[Polymerhead]

Hi,

Well, since I had the day off and time to kill, I took the Girlfriend to the range for some pistol work. She's moving to my town and will be living alone, so she really wants to get good with a handgun.

We started with a Ruger Mark 1 and she loved it. We were shooting at ranges from about 7 yards to 25 yards, and she was hitting coke cans without trying. The trouble started when she picked up the XD. She was shooting about 1' low at 7 yards; low enough to not knock over the cans. I watched her shoot, and reviewed stances with her. She tried both Weaver and Isosceles stances. I told her to try to lock her wrist, which she said she was doing already. I even asked her to make a triangle with the front and rear dots so that she would be aiming higher, but she was still digging holes in front of the cans.

The only thing I could think of is that she could be anticipating the recoil and jerking her wrist down as she pulls the trigger. Now that I think of it, I should have put her on a front rest to see if that helped. Oh well, there'll be plenty of times to try again. She was getting a bit discouraged, though, and I don't want to frustrate her before she gets a chance to get better.

Any help on this situation would be greatly appreciated. I'm not at all new to firearms, but I am new to the XD and would love to hear if anyone else has had this problem.

As an aside, I love the XD and shoot better with it than with any other handgun. I can't wait to get to the range in town with plates and start wailing on them. It's just really pointable, and I like the factory 3-dots really well. We're going to start carrying Meprolights where I work though, so I might have to go with them when they come in.

 

[NMshooter]

I recently went to a shooting school and he had a way to see if it was a sight alignment or trigger control problem. He started us about 5 yds. from the target and had us aim at a golfball sized dot. After firing several shots at the dot and all of them being significantly off target, he asks the student to remove their finger from the trigger while continuing to aim at the dot. He then placed his finger on the trigger while the student aimed the weapon. When the student indicated that the sights were aligned, he would work the trigger. It was interesting to watch the groups that were fired with him working the trigger. In almost every case, they were right on the dot.

With your description of the difference between shooting the .22 and the XD, my assumption is that the problem may be traced to breaking down of the wrists in anticipation of the round going off. Good luck with future "range dates".

 

[hobocircus]

She is doing great shooting with the .22 and not so good with the XD? Well, seems normal to me.
Put any 10 members of this forum on the range and I would say the vast majority will do better with the .22 and not as well with the XD.
Since you were doing informal shooting on cans (plinking), you don't have much to analyze. Next time see how the groups are on paper and you can evaluate her shooting more precisely.
You had it right the first time, keep her going on the .22 and later move up to the "big bores".

Have fun and teach the basics of safety at all times.

 

[shaner]

my wife is the same way , cut stars out with my MKII on paper but give her a centerfire anything and its flinch city , buy her a good 22 for protection ,

 

[Palmetto]

Next time have her start with the XD. No fatigue should help and she may have expected the kick and weight of the .22 which upset the accuracy with the XD which is a bit top heavy.

 

[Polymerhead]

Thanks to all who have replied!

I don't think fatigue was an issue. She only shot 2 or 3 mags on the Mark 1 before she wanted to move up to the XD9. I guess I'll keep her on the Mark 1 for a while while she learns proper trigger control. I want to keep it very informal and fun, but at the same time I think I'll take her to an indoor range next time so we can do some proper paper work.

I'd like her to eventually get comfortable with recoil though. I'll definitely put her on a front rest next time, and I'll try to find some lower pressure loads. I don't have a stepping stone for her between .22 Long Rife and 9mm.

I guess maybe it's an excuse to buy a PPK?

 

[hobocircus]

Polymerhead

I guess maybe it's an excuse to buy a PPK?

Just buy more ammo, and pass up the PPK. .380 isn't really a stepping stone to the 9mm. Infact it may be more comfortable to shoot the 9mm XD than a small frame semi-auto.
Don't throw in more "toys" into the mix, you are on the right path as it is. Just more practice and being safe. The rest will come with time.

Shoot safe and have fun