Some random thoughts today, from a "45 guy" still working on getting comfortable with 9mm. Now don't get me wrong, I am a card carrying member of the shot placement school. As I tell my students, carry the biggest gun you can conceal, in the largest caliber you can control and get fast accurate hits with. Put a 22 through their eye socket and they won't know it wasn't a 45.
That said, I still carry 45s. Especially when I feel that the threat level, where I will be, is elevated. Like on Saturdays at the local indoor range.
It is a psychological thing. After decades of carrying 45s and working GSW Homicides - seeing people shot dead with everything from 22 to 7.62 and seeing many of those people shot with smaller calibers, saved by medical intervention - my "comfort level" is higher with a 45 on my belt. In these letigious times, who wants to shoot their assailant more than twice?
And then there was the problem, for me, of actually shooting 9mm pistols ACCURATELY. I was having a problem putting rounds low right, to POA. Constantly. With large or compact pistols. It turns out, you have to shoot 9mm pistols like......9mm pistols. NOT like 45s. You have to adjust your grip, trigger control and follow through. My friend Fastbolt pointed out to me the things I needed to work on. And I incorporated my friend Mas Ayoobs "Wedge hold". By doing these things and practicing regularly with ONLY 9mm pistols, I have finally started putting rounds where I want them.
But I still have a ways to go. I still shoot 45s, especially little 45s, better than I do small 9mms. Old habits and all. But by shooting drills a few times a week when I am working at the range, I am getting pretty good with the 3913NL. I can now get sub 3 inch groups at 7 yards using a flash sight picture. And at the 3 yard line a Mozambique drill has my center mass hits a few millimeters apart and my head shot centered on the "T". I am very pleased with this pistol. And the DA trigger is breaking in very well. Thank you again M29since14!!
I have been carrying either the 3913NL or my CS9 every day for the last few weeks. The first few days working at the range or when I am on duty at the jail and go out to smoke, were.....not really comfortable. But, it is a problem I am overcoming. Good ammunition combined with shot placement overcomes all. No handgun is a death ray. And Winchester 147 RA9T has a good track record, on the street, of killing bugs dead. Especially from a sub 4 inch barrel. Which all my 9mm carry guns are.
Anyways, with the miserable NC heat and humidity right around the corner, I will be carrying either the 3913NL or the CS9 for the next few months. I still have 500 rounds of 9mm ball to work with for practice. And the idiocy with ammo pricing and availability appears to be starting to wane. At least locally. So it won't be as problematic to shoot 200 rounds a week. I will be keeping at it. And enjoying the fine 3913!
Regards 18DAI
