Exclusive First Look at the new Springfield Armory XD Mod 2 Handgun

Rob Pincus here, I'm at the Ancient City Shooting Range in St. Augustine, Florida. If you haven't heard the announcement, this is my new home range. And it's great to be here today, talking to you about a new gun from Springfield Armory. Now, when you're seeing this, it's actually gonna be two-three weeks after I'm taping it, because this gun has not been announced to the public. So I was just in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the National Association of Sporting Goods' Wholesaler's Trade Show, where I sat down with Springfield Armory and got a chance to talk about this great new gun. And this is actually an evolution of what I already think is a great gun, the Springfield XD. Now we've seen the Springfield XDM, as the higher level of that line, and now we have the Springfield XD Sub-Compact Mod.2. And this is gonna fit in the Springfield XD line, right between the original XD and the XDM. This is a much more ergonomic gun. And they've done a lot of things to really increase shootability, and possibly also enhance the carryability of this gun for a lot of people. Now Springfield XD's are already a great fit for so many people. When you look at guns that have really narrow grips and really ergonomic areas in this range, that are gonna fit smaller peoples' hands, what I find on the range is that they actually fit everyone's hands pretty well. Springfield was the sponsor of the 2014 Personal Defense Network Training Tour, as far as defensive pistols went, and it was great to be able to have demo guns to hand to anyone who showed up with a gun that didn't fit them, or a gun that wasn't reliable, a gun that wasn't performing. Being able to slip an XD or an XDM or an XDS into their hands, and know that it's probably going to be a great fit is really convenient for me, from a training standpoint. The reliability, of course, is going to be there as well with the Springfield Armory XD line. So this is one of the few guns that I actually recommend people look at for personal defense or home defense use. Obviously, this sub-compact gun is going to be meant for carrying, for personal defense, in or outside of the home or in or outside of the workplace. Now what's really cool about this is the ergonomics. We've increased the ability of people to hold this gun comfortably by narrowing it down quite a bit. And you see this feature called Grip Zone. The Grip Zone features three different textured layers, plus of course the standard layer, so we've actually got four different textures in the grip, designed to enhance controllability and comfort while shooting. So we've got a little bit rougher texture on the sides, where we're going to be gripping the gun and keeping it from moving laterally. And a little bit softer texture in the back, for recoil management. Now of course, all of the XD's have grip safeties. This grip safety is very much like the original XD and like the XDM, and not like the XDS. So the XDS models will allow the slide to move, even if the grip safety isn't depressed. With the XD Sub-Compact Mod.2, you do have to have a good firm grip in order to get the slide to move. And also, of course, to be able to get your finger on the trigger and fire a round. Now the other thing that they've done is they've slimmed down the contour of the top of the slide. Now when you're going to find is that the base of the slide, the bottom of the slide, where it integrates with the frame, is actually exactly the same width. The frames are virtually identical in terms of width. But the top is contoured a little bit more, so it's going to be more comfortable, and we're going to be able to make the holsters a little bit slimmer, as well, when we get around to that, for this gun. You also notice that the trigger guard is a little bit different. We don't have that flat ledge with a little protrusion, which of course encourages people to do something I don't like to see them do, which is put that index finger of the support hand out in front of the trigger guard. Well, that's gone now. So we also have more contour, there. Now let me go ahead and pull out the standard packaging. Of course you're used to seeing the standard packaging from Springfield. And that is exactly how this gun is going to be made available. It's going to have all the accoutrements, all the accessories. What you see with a standard XD, which is what this is, is the flat ledge on the front. You can also see that this is boxier. Now, again, this has always been a slim, contoured, handle-grip area, where a lot of people can get a comfortable grip on it. But we've really dramatically improved that with the Grip Zone on the Mod.2. So this is going to be even more comfortable for a lot of people. And I think it's gonna fit an even smaller hand. So maybe someone that wouldn't have been comfortable with the XD, that we would've had to put on a single-stack XDS, is now gonna find the Mod.2 a really great option. And it really just does feel great in the hand. We're gonna take a little bit closer look at it, but right now, I'm kinda anxious to go shoot it. All right, so here we are with the XD Sub-Compact Mod.2. I've also got an original Springfield XD 9. And I've got one of the guns I've been carrying a lot lately, which is the XDS. This is the 3.3, usually I'm carrying the 4.0. We have the 3.3 out here on the range with us, today. So let's go ahead, I'm gonna put my eyes on, I've got my ears on, and I'm just kinda anxious to shoot this thing. Obviously, I've got the extended mag. This is a 16-round mag. It's still going to fit in there just fine. We're gonna talk about this in a second, the XD and the XD Mod.2 take the extended magazines or the flush-fit magazines, and that'll give you 13+1 capacity or 16+1 capacity. Feels great. Shoots great. Of course, this Grip Zone concept here, makes it much more ergonomic than the standard XD, which was already a great gun. And it just really does feel good in the hands. Let me go ahead and lock this open. I'm gonna switch back just for old time's sake. And absolutely... ...feels much blockier, much much blockier. And I really notice that, on this gun, I'm feeling the recoil a little bit more. As I switch immediately... ...like that, there's no doubt that's a more comfortable gun. That's still hot. I'm going to go ahead and put this back in. And clear that. Going back to the Mod.2. Shooting them back... ...back to back like this really gives me a chance to feel the difference. And there's no doubt that this is a more comfortable gun. Which, again, is kind of surprising to me, because the XD has always been such... ...a comfortable gun. I remember when I first did the review for SWAT Magazine on the HS2000, before it was a Springfield gun. Of course, the same gun basically being manufactured in Croatia. Thinking it was a very comfortable gun. We used these guns as rental and demo guns at the Valhalla Training Center in the mid-2000's, as well. Because they fit so many people. And now the Mod.2 is just going to make it that much better. All right, now we're going to go ahead and take a look at reliability with the Winchester Defender. This is the Winchester Train & Defend line, the W line. This Defender bullet is the one that I recommend the most. Of course you've seen me with the other PDX branding, and now the Winchester Defender branding. Well, the W branding is the reduced recoil load. And it comes in T and D versions. This is the D version. Of course, that's going to be the kind of bullet technology that we want. This bullet's going to perform the way we want it to inside of the bad guy, you know, get that stop. But it's going to have less recoil. It's definitely the one that I recommend most people try first, when it comes to any of these light weight sub-compact guns. And it's actually the round that I carry for my own personal defense inside of the XDS. Obviously, the XDS's are very small, very light weight. And that reduced recoil allows us to shoot faster. We're still getting the performance we need. Now right now, I've got the flush-fit magazine inside the gun. It's downloaded. I've a full-size magazine, which is what I would recommend carrying as a spare. Of course the Mod.2, like the other XD models, does come with the sleeves that you can put around the extended magazines. I don't like 'em, I find that they pinch, and they also hamper the smooth ejection of the magazine itself. But if you want that on there, if you're not going to be planning on doing slide-lock reloads, that could be a great option. Myself, I like to keep 'em clean. Now, one thing that's important to mention, is remember that the grooved magazines, the XDM magazines, do not fit in the standard XD model. Nor will they fit in the Mod.2. So if you have XD's and XDM's and Mod.2, I strongly suggest that you only have the smooth-side XD magazines. That way you'll know they work in all the guns. These will work in the XDM's. The XDM magazines will not go back into the other guns. So let's take a look. Reliability coming here out of the holster. Get the reload done. Again, we're going with that full-size magazine. And those rounds all, obviously, fed just fine. Then over here now in another training range, we've actually got 180 degrees here. And behind me, you can probably see the Jedburgh targets. And I've got Scott Watson here, from Jedburgh Target Systems. Talk to us about what we've got here, Scott. Well, what we're doing today is some prototyping on a two-target version of our normal six-target steel. What we're trying to do is get the steel out in front of as many people as we can. One of the easiest ways for us to do that is cut price for the customer. So we're gonna have a two-target version. It's gonna be full-featured. It's gonna come with the iPod, all the cables that you need. And then, whether it's a new budget cycle, or you save your pennies, you can buy additional pieces of steel and just plug them in to the same computer that you've already got. All right, cool. So if you've seen me work the Jedburgh Target System before, you know that it's interactive steel. So what we're gonna do, is I'm gonna throw a couple markers on the ground, now, for Kerry. Kerry's one of our combat-focused shooting instructors. He's also a local here. He's retired from the St. John's County Sheriff's Office. He's going to go ahead and start moving in a figure eight. And on the signal, Scott is going to go ahead and send at least one of those targets up, maybe both of them. And then Kerry's gonna respond appropriately. And what's cool about the Jedburgh Target System is, he has no idea how many shots it'll take to drop his next threat. Up! Assessing while reloading. And we'll get another target deployment. Awesome. And you can go ahead and holster. All right, cool. First and foremost, let's talk about the gun. That's the first time you've shot the Mod.2, what'd you think, Kerry? I like it. It has real good feel to it. Real smooth. The trigger action, a little bit different to get used to than what I was originally used to. Yup. First couple rounds, took me some time. Got it together, and shoots really good. Right. If you'll go to the ready position, I'll take the gun, and we'll clear it. This is, of course, the Springfield XD Sub-Compact Mod.2. This is a brand new gun. I'm really excited that Springfield gave us a chance to take a look at it and shoot it. I like the way it feels, Kerry likes the way it feels. Of course, when we come out here against the Jedburgh Target System, right away we learn the lessons we need to learn. If you play the video back, you'll see that Kerry came out shooting a little bit too fast for his balance, speed, and precision under these circumstances, at first. He slowed down, started getting all of his hits. He doesn't know, none of us know, how many shots it's gonna take on that target. Finally, it goes down. While he's reloading, another target comes up. When he engaged the second target, he had a much better balance of speed and precision from the lesson he had just learned because he was forced to process what was going on while shooting. That's the beauty of the Jedburgh Target System. Now the beauty of the Springfield XD Mod.2 is that it's more comfortable, it's more ergonomic. It's setup and designed to make it more shootable and more carryable for everybody. I'm really looking forward to taking this out on the range. Probably on the tour next year, you're gonna see this Mod.2 show up. We're gonna be putting it in a lot of people's hands. And I think they're really gonna like the Grip Zone. I think they're gonna like the way it shoots. They're gonna like the way it feels. And they're gonna like the way it carries. Of course, that's what we want in a good sub-compact defense gun. Thank you very much to Springfield Armory. Thank you very much for St. Augustine's Ancient City Shooting Range. And of course, to Jedburgh Target System for coming out and helping us give you this sneak peak. If you're watching this video, that means you should start looking for the Mod.2 version of Springfield Armory's XD in a store near you.