Well, went to the range this sat Saturday and I learned some very important things.
1) my wife has abnormally small hands....like children's hands! This was the first time we had been to the range together in quite sometime and the first time she had the opportunity to shoot any of the guns we currently own. We met up with a former coworker at what was essentially a private range for some excellent instruction. This guy is a fantastic shooter and shoots IPSC competitions regularly. Honestly, he should teach firearms safety....but I digress. I originally bought my XD40 4" barrel in hopes that it would meet all of our needs. I later stumbled upon a Sig P220 and then fell in love with a IMI Baby Eagle (Jericho) all steel 9mm which I coaxed someone to sell me. After all of the fabulous safety lessons were gone thru, we worked on equipment. I brought my 3 guns and brought several of his (STI Executive .40cal, SVI .45, XDM9 5.25", S&W .380, a long barrel S&W .357 and another S&W wheel gun in .38 I believe), so he asked her which she wanted to shoot first. Her answer was "our gun" which meant the XD I so foolishly thought would work best for all of "our" needs. First problem, springs were so stiff she couldn't effectively rack it. Ouch..... So we moved past that issue and let her fire it after I racked it etc. Her hand was so small that she could barely get her finger in to properly pull the trigger. She did it, and handled the recoil quite nicely, but it was an unnatural act. We then tried the XDM, the STI and the smaller revolver. Nope. None of them fit. She was able to properly use the .380, but the kick was rather violent to her. Not good.
Then I remembered part if the reason why I bought the Eagle, shorter pull in single action, heavier weight and lighter bullet. She had a hard time racking that gun as well. We discovered that if she pulled the hammer down and then racked the gun, all problems were solved. We had her load 2 bullets, insert the mag, cock the hammer, rack the gun,get her grip and shoot. It worked perfect. I know this is less than ideal and if she decides to get into shooting we will definitely find something better that suits her, but in the mean time this is what we are working with. She loved the gun. And was incredibly accurate with it. Started her out at 7-8 yards and all perfect shots. I must say I was quite proud of her. By the end of the day, she had moved the target back to where I was shooting at which was approximately 18-20 yards away. And then proceeded to out shoot me! Sweeeeeeet.....
2) I have apparently just lost my new favorite toy.....this makes me sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I love that gun, but happy that she has gained confidence in shooting and just generally being around guns and that she enjoyed the Eagle as much as I thought she might. Oh well, it will accidentally end up in my range bag pretty often.
3) I am not nearly as good a shot as I think I am. We got to shoot a bunch of things including steel plates which was incredibly fun! The Sig wasn't working well for me that day so I grabbed my trusty XD40. Now, I wasn't horrible. Just not as good as I had originally thought and certainly not ready for competition. I did however learn a lot and got tips on how to correct bad habits. Tried blaming the sights on the gun, he grabbed it and put 12 shots dead center. Ouch. Oh well, he has been shooting for like 30years and I just bought my first gun in April. I guess it's to be expected.
4) Give me a $2800+ dollar gun and I certainly make myself look much better!!! I really enjoyed shooting the XDM and that may be my next pistol purchase. But that STI was a thing of beauty. Certainly gave me "gun wood" if you know what I mean!!! The trigger was right around 3lbs and actually startled me the first time it went bang. It amazing how much you can think your own equipment is fabulous....until you try someone's gun that is built to run. Man that was nice! Starting to get buyers remorse for not waiting and saving up for the XDM as my first but you live and learn. I already have a ton of ammo and have bought 5 mags total for the XD so I guess I am stuck with it (not a bad thing though as i do really enjoy it and trust it with my life!). Who knows, maybe a XDM40 in the 5.25" barrel is in my future.
All in all it was a successful trip. My wife found something we can work with and gained a ton of confidence. AND had fun AND shot like a champ. Maybe she will get into this more. I got to shoot a lot of nice guns that I normally wouldn't have the opportunity to. The XDM is nice. The STI is awesome. I also got over my irrational fear of large revolvers as I shot his .357 and shot it well! Thought the kick was less than my XD40 if that makes sense. Great way to spend a saturday afternoon and the 3.5 hours in the Florida heat surprisingly flew right on by!
Maybe a CZ75 all steel in compact would work for my wife's freakishly small hands? Anyone else have this problem and if so, which pistol worked best for you?
1) my wife has abnormally small hands....like children's hands! This was the first time we had been to the range together in quite sometime and the first time she had the opportunity to shoot any of the guns we currently own. We met up with a former coworker at what was essentially a private range for some excellent instruction. This guy is a fantastic shooter and shoots IPSC competitions regularly. Honestly, he should teach firearms safety....but I digress. I originally bought my XD40 4" barrel in hopes that it would meet all of our needs. I later stumbled upon a Sig P220 and then fell in love with a IMI Baby Eagle (Jericho) all steel 9mm which I coaxed someone to sell me. After all of the fabulous safety lessons were gone thru, we worked on equipment. I brought my 3 guns and brought several of his (STI Executive .40cal, SVI .45, XDM9 5.25", S&W .380, a long barrel S&W .357 and another S&W wheel gun in .38 I believe), so he asked her which she wanted to shoot first. Her answer was "our gun" which meant the XD I so foolishly thought would work best for all of "our" needs. First problem, springs were so stiff she couldn't effectively rack it. Ouch..... So we moved past that issue and let her fire it after I racked it etc. Her hand was so small that she could barely get her finger in to properly pull the trigger. She did it, and handled the recoil quite nicely, but it was an unnatural act. We then tried the XDM, the STI and the smaller revolver. Nope. None of them fit. She was able to properly use the .380, but the kick was rather violent to her. Not good.
Then I remembered part if the reason why I bought the Eagle, shorter pull in single action, heavier weight and lighter bullet. She had a hard time racking that gun as well. We discovered that if she pulled the hammer down and then racked the gun, all problems were solved. We had her load 2 bullets, insert the mag, cock the hammer, rack the gun,get her grip and shoot. It worked perfect. I know this is less than ideal and if she decides to get into shooting we will definitely find something better that suits her, but in the mean time this is what we are working with. She loved the gun. And was incredibly accurate with it. Started her out at 7-8 yards and all perfect shots. I must say I was quite proud of her. By the end of the day, she had moved the target back to where I was shooting at which was approximately 18-20 yards away. And then proceeded to out shoot me! Sweeeeeeet.....
2) I have apparently just lost my new favorite toy.....this makes me sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I love that gun, but happy that she has gained confidence in shooting and just generally being around guns and that she enjoyed the Eagle as much as I thought she might. Oh well, it will accidentally end up in my range bag pretty often.
3) I am not nearly as good a shot as I think I am. We got to shoot a bunch of things including steel plates which was incredibly fun! The Sig wasn't working well for me that day so I grabbed my trusty XD40. Now, I wasn't horrible. Just not as good as I had originally thought and certainly not ready for competition. I did however learn a lot and got tips on how to correct bad habits. Tried blaming the sights on the gun, he grabbed it and put 12 shots dead center. Ouch. Oh well, he has been shooting for like 30years and I just bought my first gun in April. I guess it's to be expected.
4) Give me a $2800+ dollar gun and I certainly make myself look much better!!! I really enjoyed shooting the XDM and that may be my next pistol purchase. But that STI was a thing of beauty. Certainly gave me "gun wood" if you know what I mean!!! The trigger was right around 3lbs and actually startled me the first time it went bang. It amazing how much you can think your own equipment is fabulous....until you try someone's gun that is built to run. Man that was nice! Starting to get buyers remorse for not waiting and saving up for the XDM as my first but you live and learn. I already have a ton of ammo and have bought 5 mags total for the XD so I guess I am stuck with it (not a bad thing though as i do really enjoy it and trust it with my life!). Who knows, maybe a XDM40 in the 5.25" barrel is in my future.
All in all it was a successful trip. My wife found something we can work with and gained a ton of confidence. AND had fun AND shot like a champ. Maybe she will get into this more. I got to shoot a lot of nice guns that I normally wouldn't have the opportunity to. The XDM is nice. The STI is awesome. I also got over my irrational fear of large revolvers as I shot his .357 and shot it well! Thought the kick was less than my XD40 if that makes sense. Great way to spend a saturday afternoon and the 3.5 hours in the Florida heat surprisingly flew right on by!
Maybe a CZ75 all steel in compact would work for my wife's freakishly small hands? Anyone else have this problem and if so, which pistol worked best for you?
