Springfield XDm 45 striker retainer pin broke. Did you?

The striker retainer pin broke on my XDM 45.

I had a gunsmith repair it but he used the wrong pin. Won't use that gunsmith anymore. :banghead:

I called another gunsmith (who does a lot of work for a large city police department) and said this fairly common on this gun especially with dry firing. It seems the rear end of the striker slams back against the pin in dry fire. With a snap cap or real bullet, the impact is absorbed.

I searched the internet and found several forum posts on this issue.

I called Springfield and before I could get "striker retainer pin broke" out of my mouth, he interrupted and said he's going to send be some replacement pins. It seems they are aware of this issue.

With this issue, I am concerned that the gun could break at the wrong time. A broken gun is no better than a rock. I'm considering replacing it, most likely with a Glock. Which in 45?

Has anyone else had this issue?

Have you found any info on this same problem with the 9mm? I have the 9 and as such, this is a concerning issue to me. especially as i got my 9 before the 45s came out and they were obviously unaware of the problem when they built the 45s.

How many rounds/dry fires do you have on the gun? Mine has just under 1000 rnds through it and probably as many dry fires some with snap caps and some with out.

billv said:

The striker retainer pin broke on my XDM 45.

I searched the internet and found several forum posts on this issue.

I called Springfield and before I could get "striker retainer pin broke" out of my mouth, he interrupted and said he's going to send be some replacement pins. It seems they are aware of this issue.

With this issue, I am concerned that the gun could break at the wrong time. A broken gun is no better than a rock. I'm considering replacing it, most likely with a Glock. Which in 45?

Has anyone else had this issue?

Click to expand...

Do the documented instances of this issue only point to XDM or to regular XD as well? I have 2 XDs - service size 45 and subcompact 9 and didn't have any problems with them, but I also haven't shot them THAT much. From what I heard though, the XDs are just as indestructable as Glocks...but maybe I'm wrong...

Ive just spent the last several hours on the google trying to find out if i wrongfully spent my money of a pile of... stuff.

I am confident that i did not heres why.
1. reports of this problem are relatively uncommon
2. people who do report this problem generally also report excessive dryfiring, WITHOUT snap caps in the gun
3.people who deny having the problem report no other issues with their guns. in other words they're basically tanks..except for this roll pin which is a non issue if you do not abuse the pin by dry firing with nothing in the chamber

that being said i have not dryfired my gun without snap caps since i purchased them, and will be purchasing more of them in the future.

chaingun, as for your standard XD, everything i have found is exactly the same as for the XDM. Get some snap caps and use them and everything will be A OK

silver said:

Ive just spent the last several hours on the google trying to find out if i wrongfully spent my money of a pile of... stuff.

I am confident that i did not heres why.
1. reports of this problem are relatively uncommon
2. people who do report this problem generally also report excessive dryfiring, WITHOUT snap caps in the gun
3.people who deny having the problem report no other issues with their guns. in other words they're basically tanks..except for this roll pin which is a non issue if you do not abuse the pin by dry firing with nothing in the chamber

that being said i have not dryfired my gun without snap caps since i purchased them, and will be purchasing more of them in the future.

chaingun, as for your standard XD, everything i have found is exactly the same as for the XDM. Get some snap caps and use them and everything will be A OK

Click to expand...

I always use snap caps for dry firing in all my guns. If there is not snap cap for the caliber (ie AK-74 in 5.45x39), then I don't dry fire. The only exceptions are occasional dry fires during disassembly, cleaning and such, probably totalling to maybe couple of dry fires a month tops. That shouldn't be a problem even for older guns. I hope so at least.

This is a known problem with the XDs, but it happens very rarely. The striker retainer pin is designed to break before the actual firing pin. Many people on XDtalk.com forums have swapped theirs with with stronger made pins. http://shop.powderriverprecision.net/product.sc?productId=32&categoryId=4

I haven't had any problems with mine, so I'll leave it alone for now.

As the OP, I thought I reply with what I found. I too did not find that that happens frequently and is a result of dry firing. When there is no round or snap cap in the chamber, the forward motion of the striker is stopped by this pin hence the high force on the pin during dry fire.

I got two replacement pins two days after I called Springfield and had the gun fixed within 15 minutes. I took out the indicator pin and then removed the striker to inspect it and clean the channel it rides in. Might as well.

I've reduced my dryfire practice for now. I have snapcaps that I could use.

I've got one of these - http://laserlyte.com/Laser_Training_System/LT-9_LT-40_LT-45/LT-9_LT-40_LT-45.html. This is a device that fits in the chamber and has a small rubber switch that the striker hits when it's released. The device shines a laser for 1/10 second so you see where you'd hit. Nice device and has improved my aim. I wonder if the rubber switch is hard enough to act act like a snap cap and prevent the pin from breaking again. I suspect it might be a bit too light.

I've decided to keep the XDM. It's a nice gun, I'm familiar with it, and I shoot well with with. Replacing it would also require new holsters, magazines and other paraphernalia. If I were to get another gun, I'd get something smaller and more concealable.

Thanks for your help

silver said:

Ive just spent the last several hours on the google trying to find out if i wrongfully spent my money of a pile of... stuff.

I am confident that i did not heres why.
1. reports of this problem are relatively uncommon
2. people who do report this problem generally also report excessive dryfiring, WITHOUT snap caps in the gun
3.people who deny having the problem report no other issues with their guns. in other words they're basically tanks..except for this roll pin which is a non issue if you do not abuse the pin by dry firing with nothing in the chamber

that being said i have not dryfired my gun without snap caps since i purchased them, and will be purchasing more of them in the future.

chaingun, as for your standard XD, everything i have found is exactly the same as for the XDM. Get some snap caps and use them and everything will be A OK

Click to expand...

I've heard the same thing ie the problem can occur with lots of dryfiring without snap caps. The full size XDms are nice guns, especially the .45. I've never tried one of the compacts or sub-compacts.

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/general-sa-xd-xd-m-talk/156561-cutting-through-hype-myths-xd-good-enough-professional-use.html

just a little more info i just found. im even more confident now. And im looking at a 3.8 subcompact now too :monkey

hello

billv said:

The striker retainer pin broke on my XDM 45.

I had a gunsmith repair it but he used the wrong pin. Won't use that gunsmith anymore. :banghead:

I called another gunsmith (who does a lot of work for a large city police department) and said this fairly common on this gun especially with dry firing. It seems the rear end of the striker slams back against the pin in dry fire. With a snap cap or real bullet, the impact is absorbed.

I searched the internet and found several forum posts on this issue.

I called Springfield and before I could get "striker retainer pin broke" out of my mouth, he interrupted and said he's going to send be some replacement pins. It seems they are aware of this issue.

With this issue, I am concerned that the gun could break at the wrong time. A broken gun is no better than a rock. I'm considering replacing it, most likely with a Glock. Which in 45?

Has anyone else had this issue?

Click to expand...

pistolgear.com pins, 3 for 1.25 and the tool and instruct to remove ,install(real easy). check it out.great folks there.

Retaining Pin

Hey there Billy,
I'm a Springfield armorer for a large cop shop in Colorado and have 6 years in on these things. No need to change your choice of toys! Springfield makes a super product. Here's the deal with the pin- It's a roll pin which means it is open on one side. When you put this thing back in, just make sure that the closed side is facing rearward. That's where the strength is and where the striker hits it when you dry-fire it. I own 7 XDs in different configs and have never seen this happen, even with excessive dry-firing in our academies. I know it is starting to show up here and there but certainly isn't a wide spread issue. You are exactly right though- the striker whacks that pin every time you dry-fire so I'd keep it to a minimum or use snap caps. Glock makes a great gun too but you'll be disappointed if you go there after shooting the XDM.

One last tid-bit, Sprinfield has a lifetime warranty. If it ever breaks, they will fix it for free. The one thing I'd do if that pin breaks is have someone take all the stuff out of the striker channel and make sure there aren't any pieces of the pin left behind that will cause problems later.

Hope that helps!

most pistols, besides glock and a few others that require dry firing to disassemble, will have this issue. they are not meant to be dry fired, the force of the firing pin slamming against the bolt face over and over weakens it after time. causing stress fractures and eventually 100% failure.

if you have ever taken apart a glock you will notice how beefy the striker is. and the fact that the spring cups are only a few millimeters behind the firing pin tip, thus taking 90% of the blow when the striker smacks the bolt face. this is why glocks dont do this.

but i would never advocate dry firing any gun which is not meant to be dry fired during disassembly. even an XD or XDM.


edit. just realised you were talking about the rolled pin not the firing pin itself opps. still useful info up there ^ haha

or go with a 1911!! 100 years of service and has been in every conflict since WWI. just dont buy a cheap one. IMO i would go with kimber. yeah pricey but they work pretty good. ive dropped mine a few times and have kept it pretty dirty a few times without any issues. you gotta break them in though.