March 1st, 2020
6minute read
Springfields XD-S Mod.
2 .45 is mechanically elegant and armored-vehicle tough!
less than a .380 ACP Walther PPK/S.
Amazingly, despite its diminutive geometry, the .45 ACP XD-S still isnt butt whooping on the range.
Whats the most fun handgun youve ever run?
Its cool, not fun.
You dont want to hump it.
You dont really much want to shoot it.
Weve all been there.
The P22 throws its tidy little 40-gr.
lead bullets ably and well.
The gun I carry to defend myself and my family is not meant to be fun.
Its meant to be lethal.
In the Springfield XD-S Mod.2 Subcompact, however, we actually get a little bit of both.
There are certain common attributes defining the genre.
The frames are polymer and built around a familiar 1911-style grip-to-frame angle.
The slides are forged steel and finished in Melonite.
Theres a blade safety imbedded within the trigger as well as a grip safety built into the backstrap.
There are also safeties inside you cannot even see.
These guns simply will not go bang unless your hand wraps around the frame and the trigger is pulled.
The barrel is hammer-forged, Melonite-treated, and a scant 3.3 long.
The new Mod.2 brings five specific upgrades.
The slide includes Posi-Wedge grooves that are easy to grab, but not vicious enough to abrade.
These guns come in black, FDE and a black/stainless two-tone.
The XD-S Mod.2 Subcompact looks like pure death and runs as well as it looks.
The gun is as skinny as a French supermodel and way more useful.
The armored box it comes in is the best in the business.
How Might She Run?
Theres a timeless quandary orbiting around big bullets and little guns.
Push the envelope yet farther and accuracy and reliability suffer.
Ive seen more than my share of gunshot wounds.
The 9mm is usually adequate.
The .380 ACP can get you there with proper social ammo.
By contrast, the .45 ACP takes all the ambiguity out of a social exchange of gunfire.
Dont misunderstand; .45 ACP run through a gun this small does inevitably fall prey to physics.
The gun is tiny, and the bullets are huge.
All this energy has to go someplace.
However, Springfield packed this compact chassis with some serious recoil-busting tech.
The XD-S Subcompact comes with two beautiful stainless steel magazines.
In this configuration you have a carry gun stubby enough to hide in a decent pocket.
The 6-round Mid-Mag X-Tension magazine includes a polymer sleeve perfectly interfacing with the rest of the XD-S geometry.
Muzzle flip is present but surmountable with proper technique.
The frame and slide are indeed just stupid thin, but the superlative design keeps the gun well behaved.
The sights are magnificent.
Reliability was naturally flawless right out of the box through any load tested with no attention to maintenance.
Does it shoot straight?
Four of the five Hornady Critical Defense rounds went into the same stinkin hole at seven meters.
It was almost too tight to measure.
The gun carries like a dream and shoots as comfortably as something much larger.
The XD-S Mod.2 represents a literally unrivalled combination of portability and power.
The defensive handgun market is cluttered these days.
There are calibers, configurations, and hues to satisfy the most discriminating gunman.
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