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I have a G35 with a slide cut that's been through about 6,000 rounds during training classes, and at least 2,000 of those were in rainy, splashing-mud conditions in 10-hour days. I cleaned it at night, but it never hiccuped during class days, even though the slide cut allowed stuff to hit the barrel. Yeah, yeah; I know Glock aficionados will say, "Well, it's a Glock!" But if the slide cut alone represented a big issue to cycling, I'd have expected other G34/35 owners to have experienced it.

Come to think of it, I understand that the purpose of the slide cut is reduce weight. But is that really a big deal?

I chose the G35 for those classes because the .40 S&W would do a better job of overcoming inertia on steel swingers than 9mm. I've never shot the G35 in IDPA. Springfield's Website says the XD(M) 5.25 9mm is only 29 ounces with an empty mag, the .45 ACP is 32 ounces...even IDPA SSP allows 39 ounces; ESP allows 4 ounces more.

I personally like to have a little more mass rather than less up toward the muzzle in a range/competition gun, so I admit I'm at a loss to understand what benefit the slide cut on the XD(M) offers. That may be, what, a couple or three ounces at most?

Not that I don't want one but what am I missing? Why the slide cut? It looks cool, but does it provide any real benefit?

I think the slide cuts on the 34/35 are to keep the mass of the slide similar to their shorter brothers. That way the slide cycle speedof is similar so it can function reliably with the same recoil springs. A heavier slide would cycle slower, unless the recoil spring was lighter.

Might also keep the gun from being muzzle heavy. Though not sure if that's part of it or not.

I've never had any problem attributable to something hitting the barrel through the slide cutout. I've only had one malfunction on my 34, and that was a jam the first magazine through it. The spring was very noisy when it was new, think it just needed breaking in.