The Gray Ghost: My 200K-Round XD-M Elite - The Armory Life (2024)

By Steve Tarani

When I was working on some tough skill-builder training drills a few months back, my brother Jeff who was there with me looked at my holster-worn, scarred, faded, dinged and dented XD-M Elite and said, “Man, you’ve still got that thing! It’s so worn out it’s literally turned gray!”

We both laughed out loud, but his assessment was entirely accurate. Given the wear and tear caused by so much hard use and countless Kydex holster draws, he unceremoniously dubbed it “the gray ghost” and we continued with our instructor development training.

It’s Rob Leatham’s Fault

His statement encouraged some introspection. Thinking back to when I first acquired that pistol, it really didn’t seem that long ago. In fact, it was maybe around early 2020 when 30-time USPSA/ IPSC National Champion, eight-time IPSC world champion competitive shooter and Grandmaster instructor Rob Leatham first introduced me to the then-new XD-M Elite series.

While I was already shooting the XD-M 9mm Precision 5.25 pistol for work and training, given my simian-sized mitts the longer and flared extended magwell of the Elite model seemed appealing. So, based on Rob’s recommendation, I gave it a test run.

The newer features over the older XD-M included a stock ambidextrous slide stop, and a flat-face trigger with an integral overtravel stop (the META — “Match Enhanced Trigger Assembly” system) that delivered an excellent trigger pull for a stock out-of-the-box production polymer-framed pistol. Additionally, the improved slide serrations, with enlarged grasping grooves for slip-free grip purchase, made it feel even more secure in my hands. The change in grip really made a big difference.

Switching out the smaller modular backstrap for the larger backstrap was the finishing touch that was needed to help make it fit like a glove. Admittedly, I also appreciate the higher-capacity magazines including the larger magazine bases that came with the new extended (and removable) magwell, providing a wider and more readily accessible surface area when reaching for my mag pouch.

This pistol was an early model and was configured as a “Tactical” model with the suppressor-height sights and longer extended magwell. While this gun would officially come with an extended threaded barrel, this early variant had a standard 4.5” barrel. This was fine with me since I was not planning on attaching a suppressor.

It was roughly around the same time I converted from shooting iron sights to a red dot system (RDS). Going on the recommendation of another RDS shooting buddy, I ordered the Holosun red dot 507C, matching mounting plate for the OSP milled groove and installed it and have been running this configuration ever since.

All Roads Lead to Paulden

As a contract firearms instructor who services multiple United States Department of Defense, other government agencies and civilian (state, county, city and municipalities) law enforcement organizations (sheriff’s offices, police departments et. al.), I work at several ranges across the country, and such contracts call for a go-to handgun I can rely on to deliver quality training.

One of the many ranges I work at is Gunsite Academy. Located in the town of Paulden, Arizona, Gunsite Academy is the oldest continuously running civilian shooting school in America. As a rangmaster on staff up there for over 21 years, I serve as a small arms instructor — the past eight of which I have been using a Springfield armory pistol to teach. The past few years have been with this Elite.

Although we are required to be skilled on the many different makes and models to work at Gunsite Academy, after working with the XD-M pistols for so many years and being familiar with the intricacies of the earlier XD-M series models versus the XD-M Elite, it tremendously deepened my knowledge and interaction with many Springfield pistol-toting students with which I have interacted.

When working at Gunsite and other prestigious training ranges, the instructors often get together to train our own personal skills development and shoot for at least another two or three hours either before and/or at the end of our long workday. It’s great (and humbling!) shooting in a training environment with that kind of peer pressure to help push you to that next skill level. Yet again, the XD-M Elite held up under this demand.

Over the decades, I have also found that training with shooters above your skill level helps pull you up by the bootstraps toward that next level. It helps you to reach beyond the very edge of your skill envelop, and it helps you to step well outside your comfort zone.

Did You Say No Fewer than 200,000 Rounds?

In addition to training with Grandmaster Rob, I also continue my education by attending at least three or four shooting schools annually with other master and grandmaster instructors from varied backgrounds. I also devote a considerable number of hours weekly to further my skills development.

Between teaching roughly 30 or so classes a year and my after-hours shooting and training of about three or four days a week, a notable percentage of my annual revenue is spent on ammo. Although some of it may be provided by hosting agencies for onsite programs of instruction, the lion’s share of my training and drills demonstration ammo, like most professional instructors, is paid for out of pocket.

All and all, an estimated grand total number of rounds to date I shoot would hover in and around the 50,000 to 60,000 round mark annually (plus or minus). Over the past few years, during the entire time I’ve been running the Elite (up to and as of this writing), I estimate no fewer than 200,000 rounds have been hammered through the same barrel.

Reliability in All Regions

Apart from having to replace some small parts and springs here and there over the years, this pistol has been rock solid. The XD-M Elite is a multi-use tool that I still use to this very day for teaching professionally, shooting competitions and of course for my own personal shooting skills development.

Since I teach from coast to coast, the Elite has been and still is continually exposed to multiple varied climates and conditions. This includes the ice and snow of New Hampshire to the humidity and torrential rains of Florida to the altitude in Colorado to the bone-dry and dusty super-heated desert conditions of Arizona. The old gray ghost continues to perform consistently, regardless of the climate or shooting conditions.

In addition to noteworthy consistency during varied weather changes, it can readily handle many different types of ammunition. Given that I work for so many different agencies, schools, ranges and organizations as a training consultant, I am issued several different ammo configurations such as 115 grain, 124 grain and 147 grain in FMJ, TMJ, agency-issued defensive rounds, regular ball training ammo, factory-made, reloads and more types. You name it, and the Elite’s barrel feed ramp-to-magazine linkage would pretty much eat anything you fed it.

More recently, I’ve been getting into performance training. When it comes to learning how to shoot well, Rob Leatham is a tremendous wealth of knowledge. As most seasoned shooters already know, he is a walking encyclopedia of shooting knowledge and has forgotten more about shooting than I will ever learn in this lifetime! He has a plethora of high-speed rapid-fire high-round-count training drills that put a tremendous amount of strain on any pistol. The barrel heats up and cools down in the winter months and performs equally as well in inclement weather (rain, ice, snow, sleet, etc.,) as it does on bright sunny days.

DirtiestManPistol in the World?

As far as maintenance goes, I’m the absolute worst when it comes to cleaning. If the barrel goes dry, of course I’ll hit it with a dab or two of Hoppe’s #9. Overall, I’m sure you’ve seen those online memes of the dirtiest man in the world — that’s what my poor pistol looks like! It maybe gets cleaned a couple of times a year in between something like 25,000 rounds.

Yes, I should probably take better care of it, but with my crazy travel schedule and non-stop training tempo, time is a factor. Even given such maintenance neglect, it continues to hammer rounds downrange, running like an industrial sewing machine.

Over the years I’ve tried various grip enhancements such as sticky tape, skateboard tape and other such gadgets, but they all either eventually wore out or fell off. You can see some of it still on the gun today, and how they are wearing away from extensive use.

Conclusion

Being on staff as a Rangemaster at Gunsite has placed me in front of thousands of shooters for over 20 years, affording me the opportunity to develop my own shooting diagnostics and the experience in how to fix many common problems encountered by most beginning and intermediate shooters. As a burgeoning performance shooter, I am constantly trying to develop my own instructor skills not only to become a better teacher, but also to better both my competition and defensive shooting skills.

As far as a polymer-frame striker fire gun goes, the XD-M Elite fits my hands and shooting requirements profile. Students and instructors alike have asked me “Hey, can I try it?” The answer is always “yes”, and the response often is “Hey, that shoots great!”

The old gray ghost has certainly served me well. Who could ask for better performance from a reasonably priced striker-fire pistol than more than 200K rounds through it?

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