TheWombat

I spent a few hours yesterday at an outdoor range with some 1:1 training with ShootNJ. I shot 542 rounds during this range visit in 42 degrees F using 4 magazines (3 Magnum Research and 1 Walther magazine). I am now up to a total of 1334 rounds (including 42 Hollow Point rounds) and the PPQ has been fantastic. The visit was a mix of steel shooting, point shooting, rapid fire, strong hand (2 & 1 handed), weak hand (2 & 1 handed), shooting while moving forward & sideways, shooting from concealed cover, timed shooting etc etc. I had only 1 failure today (my first one ever) and that was a failure to extract while shooting 1 handed (weak hand) which was due to me limp wristing - I've never really shot 1 handed weak hand. Magazines were dropped into the wet mud, reloaded and re-used and all went well. Rounds fired today included: CCI Blazer Brass 9mm Luger: 115gr FMJ (5200) Speer Lawman 9mm Luger: 115gr FMJ (53615) Sellier & Bellot 9mm Luger: 115gr FMJ (V310452) Federal American Eagle 9mm Luger: 124gr FMJ (AE9AP) Sellier & Bellot 9mm Luger: 124gr FMJ (V310492) Federal Classic 9mm Luger: 147gr Hi-Shok JHP (9MS) The quick reset trigger makes rapid fire and double taps pretty straight forward. There is a little more muzzle lift than with my heavier Sig P226R, however it was entirely manageable and I was hitting an 8" steel plate on 10-13 out of my 15 rapid fire shots on a consistent basis, and even on the moving and shooting I was consistently hitting while firing quickly and moving forwards or sideways without thinking about it too much. Therefore the recoil/muzzle flip are easily controllable once you get some time with the PPQ. These were self defense distances however it still gives a reasonable indication. I should add as well, that similar to the Nutnfancy review on youtube I did have a couple of occasions where the Magnum Research magazines didn't completely drop free (they dropped perhaps half way). I have since numbered my magazines and will pay greater attention. This only happened a couple of times out of the 35+ times I did mag changes on the latest range trip which included dropping the magazines into the wet mud. I'm not sure if this was the base of my palm touching the base of the mag, or if it was some mud/dirt on the magazine, or if the different finish of the Magnum Research magazines causes a little extra friction or something else. Overall though the Magnum Research magazines worked fine. I don't find the 'extra' space around the front sight when it sits in the rear sights an issue and it didn't seem to affect accuracy. I prefer 115gr and 124gr in the PPQ, however no real science behind it other than just what I seem to get the best grouping with. I've tried the small and large backstraps, however I prefer the medium (fitted as standard). You need a punch (or equivalent) to replace the backstraps, so from that perspective switching backstraps is not as straight forward as some of the competitors. I kept the 'pin' removed for a couple of weeks while I was trying the various backstraps and never had the backstrap accidently fall out, so for range use the pin does not seem necessary. I've bought a TommyTheis IWB holster and will be trying the PPQ as a CCW firearm to see whether it is concealable enough, or whether a PPS is significantly better. The Loaded Chamber indicator was useless, and does not seem to work, however as I don't rely on the indicator it is not an issue. I will be looking to buy a Viridian C5L for the PPQ as it is a home defense firearm, however I'm waiting to see if they have a gen-2 model coming anytime soon. Big thumbs up still for the PPQ and really enjoying it. TheWombat

Less than 5 miles from Fort Dix on Route 68 :-) TheWombat

I booked myself for some 1:1 coaching with ShootNJ and due to the weather had the option of shooting paper targets at Fort Dix Range 14 or waiting a week and trying out the new ShootNJ private range where I could shoot steel, move and shoot etc. Naturally I chose to wait the week :-) MrsWombat decided that while she hates the cold, the opportunity to shoot steel etc was compelling enough to wrap up warm and bring her Kimber Custom Aegis II (9mm 1911) along. Our instructor was Chet and we also had Mark turn up and lend a hand. We started shooting a few paper targets so Chet/Mark could see our ability, then we moved to point shooting, steel targets, weak hand (2 handed shooting), weak hand (1 handed shooting), moving and shooting (forward and side ways), rapid fire and a few other things including a competition which I lost to MrsWombat :wild: . I shot just under 550 rounds and the Walther PPQ never skipped a beat, even with magazines dropped in the mud and then re-used. Chet also brought along a combat shotgun and we took a few shots. The range is still work in progress however we still had plenty of things to shoot at. It looks promising for 2012! Apart from being a little on the chilly side when the wind picked up it was a great day and I can recommend Chet and the private range. TheWombat

Speer Lawman is my standard ammo, followed by Sellier & Bellot and American Eagle. Typically shoot 9mm 124gr Speer Lawman but also go for 115gr and 147gr when it's bargain price. They all work well in our Sigs, Walther PPQ and Kimber 1911. I've not experienced any issues with any of the 9mm Lawman ammunitions, and we also have the Speer Gold Dot 124gr+P JHP for home defense. Overall Speer Lawman seems to be a little hotter than Federal American Eagle and others. I get my best groupings typically with the Speer. I've also just bought Lawman .45 to try in my Christmas present. no complaints here and as soon as TargetSportsUSA get more 124gr in I'll be putting in an order. hth TheWombat

I've taken both NRA First Step and NRA Basic Pistol. If you are new to Firearms then NRA Basic Pistol is a much better place to start, it will cover more and you still get some range time. hth TheWombat

I would suggest a Sig then, it meets your criteria and they are nice firearms... In the same way you'll hear "everyone should own at least one Glock", I also believe "everyone should own at least one Sig" :-) TheWombat

Re: Holsters. I'm trying a few different holsters and so far my two favorite are MiltSparks VM2 and the Comp-Tac Minotaur MTAC (similar to Crossbreed SuperTuck and others). Having a Kydex shell on the leather backing is surprisingly comfortable and does make holstering/unholstering that little bit cleaner. The MiltSparks is also an excellent holster. I am still using both at present while I'm determining which will become my standard IWB holster when out of state. When standing and moving around I find these holsters are good. When sitting (e.g. in office, waiting room etc, or in car) I find access to the firearm is much more restrictive and if leaning back (e.g. when driving) then I can feel the firearm. Someone at GFH said the following a few weeks back (I assume it is taken from somewhere else?). "Carrying a firearm is meant to be comforting not comfortable". I thought it was very appropriate. hth TheWombat

come on people! stop being so serious.. my post was a cut and paste of the 'General Discussion' guidelines... with a smiley added! In hindsight my humour was too subtle and I'll go back to wrapping Christmas presents. (note: Paul has since added some text as to why he posted.) TheWombat

Sorry to be pedantic... I said the Springfield XD will be no better that the G19 or PPQ - they are all double stack and similar widths. I've met OGG and he is very skinny! If looking at the 3" sub-compact type size then I'd assume the Glock 26 is also an option? The G19 is 1.18" wide and 5" high, I don't have the XD widths to hand however when I was researching last month the specs I saw had them as wider than the G19. The PPS has a slightly longer barrel than the XD9 sub-compact and is 1.04" wide and 4.4" high. It is considered a good carry option on the CCW forums. My (albeit limited) experience of carry firearms is that grip length and width are the two critical dimensions, hence many people are able to carry 1911s as they are comparatively narrow. This is more applicable to slimmer people although also depends on what you are wearing. Anyway - it's just my viewpoint, right or wrong hth TheWombat

"2. No posting of random news articles without at least a paragraph about what made you post it or your opinion. No one cares to see a post with a link. If anyone wants to see whats going on in the news, we will go to a news sites. NJGF is not Drudge Report. I opened the post to see why it inspired you." :-) <-- this is a smiley TheWombat edited: As people seem to have misunderstood the intent of my post.. which was some subtle, dry, British humour towards Paul for posting a link without any explanation, I have increased the size of the smiley.

I can confirm Scig's post that Shore Shot have a pretty good selection of P226s in stock, including BeaverTails and non-BeaverTails. hth TheWombat

I was also considering the Glock 19 and the Walther PPQ. They will be a bit bulky for you. The Springfield XDM is going to be no better as it is double stack and fairly wife. Instead why not check out the Walther PPS, Springfield EMP etc. These are single stack and much narrower. The PPS typically has some good reviews and Hicock45 (YouTube) reviewed one and was positive. If my 1911 Commander ends up being too large for carry then I will be looking at the Walther PPS or a small Sig. hth TheWombat

I have shot the Beretta and the Baby Eagle at Shore Shot where they have them on the rental list - albeit I shot them in 9mm. The Baby Eagle was very very nice, I almost bought one. If it were me I'd take the Baby Eagle over the Beretta every time. As others have mentioned, also consider the CZ 75s and the Sigs. These are also very nice options. hth TheWombat

Since I'm new to shooting, for me the interest in how many rounds I've fired through each firearm, and the trends I am seeing is curiosity as much as anything else. I'm into data analytics so this is just an extension of that. While I may not reach 120,000+ rounds through a single firearm I am curious and interested in how many rounds I do shoot over the coming years. I'm assuming that there are a reasonable percentage of people who do keep track based on the number of applications being sold to track this type of information? TheWombat

Maybe I am just being more perceptive to the news, however the last few months seems to have an increase in gun related incidents in Europe, and also for the USA in the last few weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-16161746 A gunman has opened fire in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege, killing at least four people and wounding 123. The man also threw grenades into a crowded square from a rooftop before killing himself, reports say. He was named as Nordine Amrani, aged 33. He was known to police for firearms offences. Officials said the attacker acted alone, ruling out terrorism. The latest victim to die was an 18-month-old girl whom doctors had fought for several hours to save. Amrani was jailed for 58 months in September 2008 for possessing firearms and drugs, media reports said. ..... TheWombat

Good idea. I used DropBox and Excel (rather than Google Docs) to ensure any important files are available wherever I am, however it is the same result of having the flexibility. As I received a big discount on Office 2010 I use that at home, as it removes any importing/exporting issues since I also use it at work. TheWombat

Just make the column wider (drag it wider at the top of the column). It is because 11/23/2011 = 'Wednesday, November 23, 2011' which is wider than the current column width. It is purely cosmetic in how Excel indicates the data is wider than the cell/column width currently visible, the date is correctly recorded in the cell. TheWombat

Mrs Wombat is my favourite ornament. However she doesn't like me posting pictures :-( I may have misunderstood the topic :-) TheWombat

Agreed. Also while the Mohammed cartoons were specifically about 'ridiculing' the prophet and a religion which is at the heart of many cultures and countries, these buildings were not designed to mimic 9/11. The design took inspiration from clouds. Whether it was purposefully designed in poor taste is a separate issue. I choose to believe it is co-incidence and was not considered. While 9/11 is very significant in the USA (and quite rightly so), in many countries the awareness of 9/11 is very low, particularly 10 years on. I can say this based on having only moved to the USA 2 years ago. I appreciate the shock it can give and the memories it can bring up with people. TheWombat

Is it just you in the family that shoots? I had started to do this, however since both me and MrsWombat shoot it is much easier for the inventory to get out of step. I will probably look to add this back into my spreadsheet over the Christmas break since we are now settling down on a smaller number of ammo brands/models rather than the initial buy 2 boxes of everything in the calibers we use to see which we like. TheWombat

Rather than hijack Tony357's post (http://njgunforums.c...gh-your-pistol/) I thought it makes sense to start a new topic where people can share how they keep track of the number of rounds they have fired, what software they have tried, what worked, what didn't etc. I've recently been trying many different brands/models of ammunition so I've been keeping very specific checks on what I've been shooting. Over the last 2 months I typically put ~300 rounds into my range bag for a range visit. Rather than write in a notepad, or try and use a smart phone at the range I will bring back the empty and partially full cardboard boxes and use this to help count the number of rounds fired. I usually shoot the full set of 50 rounds in a box (or 20 for Hollow Points), however on the occasion where I only shoot a partial box (e.g. on a training course) I will write on the inside flap of the cardboard box how many rounds are left so I know for next time. If I have any failures at the range I will write it on the inside of the cardboard box flap for the ammunition in question, e.g. 1 x FTF. I therefore will know which brand/model and batch number the failure occurred with. So far though I have had no failures. Up until now I have only been taking one firearm to the range, however this will be changing soon so I will adapt to capture which firearm e.g. PPQ, P226 I was firing the ammunition with. When I get home, I put the empty ammunition boxes on my desk, open up my spreadsheet and enter the information, it takes maybe 2-3 minutes. I've tried 'GunLog' for the iPhone/iPad. The application has good potential and let's you capture lots of information about your range visits etc, even allows you to take a photo of the target and attach it etc. I just found it was too cumbersome to use quickly. The number of clicks/taps needed to enter a range visit was too many and I've now stopped using it. I do keep a check on the changes in the updated versions, however for now I don't see it as suitable for my needs. I've therefore gone back to trusty Excel. I've created a spreadsheet that let's me quickly capture my range visits, what ammunition and how many rounds I fired through which firearm and whether Hollow Point or not, also how many failures and the type of failure. The spreadsheet also allows me to enter who fired the rounds (hidden column C) if I wish to get to that level of detail. The information is then summarized on the first tab. I've attached the spreadsheet, feel free to use or not, modify or not etc. There are some further changes I will be making to it over the Christmas period. Possibly remove the hard coding for the gun model in the summary tab. Albeit as I am not adding new firearms every week it isn't much of a pain to cut and paste, then edit the new row. Possibly move all the data entry for all firearms onto a single tab, rather than a separate tab for each firearm. Pros and Cons of both methods however it may make solving 1. easier. Include which magazine number the failure happened on Possibly include a pivot table/chart to allow some further drill down from the summary page Possibly include the ability to add any major cleaning/changes to a firearm e.g. changing/replacing springs other stuff I've not thought of yet. hth TheWombat note: I have removed the personal information from the spreadsheet and added in some dummy data in places. Shooting Summary.zip

Cheap, common, lightweight, plastic = Glock 17/19 Cheap, uncommon, midweight, plastic = Sig 2022 Expensive, somewhat common, plastic, different mag release control = H&K P30/L Cheap, uncommon, lightweight, plastic, different mag release control = Walther PPQ or P99A/S Somewhat expensive/expensive (depends on model), somewhat common, metal = Sig P226/229 (or P228 Used) etc etc. Could also through in the Springfield Armory XD/XDM (has a grip safety) and others into the mix. (my price band criteria are < $550, $551-$700, $701-900, $900+ as being cheap, somewhat cheap, somewhat expensive, expensive Plenty of choices, which is more suitable depends on what your other criteria are. e.g. carry, range, price, weight, commonality (more common usually means greater choice of holsters, magazines, aftermarket parts) etc TheWombat

Welcome... The PPQ is great, however I am a little biased... http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/29106-walther-ppq/ :-) TheWombat

My wife has a Kimber 1911 in 9mm.... http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/29105-kimber-custom-aegis-ii/ It is a nice firearm. If you're looking for a firearm for home defense then I'd take the Sig route with the 226 or 229 as the extra rounds are very useful. If you're after a range firearm then the 1911 is a nice addition to any collection. If it was me I'd probably go for the STI Spartan or STI Trojan depending on how close to the $1000 you want to get. My wife went for the Kimber as it has a lightweight frame and she prefers the looks. The feedback on Kimber quality seems to be hit and miss, however my wife's Kimber has had no issues so far. hth TheWombat

I've just returned from the Force on Force Civilian Simunition Training Level 1 at GunForHire and I can say that it is excellent! We did have a technical hitch which meant no recorded video (the camera took a dive to the floor) of ourselves to review which was the only downer of the day ! I won't ruin what the session entails, however I will say that it reinforces my belief that just going to a range and shooting at bits of paper at 7, 10, 15 and 25 yards in no way prepares you for a real life scenario, and at worst case can provide you with an over-inflated self confidence. I have a greater understanding as to why real life statistics show that only a very low percentage of shots fired actually hit the target, and even fewer are fatal. If you are serious about being better prepared for a home invasion, or looking to CCW out of state then I can thoroughly recommend both you and your partner going to a Sumunitions course as part of a broader awareness/training regime. If nothing else it will help you understand how you are likely to react to a situation, how you should react to improve your survival chances and it will also make you more aware of your own home. I attended today without MrsWombat however we will both be attending in the very near future. Thanks to the crew at GFH for another good day TheWombat