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From my forum post at XD Talk Forums regarding my review of Complete Springfield XD by GunVideo.com.
Companion resource: Color-Coded Springfield XD Diagram For those without attention spans: Summary - If you are new to hanguns, a visual learner, want the quick path to knowing your XD fairly well, or just one of those who could use another XD reference, get the DVD. If you are more advanced and know the generalities but could use help on only a few things, you have plenty of resources here and on the web, save your money. The movie starts with about 50 advertisements for Gunvideo.com and associated businesses. Then a few safety disclaimers....you know... we arent responsible if you shoot some parts off your body watching this video, dont use your handgun as a nose cleaner, things like that.... then the music starts. My first thought sitting down with this movie is "Oh my god, this gives gun porn a whole NEW meaning." Seriously, the first minute of the movie is cheesy porn music, closeups of the springfield XD and what could very well serve as a springfield armory conference product introduction, announcer voice and all. The movie as a whole is split into chapter-like segments. As an example, the first one is *gasp* "Introduction" where you meet Lenny Magill, the guy who will be doing everything in the movie, you see the cheesey "workshop" with a public-access-television-like backdrop, and he reviews tools and safety procedures. Like I said at the beginning, if you are new to handguns and purchase an XD, buy this movie and watch it before you go to the range for the first time. He reviews common handgun safety rules, and some of the common handling actions with a Springfield XD handgun. The disassembly and reassembly are each split into several pieces corresponding to general assemblies on the handgun (first to disassemble and last to assemble, for instance, is the slide assembly). On the whole, the explanatory bit is very clear but he pauses from tiem to time and frankly it became annoying to listen to himi after a bit because it seemed to me that this might be something he thought of and even rehearsed once or twice but with all the pauses it felt more like he was running it from the seat of his pants. The movie is cheap and production values showed it. Cinematography is ok, often using closeups and so forth to better explain or demonstrate points that he is making. IN some places, the camera goes in too far and parts of the gun get cut off or the action of the camera becomes distracting from the point of the text at the time. Sound, as a whole, is well done. The scant music is reminicent of cheap porn... not that I ever... well.... never mind. The voice recording is crisp wthout any sort of "breath" or "rasp" as you sometimes encounter with second-rate gun videos, there is little variance in tonal reception and the voice is crisp and easy to understand throughout. As was pointed out earlier, there were a few points that didnt pass my common sense test. For example, as ajames also noted, dont EVER EVER use parts of the gun to push other parts of a gun. I laugh at the dumbass who breaks his gun because he was too stupid to use the punches WHICH HE ALREADY HAS THERE ANYWAY. Why risk pieces of your $400-plus handgun when you have relatively cheap pieces of metal right there that are expressly made for the purpose of manipulating objects in tight spaces? On the other hand, there are a few highly intellegent things this movie provides that I hadnt really seen before. The "slightly modified" screwdriver, for example. Essentially, a hand file has been used to carve a small V shape into the middle of a flathead ("standard") small screwdriver to create a tool similar to the "Springfield XD Reassembly Tool" offered directly by SA to manipulate springs. Further, for those that are not initiated to gunsmithing, he explains the uses of each of the tools and why using those specific tools is recommended as opposed to using makeshift objects that "might just work". A particular example, is the explanation of a brass/nylon hammer so as to avoid marking the steel of the gun because brass is softer than steel (but usually not softer than your finish). Overall, an excellent reference. There are some things that you need to just make sure that if common sense would tell you there is a better way to do it, you keep an open mind and perhaps run it by someone more knowledgable with handguns and smithing. This is a DVD particularly well suited to the beginning smith or handgun owner. A good reference for those familiar with handguns but still less than expert on the function and assembly of the XD.
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