BassCliff
Professional
Greetings to all,
It was cold and rainy, a perfect day to get to the range for some practice time at the Fletcher Arms Lake Country facility. I have an advanced defense clinic scheduled for a week from Monday so today I was working on fundamentals with different cadences - slow fire, double taps, etc. I shot a 100 round box of WWB 9mm just to see how it behaved. You might remember I had a couple of duds in the last box of 50. No duds in this box, but a couple of FTEs. I checked a couple of the primers since it was mentioned the dimples seems shallow and the striker channel might be gunked up. This looks like a healthy dimple to me, but I'm going to clean the channel anyway when the new roll pins get here.
I also shot 50 rounds of LAX Ammo factory .45ACP and 80 rounds of Aguila Super Extra Copper Plated .22LR. I had no issue with either of these. At my last session the P22 was not liking the Aguila lead round nose ammo, several FTEs. All of this was shot from lane #6 (my favorite lane!) at ten yards. Yes, still trying to perfect my thirty foot marksmanship.
The fellow to my left was shooting .223 and 5.56 from his AR, and he was LOUD! To be more comfortable I wore both 33db ear plugs and my Howard Leight ear muffs (turned off) and it was still plenty loud but not too distracting. Here are my toys for the day, P22, Garrison .45, XD9.
The range was pretty busy today so I did not shoot any timed drills but that wasn't the point today anyway. I started with the .45. This was the cold result. Seems I always start low left and bring it in as I progress.
The second target is a little better. At least they are all on the paper.
The third target is a little better still with all hits inside the 8 ring.
And, as usual, after a good target I get a little cocky. I let a few get low and left again.
I thought I'd check out the original B-8. The idea is to move that big ragged hole more toward the center, right?
For my last ten rounds of .45 I used a reactive 12x18 silhouette at ten yards. Now that I was warmed up I tried real hard on this one. This is one of my better targets at ten yards.
OK, that's 50 rounds of .45ACP. Until I get my inventory built up I'm limiting myself with the .45 because of the cost. Now it's time to have some fun with my XD9. I planned to shoot the entire 100 round box of WWB today. Fun! I patched up the previous target and put more holes in it. Meh, should've been better.
I slapped on an 8" repair and kept them all inside it on target #2.
After patching that one I let a couple get low on the next string of ten. Target #3.
For target #4 I went back to the B-8. Yes, you see ten hits in seven holes. Not bad, I guess.
As usual, after a decent target I get cocky, I rush, I take my eye off the front sight.
I felt like using more reactive targets today so I patched up the wide hits with my blue painter's tape and stuck on another 8" target. This is the first ten rounds through it. Seems I was paying more attention, just a little low.
Then for grins and giggles, I put forty more rounds on that target. I was trying to make a big ragged hole. I guess I made a couple of smaller ragged holes but at least all fifty rounds were on the 8" target. That's actually not too bad for this old noob.
For even more fun, I put forty rounds of .22 on the next two targets for some plain old plinking enjoyment.
I don't know when yet, but I've decided to get a .22 pistol with a longer barrel, 4.5 or 5 inches, so I can really work on accuracy using that platform. Of course, I'll practice more with the toys I have before doing that.
I've also decided to order a roll of those 4" reactive targets like @SimonRL and @KillerFord1977 use. That should help me to "aim small, miss small". I'll stick those on my B-8 targets and really try to hone my "skillz".
And that's a day in the life of the 147th fastest gun in the upper Midwest. I will continue to practice and hopefully improve my basic marksmanship while keeping up my self-defense skills. I'm trying to do this before my eyes give out. I'm already thinking I might need to change the prescription on my special shooting glasses. Sometimes that front sight is a little fuzzy. Let this be a lesson to you kids - Don't get old!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
It was cold and rainy, a perfect day to get to the range for some practice time at the Fletcher Arms Lake Country facility. I have an advanced defense clinic scheduled for a week from Monday so today I was working on fundamentals with different cadences - slow fire, double taps, etc. I shot a 100 round box of WWB 9mm just to see how it behaved. You might remember I had a couple of duds in the last box of 50. No duds in this box, but a couple of FTEs. I checked a couple of the primers since it was mentioned the dimples seems shallow and the striker channel might be gunked up. This looks like a healthy dimple to me, but I'm going to clean the channel anyway when the new roll pins get here.
I also shot 50 rounds of LAX Ammo factory .45ACP and 80 rounds of Aguila Super Extra Copper Plated .22LR. I had no issue with either of these. At my last session the P22 was not liking the Aguila lead round nose ammo, several FTEs. All of this was shot from lane #6 (my favorite lane!) at ten yards. Yes, still trying to perfect my thirty foot marksmanship.
The fellow to my left was shooting .223 and 5.56 from his AR, and he was LOUD! To be more comfortable I wore both 33db ear plugs and my Howard Leight ear muffs (turned off) and it was still plenty loud but not too distracting. Here are my toys for the day, P22, Garrison .45, XD9.
The range was pretty busy today so I did not shoot any timed drills but that wasn't the point today anyway. I started with the .45. This was the cold result. Seems I always start low left and bring it in as I progress.
The second target is a little better. At least they are all on the paper.
The third target is a little better still with all hits inside the 8 ring.
And, as usual, after a good target I get a little cocky. I let a few get low and left again.
I thought I'd check out the original B-8. The idea is to move that big ragged hole more toward the center, right?
For my last ten rounds of .45 I used a reactive 12x18 silhouette at ten yards. Now that I was warmed up I tried real hard on this one. This is one of my better targets at ten yards.
OK, that's 50 rounds of .45ACP. Until I get my inventory built up I'm limiting myself with the .45 because of the cost. Now it's time to have some fun with my XD9. I planned to shoot the entire 100 round box of WWB today. Fun! I patched up the previous target and put more holes in it. Meh, should've been better.
I slapped on an 8" repair and kept them all inside it on target #2.
After patching that one I let a couple get low on the next string of ten. Target #3.
For target #4 I went back to the B-8. Yes, you see ten hits in seven holes. Not bad, I guess.
As usual, after a decent target I get cocky, I rush, I take my eye off the front sight.
I felt like using more reactive targets today so I patched up the wide hits with my blue painter's tape and stuck on another 8" target. This is the first ten rounds through it. Seems I was paying more attention, just a little low.
Then for grins and giggles, I put forty more rounds on that target. I was trying to make a big ragged hole. I guess I made a couple of smaller ragged holes but at least all fifty rounds were on the 8" target. That's actually not too bad for this old noob.
For even more fun, I put forty rounds of .22 on the next two targets for some plain old plinking enjoyment.
I don't know when yet, but I've decided to get a .22 pistol with a longer barrel, 4.5 or 5 inches, so I can really work on accuracy using that platform. Of course, I'll practice more with the toys I have before doing that.
I've also decided to order a roll of those 4" reactive targets like @SimonRL and @KillerFord1977 use. That should help me to "aim small, miss small". I'll stick those on my B-8 targets and really try to hone my "skillz".
And that's a day in the life of the 147th fastest gun in the upper Midwest. I will continue to practice and hopefully improve my basic marksmanship while keeping up my self-defense skills. I'm trying to do this before my eyes give out. I'm already thinking I might need to change the prescription on my special shooting glasses. Sometimes that front sight is a little fuzzy. Let this be a lesson to you kids - Don't get old!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
The full disassembly looks a little more challenging.