Sunday, September 9, 2007

Holy XD, Batman!

So, I hit the range with my friend Dave -- me with my Sigma and him with his two Springfield XD's (Sub-Compact and Service model), along with a .22 rifle with a sweet scope. So, I unload a magazine in his snubby and the service when we first get there just to get a feel for the gun and did fairly well with it, as you can see here.

We shoot in our respective lanes for a while and I'm doing fairly decent with my Sigma... average for a day out; a few shots out of the black but, for the most part, all in execpt when I'm doing more speedy-like shooting (shoot, get sight picture, shoot, etc).

So, Dave gives me a go at his rifle. I believe this was at 50 yards -- all the way at the end of the range, I know that much. The scope, while getting a perfect picture, was very hard to keep steady at this distance. Being my first time using a rifle, I probably should've done a benchrest or leaning/kneeling position.

This is a homemade AQT (Army Qualification Target) made by Dave -- you can find them and several other of his custom targets on his website. A good one is the correction target that tells you, based on the position, whether you're slapping at the trigger, shifting your grip, etc.

So, halfway through the shoot, Dave offers up his XD's again -- I say "Sure," and walk over to load up a magazine for his service model. I load up ten rounds and insert the magazine into the weapon. I bring to bear on the target and squeeze off four relatively quick shots (maybe across 4-6 seconds total)..... .... ...

All four, dead center.

At that point I place the weapon down and take two steps back. I turn to look at Dave and, standing next to him was a guy who was in the next lane who had a .22 plinker with a scope (obviously a target shooter). The guy nodded enthusiastically, "Nice shooting."

Dave was about as flabbergasted as I was. I picked the gun back up and squeezed off the last six rounds, all hitting within the 10 ring or bullseye. I asked Dave if I could keep the gun. When he laughed in my face, I offered to trade him my Sigma. I made sure to dust off his shirt after he was able to stand back up from laughing on the ground.
Needless to say, I'm pricing XD's.

Before we leave, he offers up the service XD once more -- since my cleanest target, at the time, already had 10 rounds from my Sigma in it, I used that. As you can see here, my Sigma was fairly accurate, with a few in the white an orage.

The XD is in a nice tight 2-3" group. His trigger pull was about 5lbs or so and mine was still around the 10lbs range... all said and done I fired 225 rounds today and my finger is killing me.

I need to either get the trigger adjusted by a gunsmith or seriously start saving for a different firearm.

4 comments:

Drew said...

The XD is definitely a great choice for your next handgun. I know I love my XD45, and most people who've had the chance to try one have gotten one.
Hell, I let a guy try my XD while I tried his P90...he was more impressed with the XD than I was with his pricey toy.

Allen said...

Sounds vaguely familiar. Haven't heard from Dave in quite a while.

Rob said...

I emailed him before Christmas -- busy moving in with his fiance and getting other affairs in order. Doing well last I heard.

Allen said...

^^ Yep, that's the Dave I'm thinking of.