HS2000: The Perfected Croatian Pistol that Became the Springfield XD
180With the HS95, Croatian manufacturer IM Metal (later to become HS Produkt) had learned how to effectively manufacture a good pistol. However,r the design had some shortcomings, and had not been accepted by Croatian police forces, nor had any commercial export contracts materialized. The company recognized that the way of the future was polymer framed, striker-fired pistols - so they set out to create just that.
Working with a variety of military and technical experts, they developed the processes to manufacture a polymer frame of the requisite strength and durability for a handgun. Mated with a simple-but-effective slide assembly, the HS2000 was born. The development began in 1998, the first pistols were made in 1999, and mass production was underway by 2000. The guns were adopted by Croatian Army and police forces, and Intrac of Tennessee contracted to import 10,000 of them into he US in 2000. The following year, a sales rep from HS Produkt and a company rep from Springfield Armory had a chance encounter at a rather boring conference, and began talking. The result was an import deal for a pistol to be sold in the US as the eXtreme Duty - which has led to more than 6 million pistols sold today.
The first incarnation of the HS2000 actually didn't meet US import requirements; a "target thumb rest" and loaded chamber indicator were added to the design for the initial Intrac imports. A trigger safety was added at the same time, and the design underwent a series of small improvements and iterations over the first year or two of production. We will take a look at all these variations today.
Thanks to Jordan for providing the different versions of HS2000 to make this video possible!
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About Forgotten Weapons
At Forgotten Weapons I think the most interesting guns out there are the most obscure ones. I try to search out experimental and prototype weapons and show you how they work.
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Had an XD-C 9mm. Loved the ergonomics, hated the trigger. I can work with most triggers, but overtravel was just unbearable. It was an early one, hopefully they improved it. Totally reliable and loved the grip, but required constant focus on trigger press.
Lol, I'm trying to support FG and other sites on Utreon to stop using youtube but I have to copy the video url and paste it in a new tab to actually get videos to play. Anyone else have this issue? Or any idea how to fix it so the play button will actually work when you first pop onto the page?
If you're using Brave, you need shields down.
Ah, thank you! Yes I am.
I'm still getting used to the mobile app but keep us posted on that issue if I ever use the desktop (i.e. browser) version.
I bought the first gen xd in .40 as my first pistol, the only issue I had was the coating was extremely prone to rust and it was a known issue. I sent it back to Springfield and they duracoated it for me. Other than that I’ve had no issues and it’s been a great pistol. I don’t quite understand all of the xd hate, granted I have moved on to other makes but it made a great first pistol. I actually still use it for my pistol while I’m hunting/camping. Thanks for the history lesson!
I have 3 of there early ones never had any issues. I now own 4 xds 1 is my edc have been very happy with them.
i had one i bought around 10 years ago. not sure what was wrong with it but you could only get it to fire once, then it would jam. every time.
thought it was a magazine issue but new mag did the same feed thing. sold it to someone else who i did tell about the issue, they didn't care and i guess fixed it?
mine didn't have the trigger safety. interesting.
Stupid US import rules. I'm surprised it doesn't require firearms to be made rainbow color, and made of rubber. 🙄
Don’t give the politicos any ideas
“It’s not a grip zone yet…” and how its reputation would fall
Then came the "Grip Zone" lol