Sorry for the belated weekend issue of
Saturday Night Gun Pron, but I guess the sequester hit it too, :)
Just some quick results from the first fire of the S&W M&P45 after (almost) all the Apex Tactical parts were installed, and all proper magical procedures invoked. I also shot my Gen1 Glock 21 as a control, and because I have new plans for it in the near future.
Both handguns started out box-stock at about the same price. Both performed adequately, and rpovide good value for the money. I spent $250 on a Bar-Sto target barrel for the Glock, because the stock barrel was rather notorious for its poorly-supported chamber. It also shrunk group size by about 25%, nothing to sneeze at.
The money spent on the S&W, plus my own blood, sweat, and Nanoloube, changed it from a Chevy Cruze to a Corvette Z01. The Glock went from a Ford Escape to an Escape with a bigger engine. The trigger pull on the S&W went from a sane, sensible, dull, gritty 7 pounds to high-performance 4 pounds, 14 ounces (so far), with about four pounds of long-but-near-weightless takeup, and a barely-detectable sear letoff of under one pound.
YMMV, but for me, these Apex-equipped M&Ps are like building an F-16 from a parts kit. If I hadn't done all the work myself, I'd probably be afraid of the weapon if someone just handed it to me. But three-of-three successful projects have me so "sold" on the process that I'm fighting the temptation to buy an utterly redundant M&P compact or 9mm just to do it all over again.
And to think this all started from buying a plain vanilla M&P .357SiG that had sat on a shelf for four years before I bought it on a whim. So now I know how to build a "pet" AR15 and a "pet" S&W M&P that perform insanely well, with several successful examples of both already completed.
g’morning!
Lately I have been messing with my new XDs45. I wanted to love the gun but it was jamming like anything. I checked the scuttlebutt on the forums and tried nanolube and replacement mag springs. It got worse. What had been a few FTRB and a few FTF turned into FTF all the time. Bad ones too, where the round was really jammed in there. I decided perhaps stronger mag springs were actually making things worse and I swapped them back. The next range trip the owner of the shop/range offered to give it a try if it was still jamming. It was, even with more nanolube and the old springs back in. I let him give it a go... and it worked perfectly. Now I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that no way no how was I ‘limp-wristing’ it. But he put 4 mags through it with no problems. User error is user error even if I don’t want to admit it. Especially since I was shooting tiny little groups, 5 mags in one big hole at 20 feet. And the other two compact guns were happy as a clam. And darn it I am a good shoot and a trained pistol instructor... My pride was smarting but I listened and learned. He gave me some stance points involving leaning forward and sticking your butt out more. seemed dumb but it worked. But the stance is not what worked. it just caused what worked. I figured out that I just was not gripping well enough with my last two fingers. Even with a solid two hand grip, somehow just a little weakness in that area was causing too much flip. I realize now that ‘limp wrist’ is a very deceptive term. There was nothing wrong with my writs, or even the AVERAGE strength of my grip. But the lower two fingers were not as tight as they could be. My theory is that shooting tiny guns like my LCP made me stop paying attention to my pinky.
I tightened things up. My groups got bigger, need to practice the new grip, but the jams vanished. Now I just need to take this thing to the range often enough that I am confident I can shoot it reliably EVERY time.
It was certainly a humbling reminder that you always have something more to learn.