Bought an SD9 “Academy” last Friday. Got to the range today to start the break-in process. I shot a total of 182 rounds made up of the following:
50 American Eagle – 124 grain FMJ
50 Blazer Brass – 115 grain FMJ
50 Speer Lawman – 115 grain FMJ
32 JHP’s, which were a mix of Federal HST 124 grain, Speer Gold Dot 115 grain and Remington Golden Saber 124 grain.
Pros: I’m happy to report all rounds fed, fired and ejected without incident. The HIVIZ fiber optic sights popped in the daylight. They looked like they were battery powered. I have, and have shot guns with the FO front sight, but not both front and rear. That was nice. The sights were also on. Another nice. The grip and stippling suit me just fine. In fact I like it better than my M&P. The gun is also very pleasant to shoot. Recoil is minimal. It is, after all, a 9mm.
Cons: The trigger. Not as bad as one might think when dry firing, but certainly not good either. As has been hashed and rehashed, long take up, decent (but heavy) break followed by a long reset. Repeat. It is what it is. I’ve shot guns with worse triggers, much worse, but this one is not in the much worse category. There is a bit of a learning curve with it, but it’s entirely adequate for its intended purpose. I do think I hear Apex calling me though.
Below are some of today’s results. The first pic are the first shots, two magazines worth. The bottom was getting a feel for the trigger, at about a one shot per second pace. The head shots were a little quicker. About two shots per second. All shots were from the 7 yard line.
The second pic was IWB holster draws, double taps as fast as I could pull the trigger, with a few head shots thrown in after the double taps at the end of the second magazine. All shots were made from the 10 yard line.
The third pic was shots made at the 25 yard line at about a one shot per second pace. I missed a couple if you count the holes, but not too bad with a new gun. I intended to shoot some at this distance from a bag rest, but forgot. Next time for sure.
The fourth was JHP’s (Speer Gold Dot) from the 7 yard line, IWB holster draw, at about a 3 shot per second pace.
The fifth is the star of the show.
In summary, this gun was better than I expected given the known qualities of the trigger. Could you live with the trigger the way it is? Sure you could. Could you improve it? Sure you could, but you wouldn’t have too. The gun ran perfectly with the way the trigger is, was plenty accurate and as previously stated, very pleasant to shoot. Definitely one of these
on my face at the end of the day!