BassCliff
Professional
Hello and good evening!
Once again it's time for my weekly bandwidth-hogging excursion into mediocrity. It is said that one can learn even from a bad example. That is my hope for all of you who unfortunately clicked on this link. We'll try to make it fun. I now have kydex for the Echelon so before I left for the range I fixed up my Rounded Gear AIWB with DCC clips and a T1C muzzle pad for stability and comfort.
Because of what I had planned today, I headed for the newer facility. You can draw from holster at the older facility but you have to use the short range, which is only 5 yards (17 feet maximum). Almost all the snow has melted and it's starting to look like spring. But don't let that fool you.
Lanes 7, 8, and 9 are used for holster practice. I got my favorite lane, #7, and took out the shelf unit.
I started with some Failure To Stop drills at 7 yards using my new Echelon 4.5F Comp, drawing from concealment. There were only a couple of other lanes in use so I was able to time my drills in between the other folks having their fun. I had brought my timer.
This was my first FTS drill, cold. Turns out that was one of the best of the 10 drills I ran. 1st shot=1.94s, 2nd shot=2.21s, head shot=3.09s.
I ran a total of 10 FTS drills with the Echelon. The one bad flyer on the head shot happened when I really tried to push my time on the 6th drill.
Here are the times. High center chest hits were mostly OK but the head shots need a little more work. I had stuck on a 3x5 card for some contrast at which to aim. Columns are 1st shot, 2nd shot, head shot with the Echelon at 7 yards.
After my FTS session I reinstalled the shelf. Here are the stars of the show today, Echelon and XD9 Mod.3.
I shot a few more targets with the Echelon before moving on to the XD9.3. Here is 10 quick shots on center mass, reload, then 10 head shots. I got a couple of shots a little wider than I wanted to.
It seems I do better with the center mass hits, tighter groups, than I do with the head shots. Probably a mental thing. I'll finish with the Echelon by putting the large mag (22, 'cause one in the chamber) on center mass, reload, smaller mag (17) on the head target. I shot both of these fairly quickly, less than one second between shots, sometimes a double-tap.
Meh, just three hits barely out of the black on the bottom target but at least all the hits are inside the 8" reactive circle. Again, the center mass group seems to be a bit tighter. Maybe I need to increase my upper body workouts in the morning. OK, I've got 10 more cartridges allotted for the Echelon. I'll put up a small silhouette and slow down a little.
OK, I've done better. Let's move on to the XD9.3. I think we decided last week that the optic was zeroed properly for 10 yards. Let's see if I can speed up my pace and not fall apart. I'm going to put 10 rounds in each of 5 mags and go to town. Here's what the target looked like after 50 rounds.
I wish that ragged hole was a little more centered but that's not bad considering how fast I was shooting and reloading. How about a glam shot?
OK, that's 150 rounds, plenty of practice for today considering I might come back tomorrow since Mrs. BassCliff is out of town.
Let's not forget to wash up after we leave the range. The range provides D-Lead soap to help keep us healthy. We can also check out the class schedule.
On the way home I decided to scoot through the robo-wash. We've still got lots of salt on the roads and I'm sure winter is not really over yet. All of you in the Northern climes know what I'm talking about.
And that was my day today. Tomorrow I'll try to get out again and take a little more time in order to get some tighter groups. Today's practice was leaning more toward self-defense rather than marksmanship, trying to combine speed and accuracy.
Yes, I did get a notification that my "gear up" special was being processed by Springfield. Sometime in the next 8 to 12 weeks I should receive three magazines and a Hex optic for my Echelon. I'm not sure if I'll actually use the optic on this pistol but I'll do something with it. I'm also expecting my sight upgrade on my VP9 to be done soon. Life is good, and the next one will be perfect.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Once again it's time for my weekly bandwidth-hogging excursion into mediocrity. It is said that one can learn even from a bad example. That is my hope for all of you who unfortunately clicked on this link. We'll try to make it fun. I now have kydex for the Echelon so before I left for the range I fixed up my Rounded Gear AIWB with DCC clips and a T1C muzzle pad for stability and comfort.
Because of what I had planned today, I headed for the newer facility. You can draw from holster at the older facility but you have to use the short range, which is only 5 yards (17 feet maximum). Almost all the snow has melted and it's starting to look like spring. But don't let that fool you.
Lanes 7, 8, and 9 are used for holster practice. I got my favorite lane, #7, and took out the shelf unit.
I started with some Failure To Stop drills at 7 yards using my new Echelon 4.5F Comp, drawing from concealment. There were only a couple of other lanes in use so I was able to time my drills in between the other folks having their fun. I had brought my timer.
This was my first FTS drill, cold. Turns out that was one of the best of the 10 drills I ran. 1st shot=1.94s, 2nd shot=2.21s, head shot=3.09s.
I ran a total of 10 FTS drills with the Echelon. The one bad flyer on the head shot happened when I really tried to push my time on the 6th drill.
Here are the times. High center chest hits were mostly OK but the head shots need a little more work. I had stuck on a 3x5 card for some contrast at which to aim. Columns are 1st shot, 2nd shot, head shot with the Echelon at 7 yards.
After my FTS session I reinstalled the shelf. Here are the stars of the show today, Echelon and XD9 Mod.3.
I shot a few more targets with the Echelon before moving on to the XD9.3. Here is 10 quick shots on center mass, reload, then 10 head shots. I got a couple of shots a little wider than I wanted to.
It seems I do better with the center mass hits, tighter groups, than I do with the head shots. Probably a mental thing. I'll finish with the Echelon by putting the large mag (22, 'cause one in the chamber) on center mass, reload, smaller mag (17) on the head target. I shot both of these fairly quickly, less than one second between shots, sometimes a double-tap.
Meh, just three hits barely out of the black on the bottom target but at least all the hits are inside the 8" reactive circle. Again, the center mass group seems to be a bit tighter. Maybe I need to increase my upper body workouts in the morning. OK, I've got 10 more cartridges allotted for the Echelon. I'll put up a small silhouette and slow down a little.
OK, I've done better. Let's move on to the XD9.3. I think we decided last week that the optic was zeroed properly for 10 yards. Let's see if I can speed up my pace and not fall apart. I'm going to put 10 rounds in each of 5 mags and go to town. Here's what the target looked like after 50 rounds.
I wish that ragged hole was a little more centered but that's not bad considering how fast I was shooting and reloading. How about a glam shot?
OK, that's 150 rounds, plenty of practice for today considering I might come back tomorrow since Mrs. BassCliff is out of town.
Let's not forget to wash up after we leave the range. The range provides D-Lead soap to help keep us healthy. We can also check out the class schedule.
On the way home I decided to scoot through the robo-wash. We've still got lots of salt on the roads and I'm sure winter is not really over yet. All of you in the Northern climes know what I'm talking about.
And that was my day today. Tomorrow I'll try to get out again and take a little more time in order to get some tighter groups. Today's practice was leaning more toward self-defense rather than marksmanship, trying to combine speed and accuracy.
Yes, I did get a notification that my "gear up" special was being processed by Springfield. Sometime in the next 8 to 12 weeks I should receive three magazines and a Hex optic for my Echelon. I'm not sure if I'll actually use the optic on this pistol but I'll do something with it. I'm also expecting my sight upgrade on my VP9 to be done soon. Life is good, and the next one will be perfect.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
