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RANGE REPORT: Handguns

I keep my shooting practical for my intended purposes. Handgun I shoot out to 15 yards. For fun I shoot at 20-25 yards. As long as I can hit the silhouette at that range I'm confident. Most handgun encounters are less than 7 yards so I have a wide variety of drills that I practice including drawing and shooting from the chest at 1 yard.
 
I had a really good range session today. Well, for me anyway. I took my Glock 23, 27, and 42 to the range and put a little over 50 rounds through each. I have been shooting low left regularly with these pistols, but today I shifted my grip to where the back strap hit me just inboard of the muscles under my thumb, allowing me to engage the trigger deeper toward the first joint of my index finger. I then really concentrated on the front sight, taking up trigger pre-travel and following through to the trigger reset and........
Viola! A nice, fist sized, well centered group appeared. I used a Target Tutor target and kept an open mind to the suggestions on the target. It appears that I jerk the trigger a lot and don't even realize it. I had several low centered shots as a result.
It's a work in progress, but progress has been made.
 
Focus on the front sight and trigger control are the 2 biggest things in putting that bullet where you want it. Congrats. It's easier said than done. Get some dummy rounds and do a ton of dry firing. It's extremely helpful in getting that muscle memory down.

Did my 3rd competition the past weekend and came in 7th place out of 21 competitors in my division. Would have placed top 5 but I FUBARed the last stage like a goon lol
 
I have done that numerous times in 3D archery competitions. I know what I need to score to get to 400 or whatever, and screw it up by blowing a 20 yard chipshot.
It feels good to shoot good and I left the range in a good mood and feeling confident in my choice of EDC, rather than frustrated and full of questions.
I carry these 3 pistols daily and finally feel like I am getting a handle on them.
We will see though. I had 2 GSSF Matches in a row that I scored >490/500, which left me thinking I had finally got it, then only to go back to shooting <475/500. Frustrating.
At my local GSSF Indoor league I managed to finish second in "A" class with a 3 round average of 476/500. Missed 1st place by 3 points. I was shooting my G17.
I also finished second in "B" class with my G41 with an average of 447.5/500. Missed first by 2.5 points. I shoot at Point Blank West in Cincinnati.
 
No, I don't. I have never recorded myself doing anything actually. Probably ought a start. It would be a good way to see what I am doing wrong.
 
Well at least I got outside for a few hours... This was close range too, 15-20-ish yards LOL! At least not every shot was a miss, I did hit the bullseye a couple times LOL.



I stink with revolvers.
Mark
 
Well, I think it's dead.

15-20 yards is no small feat with a handgun Tom, and it's about twice the distance that I typically see the average pistol shooter punching paper...
 
I did even worse with my Colt Police Positive, even though I love that little .32 Colt New Police Cartridge and the revolver that goes with it, I still need to practice... It is so light and the front sight is made by Gillette that I'm going to have to really shoot it all I can.
Mark
 
Working on a new tighter grip for faster follow up shots for competition. Trying to decrease muzzle flip.

New higher grip slow fire 10 rounds - 5 yards:

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Doing strings of 2 slow shots, reload, 2 rapid shots and 3 rapid shots for 40 rounds (7 yards):

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My forearms were rocked with the new grip and pressure being applied to steady the gun for rapid shots.

Overall seems to be a really good grip for faster shooting and it keeps the shots center mass like a boss!
 
Sorry no pics, but I have two reports:Chiappa Rhino 200DS, shot with 38P, and Sig Suaer P320 subc.

These guns are so different. The Rhino has no muzzle flip and little recoil, it's very easy to get back on target. Trigger pull is a little heavy DA and hair light on SA--the cocking "hammer" is tough to engage. Overall, the trigger is very smooth and the gun is very fun to shoot. More accurate in my hands than my S&W 686. The rear sights are intergal to the hammer and low profile, making it difficult to sight Y axis. Also, I thought it was fugly on first sight, but now I think it's a fine looker.

The Sig 320: this is one smooth gun! The best trigger in my limited experience and easy to rack. This thing flips like crazy, however, but despite that I shot more accurately at 7yrds than ever. As I have the sub compact, the grip is short and the gun is top heavy, leading to the flip; I'm hoping a mag spacer will help me control it. Overall, I like it! Two thumbs forward!!
 
shot a Sig 229 in 40cal day before yesterday.....really nice feeling gun.I was ok with it , pulled out the CZ and started waxing a silhouette at 100 yards lol......still the undefeated champion , the CZ just makes you a superstar

Weekend before this guy come moseying over to the bench to talk reloading
By the end of it he had my CZ in his hand....multiple $1000+ weapons on the table but he ends up going through the CZ. Pulls up and gives a dry fire..."trigger nicer than my Kimber" he says. I say "wanna shoot it?" He says "sure"....bang bang.......bang.........bang.............bang.
He says" the second one was unintentional", "but it landed next to the first one"..... "I slowed down and just about made one hole!"...he roars laughing....he wants to know my load , I tell him .
I asked how she felt, he said "real good"....."better than my Kimber, more accurate too.......I really thought I had a winner there" I said " you do, this one is just a freak"........he said " I want one"
 
^ I had to buy a CZ just to see what all the fuss was about.

Then I had to buy another one just to make sure the first one wasn't a freak of engineering. Nope. Can't tell you how much fun it is to just keep backing up in the pistol pit, out to distances most folks only run their carbines. Back to 75-100yd I'm still ringing steel with every shot...
 
LAZY EYED SNIPER said:
^ I had to buy a CZ just to see what all the fuss was about.

Then I had to buy another one just to make sure the first one wasn't a freak of engineering. Nope. Can't tell you how much fun it is to just keep backing up in the pistol pit, out to distances most folks only run their carbines. Back to 75-100yd I'm still ringing steel with every shot...
Click to expand...
there was 5 of us from work shooting day before yesterday and the guy that owned the Sig is a CNC machinist on the side getting into making AR parts....he bought the Sig because he like the manufacturing process.....knows nothing of the history or company.
we were sighting in an AR of another guy who just finished a build and walked to the 100 yard to change targets.
I grabbed an old water bottle and said "you want to see some 9mm shooting?" He said "sure"
I asked him to point at where he wanted me to put the bottle. He looked back at the benches ......I said "no" pointing at the berm, "i prefer mid berm"...he smiled and said "mid berm it is"....it was cool, he scurried back to the benches , swept away the AR like it was a spent target and looked at me like "you are talking out your ass".
I fold up the rifle bag for a rest , he gets on a rifle scope, the other guy gets on a spotting scope. I shoot, 6 inches ones says and it goes like that for 4 shots then I hit it.......he looked at me like he saw a ghost "you hit it !".....not the first bottle i took off the 100 yard berm with the CZ.
He instantly forked over his Sig and I could not hit it for the life of me ...but he was running WWB......some of them were landing 20 yards short in the dirt, we put some through the chrono and they had about an 80fps spread
 
Water Monkey said:
Working on a new tighter grip for faster follow up shots for competition. Trying to decrease muzzle flip.
Click to expand...

It's been about 6 months since you wrote that. How is progress? I've got a tip that helped me years ago and I teach it successfully, so I'll pass it along.

First, we know we can't eliminate recoil, rotation and flip. [See Newton, Isaac] More gun weight and less projectile momentum will help.
Main thing the shooter can do is get a good high grip and appropriate hand balance. Something like squeezing 25% to 35% with the trigger hand and the rest with stronger grip of support hand.

Then, for practice shoot at NO target, just a bare berm and concentrate on watching where the front site moves during firing and cycling. Watch the pattern of lift, rotation, and return. Get used to the gun's resonate tempo as it responds to your grip restoring the sight line. Your .45 will be different from your 9mm. A 1911 has a different pattern that a Glock .45 cal.

After a dozen of so shots of watching the sight movement, set up a target about 5-7 yds and shoot pairs w/ slowly increasing tempo. You will find a cadence that you can maintain pretty tight 2 shot groups.

Then get faster a tad as you find out how short of an interval will still allow you to keep your groups, not really tight, but with in an area that you'd need for self-defense applications. Say the 8" diameter down zero zone on an IDPA target. Paper plates are good. After you get your short distances down, increase the challenge by backing off bit by bit to 15 yds. Make mental notes about how fast you can shoot and keep the holes close enough together.

Have a friend act as an observer on some session to give you feedback.

Here is something to look forward to. After you find your first comfortable rhythm where the sight moves up [and to the side a tad] then back down below the target then up before the next bang... you will find a way to fire before the barrel goes below that target, almost w/out actually seeing that perfect sight picture. I can't type words that will explain it, but when I'm teaching I can tell the shooter, "OK, Bud. Here is what your cadence sounds like. CLAP.........CLAP.........CLAP. Now try it like CLAP....CLAP....CLAP while you are dragging the sight down thru the centerline of the target." Rinse, repeat.

If I can, I'll try to get a video of this. It would save a few hundred keystrokes and make more sense. Anybody out there write this better than I have?

Well, I checked a few videos online and shootingcoach explains it clearer than I did above.
 
This is like music in that it's all about timing. Once you learn the instrument, understand its response time, then you learn how to make it vibrate the way you want to.

You just balance the recoil and make the same motions every time, and then you're going to get it in the same spot every time.

Of course like music it does take practice and it's a lot different with a single action revolver, but I've learned to do it even with that.

It's a much slower tune than playing the XD-S 9 millimeter though.

You can really tell when I'm using the voice recognition software. Nobody would ever type out the word millimeter!
 
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