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SPRINGFIELD ARMORY'S XD-9 A TRUE 21ST CENTURY PISTOL
Every now and then in history, something outstanding comes along, something that stands out from the norm so much that it fairly leaps into the spotlight. Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk stand as giants in the field of medicine, , while George Washington Carver's contributions to agriculture shone brilliantly. Chuck Yeager became a legend, performing brilliantly as he shattered the sound barrier in spite of the broken ribs he'd concealed from his USAF superiors. Audie Murphy, a hometown boy from Texas, became the most decorated US Army combat soldier in history for his exploits in World War II.
In the category of small arms, the names of B. Tyler Henry, Hiram Maxim, John Browning and George Luger attained legendary status, as did Sam Colt, Daniel Wesson. John Garand, Eugene Stoner and Mikhail Kalashnikov cast huge shadows in the world of military rifle design, as does Gaston Glock in the world of handguns.

Yet, though on the surface, these men's achievements appear unrelated, they all share one thing in common – they took existing concepts and reshaped them into something whose time had come. And in so doing, they facilitated a quantum leap in technology that elevated the state of the art in their respective endeavors.

So it is with the Vukovic-led Croatian design team engineers who designed Springfield Armory's XD-9 9x19mm pistol. Although they're probably not aware of it, they created something significantly better than anything that came before. Incorporating the best of both Glock and SIG designs with a few new wrinkles thrown in for good measure, the XD-9 is a strong contender for the title of being the first true pistol of the 21st century.

Historically, the XD-9 began life as the HS-2000, which itself was an improved version of I.M. Metalworks (Karlovac, Croatia) HS-95 of 1995. But it actually first appeared as the PHP in 1991, though that particular pistol was fraught with a few quality control problems due to the ongoing Croatian civil war. Vukovic's design team continually refined the PHP and HS-95, correcting its design and metallurgical weaknesses, the final version being designated as the HS-2000. At this point, I'll forego further historic commentary because it would be redundant, since the HS-2000 was covered in detail in a previous issue of COMBAT HANDGUNS. Shortly thereafter, Springfield Armory acquired importation rights and re-designated the weapon as the XD-9.

Visual examination of the pistol shows it to be a compact, the approximate equivalent of the Glock 19 or 23. It sports an attractive dark-gray matte finish (known as Bruniral) on all metal parts, while its polymer frame is the usual black. From the box, it has fixed high-visibility sights of the tried-and-true 3-dot horizontal pattern to aid in low-light shooting, a nice trigger (smooth and light at 4.0 lbs.), a useable grip safety and no sharp edges of any real significance. And, of particular interest to those who prefer Trijicon's tritium-illuminated 3-dot sights, the XD-9 utilizes the same dovetail size for its sights as does SIG, making installation of replacement sights a snap.

Additional features include:

Checkered (8-lines per inch) front and back straps.

A grip-frame arched on its rear surface to better accommodate the average shooter's hand, thus enhancing its "pointability."

A truly ambidextrous magazine release mechanism, with edge-free, easily operated buttons on both the right and left side of the frame.

A loaded chamber indicator, located on top of the slide to the rear of the ejection port.

A cocking indicator, protruding from the rear face of the slide when the weapon is cocked.

A Glock-type trigger safety.

A large beveled magazine well, with 60-degree, rather than the usual 45-degree, bevel to enhance quick reloading.

Two 10-rd. drop-free metal magazines.

Grooves in the frame forward of the trigger guard to accommodate the SureFire tactical light.

A captive dual-spring recoil spring assembly to reduce muzzle flip and felt recoil.

11. Grasping grooves in both the traditional location on each side of the sides of the slide and on each side behind the front sight, thus accommodating virtually all styles of chamber-checking currently in use.

Seems like a lot for one pistol to have as it comes from the box, doesn't it? Nonetheless, the XD-9 obviously exhibits not just careful, but detailed, attention to all of the tactical shooter's real and imagined needs.

One writer recently criticized the XD-9 because it didn't have a hole in rear face of the grip-frame to accommodate a lanyard, but in all honesty, I find this to be a moot point since no one but certain SWAT personnel use lanyards anyway. And since the XD-9's frame is polymer, drilling the appropriate-sized hole can hardly be considered to be a major obstacle to anyone so inclined.