Greetings friends and neighbors,
Mrs. BassCliff has left town for a few days so what did I do? Of course, I headed for the range. I'll probably be back again on Monday and maybe Tuesday too. I get bored, ya know? Today I continued practicing with the XD45 Mod2 Tactical and XDM Elite Precision. I also brought along the Ruger Mark IV Target. I arrived at the older of the Fletcher Arms facilities and found it quite busy early on a Saturday afternoon. This is why I usually come during the middle of the week.
There are 10 lanes here and all of them were filled except for #1. That lane was down because the target carrier line was broken. That happens here. Like I was telling Ms.
@belladonna, this place is kinda old school.
I waited just a few minutes and lane #3 opened up. It's my favorite lane! (You know they're
all my favorite.)
As I was saying, this facility relies on older technology. There are no touch screen computer controlled target carriers here. You just toggle the switch and line up your target to the marks on the wall as best you can.
I practiced mostly at 30 feet (10 yards) today except for a few magazines at 15 yards with my Mark IV. I loaded up all my magazines before I started shooting. I shot 10 round strings with the XD45 (50 rounds total, LAX Ammo 230 grain), a combination of 10 shot and 20 shot strings with the XDM Elite (100 rounds total, S&B 124 grain), and the Mark IV mags hold only 10 rounds. If I counted correctly, I shot 7 mags of .22LR (Federal LRN 40 grain). The Mark IV had three FTEs and one dud that fired on the second strike, but I blame those on cheap ammo. The other pistols were flawless.
OK, let's get to it. As you can see, everyone and their sister was shooting at 30 feet today. Once in a while I'd see a target go out to 25 yards when somebody wanted to show off.
You can see the busted line on lane #1.
I started with my XD45, 10-shot strings. I like the fact that these mags hold 13 rounds but today I wanted to pace myself. The first target came back like this. I guess it's not too bad for the first magazine.
It seems I have a nice grouping with a few flyers high and right in the 10 ring.
OK, let's settle down here and try to press that trigger straight back while keeping the sights aligned. The second target looked like this. Better.
Oh, just a couple of hits low/left but still on the paper. Target #3 is rather unusual.
Wow! Everything in the 9 ring with eight hits in one ragged hole. I finally made a ragged hole, it's just not in the right spot.
Let's move on to target #4. This one wasn't too bad, only one out of the black. I thought it deserved a glam shot.
OK, I've got one more magazine with 10 rounds. I thought I'd stick on a red bullseye and try to "aim small, miss small" but it didn't work so well.
At least they're all on the paper, barely. OK, that's 50 rounds of .45. Let's move on to the XDM Elite Precision 5.25" in 9mm. I did a few dry fires before I went live. This first target at 10 yards came back like this.
I'm actually happy that they're all inside the 8 ring. But I think I can do better. Target #2 came back like this, only one out of the black and 5 hits in the X ring. I took a glam shot because I thought this would be my best target today.
For target #3 I lost count of how many rounds I had fired. So I just put all 20 rounds on this B-8. If you give me the line break there are only three hits out of the black.
It's funny though. If you draw a vertical line down the center of the target, all of the hits are on the left side. Hmmm. I'll have to see what I can do about that. Maybe it's too little trigger finger, pushing the barrel a little left as I pull.
Here's a 10 shot string on target #4. It seems like I'm starting to fall apart. Have I had enough caffeine today? I even let one off the paper. I'm so ashamed.
Yay! I think I've redeemed myself with target #5. That looks like eight hits in the 10 ring. Maybe I should put this one up on the refrigerator.
Oh no! Wait! Target #6 is even better.
Oh drat. As usual, when I start doing well I get sloppy. Here's target #7. At least they're all inside the 8 ring.
For target #8 I decided to treat myself and stick on an 8" reactive circle. I was down to my last magazine (20 rounds) so I put them all on this target. Look, look, LOOK!
I actually made a big ragged hole near the center! I've been striving for this consistency and hope I can keep it up. I hope to make it back to the range on Monday to continue this streak.
I think I'm about at my picture limit for this post so I'll put my Mark IV targets in the next post. Those are just OK but I'll share them anyway. Thanks for hanging out!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
