Springfield XDm Compact 9mm as CCW

[hopeisnotastrategy]

I am going to purchase my first concealed carry handgun and the two options I like the best are the Springfield XDm compact 3.8 in 9mm and the Springfield XDS.

This will be an almost exclusively concealed carry gun.

I am 5'10"/185 lbs. with a 33 inch waist.

Here's my dilemma: I have held and fired both these guns and I like everything about them with one exception each. The exceptions: I don't want the XDS in .45 ACP and I'm concerned about the conceal-ability and comfort of carrying the double-stack XDm.

Which leads to my question(s). Has anyone had experience using the XDm compact as a concealed carry and if so, how was it? Does it "print" badly? Is it comfortable?

The XDS is coming out in the next month or so in 9mm. Should I wait and buy it?

I feel some urgency to get a CCW. If the XDS was at my LGS in 9mm right now, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. What is the better trade off? Wait for it to show up, or buy the slightly larger XDm and sacrifice some conceal-ability and comfort?

Thanks in advance for your feedback and help.

[Madcap_Magician]

This is largely a function of your belt and holster type combined with how you dress.

If you get a good IWB holster supported by a good gun belt and wear your shirts untucked, it will be very well concealed.

If you carry OWB and wear fitted shirts that taper in at the waist, it'll be very hard to conceal.

A good starter for relatively low expense and low wait time on production would be a Crossbreed Supertuck and a Blade-tech gunbelt. The latter is mostly production and can be had with no wait from several online stores, the former will take about a month to get.

[sir_n0thing]

Plenty of guys are carrying full sized pistols, it's really a matter of tailoring a system around your chosen firearm. Clothing, holster, belt and your mindset all working together.
Most people however do agree that a thinner single stack gun is generally easier to conceal.
That said, I am also a thinner guy and I choose to go with the thinner, single stack guns. I really like the XDs, but it's near impossible to find around here, so I am now looking at the Khar CM9 as a possible alternative.
If you're dead set on a Springfield and can't wait for the XDs in 9mm, then you have a bit of a dilemma! What is it about the .45 you don't like?

[hopeisnotastrategy]

Thanks, Madcap.

I do plan to carry IWB.

One thing I meant to mention in my original post is that I live in Texas and will spend many months of the year in shorts and a T-Shirt/Golf Shirt. I don't know if that would impact your advice.

[hopeisnotastrategy]

What is it about the .45 you don't like?

I have a friend that had FTF issues on the last round of every mag. The XDS is really finicky about how you hold it and fire it. Because of the physics related to a .45 in such a small firearm with such a steep angle of feed you have to grip the weapon "right" to avoid the issue. This has been acknowledged on the XDS Forum at XD Talk by other owners.

Also, I found it difficult to get the gun back on target for follow up shots quickly.

The last thing is I don't like only having 6 rounds (5+1).

I LOVE the ergonomics of the XDS in terms of holding it, pulling the trigger, the way it fits IWB, etc. It's just the .45 caliber that creates the things I don't like about it.

[sir_n0thing]

Fair enough! You definitely don't want to carry something you don't have complete faith in it functioning properly 100%, that's for sure.
As others will mention, make sure you get a quality belt. It'll make a huge difference!

Personally, with the warm Texas weather and corresponding attire, I would feel more comfortable with the thinner gun... But plenty of guy are doing fine with the double stack.

[Rob007]

No problem concealing Glock 26 double stack in shorts/golf shirt. But also trying thinner CM9.

[hopeisnotastrategy]

Originally Posted by Rob007

No problem concealing Glock 26 double stack in shorts/golf shirt. But also trying thinner CM9.

What kind of IWB holster are you using? Is it comfortable or does it feel like a brick?

[Dashunde]

The exceptions: I don't want the XDS in .45 ACP and I'm concerned about the conceal-ability and comfort of carrying the double-stack XDm.

Good reasons to pause on both.

I have Glock 27 (about the same size/weight as the XDm) that I rarely carry due to its heft and thickness.
It does feel like a brick on me.

A 9mm XDs should be a nice gun... but you can get the same results - a easily carried comfortable 9mm - from the well-proven Kahr PM9 or CM9.
The Kahr's are even smaller yet, but are still very comfortable to shoot, provide a good grip, great trigger, and are as easy to carry as a 9mm can be.

[hopeisnotastrategy]

Originally Posted by Dashunde

Good reasons to pause on both.

I have Glock 27 (about the same size/weight as the XDm) that I rarely carry due to its heft and thickness.
It does feel like a brick on me.

Great feedback! Thanks!

[Tactical Jackalope]

The last thing is I don't like only having 6 rounds (5+1).

Bingo....pocket guns in my eyes are for back up and back up only. People carry them as their main mode of defense, but I'm entirely against that. One attacker? One perfect shot? One perfect world.

I carry a Glock 19 with 15+1 and a spare 17 round mag.

No grip safety to worry about. To me that's just another thing to go wrong, both under stress and maintenance wise. Good thing rejecting the XDs.

If you want something in that size? I recommend the M&P Shield in 9mm.

I would tell you to get a Glock 19. It's small enough to carry and big enough to fight with. Lowest I'd say Glock 26.


But for now...check out those options anyways. Might as well... I'm 6'2 and skinny. I CCW a Glock 19 pretty darn well.

[Kevin_d77]

I'm 5'-9" @ 180 and carry a Shield 9 IWB in a Theis holster w the extended magazine and you can't even tell its there. I'm in FL too so our weather is similar.

A few points: I wouldn't count on even being able to find a XDs in 9mm when it comes out. I have only seen like 3 of the 45's to date. That will be by far the hottest selling gun when it comes out which should push more Shields in to the market. Personally, I am a big fan of Springfield myself but the Shield is so nice we have two!

Second, Theis Holsters are a lower priced alternative to the Crossbreed line. They cost about 75% of the price of Crossbreed and the wait time is only like 2 weeks as opposed to 6-8 weeks for Crossbreed. Just don't rule them out.

[Dashunde]

pocket guns in my eyes are for back up and back up only.

I think they're just fine for civilians who are not supposed to put themselves in harms way on purpose like an officer would.
It's also worth noting that anything from the PM9 on up isnt really a pocket gun.

Nothing wrong with plenty of ammo though, it’s a matter of what each guy is personally willing to haul around versus what he thinks his chances of needing all of it are.
I've read around here that statistically SD shootings involve 2-3 rounds, so I buy into the notion that 6+1+6 more on the other hip should have me covered, and if it doesn’t I figure:
I didn’t do my part practicing at the range, or..
I did something stupid to end up with so many adversaries, or..
My luck in life simply ran out and I was doomed from the start regardless of what I carry. :/

I play the odds of being attacked in the first place, plus the odds of needing a bunch of ammo to survive it versus the certainty that a heavy gun will aggravate me all-day-every-day.

And like was mentioned above, a XDs in 9mm is likely to be a rarity for quite some time.

[X_shooter]

I have the XDm 3.8 and carry it concealed in an iwb white hat holster just fine. I use a 1.5 " bull hide belt that is really stiff which helps tremendously. I wear shorts and a T-shirt frequently and it only prints if I bend over at the waist. Never do that. Also avoid those performance fabrics like under armor uses that cling rather than drape off of you. My shoulders/back are wider than my waist which really helps too.

Try the pierce grip on the short mag for that full pinky grip. I'll see if I can post a pic.

[Bart Noir]

I have both of those XD products. While I very much like the XDm 3.8 Compact in 9mm, it is the XDs that I bought a good holster for. And it just carries so light and comfortable that I am amazed.

Of course, I weigh almost 1.5 times what the OP does (Gotta work on that, Bart)

The XDs has been 100 % reliable as long as I remember to load it correctly. I can't pull the slide back to release, upon putting the mag into a locked-back pistol. I have to use the slide release to get that first round loaded, even with hardball.

Once loaded, it never fails to feed. And I prefer 185 grain hollow-points for a little lighter recoil.

I know that 6 powerful shots seems a little shy of a full battle loadout, for those used to standard capacity magazines of 15 or 17 shots. But remember that the 7-round magazine is available for the reload. Or two of them.

Bart Noir

[57K]

I am an XDm fan. Pay no attention to the Glock fanboys because they haven't even figured out that their pistol doesn't even have a relieved ejection port. If they did, some of the brass to the face issues wouldn't occur even though after Gaston retired his heirs have sought to decrease the cost of production for Glock pistols without any meaningful improvements to the basic design, except that pistols chambered in .40 S&W now have better chamber support than gen 1 & 2 G22s, G23s G27s and the G35. They do not however provide adequate support of the case-head yet and this is evidenced by watered down reloading data because of reloaders firing their rounds in Glock pistols.

The XDm is clearly superior as far as structural design improvements and try to find me even one XDm shooter that's had the grip safety fail. There are only 2 parts to include to the XDm for the grip safety. That's the steel safety itself and the spring that pushes it to the safe position. Not to mention the Match Grade barrel in the XDm that makes it easily more accurate than an equivelant chambered Glock. XDms in .40 S&W and all other calibers fully support the case-head of the cartridge.

IMO, the S&W Shield is an excellent carry pistol, but they are hard to find. This may improve with the introduction of the XDs in 9mm and .40 later. If you have a desire to own a Springfield, wait for the XDs in 9mm.

Myself, I have in the past two months switched from XDm pistols to the Ruger SR9 and the SR45 I just got today and fired it at the range. The Ruger design uses the best features of all polymer pistols. It has a stainless steel chamber block that incorpates the forward rails into a single unit just as the XD/XDm series does. So, not only is the barrel's chamber surrounded at the top and sides of the chamber, there's stainless steel underneath it. Factory SR series triggers are improved over the Glock's in that the pull is shorter and the SR polymer framed pistols are the thinnest double-stack pistols available today.

The SR9 is imminently carriable, but the SR9c is just plain magic as far as CC is concerned, short mag for carry, full size 17 round mag for back-up with extension. My shooting partner over the past 20 years has carried the G19, G26, S&W 3913, Shield, Walther PPS, SIG/Sauer P-239, P-228 and most recently the XDm 3.8 Compact in 9mm that he sold after shooting and evaluating my SR9 which he can conceal easily, but went to the SR9c to remove all doubts. Now that he's convinced, he plans to add another SR9c as well as the full size SR9. Shooting my SR45 was a pure joy today even though the trigger needs some additional break-in. My SR9 is simply unbelievable which I know is hard for some to grasp in light of past Ruger semi-autos, but this pistol now sets the standard for everything else, IMO.

[Justice06RR]

I do plan to carry IWB.

One thing I meant to mention in my original post is that I live in Texas and will spend many months of the year in shorts and a T-Shirt/Golf Shirt. I don't know if that would impact your advice.

I'm about exactly your height and weight, and I live in hot FL similar to Texas.

A good sturdy belt would help tremendously, and also try to wear shirst that are a little longer and possibly one size larger than what you wear. For example I wear Medium sized shirts but I also tend to wear Large size shirts when I carry my Glock19 (same size as XDm compact). A good IWB holster is also a must.

As far as the 2 handguns you mentioned, I would suggest the XDm 3.8 compact over the XDS 9mm. More ammo is always good in my book. Carry the 19-round spare mag and you are good to go with the 3.8.

[proheath]

Originally Posted by X_shooter

I have the XDm 3.8 and carry it concealed in an iwb white hat holster just fine. I use a 1.5 " bull hide belt that is really stiff which helps tremendously. I wear shorts and a T-shirt frequently and it only prints if I bend over at the waist. Never do that. Also avoid those performance fabrics like under armor uses that cling rather than drape off of you. My shoulders/back are wider than my waist which really helps too.

Try the pierce grip on the short mag for that full pinky grip. I'll see if I can post a pic.

[Uncle Malice]

Both are easily concealable. Obviously, the XDS is a little easier to hide than the XDM compact...

A good holster will make the gun disappear. I recommend Alien Gear or FirearmHolster.com holsters. Both are great options at good prices. Both ahve a 4-6 week wait period.

[tahunua001]

year old thread guys.

[Uncle Malice]

Ugh. See, this is what I was talking about the other day!