How many times have you heard a shoot blame the gun? Occasionally it is the gun, but usually there is something the shooter is doing to cause it, whether it be a flinch or something else. On my last range trip I was doing some final testing on my T&E Smith & Wessons. During the session I confirmed a few things I knew (the sights on the Shield are off) and learned a few things too.
On each of the following three targets I attempted to hold a sight picture with the top front sight on the hard horizontal line and centered on the silhouette. I was shooting as slow and as focused as my ADD would let me, but on all 3 at least at some point I was shooting from reset and as quickly as I see the sights… Oops! Either way this represents 70 consecutive shots from 7 yrds at the start of my range session.
The Control – Glock 19 (Shots 41-60)
In this “test” my long time concealed carry gun and IDPA competition gun served as the control to demonstrate my ability and confirm my sight picture.
There are a few things to note about this choice.
1) I have 4,000 – 5,000 rounds through the gun this year with the installed trigger and sights. It is my preferred set-up and even my .22 conversion uses the same sights (although it shoot WAY low).
2) This is not a stock trigger. My Glock 19 has a Lone Wolf Ultimate Trigger Stop, a Ghost 3.5# connector, and a Glock 17 smooth faced trigger.
Overall, I think this is a good representation of my on demand skill. Other bloggers and top level shooters could recreate this target at 25 yrds… I can’t. The mass of hits just below and just to the right of my point of aim, but not by enough that I am going to make any changes.
It also appears that my IDPA load is more consistent and while it may be slightly, I think the 2 rounds are actually my fault as I was shooting pretty quickly on that string.
M&P9 (Shots 21-40)
The M&P9 shot very well, but like I have mentioned previously about the M&P Shield, it appears to change Point of Impact more based on the round than my Glock 19. In fact the target looks pretty consistent, but there were 4 things I noticed while shooting it.
1) The M&P, with the ammunition I had, seemed to like to shoot with a Point of Impact behind the front dot. There was a time that I liked that, but as I have begun to focus on the hard edges of the sight I have become less of a fan of that hold.
2) The “Surprise Reset” on the stock M&P trigger is horrible. As I mentioned above, in all three cases I found myself shooting from reset and I short stroked the M&P9 trigger 6 times on these 20 rounds.
3) I have developed a bit of a flinch and it was pretty obvious on 2 of the 6 times I missed the reset.
4) While I am not a fan of the mushiness of the stock trigger, it doesn’t seem to affect the way I shoot the gun and ultimately performance is more important than perception.
M&P Shield (Shots 1-20 & 61-70)
I feel bad about this target for the M&P Shield because I didn’t to it justice; some of the best groups I have ever fired have been out of the Shield… um just not this day.
If you look closely at the groups you can see that there are 7-8 “tightly” grouped shots and 1 or 2 fliers that make it look like they are pretty big… blame me, it is harder to shoot a 10 round group with a 7 round magazine.
There are a few things you can see for sure though…
1) The M&P Shield as sent to me shoots left. In the 40 consecutive shots following the 1st time I shot this target all my rounds were centered on the y-axis. On this target only one round was to the right of it and I jerked the trigger.
2) Point of impact on my M&P Shield changes significantly based ammunition being fired, but luckily it is “best” with my chosen self-defense ammunition.
Ron is the Founder and President of When the Balloon Goes Up! He competes regularly in IDPA as an ESP/Expert, his focus is on concealed carry, home defense and analyzing equipment to find “Gear that Just Works!”
