You can’t just select winners of something like TTAG’s first Readers Choice Awards and not, you know, give the winners something to commemorate the occasion. As we told you earlier, Springfield took the title of best new handgun for 2013 with their diminutive, concealable XDs-9 and I had the honor of presenting Chad Dyer, their marketing honcho with a little something for his office wall . . .
While I was there, I had a chance to fondle the new XDs-9 4.0, the winner’s newer, slightly bigger brother.
I shot it at Media Day yesterday and, given the longer sight radius and slightly increased heft, it’s a little less snappy than the original. The good news: the new gun (along with an optional mag extension for those with big hands, which was extra with the original XDs-9) is the same price as our champ.
Somehow, though, I missed shooting Springfield’s new(ish) RO 9mm 1911 yesterday. Silly me. I hope to rectify that soon.
You gave Springfield Armory an IGOTD award?
Oh, wait . . . .
I don’t understand the 4.0 XDs. I don’t see the market niche. It’s got a barrel 0.2″ longer than a compact XDm, but the thinness of the single stack… It just doesn’t make sense to me.
You get all the concealability of a standard XDs (thin, short grip) with added sight radius and barrel length, which is the one dimension that size doesnt affect how it conceals. Whats not to get?
A guns concealability is generally all about thickness and grip length, not barrel length.
Why does everyone say that? Barrel length matters, unless you never carry while seated in a car, at a desk, in a truck, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Only after a certain point, though. A 3.8″ XDm or 4″ XD doesn’t cause concealability problems due to the slide length, so a slimmer 4″ pistol shouldn’t either.
At some point after 5″ (haven’t tested it myself, so I’m just guessing) the barrel is probably going to get in the way…but those aren’t generally considered CCW-type pistols for a variety of reasons, barrel length included.
I like the idea of this as a more concealable pistol that doesn’t sacrifice accuracy and follow-up ability like the stubby little CCW guns.
People keep saying it because it’s true.
And yes, I sit down a lot. Sometimes even in a car.
I don’t know how big you guys are. I’m 5’7″ and a 4″ barrel is the upper limit for me. A SIG P290 with a 3″ barrel is way more comfy than a G19, and it’s about as thick.
A striker-fired, polymer framed, single-stack 9MM that is easy to conceal?
What a silly idea, they should have chambered in .380 ACP!!! :p
+1, but for your avatar. Ragnar is my favorite character.
How about you hold off giving them the reward until all of us get our guns back from the recall.
I think it was an award.
Regardless, I agree. Giving an award to a gun that had a near-immediate recall just doesn’t feel right.
Again, it’s the Readers Choice awards. As in selected by a plurality of the people here who took the time to vote. That’s why the XDs-9 was selected and that’s why we presented them with the award.
Haters gunna hate.
I’d buy an XDs in .45 in a NY second if he State of California would allow it. I have an XD9 that is simply too thick for me to carry, but that I trust to operate reliably, and I never could find a holster that allowed me to carry a 1911 with a full size grip without printing.
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