Range Report: In Search Of Center, 2/11-12/24

[BassCliff]

Howdy friends and neighbors,

At the risk of getting spanked again by @KillerFord1977 , let me bring you a couple more days worth of practice trying to fix my low/left. Granted, the first couple of magazines may be ugly but then I really concentrate on the fundamentals and have a decent show. It's a mental exercise with me. I might think I'm doing all the fundamentals but I have moments where my concentration lapses. Please bear with me.

Sunday after church I went to the older facility and just about had all to myself. I was able to secure lane #1, my favorite lane.

I brought 50 rounds of LAX Ammo .45 (230gr) and 100 rounds of Blazer 9mm (124gr) and the same XD45 and XDM Elite.

The distance is 10 yards today. The first magazine with the XD45 had a few low/left, but not as low/left as I've been in the past.

I am jerking the trigger and not keeping my eye on the front sight. Let's squeeze the trigger a little slower so I can keep the sight alignment picture. Here's target #2. Better but still a couple off to the left.

OK, let's keep with the smooth, straight back trigger press and keep eyes on the front sight. Target #3 is dangerously close to all in the black.

For target #4 it finally all comes together. When I can do this consistently I'll start increasing the distance. It may take me a few more sessions.

Now I'm out of B-8 targets. I'll have to print some more. So I used this target with a 3" circle inside that big black ring. Here's the first magazine with my XDM.

That was a 10-shot string. I shot a couple of 20-shot strings that both looked about like this. I had one low but not low/left.

I ended this session on a couple of reactive targets using the XDM, 10-shot strings.

It will take me a few more sessions to tighten up these groups and be consistent. Please be patient.

I'm going to put the next day's session in the next post. That's right, three days in a row this week. Stay tuned.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I visited the newer facility on 2/12/24. The only nit-picky thing I have about this range is that the lighting on the lanes is not positioned well and it doesn't light up the fiber optic front sight very well. If I take small step back it helps, but is still not as bright as I like it. These old cataract eyes need all the help they can get. Oh well.

Again I got my favorite lane and brought the same two handguns, practicing at 10 yards. This time I brought a box of Federal 9mm 115gr. I was going through my ammo boxes and found one with a bunch of ammo that I'd bought three years ago. I figured I'd shoot it up since I've pretty much settled on the S&B and Blazer 124gr as my training ammo. Even though I'd brought along my Mark IV and some .22 ammo, I did not shoot those this session. I had to get home and let the dog out.

Starting with the XD45 with 10-shot strings, here we go again. This first magazine is pretty bad.

I slapped myself on the wrist and settled down. The second magazine is much better.

The third magazine is getting there.

When I printed up this batch of B-8 centers I had a thought. To help my eyes I put yellow and red circles in the 10 ring thinking that the contrast would help. I tried a yellow one for target #4.

I'll never be a competition shooter but hopefully I can defend myself and my loved ones without hurting innocents. Here's magazine #5. As you can tell, I lost my concentration on the second shot (hence the notation). Otherwise, not too bad.

OK, moving on to the XDM. Target #1.

I don't know what happened to target #2. I think I forgot to take a picture of it. Here's target #3.

Target #4 is getting a little wonky.

To be honest, I had a few more wonky targets with the XDM that I won't show you. But for the last magazine I put up my favorite target and did my best. Like I said, it'll take me a few more sessions to get consistent.

OK, one glam shot with the XDM. Thanks for putting up with me.

I can tell when I do everything correctly. I'll try to do a better job to remember how that feels. My goal is to do that on the first magazine and bypass the low/left with these pistols. Next time I'll compare my EDC with these. This week I've been concentrating on my newer pistols to get really familiar with them. I'm just having my fun.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Recusant]

Howdy friends and neighbors,

At the risk of getting spanked again by @KillerFord1977 , let me bring you a couple more days worth of practice trying to fix my low/left. Granted, the first couple of magazines may be ugly but then I really concentrate on the fundamentals and have a decent show. It's a mental exercise with me. I might think I'm doing all the fundamentals but I have moments where my concentration lapses. Please bear with me.

Sunday after church I went to the older facility and just about had all to myself. I was able to secure lane #1, my favorite lane.

I brought 50 rounds of LAX Ammo .45 (230gr) and 100 rounds of Blazer 9mm (124gr) and the same XD45 and XDM Elite.

The distance is 10 yards today. The first magazine with the XD45 had a few low/left, but not as low/left as I've been in the past.

I am jerking the trigger and not keeping my eye on the front sight. Let's squeeze the trigger a little slower so I can keep the sight alignment picture. Here's target #2. Better but still a couple off to the left.

OK, let's keep with the smooth, straight back trigger press and keep eyes on the front sight. Target #3 is dangerously close to all in the black.

For target #4 it finally all comes together. When I can do this consistently I'll start increasing the distance. It may take me a few more sessions.

Now I'm out of B-8 targets. I'll have to print some more. So I used this target with a 3" circle inside that big black ring. Here's the first magazine with my XDM.

That was a 10-shot string. I shot a couple of 20-shot strings that both looked about like this. I had one low but not low/left.

I ended this session on a couple of reactive targets using the XDM, 10-shot strings.

It will take me a few more sessions to tighten up these groups and be consistent. Please be patient.

I'm going to put the next day's session in the next post. That's right, three days in a row this week. Stay tuned.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Nothing to grouse about here.

 

[Bassbob]

Getting better every day brother. Keep up the nice work.

 

[nmedge]

Great shooting! Just remember if you ever have to defend yourself you won't have the time to do everything properly, you will jerk the trigger so don't let it get you down you're doing great!

 

[papa]

BassCliff , you are doing fine. I grew up living in the country so I could go out and shoot anytime I wanted to. I already had a lot of trigger time on shotguns and .22 rifles.

When I got my first centerfire handgun , A Ruger Security-Six .357 mag W/ 4" BBL. , I shot 50 to 100 rounds every night. It didn't take long till I was shooting really tight groups . However it didn't happen in just a couple weeks . I was shooting at 25 yards simply because I didn't know I shouldn't. LOL

I was young and had good eyes too. That also makes a big difference. You are doing fine so don't sweat it. Just calm yourself and put those shots where they belong.

 

[SimonRL]

I imagine @KillerFord1977 ‘s spanking hand is getting pretty calloused by now!

 

[Belt Fed]

Good Job cliff, i noticed on all the guns and targets you post, you shoot that XDM Elite better than all of them. it is a dead nuts accurate handgun and easy to shoot. Keep up with the target postings. we enjoy seeing them.

 

[belladonna]

These guys here have all said it better than I ever could. Keep up the good work...your posts inspire me