Blammer - Gun Blog

Spent about two hours at MFLR to try some different shooting grips; I think I finally understand what is meant by “squeezing the trigger” and how to really aim.

I also wanted to sight in the Ruger again. At the last range visit with buddy Seuss, it was shooting high and to the left consistently.

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I’ve been practicing drawing and shooting quite a bit for the past couple of days, and I have my first blister! Awesome!

I went to the range to work on my longer range (25YD) shooting with the XD9. The last time I was out shooting with some people, my 25 yard accuracy was rather bad, so I wanted to see how much of it was me.

I am beginning to think that the XD9 shoots 6 o’clock rather than center. At 25YDs, the center of the groups were about 2.5″ higher than the bullseye. The first few strings were terrible; maybe 16″ of spread. The last string of 10 was more reasonable, covering about 9″. If I dropped two, then I shot a good 6″ group with open sights, two handed and unsupported. I took my time also though.

A few things seemed to contribute to accuracy: * Really focusing on the front sight, to the point that it’s razor sharp and clear. The side effect of this is that it’s a bit easier to index the front sight between the rears, and sort of shoot center-of-mass on the target. * Keeping that front-sight focus as I shot, and through followthrough. I need to really work on this so I’m constantly looking for that front sight * Knowing where the front sight is through the entire recoil-reacquisition cycle. If you can maintain that concentration, the follow up shots are more true to aim, and recovery is faster * lateral stability with weak support hand… critical for keeping the gun pointed straight during follow through, though maybe it was the act of concentration that was more important * trigger awareness throughout the pull…this helped slow things down a tad and avoid jerking the trigger.

I also did some one handed shooting at 10yards. In some ways, it was easier to actually be more consistent one-handed. I was warmed up though, so my follow through awareness was good. Left hand was a little sloppier, but not bad.

I switched to the Glock 34 to see if I was shooting it any different. I have two new 17rd magazines for it, so it was good to break those in. One thing I noticed immediately was that the gun wasn’t cycling…it was locking open after every shot. I realized I was putting my support hand thumb on the slide lock…doh! So I need to figure out a more universal grip. I may have to get that Glock 19 after all and shoot that for a while.

Another thing I noticed was that I’m very used to the take up of the XD9’s trigger. This is kind of dangerous because the Glock 34 has a lighter trigger that resets easily and shoots with very little travel. I’m not sure if the Glock 19 has a different trigger….I plan to hit the gun store to try one out, as the range Glocks feel really gritty.

Lastly I put in some practice with the 1911. I have been having trouble shooting it well, and I think it’s due entirely to front-sight and neutral trigger pull. I shot a little better with it. Followthrough is something that I still need to work on…I notice during recoil it sort of kicks to the side, which probably means I’m not supporting it right.

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