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Today was a beautiful day, so I decided to grab my new Glock 17 4th generation pistol and go to the range. I went to an old, outdoor range, but one I had never been to before - Wyoming Antelope Club in Pinellas Park, FL. It's run by members of the range, so it's not a lavish place. Cost is $20 to shoot as long as you want.
I used the Glock speed loader to load most of my ammo today. It's actually much better than I've heard, plus it took quite a while to load the cartridges by hand. Must need to do a few thumb exercises. I took a box of 100 Winchester and a box of 50 Federal 9mm 115gr cartridges.
Started out on the short 21 foot range with the Winchester ammo. I shot pretty well, pretty tight groupings, but the distance was short. Most of the shots were in a tight grouping, although a lot of them were slightly low on the target. I tried to adjust my aim, but it didn't seem to help as much as I thought it might. Shot 30 rounds.
Changed to a new target and loaded the Federal ammunition. Still 21 foot targets. For some reason, my aim seemed to be affected by the Federal ammo. My shots were a little higher on the target while I seemed to be aiming in the same spot. Maybe something else was different that I wasn't aware of. It seemed like I was shooting the same to me. Shot 30 rounds of the Federal ammo.
Changed to another new target and moved down the the 36 foot range. I loaded in the Winchester ammo again and started shooting. My shots were not nearly as close together as on the 21 foot range, but they all seemed to hit somewhere inside the target rings.
While shooting the Winchester ammunition, the gun jammed. One shell failed to eject properly and sort of stuck in the ejection port. It was stuck vertically and kept the slide from loading a new cartridge. I took the magazine out and set the gun down for a minute. When I looked closer at it, there were actually two jammed cartridges in it. The shell casing was vertical and another cartridge looked like it was coming up to the chamber, but got stopped by the shell casing. I turned the gun upside down and pulled back on the slide and the vertical shell casing fell out. I racked the slide a few times and the other cartridge fell out.
I examined the jammed cartridge very carefully and there didn't seem to be any marks or dents on it. I put it back in the magazine and shot it. It shot fine, but I started thinking that that might have been foolish. Should I have just thrown the cartridge that jammed away?
I'm not sure why it jammed. I wasn't expecting it. I went to take a shot and the trigger seemed to be already pressed. I had never felt that before, so I checked the gun out and found the vertical shell casing clamped. After I cleared it, I shot another 70 rounds and it never jammed again. Maybe I didn't hold it tight enough on that shot, or maybe it does need the 02 recoil spring. I don't know...
Shot 150 cartridges in all and shot for a couple of hours. Time seemed to fly while I was shooting. I can tell that a lot of practice will help.
I'll post some pictures of the targets tomorrow.
-jb
I used the Glock speed loader to load most of my ammo today. It's actually much better than I've heard, plus it took quite a while to load the cartridges by hand. Must need to do a few thumb exercises. I took a box of 100 Winchester and a box of 50 Federal 9mm 115gr cartridges.
Started out on the short 21 foot range with the Winchester ammo. I shot pretty well, pretty tight groupings, but the distance was short. Most of the shots were in a tight grouping, although a lot of them were slightly low on the target. I tried to adjust my aim, but it didn't seem to help as much as I thought it might. Shot 30 rounds.
Changed to a new target and loaded the Federal ammunition. Still 21 foot targets. For some reason, my aim seemed to be affected by the Federal ammo. My shots were a little higher on the target while I seemed to be aiming in the same spot. Maybe something else was different that I wasn't aware of. It seemed like I was shooting the same to me. Shot 30 rounds of the Federal ammo.
Changed to another new target and moved down the the 36 foot range. I loaded in the Winchester ammo again and started shooting. My shots were not nearly as close together as on the 21 foot range, but they all seemed to hit somewhere inside the target rings.
While shooting the Winchester ammunition, the gun jammed. One shell failed to eject properly and sort of stuck in the ejection port. It was stuck vertically and kept the slide from loading a new cartridge. I took the magazine out and set the gun down for a minute. When I looked closer at it, there were actually two jammed cartridges in it. The shell casing was vertical and another cartridge looked like it was coming up to the chamber, but got stopped by the shell casing. I turned the gun upside down and pulled back on the slide and the vertical shell casing fell out. I racked the slide a few times and the other cartridge fell out.
I examined the jammed cartridge very carefully and there didn't seem to be any marks or dents on it. I put it back in the magazine and shot it. It shot fine, but I started thinking that that might have been foolish. Should I have just thrown the cartridge that jammed away?
I'm not sure why it jammed. I wasn't expecting it. I went to take a shot and the trigger seemed to be already pressed. I had never felt that before, so I checked the gun out and found the vertical shell casing clamped. After I cleared it, I shot another 70 rounds and it never jammed again. Maybe I didn't hold it tight enough on that shot, or maybe it does need the 02 recoil spring. I don't know...
Shot 150 cartridges in all and shot for a couple of hours. Time seemed to fly while I was shooting. I can tell that a lot of practice will help.
I'll post some pictures of the targets tomorrow.
-jb
