Some thoughts from shooting this weekend

[rauchman 3]

Greetings,

 

Just some random thoughts from some pistol time this weekend....

 

I had the fortunate occassion to shoot this weekend, as well as the weekend previous. I do lots of dry fire trigger presses at home, but nothing can mimick shooting, like actually shooting the gun.

 

I brought a Gen2 G17, German made Sig P226 w/ E2 grip and S&W M&P40 using an M&P9mm barrel w/ mag.

 

Sig P226 - I really used to hold the P226 as the standard of accuracy and capability. I hadn't shot the Sig in a while and wanted to get some time on it. I've come to the conclusion that after shooting Glocks/M&P's/recently added PPQ, I'm not that big a fan of DA/SA triggers anymore. My buddy was w/ me and he had his P226 there as well, along w/ his P229 in 40/357Sig. I'm fortunate that my Sig has a relatively nice trigger in DA. Much lighter than my buddy's. I'm finding that I like shooting DA better than SA. Never thought I'd say that. Ultimately though, as much as I used to like the full size Sig, I'm liking other pistols better. My wife loves the P226, otherwise I would consider selling it.

 

Gen2 G17 - I've haven't had this pistol out to the range in a while either. For a while, I was shooting it on a regular basis and was able to perform very tight 5 round slow fire groups w/ it at 15 yards. I was not happy w/ last weekend's performance w/ it. While my shooting was not bad, it wasn't great. I was also surprised that I found it "recoily". I'd never noticed that before. I always perceived it being a very soft shooter. The port to the left of me was occupied by 2 guys shooting Gen4 G17's. They were nice enough to let me put 5 rounds through the latest iteration of Glocks 1st pistol and I was ...... really impressed. I shot 5 rounds w/ the 1st 3 clover leafing at 10 yards or so. Recoil felt much different than my G17. Seemed quicker/snappier, but less felt recoil. Trigger felt pretty nice as well. If I were going for a new 9mm, this would be very near the top of the list. The whole pistol felt tighter and more solid.

 

M&P - As mentioned above, this is an M&P40 w/ an M&P 9mm barrel and 9mm 15rnd mag. This pistol was sort of a project gun for me. I installed the Apex sear, rounded the firing pin safety in the slide and polished the snot out of all the contact points in the trigger mechanism. It is now a very nice trigger. Also relieved the area under the trigger guard a bit. I bought this pistol used at the Bullet Hole a couple of years ago. I must confess that I always thought the pistol had great potential, but I had a hard time gelling w/ it. Well, I'm learning to LOVE this pistol. 2nd shot recovery is effortless and it tracks very well during recoil. Also, I found the recoil to me more manageable than even the metal P226, very very easy to control. I found myself pushing the "no rapid fire" rule and getting 3 rnd clover leafs at 10 yards. 5 rnd spreads of less than 4" at 10 yards in 3 seconds. When I dropped the speed to 5 rnds / 4 seconds, groups shrunk to sub 3". I always get 3 great shots together and then 2 outlyers. Decided to try 1 handed shooting. Strong hand (right hand) resulted in a clover leaf. Very proud of that group as it's the best Iv'e ever fired 1 handed. Weak hand needs A LOT of work though. My weak hand results were the dreaded shotgun patterns. The polar opposite of the excellent strong hand 1 handed group. At the end of my range session, if you told me I could only have 1 pistol, the M&P would be it. I'm having thoughts of selling 1 or 2 of the pistols I hardly ever shoot, and getting a 2nd M&P. My Glocks are getting nervous.

 

Oh yeah, some other thoughts.....

 

Bullet Hole tends to draw lots of LEO's to their range. Kudos to the cops who I see actually trying to learn how to shoot their pistol well. However, based on how well I see the majority of LEO's shoot, they need to learn to shoot better. The guys next to me w/ the Gen4 G17's were shooting shotgun patterns and claimed to be LEO's. When I shot a sub 2" group w/ their pistol they realized it wasn't the pistol that was inaccurate. Towards the end of my session, a couple occupied the port to my right. The guy was teaching his girlfriend how to shoot. That's always a cool thing, but looking at the guy's grip on this Sig Elite P220 and the shotgun spreads he was achieving, I was very very tempted to offer some suggestions on how to acheive better groupings. I found myself not saying anything though, as not to make the guy look bad in front of his S/O.

 

New Year's resolution - Get formal pistol/carbine training & compete!!!

 

Thanks for reading my rambling.

[iCARRY 0]

Most LEOs only get real firearms training in the academy. Then they only shoot every 6 months to qualify. It's kind of sad, it should be a monthly training so that if and when we have to shoot, we can hit our intended target.

[iCARRY 0]

I shoot my M&P 40 better then my glock. I love the M&P

[rauchman 3]

Most LEOs only get real firearms training in the academy. Then they only shoot every 6 months to qualify. It's kind of sad, it should be a monthly training so that if and when we have to shoot, we can hit our intended target.

Totally agree with you. It's ashame that LEO's don't get more support for shooting. If I was carrying a gun for a living and heading into harms way, I'd want to be the best shooter I could possibly be. I can't say I know many LEO's, but outside of a few exceptions, of the one's I've met, none were what I'd call gun people.

 

I shoot my M&P 40 better then my glock. I love the M&P

I take it from your other post that you're an LEO? If so, do you carry the M&P40? Gotta say, especially in the .40, the M&P is a great pistol. Stay safe!

[iCARRY 0]

Yes I am a LEO. My department issues us the M&P 40. Great gun, never had an issue, I have used every ammo known to man through it and it functions flawlessly.

[rauchman 3]

Yes I am a LEO. My department issues us the M&P 40. Great gun, never had an issue, I have used every ammo known to man through it and it functions flawlessly.

 

Excellent! Curious, do you have to keep the gun stock or can the Apex sear/trigger parts be installed? I found the Apex sear made a difference.

 

Anyway, stay safe!

[iCARRY 0]

Stock

[Blueskybob 12]

+1 raunchman!

[NJdiverTony 27]

Greetings,

 

Just some random thoughts from some pistol time this weekend....

 

I had the fortunate occassion to shoot this weekend, as well as the weekend previous. I do lots of dry fire trigger presses at home, but nothing can mimick shooting, like actually shooting the gun.

 

I brought a Gen2 G17, German made Sig P226 w/ E2 grip and S&W M&P40 using an M&P9mm barrel w/ mag.

 

Sig P226 - I really used to hold the P226 as the standard of accuracy and capability. I hadn't shot the Sig in a while and wanted to get some time on it. I've come to the conclusion that after shooting Glocks/M&P's/recently added PPQ, I'm not that big a fan of DA/SA triggers anymore. My buddy was w/ me and he had his P226 there as well, along w/ his P229 in 40/357Sig. I'm fortunate that my Sig has a relatively nice trigger in DA. Much lighter than my buddy's. I'm finding that I like shooting DA better than SA. Never thought I'd say that. Ultimately though, as much as I used to like the full size Sig, I'm liking other pistols better. My wife loves the P226, otherwise I would consider selling it.

 

M&P - As mentioned above, this is an M&P40 w/ an M&P 9mm barrel and 9mm 15rnd mag. This pistol was sort of a project gun for me. I installed the Apex sear, rounded the firing pin safety in the slide and polished the snot out of all the contact points in the trigger mechanism. It is now a very nice trigger. Also relieved the area under the trigger guard a bit. I bought this pistol used at the Bullet Hole a couple of years ago. I must confess that I always thought the pistol had great potential, but I had a hard time gelling w/ it. Well, I'm learning to LOVE this pistol. 2nd shot recovery is effortless and it tracks very well during recoil. Also, I found the recoil to me more manageable than even the metal P226, very very easy to control. I found myself pushing the "no rapid fire" rule and getting 3 rnd clover leafs at 10 yards. 5 rnd spreads of less than 4" at 10 yards in 3 seconds. When I dropped the speed to 5 rnds / 4 seconds, groups shrunk to sub 3". I always get 3 great shots together and then 2 outlyers. Decided to try 1 handed shooting. Strong hand (right hand) resulted in a clover leaf. Very proud of that group as it's the best Iv'e ever fired 1 handed. Weak hand needs A LOT of work though. My weak hand results were the dreaded shotgun patterns. The polar opposite of the excellent strong hand 1 handed group. At the end of my range session, if you told me I could only have 1 pistol, the M&P would be it. I'm having thoughts of selling 1 or 2 of the pistols I hardly ever shoot, and getting a 2nd M&P. My Glocks are getting nervous.

 

I totally hear you, man... I used to be a big DA/SA fan until I picked up my M&P 9! Now the M&P is my goto pistol and I just absolutely love it. I was a little unsure of how much I liked it when I first picked it up, as I had to adjust to shooting a striker fired gun... but after a few outings with it, it just kept growing on me. My accuracy with it now is so much better when compared to my other DA/SA pistols. Follow up shots are effortless and even though it's lighter than my other all-metal pistols, the recoil on it is never a problem. I installed the entire Apex DCAEK kit on it and I've been VERY happy. I've been toying with the idea of selling my Beretta 92A1 which I really like... because I keep finding myself bypassing the Beretta and just going for the M&P every time I go to the range. I just love shooting the damn thing.

[rauchman 3]

I totally hear you, man... I used to be a big DA/SA fan until I picked up my M&P 9! Now the M&P is my goto pistol and I just absolutely love it. I was a little unsure of how much I liked it when I first picked it up, as I had to adjust to shooting a striker fired gun... but after a few outings with it, it just kept growing on me. My accuracy with it now is so much better when compared to my other DA/SA pistols. Follow up shots are effortless and even though it's lighter than my other all-metal pistols, the recoil on it is never a problem. I installed the entire Apex DCAEK kit on it and I've been VERY happy. I've been toying with the idea of selling my Beretta 92A1 which I really like... because I keep finding myself bypassing the Beretta and just going for the M&P every time I go to the range. I just love shooting the damn thing.

 

I see I'm not the only one! Yup, like you, outside of scratching the itch once in a while, the DA/SA's barely get used anymore. I understand the newest production M&P's have better triggers and tighter barrel lockup on the 9mm's for better accuracy. Seriously toying w/ getting rid of some of my inventory that hardly ever gets shot, and getting another M&P, or 2, or more. Also have an M&P45 that shoots pretty nicely. My Glocks are getting nervous.