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Wilson XTAC 9mm 1911 Review

Water Monkey

The man, the myth, the monkey
Moderator
Supporter
First off... Gunslingers is a stand up company to order a Wilson from. George was great to work with.

Got my XTAC in 9mm in July. Put 500 rounds through her in the first session. Not one issue during the "break in" period. Noticed the gun shot about 1.5" low for me during my speed, precision, and transition shooting at 5 yards.

Weird but ok maybe it's me. Also noticed the gun bounced a little more in my hand than expected. I'm thinking it's the starburst grips. I bet if I get more aggressive grips it will lock into my hands better.

Took her out to a USPSA event (single stack minor) and did ok with her with only 2 range sessions. Because it was hitting low I actually hit some hostages where an inch would have made the difference between a Charlie and a hostage hit. Kinda frustrating. But my crappy position in my division was due to me in the final stage not engaging a target. All other stages I was basically leading.

Here's some video:


Kinda bummed about the low shooting so I contacted Wilson and told them my issue. Had the same issue with my Dan Wesson 1911 45 ACP with the Heine straight eights. Sent it over to Dawson's and they put on a smaller front sight and it got me more POA/POI. Talked to CS and said the standard sight is .190 so I asked to swap out for a .170 as the .175 worked for me with the DW.

Sent it over to Wilson's and within a week of them getting it I had it back in my hands. Wilson sent me a prepaid label and everything.

Took her out to the range today real quick before work and it definitely shoots more POA for me.




About 50 rounds medium to slow fire focusing on grip from 7-10 yards away. Groupings got a little lower as I was shooting faster. But still very happy with this target.




3-2-1 drill. This is where I saw the immediate improvement. The targets before the sight change were way low. And I had to place the front sight on top of the 1" square. Now it was POA when I was doing it. Target was about 5 yards out. Mag changes on each shape.




1-3-1 Drill from 5 yards away. Again my groupings went from the very bottom of the targets in the past to basically centered up with POA. Dropped 2 on the first circle... operator issue lol

Overall - extremely happy with the pistol. Now more so with the sight changed out to .170. Damn thing shoots fast, is smoother than any pistol I've ever held, and just freaking runs like a beast.

The only ammo issues I've had were with Freedom Munitions 115gr which had 2 light primer strikes. It's crap ammo in my opinion and I'm trying to burn through my remaining batches. Blazer Brass 124gr has been perfect.

I'm probably going to drop a more aggressive starburst grip on this going forward and then she will be perfect for the range and comp field for me.

Water Monkey
 
As always a fantastic gun review, not that tabletop crap some Toobers enjoy doing.

Great shooting as I expected.
 
Found a pic of the 1-3-1 drill with the .190 sight on it... you can totally tell the groupings are much lower:

35724930730_19bf7f3ceb_z.jpg
 
BTW, the pistol is fantastic but I would sooo hate on those grips. Fugly and more importantly just impractical.
 
BTW, the pistol is fantastic but I would sooo hate on those grips. Fugly and more importantly just impractical.

I really liked the way they looked. And I read where the starbursts were decent for a gripping feature.

Reality is.... they are eeeeh for grip. Coming from a rapid shooting perspective.

Black Friday I may make a move on more aggressive grips.
 
Update:

Put new aggressive starburst grips on the gun and a new green fiber optic sight. Took her to the range today with about 400 rounds of ammunition. All Freedom Munitions. That is some junk shit seriously. All factory new but purchased mostly during the great ammo scare so I'm trying to eat up the last of it. (Probably 1K left or so). Cases head stamped FM or Ammoload fed reliably for the most part. Cases headstamped IMT was under powered and had issues with it not going all the way into battery and light primer strikes. Like every other MF round. Very frustrating but I ended up getting through it by re-cocking the hammer. A lot of the IMT also didn't feed well and the bullet went into the case on like 5 occasions.

OK back to the shooting when I got her going:

3-2-1 Drill

Done at 5 yards - 3 rapid shots at the rectangle, 2 shots at the 2" Circle, 1 shot on the 1" square. Looking to mix speed, accuracy, and transitions. I really like this drill (probably one of my favorite drills).

new grips really locked your hands into the firearm and I'm able to get the slide cycling straight back better for rapid shots and falling back on target. And I can see the FO front sight even in low light conditions (put me on a lane that had a light out, didn't mind figured it was low light today lol).

41015436321_499dc0730b_k.jpg


Transition Drill:

Done at 7 yards - Did single shots across the board with the 10 round magazines. Then went for fast double taps with transitions upping my speed as I went. Again, those grips really got those double taps on point.

41015436591_870697d3ba_k.jpg
 
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