I bought a new gun last week; picked up a Springfield XDm .45. Went on Saturday to the range. Brought along my Sigma and the new Springfield.

Before my Sigma, the only pistol I had ever shot was my M9 in the military. I shot it fairly well with no problems qualifying the 3 times I had to. I got my Sigma .40 last year and struggled all last summer and fall to shoot it well. By the end of last year, I was finally keeping mostly on the target ring, but never what I considered great. I suspected a lot of it was me as the pistol does shoot accurate apparently. I worked hard on my trigger pull, but still could never get consistent accurate shots.

So, fast forward to last Saturday. I took out my new XDm first. After loading it, I took aim at twin round targets 15 yards out. First shot was a bullseye. I then took aim at the second target and shot another bullseye. I shot the rest of the mag half in slow fire, half in rapid. All of my shots ripped the center rings out of the targets; every shot was within a 2 inch circle for slow shots and maybe a 6 inch circle for the rapid ones.

So, I refreshed the two targets with new ones, picked up my Sigma, and took aim at the upper target. The shot was off the target low between the two targets. I tried again and same results (at least they were all grouped near to each other, but way low). I tried another mag in the Sigma and did better, but nothing accurate, just low.

I refreshed the targets again and switched to the Springfield. again, super accurate ripping up the bullseyes. Back to the Sigma and all over the place. That's when I realized just how the Sigma trigger is so different. The resistance near the end of the travel causes a lot of problems.

I also put up a B-27 silhouette at 25 yards and shot it all in the 5 area with the XDm. I tried head shots and put overlapping holes at that range. I couldn't even find if I hit it with the Sigma.

I love my Sigma, it's very dependable and I know i can shoot it if I work at it, but it's so easy to shoot the XDm.

I guess my plan for this season is to continue working the Sigma; perhaps it is what made me good with the Springfield. I'm also likely to try and smooth up the trigger now that I can see the difference. My plan is to just buff everything up and remove any rough spots. Hope that helps.

I guess the main thing is that I know I can definitely shoot accurately. I'm not crazy. I couldn't figure out how I lost my skill from the last time I shot the M9 until I got my Sigma. My technique is valid and I can indeed shoot well.

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