“When I say ‘go’ you will fire two rounds into the target, reload and holster, do you understand?” “Roger that!” I said. “GO!” I drew my Springfield XD .45ACP, fired six quick rounds center mass into the target, dropped the empty magazine, reloaded and smoothly holstered. I glanced back at Captain Greg Hall with a look of amazement on my face. There I was standing on the range with my police department’s firearms instructor, Capt. Hall, telling him I’d just become an XD fan. Capt. Hall had his XD moment a while back during our PD’s testing phase when choosing a new duty weapon. During which the 4-inch XD .45ACP was put through its paces to include a complete chemical degreasing where it still fired all its rounds without stoppages.

We continued on with the course of fire and over the next couple of hours I fired a couple hundred rounds and dropped magazine after magazine in the dirt. I got all kinds of junk in the gun and rolled in the dirt and grass until I was thoroughly coated in it. In the end I scored a 96 percent. I had sweat in my eyes; yeah, that’s it. Not bad considering that I’d never even touched an XD until that morning. While I may have scored 96 percent, the XD scored a full 100 percent; it never once jammed even with all the crap that kept getting into it.

Springfield has captured the attention of quite a few in law enforcement with their line of XD (Extreme Duty) pistols. They’re easy to shoot, ergonomic, ambidextrous and affordable. They also have a wide array of choices when it comes to caliber, grip size, barrel length and finishes. I called Springfield and placed an order for two samples.