BassCliff
Professional
Say there!
Well since @Lab4Us was kind enough to share his new FN Reflex and targets today, I figured I'd better post up my shenanigans from my little trip to the range after church last Sunday. My favorite lane #10 was open so I secured it, even though the only other guy on the range was at my other favorite lane #9.
This was not going to be a long session. I brought 100 rounds of Blazer Brass 124 grain for the XD-M Elite 5.25 and 100 rounds of S&B 124 grain for the Echelon 4.5F Comp. Blazer warns not to shoot their range fodder from comp'ed pistols. I guess they know what they're talking about.
I've been a very bad boy. I have not cleaned the Echelon lately and this is the 4th or 5th range trip. Still, no malfunctions from either pistol with either ammo. The XD-M was squeaky clean, but not any more.
I started with the XD-M, loading 20 rounds in each magazine for 100 rounds total. Then I configured my B-8 target with five bullseyes and planned to put 10 hits on each. The first sheet of targets came back from 10 yards like this.
I shot the center bullseye first, it was the worst with several low-left flyers. Then I started in the upper left and went clockwise. Ten o'clock, 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock weren't too bad but I got a few more low-left again on 7 o'clock. The 4 o'clock sticker was the best.
Anyway, I patched up this target and tried another 50 rounds, 10 hits on each bullseye. Here's sheet #2 with the XD-M.
Overall that was a much better showing for the XD-M. I like this pistol a lot. It's really too big to carry but I do have a holster or two for it, I think, around here somewhere. I thought I had both IWB and OWB for it but I haven't seen them for a while. I need to dig through all my holsters. The XD-M Elite 5.25 has pretty much been a range toy for me. Maybe I'll take it to a class one of these days. That would be fun. Oh, what the hey? How about a glam shot?
Now it's time to put 100 rounds through the Echelon. I started with a smaller silhouette at 10 yards. I put a yellow sticker on to give me something to sight up. The first 10 hits had 9 inside the 9 ring with one bad flyer. Hmmm.
Now I'll use a few B-8 centers. These old eyes like the modified targets with the yellow dot in the middle.
Even with a line break, I'm not sure all of those are in the black. That double hit above the eight, looks like one of the hits is just barely outside the 9 ring. Drat. I'll tape on another center and try it again. Here's Echelon target #3.
Well, double drat. I guess it's about the same but that hit in the 8 ring is just a little farther out. You'll give me the line breaks, right?
Hey! Wait a minute. Is that a hit I see in the lower left corner? Nah, that wasn't me. The guy in the land next to me shot that one, I swear! Oh well, let's have a look at target #4.
Well, triple drat and bother. There's still one hit securely in the 8 ring. Otherwise not a horrible target. I taped on another B-8 center for target #5 and sent it back out to 10 yards. It came back like this.
At first I thought, "Hey! That's pretty OK!" But then I saw another hit in the lower left corner of the page. I don't know where that came from. I think the guy in the lane next to me shot it again.
We're getting toward the end of my practice session so I break out the reactive 12x18 silhouette. I loaded up three magazines with 17, 17, and 16 cartridges for a total of 50. I put the first mag on this target at 10 yards.
Well, I wish I'd done better. By this time I'm having too much fun and probably shooting too fast for real marksmanship. Let me patch this and try again with the next magazine.
Bleh, not much better. I guess there's kind of a pretty good group in, sort of, the middle of the target, with a couple of bad flyers low-left. That's so typical of my shooting. We'll just call it "combat accuracy". For the next target, I'm going to send it out to 12 yards and see if I can keep my group from spreading.
Well, for some reason I was shooting high for this target. Of course, there's always at least one low-left flyer. If I ever buy a train I'm going to name it "The Low Left Flyer".
And that's how I went through 200 rounds of 9mm on a Sunday afternoon after church. Even though it's supposed to rain all day Tuesday I needed to run through the car wash to get all the pollen off my truck.
Plus, I could just leave my guns in the pickup bed and get them cleaned at the same time while I drive through. Works great! (NOT!)
Thanks for hanging out with me. Now that I'm all healed up from my surgery I need to get back on my training schedule. I'll have to see what class is open so's I can keep up my skilz. I might take a defensive rifle or shotgun class next. I'll see what's available. Until next time, enjoy your blessings.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Well since @Lab4Us was kind enough to share his new FN Reflex and targets today, I figured I'd better post up my shenanigans from my little trip to the range after church last Sunday. My favorite lane #10 was open so I secured it, even though the only other guy on the range was at my other favorite lane #9.
This was not going to be a long session. I brought 100 rounds of Blazer Brass 124 grain for the XD-M Elite 5.25 and 100 rounds of S&B 124 grain for the Echelon 4.5F Comp. Blazer warns not to shoot their range fodder from comp'ed pistols. I guess they know what they're talking about.
I've been a very bad boy. I have not cleaned the Echelon lately and this is the 4th or 5th range trip. Still, no malfunctions from either pistol with either ammo. The XD-M was squeaky clean, but not any more.
I started with the XD-M, loading 20 rounds in each magazine for 100 rounds total. Then I configured my B-8 target with five bullseyes and planned to put 10 hits on each. The first sheet of targets came back from 10 yards like this.
I shot the center bullseye first, it was the worst with several low-left flyers. Then I started in the upper left and went clockwise. Ten o'clock, 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock weren't too bad but I got a few more low-left again on 7 o'clock. The 4 o'clock sticker was the best.
Anyway, I patched up this target and tried another 50 rounds, 10 hits on each bullseye. Here's sheet #2 with the XD-M.
Overall that was a much better showing for the XD-M. I like this pistol a lot. It's really too big to carry but I do have a holster or two for it, I think, around here somewhere. I thought I had both IWB and OWB for it but I haven't seen them for a while. I need to dig through all my holsters. The XD-M Elite 5.25 has pretty much been a range toy for me. Maybe I'll take it to a class one of these days. That would be fun. Oh, what the hey? How about a glam shot?
Now it's time to put 100 rounds through the Echelon. I started with a smaller silhouette at 10 yards. I put a yellow sticker on to give me something to sight up. The first 10 hits had 9 inside the 9 ring with one bad flyer. Hmmm.
Now I'll use a few B-8 centers. These old eyes like the modified targets with the yellow dot in the middle.
Even with a line break, I'm not sure all of those are in the black. That double hit above the eight, looks like one of the hits is just barely outside the 9 ring. Drat. I'll tape on another center and try it again. Here's Echelon target #3.
Well, double drat. I guess it's about the same but that hit in the 8 ring is just a little farther out. You'll give me the line breaks, right?

Well, triple drat and bother. There's still one hit securely in the 8 ring. Otherwise not a horrible target. I taped on another B-8 center for target #5 and sent it back out to 10 yards. It came back like this.
At first I thought, "Hey! That's pretty OK!" But then I saw another hit in the lower left corner of the page. I don't know where that came from. I think the guy in the lane next to me shot it again.

We're getting toward the end of my practice session so I break out the reactive 12x18 silhouette. I loaded up three magazines with 17, 17, and 16 cartridges for a total of 50. I put the first mag on this target at 10 yards.
Well, I wish I'd done better. By this time I'm having too much fun and probably shooting too fast for real marksmanship. Let me patch this and try again with the next magazine.
Bleh, not much better. I guess there's kind of a pretty good group in, sort of, the middle of the target, with a couple of bad flyers low-left. That's so typical of my shooting. We'll just call it "combat accuracy". For the next target, I'm going to send it out to 12 yards and see if I can keep my group from spreading.
Well, for some reason I was shooting high for this target. Of course, there's always at least one low-left flyer. If I ever buy a train I'm going to name it "The Low Left Flyer".
And that's how I went through 200 rounds of 9mm on a Sunday afternoon after church. Even though it's supposed to rain all day Tuesday I needed to run through the car wash to get all the pollen off my truck.
Plus, I could just leave my guns in the pickup bed and get them cleaned at the same time while I drive through. Works great! (NOT!)
Thanks for hanging out with me. Now that I'm all healed up from my surgery I need to get back on my training schedule. I'll have to see what class is open so's I can keep up my skilz. I might take a defensive rifle or shotgun class next. I'll see what's available. Until next time, enjoy your blessings.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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