[mavisky]

Well just got back from running 209 rounds through the Tactical at the local indoor range. Was in there testing out the new hogue grip from xd-hs2000.com and Don's guide rod and 24# spring combo from pistol-gear.com . I ran out my 10 rounds of Federal Premium Self-Defense in 185 grain and two boxes of WWB in 165 grain.

Hogue Handall Grip - This one product has made my gun more comfortable than almost anything else I could have imagined. Makes the gun a little wider , but my hand on the gun doesn't bow out or anything all the bumps and curves are perfectly placed. I will never take this thing off.

Don's guide rod and 24# spring - Review for this item is mixed currently. Guide rod seems to work great and I don't think any of it was its fault. The 24# spring gave me more troubles than I've ever had, actually it gave me my guns only troubles. It did a great job of reducing recoil and getting the gun back on target so I have to commend it for that but it also gave me some troubles.

First, I had 1 semi-stove pipe. Last round of the magazine and it came up and pinched paralell with the slide.

Second, 1 fail to feed. Next to last round got lodged in the barrel funny and the last round was pushing up on it. Took a bit to get this jam undone, but did and it fired both out no problem afterwards. This took me about a minute to clear and this would really suck to have happen out in the field.

Third, the gun was failing to rack into battery after the last round fairly often today. After awhile I marked one of the magazines to see if it was magazine specific. It turns out that the problem was with only one of them and I'm assuming that its been the one that stays bedside with 9 in the mag and 1 in the chamber every day. I don't have any way to tell really, but I'm pretty sure of it. It seems as though the new return spring is closing the slide hard enough that this now slightly weaker spring can't get the slide lock up in time or with enough force to keep the slide from closing. Any suggestions on what spring to try to keep the reduced re-coil but to fix this not going into batter/jam/stovepipe issue? For now I'll be returning to stock I believe.

Laser light combo - I've been fighting this thing for awhile. I finally machined a small tab that would lock into the cross rail on the picatinny to keep the thing on the gun (previous efforts would give me two mags before it fell off the end of the rail, each shot farther off target). Today it stayed on the entire time I had it on the gun. I took it off because after I switched it off and went back to the stock sights it was slowly backing the set screws out of alignment to the point that after about 60 rounds or so I turned it back on and it was pointing at the left side of the range and down at the floor (only about 10 feet to the left and 5 feet down, real close to target :roll: ). I'm thinking a little loctite could completely solve the issue, but of course I didn't have any on me at the time.

Technique - I'd found myself pulling the trigger too hard and holding the gun offcenter from my wrist so most of my shots were trailing right and low. I quit that today (with some help from the hogue lining my hand up better) and was back on center mass again. Pics to follow when I get home from work tonight.

 

[mavisky]

After doing some research I guess I'll switch down to the 22# spring. Hope they got them instock over at pistol-gear.

 

[Old School]

22# is a safe choice. You may also want to try a 20# or lighter. In my Tactical 9mm, I am now running a 16# spring and loving it. There are a lot of factors that go into getting the proper weight. This may help...

http://pistol-gear.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=250

 

[mavisky]

What are you using in your tactical right now? If you have both in stock I guess I'll just order each and work from the 22 to the 20 to see which eliminates failures and reduces recoil.

Stock is 18# right??

 

[Old School]

See above. I edited my first post.

 

[mavisky]

See above. I edited my first post.

Would you suggest the same weight though for the .40? I'll try to get some pics up today of some double tap work and you'll see that other than being slightly erratic (my fault not the gun's) most of my second shots didn't seem to suffer from the over recoil that you described with your 9mm. Perhaps I'll order a 16 and a 22 and see which one works best for me instead of the 22 and 20.

 

[Old School]

The stock spring is about 18#s on the Tactical. How do you like it? I would recommend trying the 16# spring, as well as the 22#. As I said earlier, the 22# is a safe bet, I like it, and a lot of guys are using it.

 

[mavisky]

22# it is then, the 24# felt great recoil wise and if it didn't have the non-battery issue and the few jams i'd keep it in there 100% of the time. Live and learn, luckily this was an $8 part and nothing more. Also glad I learned this lesson at the range instead of defending myself or my family. Thanks for the help, and expect to see my order tonight

 

[Old School]

Got it, thanks!

 

[mavisky]

Woohoo just got my shipping confirmation. Here are the pics I promised from the range.

First, gun with new hogue grip. Of course you have to notch the rear of the grip to accomodate the grip safety. Of course I suppose you could leave it holding the safety down, but no thanks for me. I have no problem with the grip safety when firing the gun.

First target was about 60 rounds at 10 yards using the factory sights. (maybe 10 of these were with the laser, but I was much more accurate consistently with the sights) Oh gun included for reference on target size.

This next target was something I just wanted to try. 20 rounds and the target was about 15 feet out gun pointed at the floor (downrange that is), I'd simply raise the gun to level and fire. No sights, just a reactionary trigger pull when I thought it had reached target. I'd done this before and with out the new hogue grip and fixing my hand placement I was all over. This is 20 rounds all but two in the 7 ring and all on center mass.

Finally at 10 yards I was practicing double taps (still need some better second shot placement on these) and then a headshot. I know there's a name for this drill, I just can't remember it. Any ways this was 20 rounds.

 

[USMC-PRIDE]

old school- about the 16# spring, is that is a 1911 spring you are using with dons guide rod? Thanks for info.

 

[mavisky]

Got the 22# spring in and shot it some this weekend. Put 50 rounds each of 165 grain wwb, 180 grain blazer brass, and 180 grain remington umc. Also put 10 rounds of my federal premium 185 grain personal defense rounds through it.

Recoil is reduced almost as much as the 24# spring was, only had two jams both failed to feed. 1 was a federal premium round, the other one of the blazer brass rounds. Gun never had the issue with the slide not locking though and I think both those fialures could be fixed with a little work to the feed ramp. Will keep those reading this in formed.