking at tilting-barrel locking, a method used in virtually every modern locked-breech handgun today.

It may be common knowledge within the shooting community that the Springfield XD series is based off of the Croatian HS2000, but what is not widely known is the creation of HS Produkt is rooted in the Croatian War of Independence.  As early as 1991, forces in Croatia, anticipating the coming conflict over their pending declaration of independence, were trying to arm themselves.  Most arms factories in Yugoslavia were located in Serbian areas, and Croat forces were insufficiently armed with weapons from JNA (Yugoslavian National Army) stocks.  As such, the Croats were initially struggling to arm themselves as needed for full-on combat due to an international arms embargo.   Most units involved in early fighting were comprised of Croatian Police before the creation of their National Guard.

I had the opportunity to have Rob Leatham tell me about the new Springfield XD Mod 2 in .45ACP.  It’s an extremely tiny .45 considering it packs 9+1.  I will be honest guys, I have never owned an XD, but I was thoroughly impressed with the Mod 2 and how well this shot in spite of its diminutive size.  Mr. Leatham explained that the Mod 2 is so heavily modified from the standard XD that it is almost a new platform.

You may have noticed all the ads around the web about Springfield Armory’s latest offering coming soon:

Springfield XD fans rejoice, the  Springfield XD-S 4.0 in .45 ACP is now shipping. This single stack pistol can use either a 5 round flush magazine or a 7 round magazines with an extended grip. It is available in black or two-tone versions. The MSRP is $599, and the Bi-Tone is $669.

While at IWA, I had a chance to interview world champion pistol shooter Rob Leatham. Mr. Leatham has won the IPSC World Championship 5 times and the USPSA National Championship an incredible 24 times, among many other prestigious victories. He’s been described by Brian Enos as “the finest and most accomplished shot on the planet.”

This has got to be the most confusing gun launch launch since I started blogging. A couple of readers emailed me about the launch of the XDm 3.8 Compact but I thought this was the XDm 3.8 launched last year. Why was I confused? Because Springfield’s marketing referred to that pistol as “compact”. So just about every blogger and online gun store also called it “compact”. Alert TFB readers did note that it was too big to be a true compact. Now this new true compact comes out and I am one very confused blogger!