Wilson Combat's EDC X95

The Wilson Combat X-tac pattern graces the front and backstrap and sides
of the grips and replace the rear slide serrations. Photo: Wilson Combat

If there’s a more bandwagon-centric racket than the firearms industry, I’m not aware of it. There seems to be no saturation point to the AR-platform rifle, 1911 pistol or polymer-striker-fired handgun bandwagons. The R&D departments of the various gun companies have to possess the creativity of Kaitlyn Jenner’s plastic surgeon to keep morphing fresh spins on old faces. Thanks in large part to the proliferation of concealed carry licensing, the subcompact, EDC (Everyday Carry) handgun market is the hottest trend in the industry.

The newest entry to wear the title of “subcompact” is the Wilson Combat EDC-X9S. Never much of a bandwagon jumper, the term “subcompact” is the only thing Wilson’s X9S has in common with the remainder of the category. Feeling the world didn’t really need another polymer-striker-fired pistol, Bill took the genre in a direction Wilson Combat does best — build custom 1911’s.

The fluted, bushingless barrel fits flush with the front of the slide. Photo: Wilson Combat

Designed For Reliability

years engineering a 9mm 1911-type handgun that would avoid the traditional vexations caused by the incompatibility of the platform and the cartridge. The 1911 handgun was designed around the .45 ACP cartridge, hence the magazine and mag well are dimensionally too long for optimum feeding performance with the shorter 9mm cartridge. Without either dimpling the front or adding a spacer at the back of the magazine, the 9mm cartridge has a tendency to nose-dive when the slide attempts to feed it into the chamber.

Wilson and his team therefore started the original EDC X9 gambit by designing a proper-sized magazine and then building a gun around it. The result is a pistol shorter front to back and allows an almost straight-into-the-chamber feeding angle. This eases the emphasis traditionally placed on precision in the angle and smoothness of the barrel ramp, a perpetual issue with the 1911 platform, especially when chambered for 9mm.

The original X9 design goal was to create a reliable, high-capacity 9mm utility gun while maintaining the great trigger and superb accuracy provided by the original 1911 design. The X9 deviates from Browning’s design — the gun has no grip safety, has an exterior extractor and a fluted, bushing-less bull barrel. Eliminating the bushing required altering the spring cap mechanism, but these alterations had been perfected in other models years ago.

According to Bill Wilson, fluting the barrel looks good but also aids in functioning when the gun gets dirty. The slide is tri-topped (referred by some as “coffin-cut”) with the top flat surface being attractively serrated longitudinally. Grip panels are held in place by a removable backstrap, allowing for the elimination of grip screws and bushings resulting in a thinner grip. Removal of the backstrap allows easier access to most of the internal parts, a feature Bill admired on the Browning BDM handgun.

Wilson used his X-tac pattern on the front and backstrap of the frame and for both front and rear slide serrations. The X-tac pattern is as aggressive as fine checkering, not as abrasive as sharp baseball cuts and looks much better than rough stippling; it may be the best all-around surface treatment for a utility handgun.

They further modified the 1911 design by shortening the frame rails resulting in less bearing surface and enhancing reliability particularly in cold weather. A major engineering alteration is the elimination of the traditional locking lugs on the barrels. Similar to a GLOCK, the front of the barrel hood locks directly into the front of the ejection port. According to Bill, this had a dramatic effect on reliability without sacrificing accuracy.

The marketplace responded well to the X9’s reliability, accuracy and great trigger. The X9’s premier virtue however is its “ergonomics,” which is a five-dollar word to express the five-cent sentiment the gun just “feels” good. The original X9 has an overall length of 7.4″, height of 5.25″ and width of 1.4″, making it slightly larger than a GLOCK 19 and a little smaller than a Colt Commander. In short, it is an ideal size for a concealed carry gun.

The standard 10-round magazine, while ideal for deep-concealment carry (particularly in an AIWB holster)
requires those with “meaty” hands to curl the little finger under the grip.

It Keeps Running

When the original EDC X9 was introduced, I couldn’t wait to acquire one. Little did I know it was a “gateway” purchase and I became addicted to it quickly. To date I’ve shot the gun during two Gunsite classes, a Dave Spaulding class, a Clint Smith/Robbie Leatham class, a Jerry Miculek class, a Steve Hendricks class, the annual GAS match and have shot at least 3,000 rounds during practice sessions.

I’ve had a total of two failures-to-feed. One was caused by loading a cartridge backwards in the magazine while not paying attention to what I was doing. The EDC actually fed the cartridge into the chamber base first! Of course, the slide wouldn’t go into battery, but the gun sure tried its best to make it happen! The second failure to feed happened at Gunsite when we were dropping our magazines from our gun onto the deck while speed reloading from our magazine pouch. After repeating this 15 to 20 times, enough sand got into the magazine the follower stuck and would not feed a cartridge. A quick tap and wipe-down with a rag had the magazine running like new. Both failures were operator error/neglect. Bottom line is the EDC X9 is extremely reliable.

The rear sight on the X9S is a comparatively low-profile fixed sight with a “U”
notch nicely matching the red-pipe, fiber optic front sight. Photo: Wilson Combat

More Compacting

Not satisfied to rest on his laurels, Bill wanted a shorter version of the X9 for deep-concealment-carry. Shortening a semi-automatic handgun is a process often requiring significant re-engineering. Angles of barrel-tilt change, slide weight is decreased, and subsequent speed is increased requiring regulating springs in both the gun and occasionally the magazine to accommodate appropriate dwell time. It’s more complicated than just hack-sawing off the front of the slide and bottom of the grip!

After an extensive trial-and-error process, the result was the EDC X9S (for “subcompact”) with an overall length of 6.75″, a height of 4.5″ and width of 1.25″. Dimensionally it is to the original X9 what the GLOCK 26 is to the GLOCK 19.

In addition to changing the dimensions, they did away with the grip panels entirely, machining the X-tac pattern with an overlaid Wilson Starburst directly into the solid sides of the grip frame, shrinking the circumference of the grip by approximately 1/2″ and the width by 1/4″. All the external mechanisms other than the trigger have been reduced in size. The slide safety, magazine release button and slide stop are all shorter and/or thinner than their original X9 counterparts. This aids not only concealability but also provides added comfort for a right-handed shooter since these are all located on the in-board side of the handgun.

A low-profile fixed rear sight replaces the adjustable one used on the original X9. The rear blade is serrated with a “U” notch aperture that nestles well with a red-piped fiber optic front sight. The X-tac forward slide serrations are eliminated, replaced by what Wilson terms carry cuts — a thinning of the front of the slide like on a Browning High Power. All the remaining virtues of the original X9 are found on the Subcompact version.

The EDC X9S comes with two magazines: a 10 rounder with a flat base sitting flush with the bottom of the grip frame, and a 15 rounder that comes with a machined aluminum “hard-use,” grip-frame extension. The flush-fit 10 rounder, while optimum for deep concealment will leave the “meaty-handed” shooter curling his pinky under the grip. The extended 15 rounder provides a comfortable full gripping surface and extends a nominal 3/4″ below the grip.

The gun comes with an option of short, medium or long trigger to accommodate the individual shooter’s trigger-finger span and can be ordered with or without an accessory rail.

Loss of removable grip panels shaved thickness from this slim carry pistol. Photo: Wilson Combat

Unlike the original X9, the slide stop, magazine release button and slide safety
are all shorter and/or thinner than those found on the original X9. Photo: Wilson Combat

Shooting The EDC X9S

Long ago I lost my appreciation for the assumed inherent accuracy of defensive handguns based upon the published data of groups shot by gun writers. There are very few, if any, new handguns that can’t outshoot all but a handful of shooters and with my trifocal-spectacled eyes, I’m certainly not in this group. All you really need to know is EDC X9S comes with a Wilson Combat accuracy guarantee of 1/2″ at 25 yards, a fact of greatest interest to those with Dunning-Kruger syndrome. Of greater significance is the trigger. The sample I tested averaged 3.5 lbs. with variations of just a couple of ounces in either direction. The trigger was “crisp” and broke as cleanly as a politician’s campaign promise with an astonishing 1/10″ reset!
An objective gun-test doesn’t need to be torturous, but it does need to be intensive, first of all to ascertain the reliability of the mechanism after sustained use but further (and perhaps more importantly) to determine the “friendliness” of the gun’s design when the shooter is nearing fatigue. To accomplish this, I used the EDC X9S while enrolled in Dave Spaulding’s “Advanced Covert Pistol Class.” Devoted to concealed carry techniques, we shot approximately 800 rounds in two days and practiced the drawing-stroke from concealment with as many repetitions as rounds fired. When you draw 800 to 1,000 times in two days, you develop a “feel” for its virtues and vices.

On the virtuous side of the balance sheet, I found the gun doesn’t recoil or “feel” like any subcompact I’ve experienced. It felt like shooting a Commander-sized handgun. I suspect it’s due to in part its 25-oz. weight — a little over 3 oz. heavier than a GLOCK 26 but still a couple of ounces less than a lightweight Commander. Combined with the grip angle, beavertail and trigger disposition, it gripped and recoiled much more like a 1911 than any GLOCK or SIG 365 I’ve shot. In full disclosure I admit to not using the 10-round flush-fit magazine simply because in a school-setting it would require reloading with greater frequency. I used the extended 15 rounder supplied with the X9S along with full-sized magazines I have for my original X9.
From my previous experience with the original X9 I expected perfection and wasn’t disappointed, the gun performed flawlessly. I was initially concerned the full-sized magazines might not have the spring tension to regulate the added slide speed of the X9S, but this concern was unfounded.

Not surprisingly the pistol was easy to conceal with an OWB holster with both a closed and open garment and felt more comfortable than my original X9 when I switched to an IWB holster for a few drills.

On the other side of the balance sheet I found while practicing different methods of speed reloads, I was inconsistent hitting the narrower slide stop lever when attempting to use my support thumb to drop the slide. I believe this is a training issue, not a design flaw; if you acquire an X9S, I recommend you make a conscious effort to practice finding the lever quickly with your support hand thumb.

Does the world need a deep-concealment handgun with an Olympic-echelon trigger capable of 2 MOA accuracy? If you’ve been around the gun-culture for any length of time, you know it never has been and hopefully never will be about “need.” At $2,695, the Wilson Combat EDC X9S is a cashmere gun in a polyester world.

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