Range Report: 9mm Mediocrity x 3, 11/20/24

[BassCliff]

Hey gang,

I arrived late and the range was closing early so I rushed all my shots. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

The range was pretty busy when I arrived but I was assigned my favorite lane, #7.

Today's plan was simple. I'd brought three 9mm pistols. I'll put 40 rounds on the target at 10 yards then 10 rounds at 15 yards with each. I have my trusty XD9, the new XD9 Mod.3, and lovely and vivacious VP9, along with 150 rounds of S&B 124 grain.

I brought five mags for each pistol and put ten shots in each mag. I started with the XD9 at 10 yards.

I used a smaller silhouette and stuck a 4" reactive in the high center chest, hoping these old eyes could focus better. My first 40 rounds with the XD9 came back like this.

Well, at least all the hits are on the silhouette. Let me patch this up and send it back out to 15 yards for ten more hits.

The XD9 at 15 yards came back looking like this. I got six hits inside the 8" reactive circle.

Let's see if I can do any better with the Mod.3 at 10 yards. Here's the first 40 rounds.

Hmm, perhaps a slightly tighter group but there's one hit off of the silhouette. Now I'll try it at 15 yards.

Oh yick! Only five hits inside the reactive circle. My optic for this pistol came today so I'm hoping the next time will be better. After I get it zeroed, that is.

Last but not least is the VP9. Here's 40 rounds at 10 yards.

OK, all hits inside the "scoring" zones and a higher number actually on the 4" circle. I'll patch it up and try it at 15 yards.

Eight hits inside the 8" circle. Well, that's 150 rounds and it turns out I had an hour left before the range closed for a special event. I could've taken a little more time and possibly not embarrassed myself so much. Hey! Guess what? I found a partial box of Blazer left over from my last practice session. So let's put 20 more rounds downrange.

I took a little more time with these last two magazines, VP9 at 15 yards.

Drat. I still managed to get only 8 out of 10 on the 8" circle (4 hits out). At least they're all on the silhouette. I guess it might take another session or two to get my mojo back. I know I can shoot better than this. Now I'm going to clean some pistols and install an optic. I think I'll be able to zero my new optic on my basement laser range, or at least get it close. I'll let you know. Thanks for letting me share my average-ness. You guys are too good to me.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[SL66]

Looks like a good time to me.

 

[NMEDGE]

It's getting there. If you didn't have to rush it probably would have been better. Still not a bad showing.

 

[Bassbob]

Hey gang,

I arrived late and the range was closing early so I rushed all my shots. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

The range was pretty busy when I arrived but I was assigned my favorite lane, #7.

Today's plan was simple. I'd brought three 9mm pistols. I'll put 40 rounds on the target at 10 yards then 10 rounds at 15 yards with each. I have my trusty XD9, the new XD9 Mod.3, and lovely and vivacious VP9, along with 150 rounds of S&B 124 grain.

I brought five mags for each pistol and put ten shots in each mag. I started with the XD9 at 10 yards.

I used a smaller silhouette and stuck a 4" reactive in the high center chest, hoping these old eyes could focus better. My first 40 rounds with the XD9 came back like this.

Well, at least all the hits are on the silhouette. Let me patch this up and send it back out to 15 yards for ten more hits.

The XD9 at 15 yards came back looking like this. I got six hits inside the 8" reactive circle.

Let's see if I can do any better with the Mod.3 at 10 yards. Here's the first 40 rounds.

Hmm, perhaps a slightly tighter group but there's one hit off of the silhouette. Now I'll try it at 15 yards.

Oh yick! Only five hits inside the reactive circle. My optic for this pistol came today so I'm hoping the next time will be better. After I get it zeroed, that is.

Last but not least is the VP9. Here's 40 rounds at 10 yards.

OK, all hits inside the "scoring" zones and a higher number actually on the 4" circle. I'll patch it up and try it at 15 yards.

Eight hits inside the 8" circle. Well, that's 150 rounds and it turns out I had an hour left before the range closed for a special event. I could've taken a little more time and possibly not embarrassed myself so much. Hey! Guess what? I found a partial box of Blazer left over from my last practice session. So let's put 20 more rounds downrange.

I took a little more time with these last two magazines, VP9 at 15 yards.

Drat. I still managed to get only 8 out of 10 on the 8" circle (4 hits out). At least they're all on the silhouette. I guess it might take another session or two to get my mojo back. I know I can shoot better than this. Now I'm going to clean some pistols and install an optic. I think I'll be able to zero my new optic on my basement laser range, or at least get it close. I'll let you know. Thanks for letting me share my average-ness. You guys are too good to me.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

It's going to come out of the box pretty close to zeroed at 25 yards. Draw and present your ( empty) gun and the tip of your front sight is where the dot should be. Take it to a range, shoot it from a bench rest at the distance you want to zero it, adjust elevation and you're probably going to be good to go.

 

[Winchester67]

Great range report! With all the pics I felt like I had gone to the range with you. And any day reading about going to the range is better than work. Worst day at the range is better than the best day at work.

 

[Lab Us]

Looks like you had a great time! That sure is a fancy place!

FWIW, I always shoot only a magazine or two first and take a photo. Reason? If I ever really have to fire rounds in self defense I doubt it would be more than a magazine before bad guy (or me) are stopped.

I know I get tired after 20-30 rounds or so of full on concentrating, so I like to keep track of how I’d do initially. In the later stages I do more full magazine rapid fire, getting sights on target just prior to each shot, so basically working on getting sights back on target (silhouette) quickly. At this point I’m more concerned about hitting a body than a 10 ring. I still try to apply all the fundamentals, but sight pictures get blurry (tired eyes), grip sometimes loosens (tired muscles, and of course I try and fix it when I notice it), gun gets dirty and can affect accuracy, etc.

I’ll never be a marksman (because I’d rather focus on self defense skills), so if I can keep my fundamentals very solid through first magazine or two, I’m usually pretty happy. But I do like to separate my hits from that first magazine or two from the rest of the box of ammo.

 

[Belt Fed]

Nice shootin Agent Cliff, range day is always better than a work day.

 

[BassCliff]

Hey guys!

Nice shootin Agent Cliff, range day is always better than a work day.

I'm pretty much back to my weekly practice schedule. Next time I'll buckle down and make you guys proud.

Great range report! With all the pics I felt like I had gone to the range with you. And any day reading about going to the range is better than work. Worst day at the range is better than the best day at work.

After five months, my seasonal employment has finally ended so I have more time to practice at the range. I sure did miss it.

It's getting there. If you didn't have to rush it probably would have been better. Still not a bad showing.

Thanks. You know I've done better. I need to settle down and not overlook the basics. I'll get it back.

Looks like a good time to me.

Certainly, a good time. Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to do better next time.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[BassCliff]

Hey Bob,

It's going to come out of the box pretty close to zeroed at 25 yards. Draw and present your ( empty) gun and the tip of your front sight is where the dot should be. Take it to a range, shoot it from a bench rest at the distance you want to zero it, adjust elevation and you're probably going to be good to go.

My instructor likes to zero his at 10 yards. His reasoning is that at 25 yards it's going to be "close enough", just a 2 or 3 inch adjustment. I'm sure it'll take a few tries to get it dialed in the way I like it. The plate and installation kit came today. I'll be futzing with it very soon.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Looks like you had a great time! That sure is a fancy place!

FWIW, I always shoot only a magazine or two first and take a photo. Reason? If I ever really have to fire rounds in self defense I doubt it would be more than a magazine before bad guy (or me) are stopped.

I know I get tired after 20-30 rounds or so of full on concentrating, so I like to keep track of how I’d do initially. In the later stages I do more full magazine rapid fire, getting sights on target just prior to each shot, so basically working on getting sights back on target (silhouette) quickly. At this point I’m more concerned about hitting a body than a 10 ring. I still try to apply all the fundamentals, but sight pictures get blurry (tired eyes), grip sometimes loosens (tired muscles, and of course I try and fix it when I notice it), gun gets dirty and can affect accuracy, etc.

I’ll never be a marksman (because I’d rather focus on self defense skills), so if I can keep my fundamentals very solid through first magazine or two, I’m usually pretty happy. But I do like to separate my hits from that first magazine or two from the rest of the box of ammo.

I think we're kind of in the same boat (age and eyes). All my training is self defense. I know I'll never be a marksman. I usually shoot 10-shot strings with a separate target for each string. For this session I was hoping to make big ragged holes like the big boys do. I guess I need a little more practice.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Bassbob]

Hey Bob,



My instructor likes to zero his at 10 yards. His reasoning is that at 25 yards it's going to be "close enough", just a 2 or 3 inch adjustment. I'm sure it'll take a few tries to get it dialed in the way I like it. The plate and installation kit came today. I'll be futzing with it very soon.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I used to zero mine at 25 yards. Then I was having a conversation with @SimonRL and he said something that made sense and I tried 15 yards, for the same reason.