Range trip, 4-20-08 w/ Ruger SP101 & SA XD9 Tactical, couple others

[JoeWilliams]

Took our weekly (usually) trip to the range yesterday, with plenty of ammo. It was windy as all get out, got rained on a time or two, and a little chilly, but ended up being a decent day weather wise.

I did most all of my shooting with the Ruger SP101, while Cathy shot her XD9 for the most part. We took the Security Six and Model 59 along, but didn't shoot them much. I had 250 rounds of .357 ammo (30 factory rounds, rest handloads) and 20 rounds of Hornady XTP +P .38s. for the SP101, a 100 rounds of two different 147 grain lead round nose flat point 9mm handloads to try out, and a couple hundred rounds of Remington UMC 115 grain FMJ and WWB 115 grain ball, mostly to generate some brass.

We've been adding some things to our shooting besides just standing there blasting targets. Cathy did more work from the holster, continued learning to engage multiple targets, evaulate her hits and decide whether to apply a little more 9mm medicine to them. She keeps trying to go to fast, but as the video shows she still doesn't have a very good draw, so I keep having her take it slow. She also tends to throw her basics away when trying to shoot a little quicker, so again I'm trying to slow her down a bit till she's got it right. Speed will come naturally, once she's got the basics down. I kept yelling at her yesterday, wanted her to feel a little tiny bit of pressure and perform under it. It did affect her performance a bit, but she adapted and did well.




She also worked on drawing, engaging to slide lock, taking a knee behind cover to reload, and re-engaging from behind cover (or at least the bench.) She learned that she's got magazine pouches for a reason, but pants pockets are often much more convenient. So, she learned that getting your magazine out of the front pocket of your jeans when you are kneeling behind cover isn't nearly as easy as grabbing it off of the bench!

I worked on the same things with the SP101, then added engaging from very close range while retreating from the target. I fired 50 rounds by starting about 2-3 yards back, drawing and engaging while moving away from the target, reloading, and re-engaging. Didn't do to badly, I suppose, as far as getting hits. I've attached a target below, 50 out of 50. Need to work a bunch on my technique, though. I'm rusty and slow. Reloads really need a lot of work. Again, pants pocket sure is a convenient and discrete place to carry speedloaders, but actually getting to them that way can be a bit of a chore.



Actually, could use a lot more work on reloading. Not only can the speedloaders be a chore to reach in your pants, they become pretty darned useless if you twist the knob a bit early and send your ammo flying, and leave your spares sitting on the bench. Since we were just at the range, having to be rescued by my 8 y/o was merely amusing.




Then I got to wondering how well I was actually doing on the moving and engaging part, since I wasn't seeing the sights until maybe the last shot, so I did another 50 rounds of just that. Didn't do to badly, I guess. Hit 48/50, but still slower than I'd like.



I'm falling more and more in love with the 3" Ruger SP101. It just a gun that shoots naturally for me, and is quite comfortable to do a lot of shooting with. I put 250 rounds through it yesterday, including the first full power .357s I've put through it. Fired 30 rounds of WWB 110 grain JHPs, and found them easily controllable. I know the 125 grain and 158 grains would kick a bit more, and am not sure how much I'd like those. The one real knock I've got against the little gun is that with the full power .357s the trigger guard rapped the knuckle of my middle finger with each shot. When I first got it, I felt that the edges of the trigger were a little to sharp, but I don't notice it now. I may paint the front sight, also. It can kind of disappear in dim lighting. Still, I put 20 rounds through it rapid fire in the aforementioned fire five, take an knee reload and fire five more rounds drill at 20 yards, and got good hits with decent speed. The round can be very flashy, though, and the muzzle blast kind of rattled my teeth. I think I'll stick with 125 .38 +Ps. I shot much tighter groups with them, and found them much more controllable for repeat hits in rapid fire. The video below is of the last 10 round of the 110 grain .357s I had. The gun, by that point, had more than two hundred rounds through it, and the chambers were starting to get a little sticky. Generally, rounds go in and out of the chamber easily, without any sticking at all. These obviously weren't rapid fire. I was just shooting to use up the ammo, and see what kind of group I could get on some paper plates.



The .357 handloads are really more of a .38 +P load. 158 grain lead round nose flat points from Roger's Better Bullets at Kings Shooter Supply over 4.5 grains of Bullseye and Federal 100 primers, in Remington Brass. Should be giving about 900 fps out the the SP101's three inch barrel. I've thought about bumping up the power a bit, but I don't think I will. From a rest, I can shoot groups out of both the SP101 and the Security Six with all rounds touching, and out of the SP101 the loads are fun to shoot, and it's one I can do a lot of shooting with. With the standard grips on the Security Six, this load still causes the top of the grip to dig into our hands. Not fun at all. If I can't find some Pachs to try on it, Cathy is starting to think we should trade it for something else. A bit more kick than 125 grain .38 special +Ps, but a very comfortable load to shoot out of the little gun. I think this load will be a staple for me. Not to mention this load produces no leading. I may try some loads with W231 to see if they produce less smoke and powder fouling, but if those don't work I'm quite happy with what I've got.

We were shooting two different 9mm handloads, both using 147 grain lead roundnose flat points, again from Roger's Better Bullets. One was sitting on top of 3.2 grains of Bullseye, Federal 100 primers, mixed brass, loaded to 1.120 OAL. The other was 3.3 grains of W231, Federal 100 primers, mixed brass, loaded to 1.135 OAL. The Bullseye load should be giving about 950 fps, and produced very good accuracy out of the Model 59, and good accuracy out of the XD9. The XD9 produced 2" groups with this load, the Model 59 was about 1.5 inches at 10 yards, with all shots touching. Decent, but I'll keep tinkering with it. The W231 load was a minimum starting load, and proved to be very minimum, barely cycling both guns, and eventually generating a FTE out of a by then quite dirty XD9. Accuracy was merely adequate. Again, I may tinker with it a bit by bumping up the charge to see if that tightens up groups. If not, I'll limit the 231 to lighter bullets and stick with the Bullseye.

Someday I'm gonna have to get a cheap chrony so I can quite guessing at velocities based on what the manuals say I should be getting.

Attached below are some pics of our day.

Pic 1 = Cathy starting her draw
Pic 2 = what I think is a quite cool pic of Cathy and her XD9 in full recoil, with the brass just clearing the chamber
Pic 3 = The results of 20 rounds of 110 grain .357 mags, rapid fire, in the fire and reload drill from 10 yards I described earlier. 20 out of 20 on target
Pic 4 = the target from the close range draw, fire & retreat, reload and reengage drill -- 50 out of 50 on target
Pic 5 = the target from the draw and fire while retreating drill 48/50 on target