New SW9VE came home!

[fridayxiii]

Like the subject says, I finally got to bring my new Sigma home yesterday! I bought it last Saturday but w/Florida's three-day waiting period, couldn't pick it up til last night. I'm going to clean it tonight & head to the range first thing tomorrow morning.

This is my first pistol, and I'm looking forward to getting to know it very well. I got the Allied Forces model & think it's a great looking piece, can't wait to shoot it tomorrow. I think I see a couple hundred rounds in my near future.

 

[fridayxiii]

Like the subject says, I finally got to bring my new Sigma home yesterday! I bought it last Saturday but w/Florida's three-day waiting period, couldn't pick it up til last night. I'm going to clean it tonight & head to the range first thing tomorrow morning.

This is my first pistol, and I'm looking forward to getting to know it very well. I got the Allied Forces model & think it's a great looking piece, can't wait to shoot it tomorrow. I think I see a couple hundred rounds in my near future.

 

[FirebirdV8]

Good luck with your new pistol.

 

[dwhite53]

Be patient with it. My SW40VE was shooting low and left until I got used to the trigger and adjusted my grip a few times. It's great now. It's been a great gun.

All the Best,
Doug White

 

[varoadking]

http://smith-wessonforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/520103904/m/1821033533

 

[conn ak]

A very fun gun, you'll love it. Buy plenty of cheap ammo and blast away.

 

[fridayxiii]

Thanks all. I've been using Search a lot to get some idea of what ammo to use. From what I can tell almost any inexpensive FMJ will do for practicing at the range. Is there any particular brand of ammo to absolutely avoid?

On the ammo note, from looking around it seems like HydraShok or Gold Dot are good loads for personal defense. I tried to do some self-education but still haven't found what the difference is between the Federal HST (another common mention) & Hydra Shok.

 

[Thunderhawk88]

I've had mine for 2 years, and it along with a Ruger SP101 are my main carry guns. It is a great pistol, just give it time and use to smooth the trigger out.

 

[duckmart]

Your lucky fridayxiii, Ca. it's a 10 day wait. So be thankful you don't live on the Left Coast. Have fun, its a great gun.

 

[TDR911]

WalMart White box is great practise ammo. It will work fine in the SW9VE without ejection issues as with some guns.
For self defense ammo Hydro shocks are good. Get something that has good wound capabilities but not too expensive as you should run at least 200 rounds thru your gun to make sure that the brand you picked will feed properly. This will assure that you will know that the defense ammo will cycle and do its job when needed.
You can buy the best and most expensive ammo and if it has any feed issues in your particular gun it is USELESS. Always check it.
Another note with unloading and reloading the same rounds. Many times I unload my defense weapon and then reload it. Cleaning ETC. After many reloads of the same top cartridge the bullet will recess back into the brass, as well as ejector marks. I rotate the top 2 bullets every time and after 2 or 3 rotations I will check length. If they are still in spec I will then save them and use them at the range .
Dry fire, a little polish and MilTec will smooth out the trigger.

 

[fridayxiii]

Just got back from the range, and put 200 rounds through my new Sigma. I shot 50 rounds of Blazer, 100 of Winchester White Box (<$20 at WalMart as many others have found), and another 50 of Blazer. After 150 I just wasn't ready to be done yet, hence the last box o' Blazer.

Like I've read elsewhere, the WWB is "dirty" ammo (my hands were turning gray-black after the box was done), but fed & shot flawlessly.

I picked up a box of Hyrda Shok for HD, which I'll keep loaded til next weekend's range trip. After a few weekends of WWB for practice & break-in I'll take the advice given & put a couple hundred rounds of Hydra Shok through to make sure it shoots reliably.

I found the Sigma to shoot pretty well, though many of my rounds were low & left of the intended spot. I attribute this a great deal to 1) my overall lack of experience shooting a pistol and 2) shooting a new gun. I bought some snap caps & feel pretty good that w/lots of practice & dry firing I should improve my results.

Thanks again to all for the well-wishes & advice, I look forward to a long, happy relationship w/my new 9VE & time in the forums here.

 

[TDR911]

fridayxiii You will improve with all the dry fire practise. Good luck with your new baby.
You should also look into some self defence training. Here is a link to 1 in Florida. Let me know your general location in Florida & I can give you some more Training links.

http://www.southernexposuretraining.com/

 

[gmchenry]

As far as ammo to avoid, the only brand that I would completely avoid is American Ammunition (A-merc) out of Florida.

 

[Thunderhawk88]

I found the Sigma to shoot pretty well, though many of my rounds were low & left of the intended spot.

Pay attention to your grip and don't use too much trigger finger.....
It'll get better.

 

[MK]

Here's a pretty good video on grip, etc..
That boy can shoot too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48

For the Sigma, practicing dry fire, and making
sure the pistol doesn't move off target is
a good idea. Takes a little practice with the
long hard pull. On the bright side, it will make
you a better shooter with all guns, cuz many
others will feel like a piece of cake in
comparison.
BTW, for what it's worth, I think my Sigma .40
really does shoot a tad low on more distant
shots. :/
But I haven't carefully tried to prove it yet,
and so far I've only used 180 grain, and not
165 gr or lower.. "40 S&W" I don't know if 165
would shoot any flatter or not..
Course, it could still be me, but I've tested
it being real careful, and I do believe it does
shoot low a bit. The farther away, the more it
shows up. Up fairly close, say at 7 yards, it's
fairly close. But.. Still will often end up
about an inch lower than where I actually aim.
Might need a front sight shave, but I think I'm
just going to adjust my site picture to make up
for it if it proves to be true. Being I use
the white dot, a shave in itself won't do me
any good. I'd need a whole new sight, or a new
lower dot.
It's really just about as easy to adjust my
sight picture if I needed to on long shots.

 

[fridayxiii]

MK - thanks for posting the link to the video on grip. In my brief experience w/pistols I was committing two errors: one in using the first joint of my index finger to squeeze the trigger, and the other in my weak hand placement. I picked up some good tips from the videos (found another video on pistol grip in the same 'group' as the original you linked to), and will incorporate during my next practice session at the range.

I'm also going to try & find an instructor in my area for either a group class or 1 on 1 instruction, but this definitely helps me w/some fundamentals.

 

[Spotteddog]

Though sighting is always the same, subtle differences exist in trigger applications and hand positioning. Dry firing will help as mentioned above, as long as your dry firing with your hands in the correct position(s). Depending on how much hand gun shooting experience you have(?) it's also not uncommon to anticipate recoil just before the trigger breaks, thereby driving the muzzle downward. Perhaps the single most common error made, outside of sighting and hand positioning. Upside is, dry firing done religiously usually addresses all of the issues.
"Be one with the target Grasshopper"

 

[f150guy]

Originally posted by fridayxiii:
Thanks all. I've been using Search a lot to get some idea of what ammo to use. From what I can tell almost any inexpensive FMJ will do for practicing at the range. Is there any particular brand of ammo to absolutely avoid?

For some reason, my Sigma 9ve does not like blazer brass ammo. It fires and ejects fine, but is all over the place.

 

[blueridgeman]

Well you guys will probably think I'm crazy, but let me tell you my experience when I first got my CS9: Usually the first shot (DA)would be OK. Successive (SA) shots would all be low and to the left. I was shooting with the pad (tip) of my right index finger on the trigger. I figured out that, because my hands are large and the CS9 is small, I was causing the gun to squint slightly down and to the left during trigger pull because my hand was actually arched away from the grip (opposite the knuckles). When I changed to pulling the trigger with the first joint on my index finger, the problem went away completely. This is the only gun I shoot this way: I shoot my revolvers and rifles with the tip of my finger.
...for what its worth...

 

[jmlock]

Originally posted by dwhite53:
Be patient with it. My SW40VE was shooting low and left until I got used to the trigger and adjusted my grip a few times. It's great now. It's been a great gun.

Same here. A buddy and I both tried out our new 40VEs at our police range. Right off the bat, we were both a little low. But after a little practice, both guns are right on the money.