BassCliff
Hellcat
My dear friends,
Mrs. BassCliff is out of town so I took advantage and got out to the newer range for some more .45 practice, and a little .357 fun. I was surprised that my S&W 686 Plus did not fit into my gun tote.
I suppose I could cut the foam but I'll just use a separate case for now. Today I practiced some more with the Garrison 1911 and XD45 Mod.2 Tactical. I also brought the XD9 Mod.3, just in case, but did not shoot it.
The older/closer range is closed on Monday so I went to the farther/newer range. For a Monday, the range was a little busier than I expected. A couple of the lanes were down and there were a couple of guys shooting something that made TONS of noise. I'm glad I doubled up on ear pro. The guy next to me had an AK. There was also a guy having fun with his FRT. I gotta get me one of those. I was able to procure my favorite lane, #9.
I put 100 rounds through both .45s, 10-shot strings, each on different targets. So I had a LOT of targets, but I'll show you only the highlights, maybe the first, the worst, and the best. I'll try to save you from my relentless mediocrity. This is what I shot today. I had a partial box of .357 Magnum left over from the other day, that's all I used in the 686 (29 shots).
I put 50 rounds through the XD45, 50 rounds through the Garrison, then repeated using different targets, mostly at 10 yards. I did try one target at 15 yards with both .45s. This is the first target result using the XD45. Ugly, although only four hits out of the black, way out.
After a couple more targets, the XD45 started to shape up, or maybe *I* did.
The last target in this round was one of the worst.
Then I shot five 10-shot strings using the Garrison. Here's the first.
I must say, at least it was better than my first string with the XD45. Maybe I was warmed up a little by now. As I was shooting my second string with the Garrison, it had a weird feed error. It did not go fully into battery and when I ejected the round it looked like this.
I'd never seen that before. I can only speculate what may have happened. Some kind of double feed and the bullet got deep-seated in the chamber when the slide went forward. I let it go and grabbed another round from an extra box so every string had 10 hits. There were no more issues with any pistol today.
I had some more average targets in this session. Target #4 was probably the worst.
Followed by #5, which was the best.
Now I'm going to change up some targets and get back to the XD45 for five more 10-shot strings, the last of which will be at 15 yards. Here's target #1 from session #2. This ain't too bad. I had stuck on a little red dot to give me something to focus on.
I think this was the worst of the bunch. The (F) means I shot this one faster, on purpose.
Then I thought I'd try a little USPSA silhouette. It turned out pretty good. Give me the line breaks and there's only one hit outside the little A-box.
Then I sent an 8" reactive circle out to 15 yards and tried to maintain my composure. No such luck.
I guess I still would've done damage on the torso. Let's do the same thing using the Garrison now. Here's the first target.
I thought I was doing pretty well until I saw that low flyer. Still, a gut shot on the torso. Here's another of the better targets in this session, #2 with the Garrison.
This was one of the worst in this part of the session.
Then I sent the last target out to 15 yards. Wish me luck.
Three hits outside the 8" reactive circle, but still on the torso. I guess that's something. I'm gonna take these two out again. I think I'm starting to get the hang of them. They are very different pistols, from each other.
Next up is the S&W 686 Plus, 6" barrel, .357 Magnum. What a beast. I had a little over half a box left from the other day so I put 29 hits on my favorite target.
Next time I'll have all the hits inside the 9 ring on this target. I promise.
I shot this whole target using single action. One of these days I'll have a double action only session but I was hoping for a decent looking target today. I didn't quite make it. But I love this gun. I think I've just about got the sight picture and hold figured out. Now if I can just prevent my trigger press from upsetting the sight picture, I'll have it made. 
There you have it. It's what bass players do when their wives are out of town. I'm hoping I'll have time tomorrow after my gig. We'll see. Until next time, all the best to you and yours.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Mrs. BassCliff is out of town so I took advantage and got out to the newer range for some more .45 practice, and a little .357 fun. I was surprised that my S&W 686 Plus did not fit into my gun tote.
I suppose I could cut the foam but I'll just use a separate case for now. Today I practiced some more with the Garrison 1911 and XD45 Mod.2 Tactical. I also brought the XD9 Mod.3, just in case, but did not shoot it.
The older/closer range is closed on Monday so I went to the farther/newer range. For a Monday, the range was a little busier than I expected. A couple of the lanes were down and there were a couple of guys shooting something that made TONS of noise. I'm glad I doubled up on ear pro. The guy next to me had an AK. There was also a guy having fun with his FRT. I gotta get me one of those. I was able to procure my favorite lane, #9.
I put 100 rounds through both .45s, 10-shot strings, each on different targets. So I had a LOT of targets, but I'll show you only the highlights, maybe the first, the worst, and the best. I'll try to save you from my relentless mediocrity. This is what I shot today. I had a partial box of .357 Magnum left over from the other day, that's all I used in the 686 (29 shots).
I put 50 rounds through the XD45, 50 rounds through the Garrison, then repeated using different targets, mostly at 10 yards. I did try one target at 15 yards with both .45s. This is the first target result using the XD45. Ugly, although only four hits out of the black, way out.
After a couple more targets, the XD45 started to shape up, or maybe *I* did.
The last target in this round was one of the worst.
Then I shot five 10-shot strings using the Garrison. Here's the first.
I must say, at least it was better than my first string with the XD45. Maybe I was warmed up a little by now. As I was shooting my second string with the Garrison, it had a weird feed error. It did not go fully into battery and when I ejected the round it looked like this.
I'd never seen that before. I can only speculate what may have happened. Some kind of double feed and the bullet got deep-seated in the chamber when the slide went forward. I let it go and grabbed another round from an extra box so every string had 10 hits. There were no more issues with any pistol today.
I had some more average targets in this session. Target #4 was probably the worst.
Followed by #5, which was the best.
Now I'm going to change up some targets and get back to the XD45 for five more 10-shot strings, the last of which will be at 15 yards. Here's target #1 from session #2. This ain't too bad. I had stuck on a little red dot to give me something to focus on.
I think this was the worst of the bunch. The (F) means I shot this one faster, on purpose.
Then I thought I'd try a little USPSA silhouette. It turned out pretty good. Give me the line breaks and there's only one hit outside the little A-box.
Then I sent an 8" reactive circle out to 15 yards and tried to maintain my composure. No such luck.
I guess I still would've done damage on the torso. Let's do the same thing using the Garrison now. Here's the first target.
I thought I was doing pretty well until I saw that low flyer. Still, a gut shot on the torso. Here's another of the better targets in this session, #2 with the Garrison.
This was one of the worst in this part of the session.
Then I sent the last target out to 15 yards. Wish me luck.
Three hits outside the 8" reactive circle, but still on the torso. I guess that's something. I'm gonna take these two out again. I think I'm starting to get the hang of them. They are very different pistols, from each other.
Next up is the S&W 686 Plus, 6" barrel, .357 Magnum. What a beast. I had a little over half a box left from the other day so I put 29 hits on my favorite target.
Next time I'll have all the hits inside the 9 ring on this target. I promise.
I shot this whole target using single action. One of these days I'll have a double action only session but I was hoping for a decent looking target today. I didn't quite make it. But I love this gun. I think I've just about got the sight picture and hold figured out. Now if I can just prevent my trigger press from upsetting the sight picture, I'll have it made. There you have it. It's what bass players do when their wives are out of town. I'm hoping I'll have time tomorrow after my gig. We'll see. Until next time, all the best to you and yours.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
. Great report as always!