Imaginary bad guys made of paper beware!

[roxybisquaint]

I know you're all tired of hearing about my new gun, but I had to post about it again. The man and I went shooting tonight and I can say with certainty now that the Springfield XDM is a sweet, sweet gun.

Even better news: I have overcome my trigger pull problems and I shot really well. At one point I tried the man's Glock just to see if the gun itself was a factor in how well I was doing. Nope. I've only tried his gun a few times before, but I took a single shot and put it straight through the center of the target :)

My shots always had a tendency to go down/right, but I'd recently gotten some dry fire rounds and had been practicing my trigger pull. Once I really paid attention to what I was doing, I discovered that I was pulling the gun to the right with my trigger finger and pulling the gun down with my support hand. I corrected that and kept practicing. When we went to the range tonight, I got to put my practice into practice and the result was that I kept slamming rounds though the bullseye. I even made some good headshots (and I've always sucked at headshots).

This was my worst target of the evening:



My hand was getting pretty fatigued by then and I had a few stray shots. But it's the only target that was exclusively mine (we'd been sharing targets before this). On my best target of the evening, I actually blew out a whole section of the red area.

Comments

[schmacky0.livejournal.com]

remind me to never piss you off.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

hehehehe

Well, unless you were standing in the line of fire at the target range, menacing me with a weapon, I think you're pretty safe ;)

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

::impressed whistle::

::pulls on ballistic vest::

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

LOL

So that vest of yours, how heavy is it?

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

Areal density 0.94 lbs/sq. ft. so... I guess around four or five pounds for the whole vest? I'm not sure exactly about the square footage (it's an Extra-Large/Regular but seems to have had someone with broader shoulders in mind... should have gotten a Large/Long instead), but I shelled out an extra $100 or so for it because it's about two-thirds the weight of a typical Level IIIA vest.

Honestly, it's pretty light. I notice the stiffness and the warmth when I wear it, but the weight isn't really an issue.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Oh that's not bad at all. I thought those things were heavier. The extra cash for the lighter weight was surely money well spent.

[the-narration.livejournal.com]

Very much so. It'd be a lot heavier, thicker and less flexible if I'd gone with the cheaper one. As it is, it's not uncomfortable and if I wear something over it, no one's likely to notice it. Even people who know I'm wearing it only notice a slight thickening of the torso.

(Of course, as soon as you buy something they come out with something better. The next catalog had a vest that was even lighter plus Taser-proof for $1000. Too rich for my blood, but now I've a sore case of vest envy.)

It could have been a lot heavier. The 8x10 metal trauma plates for distributing impacts and stab protection (that I don't wear because they're super obvious, even through clothes) would add another 20 oz. each. And since they're completely rigid the back plate was a little rough on my spine to be wearing ten hours straight. If I got Level III or IV ceramic plates for stopping rifle rounds, I'd at least triple the weight: the lightest Level III plate is almost 4 lbs. and the heaviest Level IV is almost 8 lbs. (And you need a front plate and a back plate.) So a real hardcore tactical vest like a soldier might wear could be more along the lines of 20 lbs. instead of my concealable five pounder.

[johnnypate.livejournal.com]

Now enter some competitions and see what stress does for you. Also, you didn't mention how far away that target was: not bad for 25m - for a start

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Ha. Yeah, I don't think I'm *quite* ready for competition. That was at 25 ft.

[johnnypate.livejournal.com]

7 yards - beginner's distance, just so you can convince yourself that you're actually able to hit the paper. 20/25 yards is a better distance to see what's going on with your shooting. You'll get there in no time if you apply yourself. Of course, the pistol is only to cover your embarrassment about being caught without your rifle.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

the pistol is only to cover your embarrassment about being caught without your rifle

LOL. The range I shoot at only goes to about 75 ft (they've got 25 & 50ft marks but I think the far end is 75ft). I've owned guns for many years, but didn't really start taking target shooting seriously until I got my Glock last summer. Before that, we'd go to the range very infrequently. Now we go at least once a month. Now that I think I've finally resolved all my issues, I'll be working on improving my accuracy. I don't think I'll waste any bullets on shooting beyond 50ft though.

[johnnypate.livejournal.com]

In The Real World[TM] pistols get used at conversational distances and it's a whole different ballgame. However, when chastising imaginary bad guys made out of paper you're going to be looking to use that 75ft distance before long - or you're doing something wrong.

Here's something interesting to try, though it works better if you spring it on someone who's not expecting it: get right up close to the target so you can touch it - then draw your pistol and shoot.