Best-In-Class Firearms 2007
Every December I survey the work Ray Ordorica, Roger Eckstine, Ralph Winingham, Jennifer Pearsall, Ben Brooks, Joe Syczylo, Dave Henderson, and Kevin Winkle have done in Gun Tests, with an eye toward selecting guns the magazine’s staffers have endorsed wholeheartedly. From these evaluations I pick the best from a full year’s worth of tests and distill summary recommendations for readers, who often use them as year-end shopping guides. These "best of" choices are a mixture of our original tests and other information I’ve compiled during the year. After the magazine’s FFLs sell high-rated test products to readers, I keep tabs on how many of those guns do over time, and if the firearms continue performing well, then I have confidence including them in this wrap-up.
This year we introduced letter-grade scoring, so to keep the results consistent, I made previous "Our Pick" and "Best Buy" choices conform to our current grading scale. All the guns in this compilation are "A" or "A+" choices.
Best in Class: PISTOLS
Springfield Armory Enhanced Micro Pistol
9mm P192029LP, $1253
Reviewed: February 2007
We chose this gun as Best in Class because it offered a fresh angle on 1911 ergonomics. In large hands, it initially felt small and perhaps lacked the 1911’s traditional willingness to point. But when nestled in the palm, control during rapid fire was reassuring. For the shooter with small hands, it should offer unparalleled ergonomics.
The EMP’s alloy frame and steel slide were coated with a matte finish, black frame and satin stainless slide. Thin, fancy wood grips were applied as well as ambidextrous thumb-operated safeties.
The EMP included all of the Springfield Armory Loaded’s features, such as ventilated aluminum trigger adjustable for overtravel, skeletonized hammer, memory groove grip safety, night sights, and checkered mainspring housing. The EMP utilized a bushingless bull barrel system, lowered and flared ejection port and beveled magazine well.
What the handgun’s operator can’t see on first blush was that along with shrinking the grip frame front to back, as many as fifteen different parts had to be scaled down to accommodate the change in size. Accordingly, the manufacturer refers to the EMP as being chambered for "short-action pistol cartridges."
The Enhanced Micro Pistol arrived in a lockable plastic pistol case and two stainless-steel 9-round magazines produced by Mec-Gar of Italy. The base pad of each magazine added a final contour to the front strap and provided an impact point for seating the magazine.
There was also a form-fit holster and dual magazine pouch made of plastic. Each unit included accessory rails along the edges for storing a light or other accessory. The EMP was not fit with a rail for mounting a light.
We found an inscription on the belt side of the magazine carrier that read, "1911 EMP 9mm/40 S&W." According to Springfield Armory a .40 S&W EMP is in the works. Unlike our experience with the bulkier XD pistol pack, the supplied holster proved to be a very good match for the little 1911, holding it smartly to our side.
At the range we worried that the small size of the EMP would prevent us from settling the gun effectively on the bench. We needn’t have worried. The Springfield landed sub-1-inch groups with each test ammunition.
When handling the gun, we learned the small grip made it easier to quickly find the magazine release. We had expected the necessary reduction in size of the magazine well to hamper reloading, but Springfield beveled all four sides of the well, creating a slightly oval shape. This helped us insert a fresh magazine. Once the mag was in place, we were able to free the slide using the release lever or by pulling back the slide.
In our action test we discovered that pointing the gun and releasing the safety could be accomplished very quickly. We thought the EMP trigger was the most refined among our test pistols and reset was very fast. These characteristics let us shoot very aggressively and set the fastest times of our tests.
Elapsed time ranged from 1.64 seconds to 1.86 seconds. In the A-zone only one shot struck left of center. Two shots were high of the B-zone but hit below the scalp line, and one shot found the lower jaw of the silhouette.
Taurus Millennium PT145 Pro SS
No. 145SSP .45 ACP, $421
Reviewed: January 2007
The PT145 Pro SS offered a lot of features in a small package. It had an accessory rail underneath the dustcover, a key-operated lock that seized both the slide and the trigger, a thumb-operated safety, and Richard Heinie’s Straight Eight sights. The dots were not self illuminating, but both the front and rear units were dovetailed into place and grooved to reduce glare. The rear unit was windage adjustable by drift only.
The PT145 pistols differ from the Taurus 24/7 series primarily in the manner in which the frame meets the slide. The polymer receiver of the 24/7 design is attached to a sub frame that includes the rails on which the slide will connect. This creates maximum metal-to-metal contact.
The PT145 places most of its stress on a steel locking block found just below the barrel chamber. The rails to the rear of the pistol were composed of polymer and molded as one piece with the frame. These rails play more of a guiding rather than weight-bearing role.
Shooting from the bench, we learned that the trigger had a great deal of take-up. We measured the actual distance to be about 0.5 inch. But the Taurus did feature "double-strike" capability. The striker will deliver a blow every time you pull the trigger regardless of whether the slide has moved. But we suffered no such problem.
There was a marked difference in this gun’s preference for ammunition. Our best results came with the rounds that recoil the most. It seemed like the gun locked up better when cycled with authority, as we managed a best single group of 1.2 inches firing the Black Hills 230-grain JHP ammunition. Average muzzle energy was about 261 foot-pounds for all three choices of test ammunition.
In our close-quarters practical test, acquisition, loading, and firing the first shot from the Taurus took 2.68 seconds on the first run and 2.98 seconds on the second run. Total elapsed times were 13.26 seconds and 14.89 seconds respectively. Both runs produced twelve of twelve required hits on string one, (transition to strong hand only), and eleven hits on string two (transition to weak hand only). One magazine would not drop free. We made a note to carry the magazine that was a little too fat on our belt rather than loaded in the gun.
We found in our slide-lock trials that the release was readily available and worked without fail. This gave us the option to pull back the slide or press the release to charge the pistol.
Our staff agreed that the Taurus PT145 Pro SS had a big gun feel to it. The grip was full size, and we soon got over the distraction of the long take-up in the trigger. During one-handed fire, it felt about the same whether we were shooting with the left or right hand.
The sights were easily visible, and the gun didn’t overreact during recoil.
We found the left-side thumb safety difficult to apply, but much easier to push downward, making the gun ready to fire. The safety lever itself was not very wide and didn’t get in the way or snag on clothing. It did, however, prop the gun up just enough to make our two handed drill of scooping the pistol into the right hand off of the barrel top a simple chore.
Springfield Armory XD40 SC HC
No. XD9822HCSP06 .40 S&W, $566
Reviewed: January 2007
Currently, most of the XD pistols come in what Springfield Armory calls a package deal. This includes an oversize plastic case that packs not only a cable lock, Allen wrench and fired case but a belt slide holster, dual magazine pouch and like our other test pistols a magazine loader.
But the Springfield Armory loader is far more trick than its competitors. Not only is it contoured with a finger groove to make it eminently more useful, but it had a Picatinny clamp designed to fit either one of the matching rails on the sides of the magazine pouch or the rail on the front of the holster. These accessory rails can also be used to store a weapon light or laser attachment.
The suffixes SC and HC stand for subcompact and high capacity, respectively. One supplied magazine held nine rounds and was fit with a flat basepad. The suffix HC means that our XD40 was also shipped with a 12-round magazine originally designed for the standard size XD frame. A 360-degree collar was fit just above the basepad that was designed to blend with and extend the grip. This arrangement actually worked quite well. The gap between the grip frame and the collar was small and at no time did it pinch our hands. A slight amount of movement of the magazine was perceptible, but it was not enough to distract our shooters. Magazine release was ambidextrous making the XD left hand friendly.
The XD design does not offer a thumb safety but aside from the striker block safety located in the face of the trigger, (similar in design to Glock’s Saf-Action); there were three other safety features.
When the chamber was loaded, a lever popped up that can be felt by the operator without looking. The same goes for an extension of the striker that protruded from the rear of the slide when the action was cocked. Last was the grip safety.
One of the more hazardous situations is getting a piece of garment lodged inside the trigger guard when holstering. Ignition can occur when trying to remove the obstruction or simply as the gun shifts in the holster. Without the grip safety compressed the trigger may be hit but the gun will not fire. With the long high-cap magazine in place, our pistol looked almost taller than the length of the matte stainless steel slide. In fact, we liked the feel of the XD subcompact even without room for the pinky.
The Black Hills 165-grain JHP ammunition proved to be the most powerful round in our tests overall producing an average of 395 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy. But our other choices of test rounds were more accurate, with groups ranging from 1.2 to 1.9 inches on average.
In our practical test we put up some very fast times and only dropped one shot out of the required 24. Elapsed time for loading and firing the XD40 was consistently the fastest. Elapsed times were 13.29 for the run transitioning to the strong hand only and 14.37 seconds for the run transitioning to the weak hand.
What we liked best about the XD40 SC HC was its consistent short-throw trigger. The trigger required about 8 pounds of pressure to break a shot, which we think also helped make the gun safe.
Phoenix HP22A .22 LR, $140
Reviewed: June 2007
The frame, slide, and barrel housing of the single-action Phoenix are made of non-magnetic material, presumably zinc castings, but with steel inserts at appropriate locations, such as within the barrel, on the breech face, and where the slide presses against the hammer to #### it during ejection. Most internal parts are steel.
The sight picture was exceptionally good. The squared front blade was serrated or notched to cut glare, and the rear blade had adequate width to its notch to let the sights work well and quickly. A detented screw gave windage adjustment to the rear blade. However, the gun was perfectly sighted, and we moved the blade only to get a feel for how it worked. The finish was black paint, and the grip panels were checkered plastic. There was a vented rib along the top of the gun. The external hammer was easily cocked. The slide had good serrations that made it easy to operate.
There were what appeared to be two safeties. However, the one on the slide, with its red dot, was only a firing-pin block. For most of our shooting we put it into the firing position and ignored it. The real safety was at the top of the left grip panel, and operated almost normally. When it was in the Fire position, you could not remove the magazine. Press it up to Safe, and the ten-round mag drops free. This safety button could also be used to lock the slide back, though that didn’t happen when the magazine ran empty. With the button in Safe, you could not rack the slide fully, but could check the chamber easily. Neither could you #### the hammer, nor drop it, with that button shoved upward. Once all the operations were fully understood, they all made perfect sense and became second nature to us. Our test shooters did not do any fumbling with the gun once its operations were all made clear.
The instructions for the Phoenix recommended only standard-velocity ammunition. We chose to follow that recommendation with one exception. We tested with three standard-velocity loads, Remington Rifle Target, Federal Match, CCI Pistol Match, and the high-velocity exception, Winchester Super-X Power Point hollowpoints.
On the range we found it quite easy to load the first seven shots into the ten-round magazine. However, we had to work hard to get in the last three rounds. In fact, we noticed a bit of stickiness chambering the first round from a full magazine. We’d load only eight or nine rounds if we owned the Phoenix, and our fingers would thank us. The Phoenix went right to work. The sights were on the money, and the little gun made decent groups dead center at 15 yards. In the course of our testing, the groups seemed to be getting smaller. The trigger pull was clean, reasonably light, and gave good control. The rounds all fed, right from the start, just like they were supposed to. In all our limited testing we had no failures to feed, fire, or eject, other than having the help the slide go forward on occasion with ten rounds in the mag.
With such a low price here, we expected many problems with this pistol. We had exactly none. We came to love the Phoenix. For only $140 locally priced, you get a compact, quite accurate, well fitted, adjustable-sighted (windage) pocketable, useful little .22 auto that has a very good trigger and some innovative features.
Springfield Armory XD45 Compact
XD9645HCSP06 .45 ACP, $589
Reviewed: July 2007
The 4-inch-barrel XD pistols are referred to as being Service models. Like the 5-inch Tactical XD pistol, the application of a frame with shorter grip is what earns these guns the designation of Compact. The XD pistols do not have a safety per se, but offer an important safety feature when compared to the Glock pistols.
The XD utilizes a safety that is turned off when a lever in the face of the trigger is compressed. This assures that the gun will not fire unless there is contact with the trigger. The XD goes further by including a grip-operated safety that must also be compressed.
Another basic difference between the two guns is that pressing the trigger on the XD adds very little rearward movement to the striker. A hole in the rear of the XD slide allows a stainless-steel indicator to poke through and tell the operator that the gun is ready to fire. The Glock trigger has a longer stroke as it works to push the striker back to its break point. The result is that the XD trigger has more of a crisp, single-action feel.
Another way in which the XD pistols differ from Glock is in takedown procedure. With the gun empty, the slide was locked back and the latch located on the left side of the frame was turned upward 90 degrees. The slide can then be released by pulling the trigger and sliding it off the frame.
The XD compact pistol arrived with a 10-round magazine with a flat basepad and a 13-round magazine fit with a collar that matches up with the grip frame. The magazine bodies were polished stainless steel. The collar of the longer magazine did a good job of extending the grip. Visually, there was a noticeable gap, but it did not pinch the shooter’s hand. Grip with either magazine in place was very good. The magazine release was ambidextrous, making the XD pistol left-hand friendly. Sights were a three-dot design dovetailed into place.
Faced with two magazines of different capacities, the consumer may ask, "Which magazine do I start with and which one do I reload to?" Here are some answers. If your intent is to carry these guns concealed, they are much easier to hide with the 10-round magazine in place. We also found that in our action test the shorter magazine, affording less grip, let the gun recoil more naturally. With the long magazine in place, it was too easy to overpower the gun and not let it settle properly between shots. Also, if you should need to reload, you have to remember that releasing the long magazine means reducing the grip by about one-third. The longer magazine will likely hang up on the palm of the hand. Some will argue that 10 rounds should be enough, let alone 13. But magazine changes are not always necessitated by shooting until empty. A malfunction can also force a reload. Springfield Armory advertises these models as being two guns in one. That could easily mean the long magazines are for defending the home and the short magazines are for concealed carry.
From the bench our test shooter preferred the longer magazine in place. Indeed, for one hand the flat-based magazine could offer plenty of grip. Accuracy from support produced an average group of about 1 inch.
In our action test the numbers do not tell the whole story. We had four misses to the left of the A-zone (16/20), but they were printed in a tight group. This offset indicates shooter error in our judgment. Three shots were missing from the B-zone, for an overall score of 7/10. But our staff enjoyed shooting the 4-inch model because it felt balanced in our hands.
Every December I survey the work Ray Ordorica, Roger Eckstine, Ralph Winingham, Jennifer Pearsall, Ben Brooks, Joe Syczylo, Dave Henderson, and Kevin Winkle have done in Gun Tests, with an eye toward selecting guns the magazine’s staffers have endorsed wholeheartedly. From these evaluations I pick the best from a full year’s worth of tests and distill summary recommendations for readers, who often use them as year-end shopping guides. These "best of" choices are a mixture of our original tests and other information I’ve compiled during the year. After the magazine’s FFLs sell high-rated test products to readers, I keep tabs on how many of those guns do over time, and if the firearms continue performing well, then I have confidence including them in this wrap-up.
This year we introduced letter-grade scoring, so to keep the results consistent, I made previous "Our Pick" and "Best Buy" choices conform to our current grading scale. All the guns in this compilation are "A" or "A+" choices.
Best in Class: PISTOLS
Springfield Armory Enhanced Micro Pistol
9mm P192029LP, $1253
Reviewed: February 2007
We chose this gun as Best in Class because it offered a fresh angle on 1911 ergonomics. In large hands, it initially felt small and perhaps lacked the 1911’s traditional willingness to point. But when nestled in the palm, control during rapid fire was reassuring. For the shooter with small hands, it should offer unparalleled ergonomics.
The EMP’s alloy frame and steel slide were coated with a matte finish, black frame and satin stainless slide. Thin, fancy wood grips were applied as well as ambidextrous thumb-operated safeties.
The EMP included all of the Springfield Armory Loaded’s features, such as ventilated aluminum trigger adjustable for overtravel, skeletonized hammer, memory groove grip safety, night sights, and checkered mainspring housing. The EMP utilized a bushingless bull barrel system, lowered and flared ejection port and beveled magazine well.
What the handgun’s operator can’t see on first blush was that along with shrinking the grip frame front to back, as many as fifteen different parts had to be scaled down to accommodate the change in size. Accordingly, the manufacturer refers to the EMP as being chambered for "short-action pistol cartridges."
The Enhanced Micro Pistol arrived in a lockable plastic pistol case and two stainless-steel 9-round magazines produced by Mec-Gar of Italy. The base pad of each magazine added a final contour to the front strap and provided an impact point for seating the magazine.
There was also a form-fit holster and dual magazine pouch made of plastic. Each unit included accessory rails along the edges for storing a light or other accessory. The EMP was not fit with a rail for mounting a light.
We found an inscription on the belt side of the magazine carrier that read, "1911 EMP 9mm/40 S&W." According to Springfield Armory a .40 S&W EMP is in the works. Unlike our experience with the bulkier XD pistol pack, the supplied holster proved to be a very good match for the little 1911, holding it smartly to our side.
At the range we worried that the small size of the EMP would prevent us from settling the gun effectively on the bench. We needn’t have worried. The Springfield landed sub-1-inch groups with each test ammunition.
When handling the gun, we learned the small grip made it easier to quickly find the magazine release. We had expected the necessary reduction in size of the magazine well to hamper reloading, but Springfield beveled all four sides of the well, creating a slightly oval shape. This helped us insert a fresh magazine. Once the mag was in place, we were able to free the slide using the release lever or by pulling back the slide.
In our action test we discovered that pointing the gun and releasing the safety could be accomplished very quickly. We thought the EMP trigger was the most refined among our test pistols and reset was very fast. These characteristics let us shoot very aggressively and set the fastest times of our tests.
Elapsed time ranged from 1.64 seconds to 1.86 seconds. In the A-zone only one shot struck left of center. Two shots were high of the B-zone but hit below the scalp line, and one shot found the lower jaw of the silhouette.
Taurus Millennium PT145 Pro SS
No. 145SSP .45 ACP, $421
Reviewed: January 2007
The PT145 Pro SS offered a lot of features in a small package. It had an accessory rail underneath the dustcover, a key-operated lock that seized both the slide and the trigger, a thumb-operated safety, and Richard Heinie’s Straight Eight sights. The dots were not self illuminating, but both the front and rear units were dovetailed into place and grooved to reduce glare. The rear unit was windage adjustable by drift only.
The PT145 pistols differ from the Taurus 24/7 series primarily in the manner in which the frame meets the slide. The polymer receiver of the 24/7 design is attached to a sub frame that includes the rails on which the slide will connect. This creates maximum metal-to-metal contact.
The PT145 places most of its stress on a steel locking block found just below the barrel chamber. The rails to the rear of the pistol were composed of polymer and molded as one piece with the frame. These rails play more of a guiding rather than weight-bearing role.
Shooting from the bench, we learned that the trigger had a great deal of take-up. We measured the actual distance to be about 0.5 inch. But the Taurus did feature "double-strike" capability. The striker will deliver a blow every time you pull the trigger regardless of whether the slide has moved. But we suffered no such problem.
There was a marked difference in this gun’s preference for ammunition. Our best results came with the rounds that recoil the most. It seemed like the gun locked up better when cycled with authority, as we managed a best single group of 1.2 inches firing the Black Hills 230-grain JHP ammunition. Average muzzle energy was about 261 foot-pounds for all three choices of test ammunition.
In our close-quarters practical test, acquisition, loading, and firing the first shot from the Taurus took 2.68 seconds on the first run and 2.98 seconds on the second run. Total elapsed times were 13.26 seconds and 14.89 seconds respectively. Both runs produced twelve of twelve required hits on string one, (transition to strong hand only), and eleven hits on string two (transition to weak hand only). One magazine would not drop free. We made a note to carry the magazine that was a little too fat on our belt rather than loaded in the gun.
We found in our slide-lock trials that the release was readily available and worked without fail. This gave us the option to pull back the slide or press the release to charge the pistol.
Our staff agreed that the Taurus PT145 Pro SS had a big gun feel to it. The grip was full size, and we soon got over the distraction of the long take-up in the trigger. During one-handed fire, it felt about the same whether we were shooting with the left or right hand.
The sights were easily visible, and the gun didn’t overreact during recoil.
We found the left-side thumb safety difficult to apply, but much easier to push downward, making the gun ready to fire. The safety lever itself was not very wide and didn’t get in the way or snag on clothing. It did, however, prop the gun up just enough to make our two handed drill of scooping the pistol into the right hand off of the barrel top a simple chore.
Springfield Armory XD40 SC HC
No. XD9822HCSP06 .40 S&W, $566
Reviewed: January 2007
Currently, most of the XD pistols come in what Springfield Armory calls a package deal. This includes an oversize plastic case that packs not only a cable lock, Allen wrench and fired case but a belt slide holster, dual magazine pouch and like our other test pistols a magazine loader.
But the Springfield Armory loader is far more trick than its competitors. Not only is it contoured with a finger groove to make it eminently more useful, but it had a Picatinny clamp designed to fit either one of the matching rails on the sides of the magazine pouch or the rail on the front of the holster. These accessory rails can also be used to store a weapon light or laser attachment.
The suffixes SC and HC stand for subcompact and high capacity, respectively. One supplied magazine held nine rounds and was fit with a flat basepad. The suffix HC means that our XD40 was also shipped with a 12-round magazine originally designed for the standard size XD frame. A 360-degree collar was fit just above the basepad that was designed to blend with and extend the grip. This arrangement actually worked quite well. The gap between the grip frame and the collar was small and at no time did it pinch our hands. A slight amount of movement of the magazine was perceptible, but it was not enough to distract our shooters. Magazine release was ambidextrous making the XD left hand friendly.
The XD design does not offer a thumb safety but aside from the striker block safety located in the face of the trigger, (similar in design to Glock’s Saf-Action); there were three other safety features.
When the chamber was loaded, a lever popped up that can be felt by the operator without looking. The same goes for an extension of the striker that protruded from the rear of the slide when the action was cocked. Last was the grip safety.
One of the more hazardous situations is getting a piece of garment lodged inside the trigger guard when holstering. Ignition can occur when trying to remove the obstruction or simply as the gun shifts in the holster. Without the grip safety compressed the trigger may be hit but the gun will not fire. With the long high-cap magazine in place, our pistol looked almost taller than the length of the matte stainless steel slide. In fact, we liked the feel of the XD subcompact even without room for the pinky.
The Black Hills 165-grain JHP ammunition proved to be the most powerful round in our tests overall producing an average of 395 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy. But our other choices of test rounds were more accurate, with groups ranging from 1.2 to 1.9 inches on average.
In our practical test we put up some very fast times and only dropped one shot out of the required 24. Elapsed time for loading and firing the XD40 was consistently the fastest. Elapsed times were 13.29 for the run transitioning to the strong hand only and 14.37 seconds for the run transitioning to the weak hand.
What we liked best about the XD40 SC HC was its consistent short-throw trigger. The trigger required about 8 pounds of pressure to break a shot, which we think also helped make the gun safe.
Phoenix HP22A .22 LR, $140
Reviewed: June 2007
The frame, slide, and barrel housing of the single-action Phoenix are made of non-magnetic material, presumably zinc castings, but with steel inserts at appropriate locations, such as within the barrel, on the breech face, and where the slide presses against the hammer to #### it during ejection. Most internal parts are steel.
The sight picture was exceptionally good. The squared front blade was serrated or notched to cut glare, and the rear blade had adequate width to its notch to let the sights work well and quickly. A detented screw gave windage adjustment to the rear blade. However, the gun was perfectly sighted, and we moved the blade only to get a feel for how it worked. The finish was black paint, and the grip panels were checkered plastic. There was a vented rib along the top of the gun. The external hammer was easily cocked. The slide had good serrations that made it easy to operate.
There were what appeared to be two safeties. However, the one on the slide, with its red dot, was only a firing-pin block. For most of our shooting we put it into the firing position and ignored it. The real safety was at the top of the left grip panel, and operated almost normally. When it was in the Fire position, you could not remove the magazine. Press it up to Safe, and the ten-round mag drops free. This safety button could also be used to lock the slide back, though that didn’t happen when the magazine ran empty. With the button in Safe, you could not rack the slide fully, but could check the chamber easily. Neither could you #### the hammer, nor drop it, with that button shoved upward. Once all the operations were fully understood, they all made perfect sense and became second nature to us. Our test shooters did not do any fumbling with the gun once its operations were all made clear.
The instructions for the Phoenix recommended only standard-velocity ammunition. We chose to follow that recommendation with one exception. We tested with three standard-velocity loads, Remington Rifle Target, Federal Match, CCI Pistol Match, and the high-velocity exception, Winchester Super-X Power Point hollowpoints.
On the range we found it quite easy to load the first seven shots into the ten-round magazine. However, we had to work hard to get in the last three rounds. In fact, we noticed a bit of stickiness chambering the first round from a full magazine. We’d load only eight or nine rounds if we owned the Phoenix, and our fingers would thank us. The Phoenix went right to work. The sights were on the money, and the little gun made decent groups dead center at 15 yards. In the course of our testing, the groups seemed to be getting smaller. The trigger pull was clean, reasonably light, and gave good control. The rounds all fed, right from the start, just like they were supposed to. In all our limited testing we had no failures to feed, fire, or eject, other than having the help the slide go forward on occasion with ten rounds in the mag.
With such a low price here, we expected many problems with this pistol. We had exactly none. We came to love the Phoenix. For only $140 locally priced, you get a compact, quite accurate, well fitted, adjustable-sighted (windage) pocketable, useful little .22 auto that has a very good trigger and some innovative features.
Springfield Armory XD45 Compact
XD9645HCSP06 .45 ACP, $589
Reviewed: July 2007
The 4-inch-barrel XD pistols are referred to as being Service models. Like the 5-inch Tactical XD pistol, the application of a frame with shorter grip is what earns these guns the designation of Compact. The XD pistols do not have a safety per se, but offer an important safety feature when compared to the Glock pistols.
The XD utilizes a safety that is turned off when a lever in the face of the trigger is compressed. This assures that the gun will not fire unless there is contact with the trigger. The XD goes further by including a grip-operated safety that must also be compressed.
Another basic difference between the two guns is that pressing the trigger on the XD adds very little rearward movement to the striker. A hole in the rear of the XD slide allows a stainless-steel indicator to poke through and tell the operator that the gun is ready to fire. The Glock trigger has a longer stroke as it works to push the striker back to its break point. The result is that the XD trigger has more of a crisp, single-action feel.
Another way in which the XD pistols differ from Glock is in takedown procedure. With the gun empty, the slide was locked back and the latch located on the left side of the frame was turned upward 90 degrees. The slide can then be released by pulling the trigger and sliding it off the frame.
The XD compact pistol arrived with a 10-round magazine with a flat basepad and a 13-round magazine fit with a collar that matches up with the grip frame. The magazine bodies were polished stainless steel. The collar of the longer magazine did a good job of extending the grip. Visually, there was a noticeable gap, but it did not pinch the shooter’s hand. Grip with either magazine in place was very good. The magazine release was ambidextrous, making the XD pistol left-hand friendly. Sights were a three-dot design dovetailed into place.
Faced with two magazines of different capacities, the consumer may ask, "Which magazine do I start with and which one do I reload to?" Here are some answers. If your intent is to carry these guns concealed, they are much easier to hide with the 10-round magazine in place. We also found that in our action test the shorter magazine, affording less grip, let the gun recoil more naturally. With the long magazine in place, it was too easy to overpower the gun and not let it settle properly between shots. Also, if you should need to reload, you have to remember that releasing the long magazine means reducing the grip by about one-third. The longer magazine will likely hang up on the palm of the hand. Some will argue that 10 rounds should be enough, let alone 13. But magazine changes are not always necessitated by shooting until empty. A malfunction can also force a reload. Springfield Armory advertises these models as being two guns in one. That could easily mean the long magazines are for defending the home and the short magazines are for concealed carry.
From the bench our test shooter preferred the longer magazine in place. Indeed, for one hand the flat-based magazine could offer plenty of grip. Accuracy from support produced an average group of about 1 inch.
In our action test the numbers do not tell the whole story. We had four misses to the left of the A-zone (16/20), but they were printed in a tight group. This offset indicates shooter error in our judgment. Three shots were missing from the B-zone, for an overall score of 7/10. But our staff enjoyed shooting the 4-inch model because it felt balanced in our hands.
