XDM-45 Compact 3.8

[Jumping Frog]

I asked Dan over at Zlogonje Gunleathers if he was making pistols for this gun yet and he said the dummy guns weren't available yet.

Spoke to a vendor at the Killeen gun show yesterday, he had holsters for the XDM Compact .45 and stated that all of the holsters were built and hand boned using dummy guns....

Interesting. I'll pass that on to Dan.

[E.Marquez]

I asked Dan over at Zlogonje Gunleathers if he was making pistols for this gun yet and he said the dummy guns weren't available yet.

Spoke to a vendor at the Killeen gun show yesterday, he had holsters for the XDM Compact .45 and stated that all of the holsters were built and hand boned using dummy guns....

Interesting. I'll pass that on to Dan.

Might want to suggest he contact http://duncansoutdoor.com/customs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; While doing some searching, I found Leatherworks sold off a bunch of blue and aluminium guns, one of which was listed as a XDm .45 compact from Duncan

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM,

how does it feel? I have large hands.. (16.5 ring size) .. I'm not too sure a two finger grip on a pistol is a wise move...

I'm leaning toward a Kahr CW45 .. I'd like to find a Commander/Champion size or Officer size .45 that's .. well, affordable.

Sorry I didn't answer earlier.....I missed your post yesterday....

How does it feel? It feels great. I have large hands also. Don't know my ring size, but it is big. I would describe the grip as smaller than a Glock 19, but larger than the full sized M&P45 (which only holds 10 rounds in the mag compared to the 13 rounds in the larger of the two XDm mags). You have to actually see the "two finger grip" to understand, but the way the grip fits in my hand with the compact magazine inserted, my index finger obviously goes in the trigger guard, my middle and ring fingers fit around the front strap, and my pinkie finger is actually kind of grasping ariound the base of the magazine. Put it this way: my wife's Glock 19 has grooves for 3 fingers on the front strap, but the grooves are too small and close together to fit my hand well (not to mention the overall dimensions of the grip frame to begin with), so the security of my grip on the G19 is actually not as comfortable or secure as my grip on the XDm—and that hold on the XDm is actually pretty comfortable too.

I also own a PM9 which has quite diminutive grips. Shooting 9mm out of a gun that weighs 14 oz produces a considerable amount of perceived but controllable recoil—about on a par with shooting hot .45 ACP out of a 3" Kimber Ultra Carry II. The size of the PM9 permits only a 2 finger grip, and controlling the gun is not difficult at all.

Flash back to the XDm. It weighs 27 oz with the 9 round magazine in place, compared to the 20 oz of a 3" Kimber UC II without the empty magazine or the 21 oz unloaded weight of a Glock 19. The preceived recoil ought to be less than that of the Kimber, and considerably less than that of the PM9. So I'm pretty confident that the 2 finger grip is pretty much a non issue....and its a pretty spacious 2 fingered hold. And with the optional 13 round magazine in place it becomes a de facto duty sized pistol, and I could almost squeeze a 5th finger onto the grip if I had one.

BTW, you could do worse than a Kahr CW45. I carry mine far more than I carry any of my other guns.

[ITRY2FLY]

Concealment Solutions makes excellent IWB and OWB holsters, much better fit and finish and higher quality material than Crossbreed and some others, with no ridiculous 'months' waiting. Jason Christensen is the guy that makes them. I am very happy with mine, you may need to send him a message regarding the 3.8 XDm in particular.

http://www.concealmentsolutions.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BritOnTour]

I have the exact same pistol. I didn't like the look if the Kydex based holsters. Also, considering how they are made, they seem a bit over priced. This is what I ended up with. as you can see its a convertible IWB/OWB style. However the guy who makes them will do a complete custom design (Leather, colour, cut, cant, and of course Left or Right handed!). Prices start at $60 for OWB. Turn around time for mine was less than 3 weeks! Hopp Custom Leathers

If you contact Eric, let him know I sent you!

[n5wd]

Now the big question...... WHO makes an OWB holster for the XDM-45 Compact? The included plastic paddle holster is right handed, and I'm a lefty. Galco doesn't list it in their Springfield line. Neither does Desantis. Don Hume doesn't. I'm sure somebody does....I just haven't seen one yet specifically for the XDM-45 Compact. The slide profile is different enough from the XD series that I'm not sure that an XD holster would fit. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

If you will call Springfield's customer service, and tell them you're a lefty, they'll mail you a replacement for the right-handed paddle that was included in the kit. No charge, but you do have to ask 'em for it.

Wayne

[The Annoyed Man]

Now the big question...... WHO makes an OWB holster for the XDM-45 Compact? The included plastic paddle holster is right handed, and I'm a lefty. Galco doesn't list it in their Springfield line. Neither does Desantis. Don Hume doesn't. I'm sure somebody does....I just haven't seen one yet specifically for the XDM-45 Compact. The slide profile is different enough from the XD series that I'm not sure that an XD holster would fit. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

If you will call Springfield's customer service, and tell them you're a lefty, they'll mail you a replacement for the right-handed paddle that was included in the kit. No charge, but you do have to ask 'em for it.

Wayne

Right you are, sir, and thank you for the tip. I just got off the phone with them. The plastic holster for lefties is back ordered, but as soon as it comes in they'll get one out to me. They even knew who I was from previous experience with them. Not bad service at all.

I have the exact same pistol. I didn't like the look if the Kydex based holsters. Also, considering how they are made, they seem a bit over priced. This is what I ended up with. as you can see its a convertible IWB/OWB style. However the guy who makes them will do a complete custom design (Leather, colour, cut, cant, and of course Left or Right handed!). Prices start at $60 for OWB. Turn around time for mine was less than 3 weeks! Hopp Custom Leathers

If you contact Eric, let him know I sent you!

Very nice holster. I'll be giving them a call too. Thanks for the tip.

[Sidro]

Tam this guy makes a really nice holster, I have the QS-BTP and really like it. http://jeffreycustomleather.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

Tam this guy makes a really nice holster, I have the QS-BTP and really like it. http://jeffreycustomleather.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Those look tasty too. I'm beginning to feel like a young single man in the playboy mansion now.

So many nice holsters....so little time (and money).

[The Annoyed Man]

I've got a curious issue with this new gun......

I have a Streamlight TLR-1s weapon light which normally resides on my M&P45 on my dresser, and I wanted to see if it would fit on the rail on the XDm-45 (the TLR-1s has kind of a long body). Guess what? It doesn't fit! Not even close. The TLR-1s comes with interchangeable inserts to fit different kinds of rail systems. One insert fits the standard M1913 rail system, and that's what's on it right now. Another insert fits the Glock rail system. There's a third insert, but I don't know what it is supposed to fit because I can't find the extra parts of the light right now.

Anyway, as I said, I tried to fit the light onto the gun and it won't mate to the gun's rail; but the funny thing is that the included double magazine carrier included in the box with all the other extras does have an M1913 rail on either side of it, and the light will mount to those rails just fine. It may seem like a fine point to be niggling about, but wouldn't you think that Springfield would provide a rail on the magazine holder that was consistent with the rail on the gun?

I'll be making another phone call in the morning.

[urnoodle]

This guy can make a holster for almost any gun. He too has about a month wait but his holsters are very nice. He's a lefty too so I'm sure he knows about the challenges in finding a good holster. You can see him construct a holster on youtube under the name revelcraft.

https://sites.google.com/site/harlinleatherworks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

I took my new gun to Basspro yesterday and ran a quick 100 rounds of Remington green box 230 grain ball through it. The gun ran flawlessly with no malfunctions of any kind. It also shot reasonably accurately given my aging eyes. The sights are standard white dots, and I was in the far right lane where the lighting seems to be pretty poor. I really couldn't see the dots and in the poor light I had trouble focusing on the front sight, so I just lined up the top of the front sight with the top of the rear sight and went to town. I shot at 7 and 10 yards, and I put almost all 100 rounds into about a 10" circle, and I think that's acceptable given the conditions.

Despite being a compact pistol, the XDm manages recoil very well and I was impressed with its handling. It was very controllable, and once I started learning where the trigger reset was it settled down nicely and was just a really neat shooting pistol. It's a keeper.

[The Annoyed Man]

I carried my new gun for the first time today. I had been waiting for holsters.

I have one just like this on order for it:

But that one is going to take another 5-7 weeks to come in, so I also ordered a Galco "Silhouette High Rise" in tan leather for it. That one just came in today. It's my first "retention strap" belt holster, and it was a beast to get the strap stretched out to the point where it would snap shut.


Anyway, the XDm-45 Compact 3.8 carried very well with the 9 round magazine in place and the 13 round mag as a backup. It did not feel at all like a "big" gun, and I really didn't notice the weight of it. The retention strap adds a little bit to the bulk to the back of the slide, making it feel just a tad bigger under the shirt than it really is, but it isn't a huge difference. The upside (besides the retention, which doesn't normally concern me) is that the retention strap on the body side of the holster acts as a sweat shield.

[BritOnTour]

I carried my new gun for the first time today. I had been waiting for holsters.

I have one just like this on order for it:

customholster.jpg

This one looks nice. Who did you end up working with? What is the leather on the reinforcement piece?

[74novaman]

Interesting. Have you practiced drawing from that retention holster yet? All of my current holsters are open top, because I figure being concealed, I'm going to have enough to worry about getting clothes out of the way and drawing smoothly.

If we had Open Carry in Texas I would definitely want a retention holster of some type....but for now it just seems like an extra step when you draw that would worry me.