I was messing with my XD .45 Tactical a few weeks ago, the roll pin was protruding through the top of the slide quite a bit, I grabbed it and a small piece came out in my fingers...Hmm....Looked it up, seems they do break from time to time, well known issue. I sidelined the gun, I don't shoot it all that much honestly and I've been pretty busy this spring. Once I got caught up at work and home etc... I decided to replace it and put the gun back in service.

I ordered the 3MM Spirol roll pins from McMaster Carr, 50 pack for $15 delivered- much better deal than the Brownells or Springer 3 pack for $30..... A buddy agreed to pay for them actually if I would swap his out- he's not very handy with tools...at all...I think in a former life he was quality control at a bowling ball factory.

When I got the pins in I tapped out the pin in my Tactical- it came out in a total of three pieces....needed replacement, badly. I grabbed my three other XDs and swapped them out as well, they were all still in one piece but two were badly bent. I wasn't impressed at all with the quality of the factory pins, they seemed cheap and thin....

Swapped out nine pins for my buddy, 5 .45's, three 9's and a lone .40 S&W. None of his were broken but that's not surprising, he has so many guns none of them get shot all that much even though he is a pretty serious shooter. Several though were obviously peened....Everything came out easily and the new ones went in without issue, having the right Roll Pin punch I'm sure helped.

The whole process took about a half an hour for all 13 guns. Easy to do. I test fired my four last night, they run like champs. Glad to have the guns back up and shooting and in arguably better condition than before.

is this only a problem on the full size models? or all models?

All models, the roll pin retains the striker in place on XD pistols. Most folks say its only a problem with a lot of dry firing, but its such an easy and cheap fix as noted above, there's no reason not to do it, especially since the replacement roll pins are so much better quality than the OEM part. The new ones are actually rolled so theres more than one layer, whereas the original is just a single piece of metal with the ends touching, basically a hollow, single walled tube.

Do you have a part number for the pins you bought?

@Will

For those of you who are interested- this is the McMaster Carr Part that I used---

Spirol Roll Pins

If you look at the specs available on the McMaster site, the double shear strength of the single walled pin is higher than the spiral.  The aftermarket has it wrong, but if it sells...
The size is 3mm x 16mm.  Crimp one end closed to get it started, then with light taps seat it.  No need to go below flush, but you can if you want.
I still have a bunch of pins that I will send out for free.  But you have to post "Go Cougs" and then send me a message with your address and I will send them off.

GO Cougs!

Done!
Go Cougs!

Huh, I thought I was the only one who still shoots a .45 tactical. Very cool gun.

"Go Cougs"

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