Bought an XDm 9mm 4.5" - first handgun!

[JCT]

Thanks to the folks here with all of the useful advice, I finally stopped dithering and bought an XDm 9mm 4.5 .

The experience was almost surreal as I just moved to AZ from NYC, walked into the shop, made my final comparison between the 3.8 and the 4.5, pulled out the credit card and walked out with it in about 20 minutes.

Made plans to hit the range today --- only to be called back to NYC this AM. Can you believe this -- it has to sit in my safe for at least 2 weeks until I can get back home

Oh well -- it sure felt good in my hand. Sigh.

As an aside, I'm a right hand shooter with a dominant left eye - one guy I spoke to suggested I learn to shoot left handed (and it sure felt more "natural" to sight that way. Anyone else have any input?

Thanks again!

JT

[GojuBrian]

Nice gun! Sorry about the NYC thing. See why we love our free states?
Use the same eye and hand, lol.

[N.E. Tx.XD]

Congradulations!! And welcome to the Springfield nation.

[bigmoguls]

I was at the range the other day with my wife, it was only her second time. She shoots pretty well. I was mostly paying attention to her target and grip when I looked at her head and asked "what eye are you looking out of",
she responded "my left"
me "What?, you're right handed, look out of your right eye"
her "ok"

JCT - you made an excellent choice, I love mine. Some things to consider:
-Wipe all the shipping goo and re-lube before you go to the range
-Get an UPLULA for loading the magazines
-Get more magazines, I have 5, less time loading, more time shooting at the range.
-try each of the backstraps at the range, it is not intuitive which one will be best for you.
-keep you thumb off the slide release lever during shooting, some new folks like to rest their thumb on it, but that will only cause the slide to fail locking back on the last round.
-Shoot about 500-1000 rounds through it before you start spending money on upgrades (trigger, grips...) you should get a feel for the pistol to determine what you like and don't like about it.
-Have fun shootin'

[PistolEd]

I'm a right hander with a dominant left eye as well. If you're in a isosceles stance it's not usually a problem to shift the weapon over a little and use your left eye to aim even though you're gripping with the right hand. That would be harder in a weaver stance.

Another alternative is CAR where when you have the weapon up the hand gripping the weapon is blocking one of the eye's forcing you to aim with the other while allowing you to keep your eyes open.

I'm practicing aiming with both eyes so it won't matter and I'm getting better at being able to choose which eye has the right sight picture. Its just another reason to get out to the range and practice

[PistolEd]

Oh, forgot to mention, welcome aboard! My first pistol was also the XDm 9mm 4.5".

[powerstrokin06]

WOW and Damn!!! 3 in one day so far that's great to see and congrats............

[xmanhockey7]

Originally Posted by JCT

Thanks to the folks here with all of the useful advice, I finally stopped dithering and bought an XDm 9mm 4.5 .

The experience was almost surreal as I just moved to AZ from NYC, walked into the shop, made my final comparison between the 3.8 and the 4.5, pulled out the credit card and walked out with it in about 20 minutes.

Made plans to hit the range today --- only to be called back to NYC this AM. Can you believe this -- it has to sit in my safe for at least 2 weeks until I can get back home

Oh well -- it sure felt good in my hand. Sigh.

As an aside, I'm a right hand shooter with a dominant left eye - one guy I spoke to suggested I learn to shoot left handed (and it sure felt more "natural" to sight that way. Anyone else have any input?

Thanks again!

JT

Looking at the fact a lot of gun stuff is mostly for right handers I'd say no. Like someone else said just use your left eye to shoot. Hickok45 does it.

[Bigeasy]

Congrats, same gun for me and love it. Going to the range today for some practice, but first a stop at the LGS to see what's new!

[murphy12]

I'm a righty, and left-eye dominant. It's no problem, just practice as often as possible. You may find that at first, you'll shoot low, left. It's just a matter of time on the range to sort that.