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Old May 15, 2009, 11:53 PM   #1
Uncle Malice
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Range Report: XDm-9, M&P 9c, Glock 23

You may have read my initial review the other day of my new S&W M&P 9c, while I compared it to my brand new XDm-9 and Glock 23. Today I took all three to Scottsdale Gun Club(herein referred to as SGC) after work with a fellow coworker. I shot all of my testing from just 7 yards. Just trying to really see how close I could get all of the rounds to land...

First off, let me say that my favorite, by a pretty good margin... is the XDm-9. Together, we fed it about 300 rounds of Blazer Brass and Remington UMC. It functioned flawlessly 100% of the time. The accuracy is unbelievable. This weapon performs above and beyond what is expected in every area on functionality, ergonomics and performance. My coworker brought along his stainless Beretta 92FS that he's owned for 9 years. He carries it daily. He shoots it at least weekly. He keeps it in superb condition. If this tells you anything; he is selling it to buy his own copy of the XDm-9. Springfield has done everything right with this gun. The gear you get with it is of great quality. The 19 round magazines are impressive. The gun just screams precision manufacturing with combat durability from every direction.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 9c is also a great little gun. As a compact/sub compact size gun, it performs very well. I shot about 200 rounds and my coworker shot about 50 rounds through it. Zero failures of any kind! It's accuracy is decent for a 3 1/2" barrel. Comfort wise it's quite nice for such a small gun. Overall I have very few complaints with the M&P. I wish it came with a little more stuff. Granted, it's only a 12 round magazine, I like a speed loader. Easier on the fingers! I am also not a huge fan of the magazine's themselves. They seem very sticky. Loading or manually unloading them is not nearly as smooth as it could/should be. The XDm and Glock beat it by a long ways in the smoothness of the mags. However, mag insertion and ejection is excellent.

Finally - the Glock 23. Ahh.. what can be said about it? It's reliable; as I'd expect it to be. No real problems. Accuracy is so-so. I'm a bit more accurate with the M&P than with the Glock even though it's quite a bit smaller. Maybe part of that is the .40 vs the 9mm? Maybe part of that is the quality of the sights on the M&P vs the Glock? Either way... I do like the Glock. It's very solidly made and I have no 'real' complaints.... I just feel like it's more of a jack of all trades. It does pretty well at everything but isn't best at anything. I have considered trading or selling it, or just keeping it for the sake of keeping it. I really do like it. Don't get me wrong. I'm far from a Glock basher. I LOVE that fact that Glocks have no much in aftermarket options. Finding holsters for the XDm and M&P is a pain in the ass. The Glocks are everywhere. I had no complaints about the ergonomics until I tried the others, too.

Overall, I like all of the guns. As I said, the XDm is my favorite. The M&P will be my carry gun most of the time. Comments and questions are welcome of course.
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Old May 16, 2009, 08:01 AM   #2
Haycreek
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My valuation exactly. I rate the M&P and the XD pistols equal. Thought about trading the Glocks also, I beleive that the XD, M&P, Steyr M and the S&W 99 are all better pistols than the Glock. The Glock is a good pistol, [until these others came along].
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Old May 16, 2009, 05:37 PM   #3
stevieboy
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I find the Springfield and and M & P to be about equal. Both are excellent in my opinion. Oddly, enough, my favorite striker fired pistol is the Ruger SR9. And, it's the cheapest of the group. I just shoot it more accurately than the others, I dunno why, but I do.
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Old May 16, 2009, 09:48 PM   #4
gglass
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If you liked the M&P9c, you would love its full sized brother. I own 5 M&P's and carry the compact most of the time, but at the range it does not really compare to the others in accuracy and speed. If you want to shoot an amazing M&P, try the M&P9 Pro Series... It will knock your socks off.

My M&P stable:
M&P40
M&P357
M&P9c
M&P9 Pro Series (x2)
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Old May 17, 2009, 12:59 AM   #5
Glockeroo
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I think your review may have been different if that G23 was a G19.
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Old May 17, 2009, 04:48 AM   #6
tazz7002
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glock

get the real gun ever body tries to copy and compare to
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Old May 17, 2009, 08:46 AM   #7
ritepath
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Love my M&P 9c....I'm looking to acquire a 45 kimber from my BIL he has two for sale. If and when I get it, I'll have almost all the pistols I'll ever need (except maybe the sig556 pistol)
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Old May 17, 2009, 10:50 AM   #8
liberty1
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I love my XD 45 but there will be no more other than Glock unless someone else makes a 10mm other than a 1911.
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Old May 17, 2009, 11:25 AM   #9
redrick
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I was looking for a accurate range pistol. I rented a XD9, M&P9, G17, and a CZPO1, they didn't have a XDm for rent, I really wanted to try it. I was the most accurate with the CZ and I thought it had the worst trigger. I thought the M&P had the best trigger, but it was the least accurate in my hands. I shoot the XD just a little better than the Glock. I ended up getting a DW Pointman 9, it has been the most accurate 9 that I have shoot, but if I was to get a service pistol it would be the XDm or the Glock 17.

I own a G23 and I don't shoot it as good as any of the 9mm's that I rented or 1911's that I have.
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Old May 17, 2009, 08:53 PM   #10
rhenriksen
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G23 vs XDm (with a side of PPS)

Funny, I had a similar experience recently. I've had a second gen Glock 23 for at least 10 years. While I liked the overall size/mag capacity/weight/caliber balance, the thickness kept me from being comfortable carrying it. In fact, I found I did so little carrying of it that when my CHL expired years ago, I didn't bother renewing it.

Discovered the Walther PPS (in 9mm) in January, and was stunned - it was the thin, single-stack firearm I'd been looking for 10+ years ago when I settled on the G23. Bought one, and was inspired to renew my CHL. Have been enjoying shooting the PPS regularly at the range, and surprise friends with its accuracy for a 3.5" barrel. It's really easy to live w. on the belt given its size.

Then, last month was next to a stranger at the range who arrived with a brand new XDm in 9mm. I was plinking away with my G23, with reasonable groups; but I've never really been happy with the accuracy of this gun. He let me try his XDm; I shot by far the tightest group of the day with that! I was really impressed with the accuracy, ergonomics, sights, etc.

Long story short... I went down to the gun show yesterday & bought an XDm in .40. While I may try carrying the XDm at times, it's 50% heavier than the G23, so I'll likely live with the PPS on a daily basis. But the XDm will make a formidable HD pistol, or CCW if I'm feeling particularly at risk.

Oddly enough, I ran into my CHL instructor today at the range. He had just bought a G22, and immediately handed it over to an armorer for a trigger job. I dragged him onto the range to try my new gun. He was really impressed with it, couldn't get over how nice the trigger was - light, smooth, no stacking, very short reset.

This was the results of my first 16 rounds downrange:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rhenriks...73690106954834

Given the G23's in-between status between the PPS and XDm (too thick for regular carry, not as accurate) I'm not sure if it has a future in my collection. I'm going to live with all three for a while and see what shakes out.
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Old May 17, 2009, 09:52 PM   #11
supergas452M
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XDm 9 is a great gun and a good value. I got in at the right time and got 2 extra mags and an extra mag holder with mine and got it for a great price. Nothing wrong with 77 rounds available either.
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Old May 18, 2009, 03:41 PM   #12
jeepman4804
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M&Ps will fit in about any holster that a glock will unless it is a duty holster like my tripple retention gould and goodrich. my carry holster i bought whent he M&P's first came out, so nobody had holster for them. I bought a glock leather holster, it fit perfect.
Clay
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Old January 29, 2011, 04:14 PM   #13
Freedom_road
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Range Report: XDm-9, M&P 9c, Glock 23

I am glad to hear that the XDm performed so well. I am considering getting rid of my Glock 23 for the XDm9 Cary version. The Glock 23 is piece of crap, it has been jamming since I purchased 9 mos. ago. Sent the magazines back to glock and they sent new ones only to have it still jam. Then the dealer sent the gun back and they replaced the barrel and the firing pin only to still jam. I fired three magazines filled up twice with ten rounds each through it to test it and 2 times out of the six still jammed. Not even near the quality of my H&K P2000 0.40. I really like to look and feel of the XDM 9 though with the match grade barrel and all the goodies that come with it.
Happy shooting!!!
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Old January 29, 2011, 05:05 PM   #14
Uncle Malice
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Holy thread resurrection.

This brings back some memories.

I should let you know that the overall outcome of these were that I ended up actually selling my XDM-9 to the coworker that I was talking about. He still has it, and loves it. While it was a great gun, it just never really grabbed ahold of me. I don't have any complaints about it. It had a good trigger, good ergos, good accuracy.. so I don't know. Just not one of those things I couldn't live without, I guess, so I did.

I no longer have the M&P 9c either. I held onto it for a while and ended up trading it for a Glock 26.

The Glock 23 I kept for quite a long time and really liked it. I eventually did sell it to a different friend and have since moved to 9mm and .45 Glocks. I have a Glock 19 RTF, a Glock 19 Gen 3, a Glock 17 OD, and a Glock 21.

Of the 3 big players in the polymer world, I have come to appreciate the ease of working on, and parts availability of, the Glock guns. I also shoot them fairly well so that helps too. One thing I have come to notice is that the majority of the guns out there shoot best in the caliber that they were designed for. The small framed Glocks were designed around the 9mm cartridge. Shooting .40 out of a Glock feels unnecessarily snappy to me. I hear this has changed in the Gen 4's, but I have no experience with them yet. I have been considering a Gen 4 G23 or G27. The M&P was designed around the .40S&W round and shoots much better in that chamber than the Glock does, IMHO.

With that said, I am primarily a Glock and Sig fan these days. I dabble in HK's a bit. USP, P2000, and P30 are nice guns. Great ergos but I don't shoot them as well as some other guns.

I find it interesting to hear about all the troubles with your G23. I did have another G23 before that had sporadic issues, but I eventually concluded it was due to me adding aftermarket items. I tried the recoil buffer pad and a stainless guide rod. when I used either(or both) of them, I would have jams. Once in a great while I would have jams with the gun as stock - but they were fewer. I replaced all of my magazine springs with Wolff +10% versions and the gun ran 100%. That would be my suggestion for you. Buy the Wolff magazine springs and make sure everything in your gun is a stock, factory part. You can use a 3.5lb connector if you feel so inclined - as that won't effect feeding/ejecting at all. Give that a shot and let us know how you do.

Good luck.
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Old January 29, 2011, 05:12 PM   #15
Uncle Malice
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Also worth noting. I now have a 9mm Walther PPS as mentioned above. It is a spectacular little pistol. Thin, light, ergonomic, accurate. I have no complaints about that little guy. It's trigger is excellent too. From the factory it can feel a little touch and maybe gritty too. I got a snap cap and spent the weekend dry firing the gun - probably close to 1,000 times - before I even took it to the range. Thoroughly cleaned and lubed before shooting it. Shot a few hundred rounds. Thoroughly cleaned and lubed it again... and it has been excellent ever since. Really a nice shooting gun. I can't say enough nice things about it. Very Glock-like in function, so it's comfortable.
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Rifles: DDM4 | SGL 21 | SAM7K | Draco | PSA PDW SBR | ASA Side-Charger SBR | CZ Scorpion K SBR | Aero M4E1 9" 300blk SBR | Angstadt Jack9 SBR | Savage Mark II FV-SR
Shotguns: Mossberg 590A1 20" SP | Mossberg Shockwave
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Old January 30, 2011, 09:21 AM   #16
N.H. Yankee
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I too have owned the M&P 9mm, 3 Glocks 9mm and 40 and 1 XD sub 9mm and an XDm 40. I found the XD and XDm to be the most accurate and reliable. Sadly the M&P I bought new was a lemon to say the least having had to return it to S&W twice.

The Glocks never malfunctioned and neither have the XD series guns I own, but the XD triggers are better, and the XD ergonomics are a much better fit than the Glock for my liking.

I only own the XD amd XDm out of this group and the XD subcompact is my daily carry. My son who is a supervisor of a federal law enforcement agency carries a issued SIG. He asked me about a CCW for his wife and I recommended the XD and he bought the XD 40cal.

He took it too the agency range during a qualifying session and was shocked at how well it shot. A few other agents decided they wanted to try it and were also impressed. Zero malfunctions and my son said he shot it better than his issued Sig which he's had for a few years and thousands of downrange rounds. The fact that he was able to out shoot his beloved Sig with no previous range time with the XD shocked both of us.

No gun is the absolute holy grail, many factors come into play, but some truly are better designed and built than others. There are many fine pistols available and much has to do with caliber and personnel ergonomic preference.
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Old January 30, 2011, 10:52 AM   #17
B.N.Real
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rhenrickson-"longstory short-the xd is 50% heavier then the Glock 23-so I'll likely live with the PPS on a daily basis."

Reads like a resounding endorsement of the Walther PPS as a real world choice for ccw.
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