BassCliff
Professional
Hello friends!
Spoiler alert! Well, it's been a while since I've been really pleased with my targets at the range. I thought I had a good day, better than average for me anyway. I blame it on my buddy Bill who joined me in the lane today. He surprised me with his marksmanship. Bill shot my guns as well as, if not better than I did - and he's never handled them before. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It was a beautiful day and I got to park in the front row as Bill and I arrived just as the range was opening, 11am.
Wouldn't ya know it? Matt was working behind the counter at this store this morning. He said, "Wow, I haven't seen you in at least 20 hours!" He gave Bill and I lane #5. It's my favorite.
I had brought the same two pistols I practiced with yesterday, VP9 and XD45 Mod.2 Tactical. Bill had brought a couple of Barettas, a 92FS and an M922. I thought it was pretty cool that these two guns were exactly the same except for the caliber.
I also thought it was cool that the barrels were totally exposed. I don't think I've ever handled a gun with a decocker. That's pretty handy. We pretty much took turns shooting ten shot strings. I started with my XD45. I was a little disappointed with my first target. Note that we shot at 10 yards all day except for a couple of targets.
Yep, a typical "Cliff" target. Drat. Bill started with his .22 Baretta. Neither of us shot it very well. We both did better on the bigger pistols. Weird.
I did not take any pictures of Bill's targets. He is a very good marksman though. I let him try my XD45 and he put eight hits in the 10 ring, better than the first time I shot it today. Then I shot his M922. I'll have to figure out my hold/sight alignment on this pistol. Bill said, "Not a bad group." Ha!
Then I shot my second ten shot string with my XD45. At least my flyers aren't way out there like they used to be.
This is Bill shooting my XD45. You can see the brass flying over my head and his first three hits right in the middle red circle on the bullseye. Dang!
We did a lot of target patching with whatever we had. This is another target of mine using the XD45.
Then I started working with my VP9. Here's the first two targets. I settled down a little more on the second, except for that one flyer on the edge of the reactive circle.
Then I put ten rounds through Bill's Baretta 92FS. It took a couple of shots for me to figure out the sight alignment/hold.
Then I got back to my VP9. I put 100 rounds through it today, 50 rounds through the XD45. I think all of these hits would've been in the 10 ring.
Continuing with the VP9, I think that hit low right is a .22 round from Bill that I forgot to patch. I think.
I was feeling pretty confident today so I sent this target out to 15 yards and tried one ten shot string. I'm going to start practicing more at this distance.
Drat, one low flyer but the rest were on the 6" target. Then Bill and I tried a couple of little silhouettes. Bill hit the "A" in the A box on his first try. He said, "I should've stopped there. It was downhill after that." Here's my silhouette. The A box is 2"x3.75".
I thought these old eyes would like this target. I was hoping to get all 10 hits inside the 3" area.
Well darn. I've just about used up 100 rounds. Let's go back to a good old B-8 center with a little red dot stuck in the middle.
Hey! I'm not sure if that's five or six hits in the X ring. Either way, that's one of my best targets at 10 yards. Now I've got one magazine of 9mm and a mag of .45 left for the day. I've saved the 12x18 reactive silhouette for the end. I'm going to try and go out with a bang. I'll put 10 hits with the .45 and follow that with the 9mm.
Oh well. Not bad. Now let's put ten hits on it using the VP9.
OK. I shot a tighter group with the VP9 but I was hoping to chew out more of the red bullseye. Maybe next time.
Saturday I'm headed down to Bill's outdoor range again to shoot his cap-n-ball revolvers and my AK-47. That should be fun. I'm going to pick his brain some more and decide which revolver I should buy, since I'm going to limit myself to one. (Maybe.) Remington, Colt, steel frame, brass frame, 36 caliber, 44 caliber, Pietta, Uberti, barrel length, etc. I think I've opened up a can of worms.
Thanks for hanging out. I'm quite fortunate that I get three range days this week. I take advantage of it when I have the chance. I love to practice, and everyone knows I need it.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Spoiler alert! Well, it's been a while since I've been really pleased with my targets at the range. I thought I had a good day, better than average for me anyway. I blame it on my buddy Bill who joined me in the lane today. He surprised me with his marksmanship. Bill shot my guns as well as, if not better than I did - and he's never handled them before. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It was a beautiful day and I got to park in the front row as Bill and I arrived just as the range was opening, 11am.
Wouldn't ya know it? Matt was working behind the counter at this store this morning. He said, "Wow, I haven't seen you in at least 20 hours!" He gave Bill and I lane #5. It's my favorite.
I had brought the same two pistols I practiced with yesterday, VP9 and XD45 Mod.2 Tactical. Bill had brought a couple of Barettas, a 92FS and an M922. I thought it was pretty cool that these two guns were exactly the same except for the caliber.
I also thought it was cool that the barrels were totally exposed. I don't think I've ever handled a gun with a decocker. That's pretty handy. We pretty much took turns shooting ten shot strings. I started with my XD45. I was a little disappointed with my first target. Note that we shot at 10 yards all day except for a couple of targets.
Yep, a typical "Cliff" target. Drat. Bill started with his .22 Baretta. Neither of us shot it very well. We both did better on the bigger pistols. Weird.
I did not take any pictures of Bill's targets. He is a very good marksman though. I let him try my XD45 and he put eight hits in the 10 ring, better than the first time I shot it today. Then I shot his M922. I'll have to figure out my hold/sight alignment on this pistol. Bill said, "Not a bad group." Ha!
Then I shot my second ten shot string with my XD45. At least my flyers aren't way out there like they used to be.
This is Bill shooting my XD45. You can see the brass flying over my head and his first three hits right in the middle red circle on the bullseye. Dang!
We did a lot of target patching with whatever we had. This is another target of mine using the XD45.
Then I started working with my VP9. Here's the first two targets. I settled down a little more on the second, except for that one flyer on the edge of the reactive circle.
Then I put ten rounds through Bill's Baretta 92FS. It took a couple of shots for me to figure out the sight alignment/hold.
Then I got back to my VP9. I put 100 rounds through it today, 50 rounds through the XD45. I think all of these hits would've been in the 10 ring.
Continuing with the VP9, I think that hit low right is a .22 round from Bill that I forgot to patch. I think.
I was feeling pretty confident today so I sent this target out to 15 yards and tried one ten shot string. I'm going to start practicing more at this distance.
Drat, one low flyer but the rest were on the 6" target. Then Bill and I tried a couple of little silhouettes. Bill hit the "A" in the A box on his first try. He said, "I should've stopped there. It was downhill after that." Here's my silhouette. The A box is 2"x3.75".
I thought these old eyes would like this target. I was hoping to get all 10 hits inside the 3" area.
Well darn. I've just about used up 100 rounds. Let's go back to a good old B-8 center with a little red dot stuck in the middle.
Hey! I'm not sure if that's five or six hits in the X ring. Either way, that's one of my best targets at 10 yards. Now I've got one magazine of 9mm and a mag of .45 left for the day. I've saved the 12x18 reactive silhouette for the end. I'm going to try and go out with a bang. I'll put 10 hits with the .45 and follow that with the 9mm.
Oh well. Not bad. Now let's put ten hits on it using the VP9.
OK. I shot a tighter group with the VP9 but I was hoping to chew out more of the red bullseye. Maybe next time.
Saturday I'm headed down to Bill's outdoor range again to shoot his cap-n-ball revolvers and my AK-47. That should be fun. I'm going to pick his brain some more and decide which revolver I should buy, since I'm going to limit myself to one. (Maybe.) Remington, Colt, steel frame, brass frame, 36 caliber, 44 caliber, Pietta, Uberti, barrel length, etc. I think I've opened up a can of worms.
Thanks for hanging out. I'm quite fortunate that I get three range days this week. I take advantage of it when I have the chance. I love to practice, and everyone knows I need it.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
