I've shot a BUNCH of different Springfield armory XD pistols and have NEVER seen 1 malfunction yet. Personally I highly prefer them to the Glocks and consider them to be the equal of Glocks. I FULLY reccomend XDs. You CAN however get a smaller size gun and still stick with the 1911 platform you know well. For example the commander size has 4 1/4" barrel, while the officer model has 3 1/2" barrel and the shortest is the defender size with 3" barrel. Naturally I listed Colt size but the rest are based on those lengths as well.