Springfeild Armory XD .45

[jrs_dodge_diesel]

I'm looking to eventually buy an XD .45 5" compact.

My wife has shown interest in handguns, and I was wondering if .45 would be difficult for her to handle, and if I should also look for a smaller caliber for her.


Thanks,

J.R.

[Soggybottomboy]

Ideally, she should tell you. A few years back we made the decision my wife was going to carry a pistol. The research began. I was pretty confident she would be able to handle the .380 caliber. Plus there were many different options when it came to ammunition types as well as pistols. After showing her the top 5 I liked due to my research on the computer, we went to the gun store so she could hold them. She immediately fell in love the the Beretta Cheeta. Although I would've liked her to shoot at least the top 3, she had made her choice. 1,000 rounds fired, a CCW course, and a concealed weapon pocketbook later, she's ready to go! Point is, I provided her with a narrowed field in which she made her choice. Good luck and I hope this helps.

SBB

[wannadiesel]

I think she'll be fine with the power level as long as you make reasonable ammo choices, the question is will she be comfortable with the grip size? It's a long way around any double stack .45. The XD is one of the smallest double stacks out there, but it's still a big grip. My stumpy fingers are too short to be comfortable shooting one.

[Equalizer_2]

If you want your wife to join you shooting make sure you don't run her off with too heavy a recoil.

Women can easily handle a .45 if they have their mind made up to do so. I would suggest getting it and a .357 mag revolver. Start her shooting with .38 wadcutters until she is comfortable, then let her know it is time to move up. Move to standard .38 loads, again let her get comfortable. Then get some .38+P loads and repeat. Find some light bullet (125 gr or lighter if you can find them) .357 mag loads and let her shoot a full cylinder of these followed by a couple of cylinders of standard .38s. Of course this will take a good amount of time but by the time she can handle the .357s she will be ready for the .45

Try the .45 after the .38+P loads as she may be ready then. Make sure to use quality hearing protection as that goes a long ways in recoil perception.

[Timmay2]

I've let two females shoot my .45 xd 5" and they were very afraid of it before shooting it because of the size and the large caliber, but found it easier to shoot than the glock 9mm (forget model) and sig Pxxx? due to less recoil and it wasnt painful on the hands.

The sound though... they did NOT like how loud it was.. but what can you say.

[cmac]

i have the 45XD with a 4in barrel and holy cow is that thing LOUD!!!!(but i kinda like the loudness.....) the recoil isnt as bad as i had expected. definatley want good hearing protection though!!

[Timmay2]

Heres a link to several officers reviews of the gun, the majority love it. It seems the only that do not like the XD are those with glock-blinders on.

http://www.policelink.com/products/products/411-springfield-xd-45-acp-5-tactical

[BT2Flip]

I have the same SA XD .45 4" barrel ...

My wife is 5'5" 125 ... but STRONG , we are farmers, she can NOT pull the slide back to load or pull the slide release to load ...
so IMHO

I am getting her a XDM 9mm... she shouldn't have any problems with the 9

and YEA MAN THE 4" .45 IS LOUD !! :D

[Equalizer_2]

Yes, the capability of the woman being able to cycle the slide is important. As my wife uses a revolver I didn't think about that side of it. The parts on recoil still apply though.

[BT2Flip]

I like the Idea of revolvers.... but she likes the idea of 18 rounds... lol:D