Oh my. 
After a totally fruitless morning in the Sam Houston National Forest looking for the nonexistent deer who have beamed back to the mother ship, the hubster and I went over to put our new babies through their paces: his new 1911 and my S&W M37. Got two targets, took 100 rounds of ammunition.
75 rounds later, I realized that I'm still on the first target. Back to the pro shop for two more boxes of ammo. Back to the firing line, where I shot a total of 175 rounds, more or less. One box of CCI Blazer 185 grain, 1 1/2 boxes of Remington target/range UMC 130 grain, and one WWB 130 grain. I shot both single action and double action.
It didn't take long to master the single action, but the DA trigger is going to take a bit of range time to whip into shape. Everything hit the paper, yes; but it was the SA shots that ended up in the 9-10 rings, with the exception of one early DA shot that was dead through the middle.
I have to say thanks again to Sir William for the suggestion regarding the DA/SA trigger. It isn't only the arthritis that is at issue; it's also fatigue at the range. By the time I'd put about 75-100 shots through it, I was ready to pretty much stick to SA. And when I did, I could have played all night if Id not needed to go home and cook dinner!
So although the DAO could have made this a less fun gun for the range, the DA/SA option enables me to shoot longer and really enjoy the gun more.
A couple of things that I need to deal with:
1) it started to get dark and the section of the range I was shooting at doesn't have the targets themselves illuminated, although our firing line is well lit. That means that I "lost" the sight in the dusk. If I ever have to shoot this for real at night (BG in the hallway at 3 a.m) I'd like to know where my sight is
. So a dab of Wite-Out (tm) or the fluorescent sight paint is in order.
2) There is a little ridge on the grips and the thumb is supposed to rest on top of that. OK, except that for me, it was more natural to have my thumb lower, below the ridge. Bad move. I managed to rip open a torn cuticle on my right thumb and bleed all over the place when a DA shot snapped that ridge back onto the cuticle tear. Note to self: either learn to put the thumb where it's supposed to go OR get grips without the little ridge!
3) The DA shots have a LOT more felt recoil. Now, I know the actual recoil is the same, but the way the hand muscles tense to squeeze the trigger on a DA shot ends up meaning that a lot of energy ends up felt back in the hand. Not a problem but kind of interesting, and I'm still trying to figure out the physiology/physics of the thing.
4) How delightful to shoot and shoot and shoot and not have a failure to feed, a failure to fire, a jam, or any other malady! Mind you, I love my XD and like Charlton Heston, you can get it from me when you pry my cold dead fingers off it; but I REALLY like the way that revolver shoots.
I'm sure there's some reason I need to go back to Carter's Country in the next few days... say, with the XD-40 and the M-37 and, oh, shoot a hundred rounds or so to practice the thumb thing, and then a hundred rounds or so of the .40 just so it doesn't start to feel neglected....
Springmom
After a totally fruitless morning in the Sam Houston National Forest looking for the nonexistent deer who have beamed back to the mother ship, the hubster and I went over to put our new babies through their paces: his new 1911 and my S&W M37. Got two targets, took 100 rounds of ammunition.
75 rounds later, I realized that I'm still on the first target. Back to the pro shop for two more boxes of ammo. Back to the firing line, where I shot a total of 175 rounds, more or less. One box of CCI Blazer 185 grain, 1 1/2 boxes of Remington target/range UMC 130 grain, and one WWB 130 grain. I shot both single action and double action.
It didn't take long to master the single action, but the DA trigger is going to take a bit of range time to whip into shape. Everything hit the paper, yes; but it was the SA shots that ended up in the 9-10 rings, with the exception of one early DA shot that was dead through the middle.
I have to say thanks again to Sir William for the suggestion regarding the DA/SA trigger. It isn't only the arthritis that is at issue; it's also fatigue at the range. By the time I'd put about 75-100 shots through it, I was ready to pretty much stick to SA. And when I did, I could have played all night if Id not needed to go home and cook dinner!
So although the DAO could have made this a less fun gun for the range, the DA/SA option enables me to shoot longer and really enjoy the gun more.A couple of things that I need to deal with:
1) it started to get dark and the section of the range I was shooting at doesn't have the targets themselves illuminated, although our firing line is well lit. That means that I "lost" the sight in the dusk. If I ever have to shoot this for real at night (BG in the hallway at 3 a.m) I'd like to know where my sight is
. So a dab of Wite-Out (tm) or the fluorescent sight paint is in order.2) There is a little ridge on the grips and the thumb is supposed to rest on top of that. OK, except that for me, it was more natural to have my thumb lower, below the ridge. Bad move. I managed to rip open a torn cuticle on my right thumb and bleed all over the place when a DA shot snapped that ridge back onto the cuticle tear. Note to self: either learn to put the thumb where it's supposed to go OR get grips without the little ridge!
3) The DA shots have a LOT more felt recoil. Now, I know the actual recoil is the same, but the way the hand muscles tense to squeeze the trigger on a DA shot ends up meaning that a lot of energy ends up felt back in the hand. Not a problem but kind of interesting, and I'm still trying to figure out the physiology/physics of the thing.
4) How delightful to shoot and shoot and shoot and not have a failure to feed, a failure to fire, a jam, or any other malady! Mind you, I love my XD and like Charlton Heston, you can get it from me when you pry my cold dead fingers off it; but I REALLY like the way that revolver shoots.
I'm sure there's some reason I need to go back to Carter's Country in the next few days... say, with the XD-40 and the M-37 and, oh, shoot a hundred rounds or so to practice the thumb thing, and then a hundred rounds or so of the .40 just so it doesn't start to feel neglected....
Springmom
I read your earlier post on the Bersa, and hoped this would work well for you.That said, I have an early mod 49 with factory stocks, that we used a dremmel tool on to facilitate speed loaders. With a Tyler grip filler, it works well for me. Once congrats,and have fun with it!