I picked up my new XD-40 sub-compact on saturday, and went to a friend's house and shot it. I only ran a little over 40 rounds through it, because it was in the 20's out and my fingers were getting really numb. The gun fired perfect every time and the recoil wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My friend has a Sig Sauer 229 in .45, that is a full size 1911. Both of our pistols kicked about the same. We traded off and couldn't tell a difference between the two as far as recoil. I could shoot his more accurately then I could mine, but I suspect that is because of the short barrel on mine. I plan n doing alot more shooting when it warms up, and hopefully start shooting alot more accurately. I could put 5 rounds in a 4 inch circle at about 20 or so feet. Not too bad for the first day with the gun. I really like how the gun felt in my hand. The 12 round magazine with the grip extension makes it really nice to target shoot with. The short 9 round magazine is good to carry conceled with. It was well worth the money.