by DeadRinger » Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:47 am
I'll preface this by saying I'm pretty much a gun snob. Part of that surfaces when I have a bad experience with a gun. For example, people swear to me that S&W's M&P striker-fired guns are awesome and completely trustworthy. Problem is I absolutely despised the predecessor models - you've seen them in the movies, they're generally stainless, large, inaccurate, sloppy pieces of shit. Because of that, I won't buy another S&W semi-auto. Period. I don't give a shit who says they're great. Because the fact is that there are SO MANY guns out there I KNOW are great, there's just no reason for me to go back to that well.
Exact same issue with Walther. I bought a PPK a long time ago. It jammed literally every other round. I don't go back to that. This guy makes it look like a great gun, but I don't know how well they wear over time, or what kind of defect rate they have out of the box, etc. And since there's absolutely NO NEED for me to ever buy another Waltehr, I just don't.
So you're looking at a full-sized .45 ACP striker-fired gun. Not really something for concealed carry, right? There are only 2 brands I ever recommend with zero hesitation based on my own experience, and one of them I don't really even like. Glocks are plenty reliable and accurate, but I hate the ergonomics. I owned a compact .40 once, Model 23, and I've shot the full-size .45 and the small-size .45. The grip angle is bullshit, but it has to be that way because they wanted the slide to be so low-profile. The trigger is like pushing my finger into a 40-yr-old twinkie. Horrible. HAVING SAID THAT, I would bet my life on a Glock any day. It does the job. Every time. But I'm sure you have plenty of experience with Glocks and are purposefully looking for a different brand of striker-fired gun (probably for the same reason I did).
The other one is the Springfield XD/XDs/XDm (he actually mentions them in his video). World-class fuckin guns man. When it comes to striker-fired, they've got the ergonomics, the reliability and the accuracy. Also, unlike the Glock, the XDm has a grip safety. Not really a game-changer, but it doesn't hurt. Slap on a set of Talon Grips and nothing beats it.
If someone told me I had to get rid of every gun I owned except one, I'd keep my Springfield XDm .45. 13 in the mag, 1 in the pipe. Pulled it out of the box and it chewed straight through 200 rounds of cheap ammo. There's nothing this gun won't shoot, and it just fucking REFUSES to fail. I've TRIED to make it fail. Shooting limp-wristed, using dirt-cheap ammo with hardly any power... No dice.
One other gun I'm dying to get my hands on is the Sig P320. That's the Army's new gun. Sig's first striker-fired. I'm pretty sure you can find a video of this same dude testing that gun out. I've never shot one, but I have absolute faith in Sig. I've owned MANY sigs in various calibers and I am a Sig guy to the core. I would buy a P320 in a heartbeat because there's not a single question in my mind that it will rock and roll.
That's my advice. I can PROMISE you that if you plunk down $500 for a new XDm, you will never be disappointed (obviously, can't vouch for any used ones). I would carry mine into a war zone along with my AK. Plus, mine came with a paddle holster, 5 mags and 2 mag holders. Meaning I could walk around with 66 fat fucking rounds of .45-cal Federal Hydra-Shok death on my waist if I ever needed to. Pretty cool setup all-around.
BETTER be a playoff win in 2022.