Frag Out! Magazine

FIREARMS The ugliest from the most commonly purchased pistols The XDM 4.5 is a flagship pistol of the Croatian HS Produkt which over the last several years spread its wings what was supported by its entering to the American market. A deliberated strategy, in that selling under the Springfield Armoury® brand, contributed to a success of this weapon on this undoubtedly the largest weapon market in the world, which abides to its own rules different than the European ones. A uniquely understood American patriotism does well and a marking "Made in the U.S.A." always will help during a product promotion, but within these years the GLOCK managed to pave the way for the European manufacturers that a writing "Made in Croatia" does not shock any longer in the U.S.A., despite a fact that only a few Americans could indicate a location of this beautiful country on the map. Moreover, in relation to the sales ranking on the gunbroker.com web site, it is clearly noticed, that this Croatian design is appreciated in the United States, and a weapon from Springfield plant is frequently chosen by the individual customers. What's more interesting – the American demand absorbed most of manufacturing capabilities of the earlier model, the original HS-2000 known as Springfield XD. I became an owner of the HS Produkt XDM 4.5 around ten months ago and within this period I shot away, without any problems, about 12,000 rounds. These were three types of ammunition, as follows: Magtech (115gr FMC), Sellier & Bellot (115gr FMJ), Fiocchi (115gr FMJ). Circa 30% shots I performed with the custom elaborated frangible rounds to shoot steel targets. A type of rounds is insofar important that shows that my selection was dictated by an accessibility and a reasonable price range. During 10 months of the regular shooting from this XDM I cannot recall any stoppages or malfunctions because of defective operation of the mechanisms. Any stovepipe happened to me, double feeds and cases left in the chamber were clearly caused by my errors in grip or in the difficult and fancy shooting positions forced by the training. However, I was a witness of a few situations in which the beginning shooters, in particular women, as a result of too subtle grip, the pistol were not able to reload properly. While it is a typical feature of the "plastic pistols", but these persons had not similar problems with my Glock 17.

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