General sentiment:
A fellow Officer friend has shot close to 250,000 rounds of lead cast bullets through his Glock 9mm in the past 10 years doing competition shooting. The secret...just clean your barrel out after about 100-200 rounds, so the lead doesn't build up.
The warranty bit is largely a CYA. Yes, the nonstandard rifling somewhat precludes using lead ball, but it can still be managed with ease.
Anything else of note? Anyone? Beuller?
The other answers I could think of.
The XD grip fits my hand better than the Glock.
The XD uses steel mags instead of plastic.
The XD take-down is simpler.
XDs are a little more affordable too.
Being a 1911 guy, I like the idea of the grip safety, but think the execution in the XD could've been done better.
“A fellow Officer friend has shot close to 250,000 rounds of lead cast bullets through his Glock 9mm in the past 10 years doing competition shooting. The secret...just clean your barrel out after about 100-200 rounds, so the lead doesn’t build up.”
I shoot lead no problems with my Glocks too, the polygonal rifling does lead up some but a couple of passes of a bruch and some breakfree does the trick every 50-100 rounds, i have never had a case experence pressure signs using cast lead at SAMII or lower pressures. I would never use cast lead in a gun battle so the 50 round limit is a none issue. I also shoot steel jacketed FMJ rounds down the same barrels being polygonal rifling there is not lands to wear off using hard jacketed rounds and steal jacketed rounds will make a soft armor jackboot think twice about coming over to play. If you can still find them steel cored brass jacketed rounds with black tips work just as well but they are getting hare to find as they were imported and Krinton stoped the imports of those kinds of ammo. In short polygonal rifling will give tens of thousands of rounds of service some thing like 5 times the number of rounds a traditional land and grove barrel will, higher velocities at equal pressures too as the bullet is not swagered in to the lands only pressure formed to the outside shaple of a hexagon.