Shot my brand new HS-9/XD-9 4" Service Model: some good things, some bad

[Scribe]

Okay, first the good stuff:

The gun was very pleasant to shoot, recoil was light and smooth and the trigger was crisp.

We only shot 5 shots at a time from 25 meters/50 feet and all in all it was a very nice experience even though being a complete beginner my aim was nothing to write home about. Managed to score 3 tens, 2 nines and 2 eights but that's 7 ok shots out of 50, law of averages and all that jazz...

Anyway, on to the bad stuff:

Bad thing 1:
I had 3 failures to eject. I'm not that worried though: I have a problem with limp wristing and I've managed to produce FTE's on my friend's until-then-completely-reliable Walther P99, another friend's FN Hi-Power, and another's Glock 17, all of which worked dead reliably in their hands but I got FTE's every now and then.

So, any suggestions on how to cure this problem? I'm athletic so I don't think I have particularly weak wrists. I'm just used to being very relaxed even under pressure so I think that might contribute to me possibly holding the gun too loosely? What do you folks think?


Bad thing 2:
This one actually worries me a bit. I have two stock magazines that came with the gun. I noticed after a few sets of 5 rounds fired that the magazine did NOT drop free anymore. It came out a few millimeters upon magazine release press but that's about it. Had to pull it out.

Switched to the other magazine and no problems there, dropped free just like that. I made a precursory glance at both in between sets of 5 and reloading but I couldn't see anything physically different with either magazine. One just drops free and the other doesn't. What do you guys think could cause this?

I'm going to call the gunshop tomorrow and ask them about it and see if they'll exchange it for a new one.

Apart from those issues, well, I had a blast (no pun intended). Shot 50 rounds and the next time will be next Thursday and another 50 rounds.

[buddycraigg]

i limp wrist all the time.
luckily all 4 of my pistols forgive me of that.

if you are using both hands, try to have your strong hand do about 30% of the holding and your support hand do about 70% of the holding.
that way your trigger hand and fingers can be relaxed while your support hand squeezes your strong hand on to the grip.

give it a try.

[Edubya]

With your previous experiences, you've already identified you're the "most probable cause" of the FTEs. The mag sticking might be remedied with a little lubricant. I have coated mine with carnuba wax. The stuff that I use has to be applied with a buffer, it's application temperature is about 170 degrees, I didn't want to have to do it often. I'm sure that a light oiling would help, also (it wouldn't hurt).

Twenty-yards is mighty far for off-hand shooting of a pistol. It might bing your confidence down. Most defensive shots are made within ten-feet! Check with the officials at your outdoor range to see if you would be allowed to set up your own targets at a closer range. If so, here is a good site for constructing a portable range: Educational Zone #24 - Homemade Target Stand - Page 1
You might even want to arm yourself with one of these prior to asking, it might convince the official to allow it and even to do the same for others that would desire a shorter range target.

[XDONBOARD]

What ammo are you using? There have been experiences of certain ammo expanding in the magazine causing failure to drop free.

[XD40DucheKiller]

im not shocked to see an xd fail to eject when its bran new..but after a few hundred rounds i dont think youll have one ever again.

[Scribe]

Thanks for the info guys!

I can't shoot any closer yet. Here's the situation:
It's an indoor range (it's snowy and cold here at this time of year) with strict rules prohibiting all but 20 yards shooting and all outdoor ranges are closed until warmer weather. This indoor range is used for IPSC-shooting only for the last hour of our 2 hour practice time. The first is used to shoot from 20 yards. I can't do the IPSC-shooting yet because I haven't done the Safe Shooter Qualification course since it starts in the summer so I'm stuck with 20 yards and practicing the very basics of gun handling and shooting. Alas!

I'll have to try that 30%/70% method. Can't hurt since one way or the other I have to fix this stupid problem.

Oil the magazine? I'll try that, thanks for the tip. Still I'll call the gun shop to see if they'd be gracious enough to get me a new one.

Now I'm facing the arduous task of waiting yet another week to get to shoot the gun again, dang...

[buddycraigg]

Originally Posted by Scribe

We only shot 5 shots at a time from 25 meters/50 feet

you must not be in the states, 25 meters is 82 feet

and i no longer believe you are having a limp wrist problem anymore.
watch this video...
YouTube - Testing several handguns for "limp wristing"
at 1:21 he tests an XD9, it doesn't lock back when empty, but it feeds and ejects just fine. it doesn't get much sloppier than that.
EDIT: the brick he tested at the end of the video failed to eject on almost every round.

are you somehow rubbing the slide with your thumb?
or pressing on the slide lock?
maybe you are bitting your upper lip in the wrong spot...
i'm just throwing out ideas here.

***************************

now the mag.
if you cant get an empty mag to drop, then there's a problem with it.
take it back and get a replacement.

[Scribe]

Originally Posted by buddycraigg

you must not be in the states, 25 meters is 82 feet

and i no longer believe you are having a limp wrist problem anymore.
watch this video...
YouTube - Testing several handguns for "limp wristing"
at 1:21 he tests an XD9, it doesn't lock back when empty, but it feeds and ejects just fine. it doesn't get much sloppier than that.
EDIT: the brick he tested at the end of the video failed to eject on almost every round.

are you somehow rubbing the slide with your thumb?
or pressing on the slide lock?
maybe you are bitting your upper lip in the wrong spot...
i'm just throwing out ideas here.

True, I'm in Finland and yeah, should've checked the meters/feet with google.

Anyway, now that you mention it, I had one occasion when the slide did NOT lock back on an empty magazine because I had put my thumb on the slide stop. Would that cause the failures?

Hmm, now I feel just stupid: I started thinking about the slide lock and realized I did not have failures to extract the empty case but failure to feed the last round! I just remembered that I always put 5 rounds in the magazine and after the fourth shot the gun would jam, I would take out the mag and see that it was empty and I'd clear the jam and the round fell out intact (of course since I'd only fired 4 shots out of 5). Then come next round I'd load 6 rounds into the magazine to compensate (we shoot 50 rounds in about 45mins and check the results between every 5 shots).

I had to keep telling myself not to keep my thumb on the slide lock even though I never held it there while practicing dry firing at home. That was probably due to stress since I really am a very inexperienced shooter and shooting an actual gun with live rounds is still a novelty.

My support hand's thumb was in two places since I'm still trying to figure out which feels best. It seems to rest most naturally on the take down lever but I feel safer when it rests touching the trigger guard and the frame.

The lead hand's thumb seems to be more of a problem since when I concentrate on the shooting it seems to want to wander onto the slide stop. Should've bought a 1911 to rest it on the thumb safety I guess.


Edit: the ammo I use is basic Magtech 124gr. FMC 9mm.

[Edubya]

These pictures and words may help improve your gun handling.
The Combat Handgun Grip

[mhillsing23]

Make sure you are getting your primary hand up as high as you can when you grip the gun. You don't have to worry about "slide bite" with the XD, so get that hand up there. I do agree that a very thin coat of wax may help your mags drop more freely. Try and keep your lead thumb in the built-in thumb "indention" on the frame. I know it can be a tendency to put it on the slide lock, and I did that at first as well. Once you get used to keeping it a little lower you will do it naturally.