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.

My Sidearm

No, this isn't my "baby"... My babies are actually one and four years old and I love them to death -- the oldest just started her second year of preschool yesterday... *sniff*

I decided to get the digital camera out and take a few snapshots today while I had a bit of extra time on my hands. This is a Smith & Wesson Sigma 9mm semi-automatic pistol (SW9VE) -- allied forces model. It's distinctive from the other Sigmas because of the black slide... they normally have stainless steal, but I love the black on black.

It holds 16 in the magazine and one in the chamber -- field strips down into the grip, barrel, slide and recoil spring and it feels very nice in the hands. The only downside being the 12lbs (ish) trigger pull when I first bought it. I've put about 400-500 rounds through it now without a single malfunction and, I'm pleased to report, that the trigger pull has eased up a bit and it's more of a managable 10lbs or so now. I'm sure that'll work down a bit more to something that'll make it a bit easier to handle.

So, as I've mentioned, I've been working towards my CCDW license and I wanted a decent holster to carry -- I figure I'll either be carrying on the hip or on a shoulder rig, so I picked up a Blackhawk Serpa CQC (Close Quarter Concealment) holster. It offers Level II retention by an interal locking mechanism. If you look closely here, you'll see a release platform on the holster. With your natural draw grip, your indexed index finger will press that release allowing you to draw the weapon. Outside of that, it is locked firmly in the holster -- believe me, I've tugged and wrenched trying to get it out to ease my mind.

Now granted, I'm in pretty decent shape -- that shape being somewhat of an oval so, as you can see, the weapon is pretty tight up against my side, so I've actually ordered spacers from Blackhawk that'll push it out a bit and allow for a more comfortable draw.

I've been wearing it around the house today to get a feel for it, pratice draws and, all in all, break it in and it's a bit comfortable -- more so than I though. I'm glad that I made this purchase as the simple friction-based retention of my Fobus HK-1 was too unsafe for me for carrying.

Speaking of, I technically open carried for the first time today -- I left my house to walk across the cul de sac to pick up my mail and a new neighbor was on her porch which her child. Granted, I was about 50 feet away, but no reaction. As much as I'd love to do this more actively, I'd much rather wait till I get my CCDW as I need to temper my want to be somewhat of an activist about it with the fact that I'm a provider and I have a family to think about supporting.

In any case, I'll leave one more picture here before I get on with some errands I need to run -- I'd love to see any pictures or hear any stories you have about your favorite firearm.

An Introduction of Sorts

I've had other blogs in my lifetime: LiveJournal, MySpace, FaceBook... hell, I even have a YouTube Channel for my music, but nothing I've stuck to religiously throughout the years -- I'm hoping to have this be a bit of a change. I'd like to devote a bit of time to actually putting my thoughts down on paper, so to speak. Something I can look back on a few years from now and just know that it'll be around for a while. So, myself in a nutshell... I live in Delaware:

I Work: My day job consists of web and database development, mostly with PHP and MySQL. I do linux administration as well -- programming may seem like a boring job, but it can be meditative at times: you sit down with an idea and start writing and testing and, after what feels like a few short minutes, you look up and see that it's time to go. Sure, sometimes it's a bit draining mentally, but it's a great sense of accomplishment when you actually complete a milestone or finish off a project.

I Teach: During some evenings, I teach college courses related to the Computer Science field. I've been teaching 'officially' for about 4 years now, though ever since high school I've been teaching music in one form or another. Sadly, those times have passed when I actually started to need money more than I wanted to donate my time. This year is particularly exciting for me as I've been given an Introduction to Programming course... I've been waiting to teach this for some time as it's giving the kids their fundemental start to this degree -- I love the subject matter so much, that I know they'll do well. I always did when the professor had a love for the subject matter.

I Perform: Ever since elementary school I've been playing a musical instrument of some sort: saxophone, drums, flugal horn... I did drum & bugle corps for four years and also played with the University of Delaware Marching Band for two years. In my life I was the principle timpanist for the Dover Symphony, a general percussionist for the Brandywine Pops Orchestra and the principle percussionist for the Diamond State Concert Band. In the past 8 years or so, I've gotten into Irish music... the history, culture and language is just intriguing and interesting, so it's been a huge part of my life, especially for the past 4 years of playing. I play regular and low Irish Pennywhistles, octave mandolin, DADGAD guitar and bodhran, which is an Irish frame drum. Most Wednesday nights you can find me at A Piece of Ireland in Newark for their session.

I Game: Yes, computers and geekdom do go hand in hand. Aside from having played tons of pen and paper RPG's in my lifetime (D&D, SWRPG, Gamma World), computer gaming has been a large sink hole of my time. Several FPS's (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon) but, yes, I've sucumbed to that which is the World of Warcraft -- level 70 Warrior on Medivh. God, I'm pathetic.

I'm a Gun Owner: I've taken a step into the world of the 2nd Amendment by recently purchasing a pistol -- I own a Smith & Wesson Sigma 9mm, Allied Forces model. It's my first firearm and, while its got a great feel to it, the trigger pull is probably upwards of 12lbs, making for a difficult squeeze. I've seriously considered open carrying my firearm at some point as I do wish to exercise my right to; however, I'll be the first to admit that I'm somewhat afraid... I've got the full-time job, wife and two kids -- being put into a difficult situation, even though I'd be in the right, would be hard to bear in terms of making sure my family was taken care of.

I'm a Political Moderate: My political views are quite amunge here, but I strongly believe in points on both sides of the political line. Basically, I'm all for conservative fiscal policy -- less taxes, give me my money to spend my way. Yes, I also prefer Republican foreign policy, even though it's rather unpopular, some things need to be done that are tactically sound instead of emotionally motivated. On the left side, I'm all for freedom of rights: let gays marry and let people live thier lives how they want... If anyone wants to get married and be as miserable as the rest of us, more power to them. [;)] I believe that in order to understand our current political and world status, children should be taught about religion in schools -- mind you, not taught a religion; let them understand the fundemental differences in Christianity, Budhism, Islaam... as of now, most people exiting your typical high school just doesn't understand.

That's it in a nutshell -- I'm hoping to post more often, whether it be on gaming, local political issues, a range report when I head out target shooting... Keep an eye out!