Springfield Armory XD

[Roger Bleile]

I would like this post added to the list of guns to avoid for engraving.

I was asked by a friend to engrave a simple heart and a three letter name on the top of the slide of a Springfield Armory XD pistol in 9mm. Since I had never cut such a gun before, I made a test cut inside the rear of the slide. No problem. I proceded to cut the heart and the tip of my dubbed carbalt 96 degree graver instantly broke. I changed to a carbide graver I had at hand and it immediately broke.

Finally, I sharpened a carbalt blank with a 123 degree angle and an 85 degree face with dubbed tip. This graver did not break but would still not dig into the metal. I managed to scratch through the black finish enough to make the heart. I did the letters with a diamond drag pantograph. Had I known what I was getting into, I could have made a simple heart template for the pantograph but the test cut tricked me into thinking I could cut it with a graver.

Normally, I would not work on any modern tactical pistol, and almost never have a request to, but it was for a friend and I could have done the whole thing in a few minutes while he waited in the shop.

No good deed goes unpunished!

 

[JJ Roberts]

Roger,Any firearm made after 1964 is suspect,never make a promise until you make a test cut,I think we have a list of firearms to watch out for on this site. J.J.

 

[silverchip]

Those kind of jobs are no fun, thanks for the warning!!!!!!!

 

[Roger Bleile]

Roger,Any firearm made after 1964 is suspect,never make a promise until you make a test cut,I think we have a list of firearms to watch out for on this site. J.J.

As I stated above, I test cut first but the hardness on that part of the inside of the slide cut easily.

We do have a list in the Tips Archive. I have listed other problem guns there.

SA has this to say: "The rugged Melonite® finish on the XD(M)® is a salt bath nitriding process that leaves a thick, corrosion-resistant, hard surface."

 

[Ed Westerly]

I hate "thick, corrosion-resistant, hard surface"s.

 

[KCSteve]

Roger

I was going to say that I was sure it was the coating keeping you from being able to cut it.
I've owned an XD for over five years and that finish is tough enough to still look new.

 

[Mike Cirelli]

I just ran into the same thing with a Beretta Nano. I did a test cut inside the slide and it cut easily. The outside of the slide was hard as a rock. It crushed tool steel and carbide. I was finally able to cut it with C-Max. Then I had to do some inlays. It seemed that the toughest was on the surface but it was still pretty hard under the surface. I'm sure they're making these new personal protection weapons with very hard finishes because the companys know they will be abused. I almost did a Glock with Tenifer finish but turned it down. I should have done the same with this Beretta's Pronox finish.

 

[JJ Roberts]

If these hard finishs,Pronox,Melonite where polished off by hand down to a few thousands of an inch before any attempt to do engraving would this solve the problem? J.J.

 

[Mike Cirelli]

JJ I cut through the pronox finish barely, then I was able to cut the steel a little at a time with repeated cuts. It was very hard to undercut for the inlays. C-max was the only thing I had that would last at all againist it. I think I used a 60° face 15° heel then put a small flat blunting the heels point at 20°. I did sand it down after inlaying and it was still tough to finish after the coating was off.