Blammer - Gun Blog

Did a little more moving without not quite so much missing. Again I’m pushing a little too fast, but the new grip (when I can get it) is still taking some getting used to. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was firing a Marlin 1898 (?) lever-action rifle chambered for .44 magnum. It had a significant kick to it. I didn’t shoot that well with it, but it’s a neat gun.

The SIG armorer at the range told me that he’d looked over my SIG 226-40, and found that the hammer spur was broken in half. He’s replacing it when the part comes in tomorrow or so. I also got the replacement 226 mag for .40/.357SIG that was missing with the gun, a greasy new 12 rounder. I had heard that SIG packed their stuff in this tacky greasy stuff, but this was the first time I’d actually seen it. I understand that new SIGs come well-greased, and it takes some doing to get it all off. Even then, they’re kind of sticky for a while afterwards.

Went to try out the newly-acquired SIG P226-40 and also try some of WDE’s shooting grip tips with the Springfield XD-9.

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Got a call out of the blue from Al, who unfortunately lives in Massachusetts. He was in the area and wanted to do some shooting. So I headed to MFL with a bagful of handguns and several hundred rounds of ammunition. We shot mostly at 5 to 10 yards, just having a good time.

It’s been instructive to bring my friends into the range and try to help them shoot better. I’m not much further along than them, but the act of explaining what I’m doing helps me shoot better. Al’s stance was kind of hunched up, so we straightened that up a bit. Al also had a slight-but-consistent flinching problem that we eventually got to go away. The biggest insight for him was to focus on the front sight, not the target. His groups became more accurate and precise. Even with the flinching problem, Al’s groups weren’t that bad for a third-time shooter…they were all on the paper inside the A zone (or what we considered good) at 5YDs. At 10YDs, it would have been a problem.

We had four guns: the Glock 34, the Kimber TLE, the Springfield XD, and the Ruger Mk III w/ optical sight. Al rocked the house with the Kimber…it’s a great gun. I even shot it pretty well today (at 5YD, anyway). We were not all that thrilled with the Ruger (it’s a .22LR) and put it away pretty quick. Al liked the Glock better than the XD; he commented how interesting it was that each gun had a distinctly different feel.

It was a busy day at the range incidentally, lots of people. We had called ahead to reserve a lane as members are allowed to do, but we still had to wait.

Afterwards, I bought that used SIG P226 in 40. Then we washed up and got huge burgers at Ruby Tuesday. Not a bad day out.

MFL is having a sale on some 2 year-old SIGs in various calibers. They’re range guns, had their springs replaced and the works looked over. They’re ranging from the mid $300s to the mid $400s. It’s mighty tempting to pick on up in .40, since I don’t have anything in that caliber. Plus I could get a .357SIG barrel for it. And, as far as pistols go, it would be nice to have an example in the armory. They’re a bit beat up, but that just makes them cooler

Aw heck, I should go check them out tomorrow. Maybe they’ll rattle like tin cans filled with rocks when I pick them up, and I can stop thinking about them.

UPDATE: All of them were sold out except for one…the 226 in .40SW I was eyeing before. I ended up getting it…it was about $450. As a bonus, it even sits fairly well in the Tucker “Answer” for XD holster…they are somewhat similarly shaped. Just your standard black SIG P226, visible wear and chips, but I’m not that interested in cosmetics. The mechanism itself is sound…I like the trigger on it too. Looking forward to shooting it.

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 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.

I had the privillege of watching an FBI firearms instructor shoot at the range. He was a big guy, but his movements were quick, efficient, and precise. What struck me was the stability with which he fired. In recoil, the gun was controlled and returned to the same spot. Just watching him clear his gun was a revelation.

My own shooting is still feeling pretty inconsistent. While I can keep the shots on the plate, my overall stability during recoil recovery is not very controlled. I compensate for with my somewhat above-average visual acuity when it comes to re-acquiring the sight picture; I can probably decrease my shot-to-shot time significantly by tightening up my grip so it’s consistent in both position and pressure.

I’ve been shooting the XD9 quite a bit recently, but have noticed that my grip is still inconsistent. I discovered that my grip also doesn’t quite work with the Glock’s slide release position when I briefly trotted out the 34…my weak hand thumb pushes on it and locks the slide back. Doh! I’m going to cant my weak hand forward a bit more so the thumb points more toward the target…feels a little awkward now, but probably will help with universal compatibility.

Next time I’m at the range, I’m going to practice a more purposeful stance in both one and two hand stances. Weak hand shooting is something I’ve started to practice more of.

I am starting to think about getting a more compact 9mm or .40…maybe a used Glock 19 or 23.

Headed up to MFLR tonight for some long overdue practice.

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I got a chance to go shooting with gun buddy Grummz, at what I think was the On-Target Range in Orange County. It was a nice facility, with a pretty extensive gun and accessories store.

Grummz has a nice collection of revolvers and a little Walther P22 auto. I was particularly fond of his Ruger GP100 and Beretta Stampede. I haven’t done much revolver shooting at all before this, so it was a pretty new experience. I found I shot most accurately with .357 through the GP100, as opposed to .38 for some reason. The Stampede was also a lot of fun, being a single-action revolver patterned after the famous Colt Single Action Army. There was a lot of finicky things you needed to do to load it, cartridge-by-cartridge through a gate, but the gun makes a lot of neat clicking sounds. It’s a bit tedious, but sorta fun in that “Let’s Pretend I’m Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars” kind of way.

We rented a Kimber Stainless II, so Grummz could help diagnose my 1911 shooting technique. My groups were pretty shaky and kind of all over the place, except for one time when I was just sort of idly shooting and not looking directly at the front sights. That group was small and tight… could it be that looking at the front sight was actually hurting my accuracy? It’s such a standard thing to do…focus on the front sight alignment picture, keep the target blurry.

I shot the next group looking at the target, with the sights blurry instead. And lo, I shot a great second group. We theorized that I was trying to keep the sight picture stable to the point that I wasn’t really making the best use of my vision abilities; I am able to see very minute imbalances in alignment from some distance to an extent that freaks people out. I once spotted an alignment error on a poster of 2/72nds of an inch from 10 feet away, which which the poster’s creator sitting in front of it couldn’t see and didn’t believe until he got out a ruler and checked his original digital file. Anyway, I’ll have to try this again next time I’m at the range.

Grummz also had a really nice Dan Wesson .41 magnum. Kind of an oddball cartridge, he said, but shoots real nice. I have to agree. The gun was quite beautiful as well.

We also rented a Desert Eagle in .44 magnum for the hell of it, because neither of us had ever shot one. It is ludicrously large and ungainly, feeding full-size rimmed .44 magnum revolver cartridges into an enormous gas-powered slide/barrel assembly. A real chest-beater of a gun.

The recoil was surprisingly mild…I’d say the .41 kicked more. I’m almost embarassed to say that I liked it a lot…it’s almost a parody of a real gun, but its mild recoil and sheer mechanical mass made it fun. Grummz in particular shot very well with it, as you can see in the image, and he doesn’t even like autoloaders. This was at about 7.5yards, best I can remember. I suggested that since it shot .44 magnum rimmed cartridges, it was almost a revolver, and should he acquire a .44 Magnum revolver he could reload and shoot both of them. He must have been thinking the same thing, since we priced out another Desert Eagle before leaving…about $1400 if I recall. Ouch! As a consolation prize I bought a Fobus two-mag belt holster for Beretta 9mms (the Springfield XD uses Beretta mags).

All in all, a satisfying day out.

Headed over to MFL with Seuss to do some long overdue shooting. We mostly practiced some of the drawing from holster and practicing the “hot range” protocol. After looking over the range rules, it didn’t seem that this was against them. This was different from what we had been doing before, which was to have a bunch of loose unloaded guns on the table. Working from the holster was much better and focused. So while we weren’t particularly fast, we each got a couple dozen or so practice draws, heavily scrutinized by the other for flaws in gun administration and safety.

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