Crack in Poly lower on my springfield xd.

[Sgt Nambu]

I had the unfortunate situation of wrecking my brothers car while home on leave. I made sure it was taken care of and was made right with him. It wasn't that bad, but cost me 2k out of pocket. He was more concerned if I had been hurt or not (just my pride) Point is, If you break it, own up to it, and make it right! And like Stomper said, I always go the little extra to compensate for the trouble. Same thing if I were to borrow some ones firearm, it gets cleaned spick and span, and upon its return, there's a few boxes of ammo with it and a bottle of something good!

Wanna' borrow a gun?

 

[etrain16]

Regardless of how you address this with your brother, I'm far more interested in what could have caused that frame to crack? Is it a manufacturing defect? Did he shoot high power hand loads? Did he run over it with his car? That type of damage really shouldn't happen, or really even be possible under normal use and with factory loads.

Something funny going on if you ask me - may be his actions or a flaw in the gun. Either way, I'd be doing some research to try and get to the bottom of the cause.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Etrain's right! Polymer does not break very easily! Interesting question.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Something is not right. I have looked at those XD's plenty, and I know of several friends that have them, and I don't see this kind of issue unless it got run over by a truck. These XD'x are pretty bomb proof. It's likely your brother isn't even aware of this problem! Like others have posted, I would send it in to Springfield and keep quiet about it! Good luck!

 

[Mica]

So finally after I feel alot more calm, not to mention weighing out 700 rounds of 9mm. I had a crazy thought. I weighed the piece of brass that was stuck in the chamber. It was only 30 grains. Average on 9mm is about 3 times that. 380 brass was 40 grains. There wasn't enough brass missing to be a 9mm case.
So apparently he had a piece of 380 brass in the mix he reloaded.
Powder tight group. Max for 380 with a 100 grain bullet is 1.5 to 2 grains if memory serves me right. So there was a 380 case loaded with 3.8 grains of tightgroup under a 125 gn bullet. Max weight of bullet for a 380 with tight group is 100 grain. Needless to say a 380 can go off in a 9mm.
Thankyou guys for all your support at a time like this. He has never been responsible. This was the last straw though. Sometimes we can become enablers while waiting for someone to mature and grow up.
Next, I'm going to call springfield arms and find out what my options are. I will fallow with results on there customer support for those interested. Hopefully they are as good as lee precision and reloading. Here's some picks of the brass and damage.

 

[Mica]

Also after a couple hours of reading and other searching, bottom line seems to be that repairs to this polymer requires skill and equipment I don't have. Not to mention that there can be other stresses that I can't see. I will update after I talk with springfield.

 

[etrain16]

Wow, crazy story. Good that you tracked down the truth about what happened. Hopefully Springfield can in some way help you out. Maybe they will be willing to replace the lower at a reduced cost.

 

[Velzey]

I wouldn't repair it. I don't care what you do to repair it, it will fail. I know, I've tried it. It's just a bandaid until the fix pops loose.. Just a waste of time.

I would call Springfield up and be 100% honest with them. Say hey a .380 was fired in it, and the frame failed. Nobody was hurt because Springfield's are built so well etc etc, butter them up.
They may replace the frame for you!

 

[Mica]

I wouldn't repair it. I don't care what you do to repair it, it will fail. I know, I've tried it. It's just a bandaid until the fix pops loose.. Just a waste of time.

I would call Springfield up and be 100% honest with them. Say hey a .380 was fired in it, and the frame failed. Nobody was hurt because Springfield's are built so well etc etc, butter them up.
They may replace the frame for you!

You got that right. Just sent an email will give a couple days then if no response I will call. After reading all the reviews on there customer support, we will see how good it is. Not sure what to expect. The blame lands on me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Man, that is a lot worse then I thought! Interesting that a .380 would do that kind of damage, but an over loaded one, I guess we know who that turned out! I have heard of people using 9 mm Kurtz (380 auto) in 9 mm chambers with no ill effect, I guess I shouldn't try that! I hope things turn out for you, My guess is Springfield will have some options, and will work with you! Best of luck!

 

[erudne]

So Super Glue and duct tape is out of the question?

 

[oknow]

So Super Glue and duct tape is out of the question?

Don't say it is so. Super glue and duct tape can fix anything

 

[Mica]

Don't say it is so. Super glue and duct tape can fix anything

To be fair, I had already used all the duct tape and super glue on my brother. So I opted for trying a few different types of plastic glue type stuff. All of it peeled right off. Polymer is very tuff stuff. I think short of detonating a little mini bomb in it, they would hold up. Pretty sure you could even run it over as long as the rig wasn't to heavy.

 

[Mica]

Update on polymer lower. Email was sent last night around 9:00 pm to springfield armory customer support. Had a reply this morning at 7:45, they lady I was conversing with was very sympathetic to my problem and appreciated my honesty. They sent me a pre paid fed ex label via email. I wrote a letter put it in the case with my gun and will drop it off in the morning. I have been very up front with the whole thing. We will see what happens. I am hoping they will just sell me a new lower. The slide and barrel look good as new still. Even though I have put about 5000 rounds through it. They are a tuff gun. Hopefully the next person in this chain of events is as nice as the one I contacted first.

 

[Jonnyuma]

Correct choice sending it back to the Mother Ship. SA's customer service is widely regarded as one of the best in the biz. I've never had an issue with any of my SA pistols (no brothers), but everyone I've ever talked with or heard about having a legitimate problem with one has raved about the treatment and service they recieved.

I'll be watching this thread to see how things go.

 

[Mica]

She went in the mail on Thursday. Figure I should at least hear back by Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[Jonnyuma]

She went in the mail on Thursday. Figure I should at least hear back by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Did they want the whole gun back, or just the frame? My guess would be that they want to assess the slide too...they're pretty thorough...

 

[NWCustomFirearms]

Good choice, if you had brought it in we would have just called and sent it back to the factory. I have seen others try to repair things like this and I learned from their mistakes lol

 

[Mica]

I sent the whole gun in. Called th morning. They said it will be about ten days before I hear back. I asked if the wanted the ruptured case. They did not.
I agree that there's no good way to fix a polymer gun. Everything I have read or looked into. Aswell as tried verified that. Not to mention the stress fractures our eyes can't see just waiting to break.
I look at it this way. If I was going to to a controlled detonation in a enclose space. I wouldn't be within 500 yards and still in a bunker. Ammunition is the same. Except the firearm is the bunker. It's not worth the damage that can happen in an uncontrolled detonation.
If you have a polymer gun that is cracked. It's just a matter of time before it gets worse. Just my heart felt opinion. With a serious dose of fact.
I will post an update when I hear from them. I'm hoping for the best. But I don't expect a total free replacement.

 

[Larrytpdx]

I will post an update when I hear from them. I'm hoping for the best.

Thanks for a great job keeping us updated!