XDM Air Gun Training 

Two weeks turned into a year and yet Covid still has us trying to stay socially distanced. While both my wife and I are essential workers, thereby granting us the privilege of going to work, there was a time when it was basically only back and forth from work to home. All work and no play makes the XDMAN a dull boy as the saying goes. Don’t get me wrong…work is ok, but I need to have some entertainment. So you would think with all the extra free time, it would a perfect time to head on out to the range. You could easily social distance and what is more fun than a day at the range? Sounds great until you look at ammo prices.  Unless your name is Daddy Warbucks, every shot you take comes with a cha-ching sound. Even if you have all the money in the world ammo shortages are still a concern that has been widely reported in large areas of the country. You may have all the will and money in the world to go shoot, but you just might not be able to find or replace the ammo. Since I am not like other people, and I NEED to have some trigger time, it was time to give my Air Venturi Springfield Armory XD-M Air Pistol some good needed one on one time and see if it could satisfy me.

My goal was to mimic my normal range time as best I could right off of my back porch in my backyard. I could light up the Big Green Egg, put a big slab of meat on it to smoke and I could get all the trigger time I wanted in…..thats a win win situation in my book. 

I love shooting at steel targets, paper is alright but nothing can replace the sounds of hits on steel. You would think that with an Air Pistol it would be easy to just shoot at some hard targets and be done with it. Well BB’s are hard and round and tend to ricochet off hard surfaces. “You'll shoot your eye out…”  That’s why you still want to wear eye protection even with air guns. Next you run into the problem of a bunch of BB’s that are all over the place making a mess. Imagine mowing the lawn with a bunch of bb’s in it…not cool. So let me introduce you to a great solution, the Air Venturi Dust Devil Frangible BB’s. Yep frangible BB projectiles that turn to dust when they hit a hard surface. This means you can shoot the steel even at almost point blank range or even weird angles and lessen the chance of ricochet. Since they shatter on impact they are much safer to shoot than classic BB’s. The Dust Devils weigh in at around 4.35 grains meaning they are lighter than the average classic steel bb’s. This reduction in weight per BB means that they give you about a 10% velocity increase in the same air gun over steel BB’s. I want to mention that the Dust Devil BB’s are lead free, and manufactured right here in the USA. The Dust Devils are slightly more expensive than a standard BB, a 1,500 count box will run you between $9.99 and $12.99 at Amazon. Next up, we need something to shoot at. The Dust Devils work best against hard steel targets and Air Venturi has the perfect solution. The Cowboy Action Diamond Gong is a nice steel Airgun target. At only 10.1 pounds it is light enough for anyone to move around and adjust. But the construction is rugged enough that you could easily get three lifetimes use out of them. What I like about them is that they have a nice gong sound when hit so they make a great sensory target. The 1/8th” steel 12” x 12” Diamond shaped strike plate is adjustable from 33” to 45” tall. The legs feature anchor points for a secure footing, to keep the target in place when in use. Assembly and disassembly is simple thanks to the included wing nuts for storage and transportation. At $29.99 for the complete target and stand, it is affordable to outfit your airgun shooting galley. 

Since I was trying to substitute and augment my training I needed a proper airgun. The difference between a toy and a tool is remarkable. The old school BB guns of our childhood have no where near the capabilities of modern CO2 Air Pistols. The Air Venturi officially licensed Springfield Armory XDM is case in point. This air pistol is remarkable in its realism. Anyone who is familiar with the real XDM will be right at home with this air pistol. The weight and heft of the airgun is actually heavier than a real unloaded XDM Elite. This really surprised both my wife and I, as we both swore that the real XDM Elite would be heavier. The Air Venturi XDM has all the features you would expect from the real deal. The front sight is a fiber optic and the rear sights match factory is size and shape. The front dust cover has a standard picatinny rail to mount your lights and lasers. The ambi mag release and slide stop work exactly as expected. Air Venturi even included 3 different sized back straps, so you can perfectly match the same feel as your own pistol. 

We’ve talked about the ergonomics .  Now let’s get into the shooting part. The trigger of the XDM air pistol has the same two stage feel that any XD shooter is used to. It has a light take up and then gets to the break point snap to fire the air pistol. The air pistols trigger is lighter than my XDM Elite, but it does have significant over travel. Not a big deal since it is not meant to simulate a match grade trigger. Now…..It does have me thinking that I could probably put a slightly heavier trigger spring in and and over travel stop to match My XDM Elites trigger dead on. The magazine holds 20 rounds, and uses the common 12gram CO2 cartridges for propellant. Each cartridge should give you around 70 shots with a velocity of around 325fps. Each shot will cycle the slide and when the magazine is empty the slide will lock back. I was surprised in how much fun this air pistol was to shoot. After only a couple shots I got right in the grove of working on some nice double taps. It was clear as day to call your hits thanks to the impact ringing. Moving on to advanced techniques I practiced drawing from a concealed holster. Since the XDM airgun is the same size as a Real XDM it worked perfectly with my Sindri Tactical custom XDM light bearing holster. It was easy to move on and forget that I was only shooting an airgun and concentrate on the joy of shooting. The CO2 cartridge meant that I could pop off rounds as quickly as I could pull the trigger. Now remember that this type of air pistol with a smooth barrel is not meant to have match grade accuracy. But I was easily able to make some really tight groups at about 5 yards and adequate groups closer to 10 yards. 

Now for the wife and neighbor factor. In most places shooting even 22lr is probably frowned upon if not illegal in the middle of a neighborhood. I had my wife shooting in the back yard and I headed to the front of the house to see if I could hear it. It took me straining to hear a small crack sound. Needless to say that any neighbors inside of their houses would never even hear it. My wife has been around firearms the whole time she has known me. I let her shoot the XDM air pistol and she immediately said that “would be fun to set up a bunch of targets” and play. Since the XDM air pistol is only $137.99 I think I am going to surprise my wife with her very own air pistol. We could set up a drag race steel challenge set up, shooting against each other at the same time. 

Let’s just say I had a great time “training” with the Air Venturi set up and I think you will too. If you are interested in getting yourself the “XDMAN backyard shooting range” be sure to use our Amazon affiliate links since it helps us create more content. Overall my set up really satisfies my appetite for trigger time. And it will allow me to set up situations I would not normally be able to practice with. Say if in the middle of the night if I get the itch I can head to backyard, attach a weapons light to my XDM air pistol and practice night shooting fundamentals. I am also crazy enough that I would have no problems setting up the steel targets indoors and practice indoor house clearing. Remember the Dust Devil BB’s are led free and the dust pieces are easily vacuumed up. Shooting steel instantly give you that satisfying feedback. I can’t wait to set up all of the different scenarios I have cooking up in my head.

We talked about the good, but what about the bad? Let me tell you about the two biggest drawbacks to the system. The XDM air pistol has great fit and finish, and from a couple feet is indistinguishable from my real Springfield’s. In the box though they only give you one magazine……come on at least give me two magazines! It’s not a huge deal but 20 bb’s goes by quick and at least two magazines would match what Springfield gives you in the box with the XDM. All is not lost, extra magazines are available but they are almost 60 bucks each. But hey an afternoon or two and you will offset the cost in no time. My second issue is again with the magazine. In the directions they tell you to be careful seating and tightening the CO2 cartridge cap because you can cross thread it. Damn if on my sixth or seventh time loading a CO2 cartridge if I didn’t cross thread the cap. I would say the I wish the cap would more self align before the threads catch, it seems easy to get it off center. If you are careful you will never have issues……if you rush and your cap is not aligned….Damn it! So don’t be like me take your time and BAM I just saved you 60 bucks. Neither of these drawbacks should deter you and like I said I am definitely going to get a second air pistol, since the fun definitely outweighs my stupidity.