SURPRISINGLY SLIM. The XD-E is comfortable and accurate. It has a low effort slide, exposed hammer, SA/DA trigger, and GripZone which provides active texture that matches your grasp like a handshake, improves stability, and feels incredible. The magazine holds up to eight rounds and has a grip x-tension.

You might expect that a compact handgun like this would be hard to control, yet recoil is surprisingly low. The flex of the polymer combined with the shape of the frame minimizes recoil, despite the pistol's diminutive size. In addition, it will reliably feed a wide range of high velocity 9mm ammunition. The fact that this pistol is extremely accurate is a testament to the engineers at Springfield Armory.

This handgun weighs in at a modest 25 oz., which is fairly lightweight for a heavy duty micro compact pistol. The forged carbon steel slide is finished with a surface treatment called Black Melonite. It is extremely wear and corrosion resistant.

For those unfamiliar with the process, this is a ferric nitrocarburized case hardening treatment, which diffuses nitrogen, carbon and trigonal nickel directly into the surface metal, thereby elevating the Rockwell hardness to somewhere between a file and a diamond. Then, a black Parkerized finish is applied over the top to provide the guns non- glare, stealthy appearance.

A loaded chamber indicator makes it possible to make instant tactile condition assessments, even in the dark, by simply running the weak hand thumb over the hood. If you can feel the raised cam sticking up, then you know there's one in the pipe. If it's lying down flat, then the chamber is sitting on empty. Overall, the Springfield XD-S is a reliable micro compact 9mm pistol that offers excellent stopping power and is easy to conceal.