BassCliff
Professional
Hello everyone!
It was lovely weather and a nice drive to the newer range on this beautiful early summer day.
I have two XD9 pistols that I haven't utilized for a while. I brought those along with a little over three boxes of Blazer Brass 124 grain and a few targets. I got my favorite lane, #4.
Both the XD9 Mod.3 and the XD9 4" Service are in my carry rotation but it's been several months since I've last worked with them.
Yes, I'm pretty rusty with the optic on the XD9.3. I took time to do a lot of presentation motions to get the muscle memory back so the reticle is "right there" at full extension. Then I loaded up all ten magazines with 16 rounds each. I'll shoot five full magazines from each pistol for this session. I thought I'd take a break from my usual 10-shot strings.
I started with the XD9.3 w/optic. It was a little weird shooting this one because I had to look under the diopter on my special shooting glasses in order to keep the reticle focused. It was a little distracting. But I don't think that was my biggest issue. Here's the first B-8.
Bleh. At least I kept all but a few inside the 8 ring. This next target has a magazine (16 rounds) from the "OG" XD9. It has upgraded SpeedSights, which I really like.
All but one hit in the black. Cool. Today I'm shooting at a fairly quick pace, no more than one or two seconds between shots plus a double-tap once in a while. Here's target #2 with the XD9 Mod.3.
Yeeow! There's one really bad low flyer but the rest of the group is a little tighter and getting closer to the center of the target. I was starting to think my zero was off. But I'll shoot it a little more to be sure. Here's my second target with a magazine from the XD9 Service. Not bad, but you can see a little more spread because I'm shooting faster.
For target #3 using the XD9.3 w/optic, I tried to pay attention to fundamentals - trigger press mostly. It was a little better.
A little better, except for those two low flyers. What I did for the above target was switch lenses on my shooting glasses. I took off the diopter lens and used a plain (uncorrected) lens. This lets me see the optic more clearly. Then I tried to shoot the next target with the XD9 Service with the plain lenses. The front sight is very fuzzy when I shoot this way. But I need to be able to shoot without corrective lenses anyway, so I practice once in a while.
I guess that's OK "combat accuracy". It'll have to do unless the bad guy wants to wait for me to put on my special shooting glasses, ya know? I tried something different for the next two groups of targets. You'll see 8 hits on each target. The left targets received XD9.3 and the right targets got XD9.
I did a lot better with the optic on the 1/3 size USPSA silhouette that time (lower left). OK, last round of targets coming up. I'm going to try real hard this time.
OK, that time I managed to do better with the optic than I did with the iron sights, 8 hits on each target. If you give me the line breaks, only one hit outside the A box and all in the triangle, using the optic.
I also wanted to shoot this magazine of Gold Dot I've been carrying for a year. Why not use the VP9 carry today? I brought a fresh box so I could refill before I left the range.
I put up a fresh B-34 silhouette with a sticker on the high chest and sent it out to 10 yards again. Seems my shots hit higher as I shot faster.
All the guns and all the ammo performed flawlessly today. I wish I would've performed half that well. OK, I've got 5 cartridges left over, a couple of BB and three Gold Dots. Just for fun, I'm going to put them in a mag and use the XD9 Mod.3 at 15 yards on this patched up target.
The very first shot was on the reactive bullseye and the rest strayed low. I guess I still would've hurt somebody. But, wow, it just goes to show you that if you don't stay in practice with your tools, your skills will start to degrade. I don't have much skill to begin with, so I can't let anything degrade.
That was my little practice session for this week. I packed up my kit, swept my brass, and said goodbye to my range.
The Fletcher instructors are going to host a training session at a "local" outdoor range soon, an hour away. We'll do some runnin' and gunnin', scootin' and shootin' on steel and paper. I think I'll join in. I hope all of you keep safe and shoot straight. Blessings.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
It was lovely weather and a nice drive to the newer range on this beautiful early summer day.
I have two XD9 pistols that I haven't utilized for a while. I brought those along with a little over three boxes of Blazer Brass 124 grain and a few targets. I got my favorite lane, #4.
Both the XD9 Mod.3 and the XD9 4" Service are in my carry rotation but it's been several months since I've last worked with them.
Yes, I'm pretty rusty with the optic on the XD9.3. I took time to do a lot of presentation motions to get the muscle memory back so the reticle is "right there" at full extension. Then I loaded up all ten magazines with 16 rounds each. I'll shoot five full magazines from each pistol for this session. I thought I'd take a break from my usual 10-shot strings.
I started with the XD9.3 w/optic. It was a little weird shooting this one because I had to look under the diopter on my special shooting glasses in order to keep the reticle focused. It was a little distracting. But I don't think that was my biggest issue. Here's the first B-8.
Bleh. At least I kept all but a few inside the 8 ring. This next target has a magazine (16 rounds) from the "OG" XD9. It has upgraded SpeedSights, which I really like.
All but one hit in the black. Cool. Today I'm shooting at a fairly quick pace, no more than one or two seconds between shots plus a double-tap once in a while. Here's target #2 with the XD9 Mod.3.
Yeeow! There's one really bad low flyer but the rest of the group is a little tighter and getting closer to the center of the target. I was starting to think my zero was off. But I'll shoot it a little more to be sure. Here's my second target with a magazine from the XD9 Service. Not bad, but you can see a little more spread because I'm shooting faster.
For target #3 using the XD9.3 w/optic, I tried to pay attention to fundamentals - trigger press mostly. It was a little better.
A little better, except for those two low flyers. What I did for the above target was switch lenses on my shooting glasses. I took off the diopter lens and used a plain (uncorrected) lens. This lets me see the optic more clearly. Then I tried to shoot the next target with the XD9 Service with the plain lenses. The front sight is very fuzzy when I shoot this way. But I need to be able to shoot without corrective lenses anyway, so I practice once in a while.
I guess that's OK "combat accuracy". It'll have to do unless the bad guy wants to wait for me to put on my special shooting glasses, ya know? I tried something different for the next two groups of targets. You'll see 8 hits on each target. The left targets received XD9.3 and the right targets got XD9.
I did a lot better with the optic on the 1/3 size USPSA silhouette that time (lower left). OK, last round of targets coming up. I'm going to try real hard this time.
OK, that time I managed to do better with the optic than I did with the iron sights, 8 hits on each target. If you give me the line breaks, only one hit outside the A box and all in the triangle, using the optic.
I also wanted to shoot this magazine of Gold Dot I've been carrying for a year. Why not use the VP9 carry today? I brought a fresh box so I could refill before I left the range.
I put up a fresh B-34 silhouette with a sticker on the high chest and sent it out to 10 yards again. Seems my shots hit higher as I shot faster.
All the guns and all the ammo performed flawlessly today. I wish I would've performed half that well. OK, I've got 5 cartridges left over, a couple of BB and three Gold Dots. Just for fun, I'm going to put them in a mag and use the XD9 Mod.3 at 15 yards on this patched up target.
The very first shot was on the reactive bullseye and the rest strayed low. I guess I still would've hurt somebody. But, wow, it just goes to show you that if you don't stay in practice with your tools, your skills will start to degrade. I don't have much skill to begin with, so I can't let anything degrade.
That was my little practice session for this week. I packed up my kit, swept my brass, and said goodbye to my range.
The Fletcher instructors are going to host a training session at a "local" outdoor range soon, an hour away. We'll do some runnin' and gunnin', scootin' and shootin' on steel and paper. I think I'll join in. I hope all of you keep safe and shoot straight. Blessings.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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