This Saturday I was invited to go to Circleville, Ohio with a couple of friends and try my hand at steel plate shooting.It was a cold morning, I think it only got to 45 degrees for the whole day, but never the less I was excited.
I decided that my best bet was to take my Beretta 92 FS Onix to the shoot. I had plenty of 9 mm ammo and it seemed like the best choice out of all the pistols I have.
It turns out that this one didn't make the cut. See at the top left where the safety switch is? Well it turns out that if your gun has a safety it has to be used when you re-holster your weapon. SO.. When you draw you have to release the safety, aim then fire. The safety on this gun is VERY hard to flip off during a draw.
Also there is no cocked and locked option with the Beretta 92FS.
After you do get the safety off you have to fire the first shot Double Action Only. Then it goes to single action after the first round.... So, for me, the first shot was hard and usually a miss.
The gun ran great. I didn't have any jams at all, but considering all that I had to go through to get the shot off I don't think I'll use it again. Put that on top of it being my first time, the range officer giving me direction from time to time due to small mistakes I was making, and the general nervousness that I was feeling with all eyes on me while shooting, I didn't want to mess with a stupid safety and a DAO trigger pull on the first shot.
That being said. I plan on getting a different pistol for the next time I shoot. I'm leaning towards a Glock 17 or a Springfield XD-9. I'm not sure, but that won't happen any time soon. Gotta get some of my debt in check first..... Just add it to my growing want list I guess!
Below is a couple of videos I had taken with my phone. The quality isn't the best but it serves the purpose!
I would love to have any feedback if you have any experiance in shooting events like this. Tips or links would be great!
Here's Pete, the guy that invited me to the shoot, tearing up the steel. you can check out his take on the shoot at Huey's Gunsite.
The next 2 are me trying my best. The first one is the best because, as Pete can attest to, you should probably keep your sleeves and collars away from me when I'm shooting.... My brass is HOT and it seems to always find its way to some unsuspecting victims skin!!!
I got him a couple times in the past, and Range Officer got his too!!
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Personally, I know you love the 92 and all, but I would think you could get enough for it to get set up with a G17 (I shoot the G22 in .40 btw) and keep your platforms the same with what you carry. Jsut my opinion. Glad you had a good time, if they roll again in November well have to put on our snowshoes and go again!
ReplyDeleteI got a chance to clean it tonight and spend a little time with it going through some drills like holstering it with the safety on and drawing it while deacivating the safety, and aquiring the target. Althought I have not yet perfected it, I think im going to give it another chance. I took off the Houge grips and reinstalled the stock ones. The Houge grips were getting in the way of the operation of the safety. I think that may have been one of my biggest problems. Now that the factory ones are in it seems to be alot easier to operate. Granted, there is an extra step in releasing the safety, only practice will lead to perfecting the technique. The only real way to tell is to take it for a spin again. Only this time with better sence of the rules, what to expect from my firearm, and knowing what the rules of the compitition are. BTW.. I'm definatly ready to bust out the snow shoes. A little cold has never kept me inside!
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