Practice, practice, practice. Yes. I like old jokes. Sue me. I’m going somewhere with this.
I’ve written on this before, but I’d like to re-visit the idea of regular practice.
My day job is doing tech support for tax preparation software. No, not those guys. Unless you’re an accountant or tax attorney you’ve probably not heard of what I support. The point is, from January to mid-April I was a touch busy. Overtime during the week, weekends, etc.
Between that and a minor but chronic health issue I had earlier this year, my range time was non-existent.
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The results of that are…
Look at the pictures in a previous post: https://concealedcarryforbigguys.com/at-what-range-do-you-practice. It was pitiful. Especially the 25 yard one, but even the closer ones weren’t really great.
Now, in my defense, some of those were with a Glock I’m still learning about, and some were with a Sig Sauer whose slide is currently on its way back from New Hampshire because the front sight was missing part of the high visibility stuff that’s supposed to be there.
Still. I was still unimpressed with myself.
I went to the range again last week. If the problem is that my shooting is terrible, then the solution is to do it more.
Also, I kind of bought a new gun, so…
On the left is a Browning Hi-Power that I bought a few years ago. On the right is one of the new Springfield SA-35‘s. That gun has been on my “want” list since they came out and one of my local gun stores finally had one. Now I have one.
This isn’t a review or anything, but these are the two guns I took to the range the other day. Basically different iterations of the same gun, so shooting them back-to-back seemed logical enough.
And when I do an actual review of the Springfield it will likely have a lot of comparisons to the original.
Five yards.
Top part of the target is the Springfield, bottom is the Browning. Three mags each, so 39 rounds from the Browning and 45 from the Springfield.
This is somewhat better. On the other hand, it’s with different guns than the last time I went out. So it’s not a perfect comparison.
Still, trigger time is trigger time and I really need to stick with this.
Ten yards.
Same as before. Springfield top, Browning bottom. Three mags each.
The ones in the top left, in the vicinity of the little bullseye, are from a Smith & Wesson 910. I had some time to kill before the next break and it was just sitting there, so…
Anyway, the groups opened up a bit as expected. Not as bad as last time, though.
Where’s the 25 yard one?
Didn’t do that this week. I’d intended to. See all the tape on that 10 yard one? It was windy. Very, very windy. And those targets I have are large and flimsy, so susceptible to the wind. The 10 yard one probably has a few holes in the paper behind the tape since it came loose after about one mag each and I had to re-tape it to finish the string.
So I ran out of time.
I bought some heavier, smaller, bulls eye-type targets last week for use on the windier days.
Conclusion.
Again, I’ll point out, different guns. And these particular guns are single action, hammer-fired. The Glock and Sig are striker-fired. I prefer the hammer but I’m honestly not sure if that’s just a preference thing or if it really makes a difference to my shooting.
Guess I have something else to test now, yes? So more range time required.
For example, the Glock vs the Springfield would make an interesting comparison to see which one I can shoot better.
I’ve asked around and may have a lead on some open desert type places. That will make it easier to get out when I can instead of conforming to someone else’s schedule.
