Compact .45 semi-autos for CCW

ColdDayInHell said:
The 36 has a lot of kinks, no parts interchangeability, snappy, and low capacity. Those all bothered me but I guess they may not bother you. Glock is the ideal CCW and you wont go wrong with one. I love Glock a lot, easy to work on and always dependable.
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No part interchangability? While the barrel, slide and magazine are unique to the G36, the slide is good on the G30 and mine has functioned flawlessly.

Snappiness is dependent on the person. I never found mine to be snappy and I shoot 230 g. bullets.
 
I haven't shot the G36. I have only shot the G30 once. I thought the G30 had very little felt recoil -- similar to the fullsize 1911 I was shooting alongside it.
 
Acme.Armament said:
No part interchangability? While the barrel, slide and magazine are unique to the G36, the slide is good on the G30 and mine has functioned flawlessly.

Snappiness is dependent on the person. I never found mine to be snappy and I shoot 230 g. bullets.
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I did mean it in terms of the mag, barrel, and slide, it is not interchangeable. Sure you can put it on a G30 frame, but you are the only one that I have even seen on any forum that has done that! I would love to be able to try it out one day, you may have coined the new Glock 66. [wink]
 
ColdDayInHell said:
I did mean it in terms of the mag, barrel, and slide, it is not interchangeable. Sure you can put it on a G30 frame, but you are the only one that I have even seen on any forum that has done that! I would love to be able to try it out one day, you may have coined the new Glock 66. [wink]
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His 66 is engraved as such ;)

Thanks WI!
 
retroLS1 said:
Ryan - I will let you know. Acme threw the offer up to meet up at the range some time to try theirs out, so I will see if they don't mind you coming along as well (I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem).
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We are fine with it - just let us know when you are ready to be apart from the wee one. ;)
 
Nicole said:
Lol. Definitely not patented. I don't know anyone else who has one, but I am sure they are out there...that they can do this is no secret.
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I just did a quick search and found out that other people have done it! Someone actually did it with a G29sf frame. Interesting for sure...
 
ColdDayInHell said:
I just did a quick search and found out that other people have done it! Someone actually did it with a G29sf frame. Interesting for sure...
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Yep, I talked about it with Adam on the way home and he said he got the idea from the instructor at his first Glock Armorer's course who had one. We definitely did not originate this idea! [grin]
 
I carried a Glock-36 for several years. It was totally reliable, very controlable and quite accurate. I finally opted for more discreet pocket cary with a Kahr PM-9. The Springfield XD series has a lot of folowers. I would choose the smallest, 45 ACPO for CCW.
 
One thing I keep coming back to is compact size vs. how many rounds it can hold. G30 would be 10+1, whereas G36 or XDs would be 5+1. I do not typically carry an extra mag with me when CCW'ing, but would consider it with one of the smaller guns. I like the idea of having it all on tap ready to go with a slightly larger frame, but not sure if I like it more than having a slimmer gun overall. Tough decision! Maybe I just need to invest in a lightsaber.
 
retroLS1 said:
One thing I keep coming back to is compact size vs. how many rounds it can hold. G30 would be 10+1, whereas G36 or XDs would be 5+1. I do not typically carry an extra mag with me when CCW'ing, but would consider it with one of the smaller guns. I like the idea of having it all on tap ready to go with a slightly larger frame, but not sure if I like it more than having a slimmer gun overall. Tough decision! Maybe I just need to invest in a lightsaber.
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FYI, G36 is 6+1.
 
If you really want to carry a compact .45 you really are hard pressed to find a better option than the G30.

I'd love to carry compact 1911 but have yet to find one that I feel comfortable with it's reliability, Maybe I am just not looking hard enough
 
I have the folowing .45"s that you are welomed to test drive.
Colt series 80 Combat Elite
Sig 220
Sig 220 .38 Super for chuckles
S&W Pro Series 3"
Glock 30
Glock 30 SF
S&W 625 Performance center .45 acp S.S. revolver
I live near you.If you'd like to test drive these guns PM me and we'll arrange it.
 
30Mauser said:
FYI, G36 is 6+1.
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Correct. I haven't heard any XDs problems yet, but they are so new that I am sure there will be some issues out there. G36's can run flawless once up to par. If there is a bad ejector, it can cause issues. I have read from many forums that they are the only Glock that you need to break in. I will get shit for saying that, but I did have a couple FTF and FTE during rounds 21-40.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is an excellent picture comparison on the G30SF vs. XD45c. I found it on the XD forum, you I wonder where the bias is. [wink]
 
ColdDayInHell said:
Correct. I haven't heard any XDs problems yet, but they are so new that I am sure there will be some issues out there. G36's can run flawless once up to par. If there is a bad ejector, it can cause issues. I have read from many forums that they are the only Glock that you need to break in. I will get shit for saying that, but I did have a couple FTF and FTE during rounds 21-40.
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There's definately "some" problems with the XDs's. I just got mine 3 days ago, brand new in box. Day 1 failure to fire's every 6 or 7 rounds, attributed that to the cheap blazer aluminum I got. Day 2, Winchester WB, failure to fire every 12-15 rounds. Federal Hydra Shok, 1 FTE in 25 rounds but thats not the same symptoms as all the others. It's back at Springfield now, they emailed me a 2nd day air slip, I can call in after 10 business days to check status. Response from their customer service was, yes, we've heard of that issue before. Will see how it is when I get it back in a few weeks. What is happeming is that the slide is not going in to full battery, it's stopping about 1/16th -1/8th of an inch forward which is causing a light strike. You can tell when it's going to happen and can nudge the slide forward to fix it. I think it has something to do with the angle of the ramp (which is polished nicely) on the barrel or possibly the very top of the barrel where the round hits (also polished). We shall see.....
 
chopper_man said:
There's definately "some" problems with the XDs's. I just got mine 3 days ago, brand new in box. Day 1 failure to fire's every 6 or 7 rounds, attributed that to the cheap blazer aluminum I got. Day 2, Winchester WB, failure to fire every 12-15 rounds. Federal Hydra Shok, 1 FTE in 25 rounds but thats not the same symptoms as all the others. It's back at Springfield now, they emailed me a 2nd day air slip, I can call in after 10 business days to check status. Response from their customer service was, yes, we've heard of that issue before. Will see how it is when I get it back in a few weeks. What is happeming is that the slide is not going in to full battery, it's stopping about 1/16th -1/8th of an inch forward which is causing a light strike. You can tell when it's going to happen and can nudge the slide forward to fix it. I think it has something to do with the angle of the ramp (which is polished nicely) on the barrel or possibly the very top of the barrel where the round hits (also polished). We shall see.....
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Great update! You should start a new thread to make aware of everyone else. That sucks, they look like such nice guns too. Aluminum CCI Blazer worked fine in my Gen 4 G19 and they were breaking the gun in. Given it isn't as big a cartridge, you still shouldn't have had problems. Sorry to hear about all these issues, SA should resolve it. Good luck.
 
XDs can have teething issues like any other brand.

I fired an XDs .45 the other day, worked nice.... decent gun. I want to see if they will make one in 9mm, that'd be the ticket.... although I still dont like the effing grip safety.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
XDs can have teething issues like any other brand.

I fired an XDs .45 the other day, worked nice.... decent gun. I want to see if they will make one in 9mm, that'd be the ticket.... although I still dont like the effing grip safety.

-Mike
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One in 9mm would be awesome! I haven't tried ANY Springfield yet. [thinking]
 
Yup i am also waiting on the xds in 9mm. Had one in .45 but with 230gr HST +p i couldnt control it very well.

Back to looking at the glock 30SF, sig 220 carry, and xd compact .45
 
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Thanks for the update chopperman - good to know nobody is perfect! Also thanks for the correct on the G36 - I thought it was only 5+1 like the XDs. I had looked into the XD45 compact as well, which would be a good comparison to the G30 I suppose in terms of caliber, capacity, and size. Anybody have any first hand feelings on those two stacking up against each other?

M60 - thank you for the offer. I may have to take you up on it, I will get in touch.
 
Well I got a chance to fondle some various pistols and while I do generally like the feel of Glocks in my hand (grip angle wasn't bad, G30 was pretty wide, a little larger than I would like), I ended up pulling the trigger on the gun I was leaning towards from the beginning anyways - Springfield XDs. I picked mine up tonight (NIB, haven't fired it yet). Really looking forward to trying it out this weekend. So far, first impressions are that I like it a lot. I can manage 3 fingers on the grip without much struggle, magazines release pretty easily and have a good release to them. Slide release is a little stiff but that's expected for a brand new gun. Grip is very comfortable, don't even notice the grip safety. Trigger pull is a little long, but pretty crisp and reset is not bad at all.
 
Just a quick update. I hit the range late Friday night and put about 125 rds through the pipe with the XDs. First impressions are pretty good so far. Shooting this gun is new for me on a few levels as the only .45 pistols I have shot consisted of 1911's which are pretty awesome to say the least. It shot very reliably - not one failure to fire/feed/extract. The only issue I had was it was ejecting some brass back at my face. Go figure, one night when I was not wearing a hat. Got some little dings along the top of my forehead. Didn't know if this had to do with the pistol itself or just my technique. I did not feel like I was limp wristing it since I was not having any other extraction issues or anything like that.

My "grouping" was ok - nothing great, since it's a new gun and new caliber to be working with. I also haven't had a lot of range time with pistols lately since whenever I have time for the range I end up going to the outdoor range and shooting my rifles instead.

Anyways, I look forward to getting some more rounds through it and getting a better feel for it but so far I am pretty happy with it. We'll see how it plays out. If anyone has any advice/thoughts on the brass-to-face situation that would be great.

Pic for good measure:

DSC01534.jpg
 
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So far, so good. I still need some more time before the trigger before I can hit the "I love it" status, but I like it so far. As long as I can solve this brass-in-the-face business, I should be ok. Though, while at the range with my brother I was shooting his SR1911 also and now I am trying to figure out how I can possibly carry a full size 1911 [laugh]. Man I love those things. Wish I had more funds available!
 

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