[flyjoshh]

My girl and I just did a USPSA shoot for the first time and had a blast (Im soo lucky she will go with me!). I shot my XD 45 tac that has had a trigger job done on it, with 230gr winchester ammo. Recoil was fine for me.

My girl shot her XD 9mm 4in. No trigger job yet, 115gr winchester ammo. I video taped her and the recoil looks like all she can handle. Any way to help that? Spring kit (looks like two on her gun) or new rod? I just want her to feel more comfortable shooting (so she likes going, and I get to keep going).

Also I reload, not sure about all the rules for minor USPSA but I do want to lighten up some ammo for her, any tips?

Any help would be great!

Thanks -Josh

 

[weaponoffreedom]

Teach her the right way. Don't add parts, add some trigger time. To me it sounds like she is not holding the thing

 

[flyjoshh]

Ya that to, perfect practice makes perfect. Just looking for another tool to help.

 

[tjt2039]

Teach her the right way. Don't add parts, add some trigger time. To me it sounds like she is not holding the thing

Good advice^. Take her out and let her shoot a .22 for a while, until she gets used to holding the gun properly. My wife is 5'3" and 120lbs, she was afraid of shooting my 9mm for a long time, then we hit the range a lot and now she can shoot my .45 all day long.

She'll get used to the gun, it just takes time. Changing parts will only make it that much harder for her to learn.

 

[Brent_NC]

What they said. My 11 year old can shoot my 9mm service with no issue. It takes practice and comfort with the gun before that can be accomplished. I of course started her off with a .22 revolver and worked up from there, worked like a charm.

 

[Croesius]

Something that helped me with recoil was grip strength. I thought I had a good solid grip, but the barrel flip was obscene! Started working on hand strength and it made a WORLD of difference. I also began holding my pistol out at the telly (unloaded and double checked, of course) to help with forearm strength. Easy to do, and you can even pretend to "remove" political pundits from tv shows!

 

[john_bud]

Perception of recoil is often a result of the muzzle blast getting past the hearing protection. Next time you go to the range, bring in ear plugs and over the ear muffs rated at 30db or higher. Higher is better. Have her use BOTH.

 

[ranburr]

Something that helped me with recoil was grip strength. I thought I had a good solid grip, but the barrel flip was obscene! Started working on hand strength and it made a WORLD of difference. I also began holding my pistol out at the telly (unloaded and double checked, of course) to help with forearm strength. Easy to do, and you can even pretend to "remove" political pundits from tv shows!

He understands.. You have to have grip, forearm, and shoulder strength to shoot.

 

[XDMan07]

Do you have chrono meter? I would chrono your factory ammo, and your reloaded ammo. Bring down the powder sightly until you get a velocity around 900fps. That should soften the recoil and quicken up the follow up shots.

Heavier guide rod will help but I am not sure if you would make the weight limit for production.

 

[flyjoshh]

Thanks guys, got some ideas now.

 

[just in joy]

I reload my 9mm everyone that shoots my xd 9 service loves the feel low recoil and easy for the wife to control also. tomorrow I plan on shooting some 124gr loaded with 3.9 of AA #2 oal .001+/- from 1.151my load prior to that were 115 grs @ 4.1 AA#2 oal 1.135 no feed issues on the 115grs and I have stored 1.5k of those.... load up some reloads and see how she likes those better I will almost say she will like the reloads 100% better

 

[pjcforpres2020]

What sort of grip and stance is she using? Something I have had a lot of success with when I was a trainer is changing the support hands position to lower on the grip itself. So long as the trigger hand is in proper position, you can in general move the support hand around as needed to help handle the recoil and flip. The general rule is to be as high as possible with both hands, but this also assumes the shooter has large enough hands to fully encompass the entire grip while holding it like this.

I learned a trick at an NRA trainer clinic from a wee little woman that could fire pretty much anything with little to no muzzle flip. Her hands were not big enough to fill the grip top to bottom, so she would put her trigger hand high and tight in proper positioning, then put her support hand at the bottom of the grip, wrapping as you normally would. This allowed her to have full control of the entire grip, and reduce muzzle flip greatly. The lower on the grip you are able to grab, the greater the leverage affect it has against controlling muzzle flip.

This should essentially look like a mix between a palm support grip and tradition two handed grip. We even went so far as to have some of the young ones and smaller scouts hang their pinky since it is the weakest digit, and it helped to have a stronger digit like the ring finger taking the brunt of the flipping action.

 

[PCollen]

Good advice^. Take her out and let her shoot a .22 for a while, until she gets used to holding the gun properly. My wife is 5'3" and 120lbs, she was afraid of shooting my 9mm for a long time, then we hit the range a lot and now she can shoot my .45 all day long.

She'll get used to the gun, it just takes time. Changing parts will only make it that much harder for her to learn.

...and result in money being spent on a gun which she may grow out of an you'll never re-coup. I mean, once she gets used to the XD9, it will only be matter of time until she asks to take your .45 for a ride

 

[mixednuts]

Do you have chrono meter? I would chrono your factory ammo, and your reloaded ammo. Bring down the powder sightly until you get a velocity around 900fps. That should soften the recoil and quicken up the follow up shots.

Heavier guide rod will help but I am not sure if you would make the weight limit for production.

115gr WWB is around 1180fps if I remember correctly. Getting a 115gr reload down to 900fps is pretty light. The lowest I've ever gone was 1000fps which my XDm ate like chocolate and very the definition of "soft shooting". Do you have any issues with reliability with that load?

 

[XDMan07]

115gr WWB is around 1180fps if I remember correctly. Getting a 115gr reload down to 900fps is pretty light. The lowest I've ever gone was 1000fps which my XDm ate like chocolate and very the definition of "soft shooting". Do you have any issues with reliability with that load?

This is with a 147gr FMJ Montana gold bullet heads.