19-round magazines. When I picked the 3.8 up, I liked it even better. It was like Springfield made this gun to fit my hand. I strapped on the holster and magazine pouch and
my 10-year-old son, Bat, and I immediately stepped out back to the steel range. We positioned three Ac- tion Target PT Torso Targets between 5 and 7 yards, in an array similar to what you would if you were shooting the El-Prez drill. I loaded a magazine with five rounds and fired them all at one of the targets. The sights were dead on. Next, I performed a couple double-taps and was
surprised at how controllable the pistol was. Feeling like I couldn’t miss, I fully loaded two magazines, shoved one in the gun and the other in the magazine pouch. I gave my son the timer and at the beep dou- ble-tapped each target, reloaded and did it again. Bat said, “8.24 seconds.” I hit all the targets. I did the drill again in 7.62 seconds with no misses. The third time I guess I got a little bit cocky. My time dropped to 7.32 seconds, and I missed one shot. The pistol was very controllable and easy to shoot,
but I wondered how accurate it could be. I put targets up at 25 yards and stepped back to the bench. From a sandbag rest I fired three, 5-shot groups with four different loads. Discounting the worst group with each load because even a gunwriter throws a round or two every now and again, the average group size for all loads tested was 2.37". Not bad for a handgun with a 3.8" barrel and a 6.5-lb trigger. Even though it took 6.5 lbs to break the trigger, which had about 1/8" of creep after initial take-up, the trigger was smooth with about a 1/4" reset.
Details Now that you know how I feel about the gun, want
some details? The Springfield XDM-9 3.8 is a poly- mer framed, semi-automatic handgun that operates off the short-recoil, locked-breach system. Inside the polymer frame there is a steel-locking block. This block is what the slide operates on. This is a striker- fired handgun — there is no hammer. When the slide recoils it pre-cocks the striker. When pre-cocked, the small silver end of the striker slightly protrudes from the back of the slide. It’s easy to see. The slide, available with a stainless steel or black
finish, comes standard with steel, 3-dot sights. The front post is .142" wide and the rear notch has a .123" opening. This was my only real complaint about this pistol. I generally prefer a rear notch that is wider than the front sight. This seems to make sight align- ment a bit faster for me. Actually, on a defensive pis- tol I prefer XS Big Dot sights. Regardless, the slide on the XDM is dovetailed fore and aft so any sight you like could be installed. There is also a loaded chamber indicator on top of
the slide where the slide butts against the rear of the breach. When a cartridge is in the chamber this small lever slightly protrudes above the top of the slide. If you like this kind of indicator, you’ll like this one. It’s easy to feel or see. The slide also has front and rear- cocking serrations. The grip frame is designed to allow you to swap
backstraps and two additional backstraps come with the pistol. Driving out the lanyard pin, at the bot- tom rear of the grip, does this. You’ll need a hammer and a punch to do this. Honestly, I thought the pistol felt very comfortable with all three backstraps but pointed best for me with the thinnest one. Just above the backstrap on the rear of the frame is
48 AMERICAN HANDGUNNER TACTICAL • 2011 SPECIAL EDITION
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