Today was a productive range trip, especially being my first in a while. Figured I'd share my observations.
I'll start with the equipment, since that's what most people care about:
PMR-30: My dad found and purchased one of these. Not surprisingly - it is, after all, a Kel-Tec product - it sucked. I would be generous in saying it fed 50% of the rounds through it. Realistically, it had a failure to feed on about 75% of the rounds. We shot both Federal and CCI through it (KT specifically recommends CCI) and they both failed equally.
I got really good at tapping the slide into battery.
The sights are garbage and not zeroed from the factory. I have no idea how they settled on this style, and have even less of an idea how they can ship guns like that.
The European-style magazine catch seems silly. I don't see why they chose to do that with a box-magazine.
The trigger was okay. It was kind of like an M&P Shield trigger, in terms of weight and roll, but with a less distinct break.
The safety was firm, but not very ergonomic.
I legitimately have no idea if this gun has a slide release without googling it. I kept pressing what looked like one, but it did nothing. I had to slingshot the slide every time.
M&P 9 Pro: My old competition gun. It roared the ugly head of its unacceptable mechanical accuracy today. My dad now shoots the gun, and was practicing for his upcoming IDPA classifier (old fool still hasn't abandoned that racket yet). Doing the 12 round strings at 25 yards, he was consistently hitting 8-10 out of the 12, but then having inconsistent flyers. Initially, we both thought they were operator error. But, just to be sure, I handed him my gun and he plugged 12/12 twice in a row.
SP01 Shadow: My gun. Belle of the ball. Continues to run like a Patek. It is astoundingly shootable and mechanically accurate. Still my wisest purchase to date. The right side of my ambi safety now has some play in it, thanks to doing tons of Weak Hand Only shooting today, so I will have to replace the detent soonish. Doesn't affect functionality, but the wiggle bothers me.
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On to the important stuff: shooting.
Very little timer work today, since we were at a public, indoor range. I shot about 600 rounds through my CZ.
I started with 25 yard headshots, no time pressure. This was my first batch:
I quickly realized I had too much finger on the trigger, adjusted, and then got to work. I switched to 3x5 index cards, still at 25, and was hitting about 60% of shots. Even at match speed, I wasn't rushing shots. The main issue was not steadying the gun appropriately. Part of that stems from my Essential Tremor, something I still have done nothing to address.
After that, I did 8 strings of Garcia's dots (2" dots at 7 yards, 6 shots in 5 seconds). The first 3 strings were UGLY. After that, I was hitting 5 out of 6. I kept pulling shots left by about 1/2". The bigger issue at hand was that I did not call those shots. Definitely thanks to not much live fire these days.
I finished with the 3 Grasp Drill at 7 yards, using a 6" circle with a 1" circle within it. The smaller circle wasn't really necessary, but I like a more precise point of aim. No rounds left the big circle, but only 20-30% actually hit the 1" circle. I'd like to tighten that up more.
Observation of others:
Public ranges continue to reinforce the difference between gun owners and shooters. The talent pool ranged from lucky to hit the PAPER at 7 yards, to shotgun patterns at 7 yards, to whiffing the entire target at 25 consistently. I get upset when I miss my index card by an inch, they don't seem to care that they can't touch paper. For people out having fun, that's no issue. It becomes terrifying to me when these same people go on to talk about "combat accuracy" and their carry guns. Eek.
I'll start with the equipment, since that's what most people care about:
PMR-30: My dad found and purchased one of these. Not surprisingly - it is, after all, a Kel-Tec product - it sucked. I would be generous in saying it fed 50% of the rounds through it. Realistically, it had a failure to feed on about 75% of the rounds. We shot both Federal and CCI through it (KT specifically recommends CCI) and they both failed equally.
I got really good at tapping the slide into battery.
The sights are garbage and not zeroed from the factory. I have no idea how they settled on this style, and have even less of an idea how they can ship guns like that.
The European-style magazine catch seems silly. I don't see why they chose to do that with a box-magazine.
The trigger was okay. It was kind of like an M&P Shield trigger, in terms of weight and roll, but with a less distinct break.
The safety was firm, but not very ergonomic.
I legitimately have no idea if this gun has a slide release without googling it. I kept pressing what looked like one, but it did nothing. I had to slingshot the slide every time.
M&P 9 Pro: My old competition gun. It roared the ugly head of its unacceptable mechanical accuracy today. My dad now shoots the gun, and was practicing for his upcoming IDPA classifier (old fool still hasn't abandoned that racket yet). Doing the 12 round strings at 25 yards, he was consistently hitting 8-10 out of the 12, but then having inconsistent flyers. Initially, we both thought they were operator error. But, just to be sure, I handed him my gun and he plugged 12/12 twice in a row.
SP01 Shadow: My gun. Belle of the ball. Continues to run like a Patek. It is astoundingly shootable and mechanically accurate. Still my wisest purchase to date. The right side of my ambi safety now has some play in it, thanks to doing tons of Weak Hand Only shooting today, so I will have to replace the detent soonish. Doesn't affect functionality, but the wiggle bothers me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On to the important stuff: shooting.
Very little timer work today, since we were at a public, indoor range. I shot about 600 rounds through my CZ.
I started with 25 yard headshots, no time pressure. This was my first batch:
I quickly realized I had too much finger on the trigger, adjusted, and then got to work. I switched to 3x5 index cards, still at 25, and was hitting about 60% of shots. Even at match speed, I wasn't rushing shots. The main issue was not steadying the gun appropriately. Part of that stems from my Essential Tremor, something I still have done nothing to address.
After that, I did 8 strings of Garcia's dots (2" dots at 7 yards, 6 shots in 5 seconds). The first 3 strings were UGLY. After that, I was hitting 5 out of 6. I kept pulling shots left by about 1/2". The bigger issue at hand was that I did not call those shots. Definitely thanks to not much live fire these days.
I finished with the 3 Grasp Drill at 7 yards, using a 6" circle with a 1" circle within it. The smaller circle wasn't really necessary, but I like a more precise point of aim. No rounds left the big circle, but only 20-30% actually hit the 1" circle. I'd like to tighten that up more.
Observation of others:
Public ranges continue to reinforce the difference between gun owners and shooters. The talent pool ranged from lucky to hit the PAPER at 7 yards, to shotgun patterns at 7 yards, to whiffing the entire target at 25 consistently. I get upset when I miss my index card by an inch, they don't seem to care that they can't touch paper. For people out having fun, that's no issue. It becomes terrifying to me when these same people go on to talk about "combat accuracy" and their carry guns. Eek.
