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Range Report: More .45 Practice, 10/31/25

BassCliff

Hellcat
Hi,

I feel pretty silly posting this in the "Skills" section since it's not really very skillful. :ROFLMAO:

But anyway, I wanted to get out to the newer range today but I got a late start so I visited the older range. That's OK. When I walked in, Max, from behind the counter asked, "Hey Cliff, do you want lane #10?" I told him, "That's my favorite." He said, "They're all your favorite." He knows me too well.

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Today I brought a couple hundred rounds of LAX/Freedom Munitions 230 grain .45ACP along with the Garrison and XD45 Mod.2 Tactical. I knew I wouldn't have time to work with the Derringer.

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The plan today was simple, 10-shot strings at 10 yards, just slow fire marksmanship practice to work on fundamentals with these larger caliber pistols. You might remember that it wasn't a great session last time. The one guy who was on the range left just as I entered. I decided to start with a cold 10-10-10 drill with the Garrison. It was about as I expected it, only half the hits in the black. 1st shot=1.88 seconds, last shot=11.26 seconds. A big fail.

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You can see the last split was almost a full second. I'll never make par time that way. Maybe I'll practice this drill with this pistol once everything else is going well. For the rest of the session I alternated between the two pistols. Here's the first XD45 target result.

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Um, yeah. I've really got to pay attention to fundamentals. I used a little tighter grip, especially with the support hand. Going back to the Garrison.

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That high flyer was me riding the reset too aggressively. Next up is the XD45.

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That target is starting to look a little better. Let's try the Garrison again.

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OK, better than the first string, still left. And you see another high flyer from riding the reset. I let one go unexpectedly. Oops. Alternating back to the XD45, I thought this one looked pretty good.

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That is, until I noticed that really low-left flyer. I don't remember how that happened. Moving on, back to the Garrison.

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OK, that's starting to look like my usual level of mediocrity. We'll do one more round of each. Here's the last XD45 target.

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Well, poo. There's six hits touching at the top of the 10-ring and one flyer in the 8 ring. Here's one more B-8 target with the Garrison.

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Yup, my normal mediocrity. Maybe I can start from there next time and tighten it up even more. I'm running short on time now. I have to get back to the house to pass out Halloween candy. I'm going to put a quick 30 rounds on a couple of reactive silhouettes and see which pistol does the better job. First up is the Garrison.

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And last, but not least, is the XD45 Mod.2 Tactical.

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Now for fun let's look at those side by side.

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It looks like the Garrison made the bigger raggedy hole but the XD45 had the tighter group. I'm hoping to tighten up both but we'll give the glam shot to the XD45 this time.

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I did have one Failure To Eject with the Garrison about halfway though the session. But it fired off the last 30 rounds without a hitch. There's less than 150 rounds through these two since the last time they were cleaned. I'll probably take them to the range one more time before I clean them again. My range toys usually get cleaned every third or fourth range trip. Don't hate me because I'm lazy. :p

I'm wondering if I would shoot the Garrison any better if I put the stock grips back on it. Maybe I'll try that next time. But those white grips are extra grippy with huge stipples that are kind of sharp. I guess if you try something and it doesn't work, try something else. ;)

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Hi guys,

Nice guns and nice shooting!

Thank you. I'm really kind of enamored with the XD45 since SA doesn't make them any more. I wonder if it will be collectable in 100 years. :LOL:

Doing good there Mr Cliff, looks fine

I appreciate that. All I need is more perfect practice. You know how much I love to practice. ;) I'll plan to take these two out again next week.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Hi,

You should try a box of these



AVERAGE SPEED 910.3
STD DEV 9.2
SPREAD 30.8

chrono results from my Gold Cup. $37.99 at Midway :)
(three boxes will get you free shipping)

Here is a 9mm 1911 with Koenig ammo at 100 yards shot from the hand no Ransome rest used,



I'll admit I have not tried a lot of different .45 cartridges. It's mostly 230 grain ball. I also have a bunch of 200 grain ball but haven't used it for a while. I have just a little stash of hollow point since I don't carry these pistols. Once I feel I'm practiced enough to take advantage of some "match" ammo I will give it a try.

Is the lighter round softer to shoot? I'll have to work on my trigger press to really take advantage of the good stuff. ;) Thanks for the recommendation.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Is the lighter round softer to shoot? I'll have to work on my trigger press to really take advantage of the good stuff. ;) Thanks for the recommendation.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
The 185 gr Nosler has about 10% more muzzle energy than their 230 gr HP round, so it isn't less recoil.

The Marines used to use the Nosler 185 gr bullet in their pistol shooting team loads.
Their load was about 180 fps slower than the Nosler factory load, around 780 - 800 fps.

They loaded it with 4.1 - 4,3 grains of VV N310 powder.

For reference the X ring on the 50-yard Bullseye taget is 1.695 inches.

“I just machine-rest tested 15 of our new 1911 match-prepared pistols,” continued Lawless. “All but one fired 10-shot groups with 9 Xs or better at 50 yards, and that’s with all nine or ten bullets being deep inside the X-ring. The one gun that didn’t shoot up to snuff went back to the armorer for a rework.”

 
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