# I blew up my target with my M9 =D



## Lincoln (Sep 28, 2008)

Wanted to report my second trip to the range, where my Stepdad gave a little styrofoam thingie to affix to the back of a paper target, directly behind the bullseye.

"What does this do?" I asked.

"If you hit it, you'll see."

It took a couple of tries and I saw what he meant when the target suddenly exploded into bitty bits, and all the gun buddies I was shooting with were like, *"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"*

:mrgreen:

On a more serious note, I'm trying to gauge how well I've been shooting so far, and I've been pretty frustrated in not getting tight "A-zone hits" at 25 yards, but I'm not sure what I should realistically be expecting at this point.

Here's a picture of two of the targets. The one on the left was at 10 yards, the one on the right at 15 yards. The target sheet itself is 12 inches high, 10 inches wide. As you can see, I'm pretty pleased with the results at 10 yards, but I still need some practice at 15 yards, and at 25 yards, forget it. I can hit the target but man its all over the place. No tight groupings at all. :smt022










So far I've been shooting freehand. Is 25 yards the furthest one could expect to shoot tight groupings near dead center with enough practice? I'm kind of curious as to how far I could actually go before the distance eventually overcomes the limitations of the handgun.

Can I just say I love my Beretta M9 by the way? It is the gun of my dreams. :smt083


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

You will have to work at it quite a while to out perform the gun's capabilities.

That is a good objective though.

Enjoy


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## JagFarlane (Jul 23, 2008)

Lincoln said:


> So far I've been shooting freehand. Is 25 yards the furthest one could expect to shoot tight groupings near dead center with enough practice? I'm kind of curious as to how far I could actually go before the distance eventually overcomes the limitations of the handgun.
> 
> Can I just say I love my Beretta M9 by the way? It is the gun of my dreams. :smt083


-chuckles- I'm going to say at least 50yds., at least by our standards. But to be fair, the couple of us that would shoot the Beretta that far are in the Navy and have handled beaten up Berettas for the past few years. Brought my new M9 to the range yesterday, and at 25yds we blew apart the black.  It is a damned good gun.


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## Lincoln (Sep 28, 2008)

JagFarlane said:


> Brought my new M9 to the range yesterday, and at 25yds we blew apart the black.


Showoff. :goofy:

How long did it take you before you could hit the black consistently at that distance?


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## JagFarlane (Jul 23, 2008)

Lincoln said:


> Showoff. :goofy:
> 
> How long did it take you before you could hit the black consistently at that distance?


-chuckles- that will take a bit of elaboration. With this Beretta, about 200 rounds. However, for one, the Beretta just fits me very well, like as if the grip was shaped just right for my hands. For two, I've also done a lot of dry firing with it, and practicing my stance with it to minimize my reaction to recoil. Also shooting quite a few more rounds through the .22 has helped as far as the stance goes and the feel for the sights. On top of that, the 3 out of 4 of us who did that, have all been shooting for about 2 decades with various forms of training. For me, in came in the form of a father who had been an Army Ranger. All I can say is practice, and if you're having issues, take a class taught by a NRA certified instructor. And even then, I have my really good days, as Saturday was, and my off days [which seem to happen way more often]. Either way I'm mostly just there to have some fun, and if I do well, hey all the better.

As for 50yds, I haven't practiced that so, safe to say, I shoot that distance, I'll be happy to hit paper


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## Lincoln (Sep 28, 2008)

I know what you mean about the Beretta fitting well. I tried Sig Sauers, Brownings and S & W, but the M9 fit like a glove. Even used to play with with M9 shaped water pistols when I was a kid. I guess it was meant to be. :mrgreen:

My range only goes up to 25 yards, but learning to shoot it in the black at that distance seems to be the best goal for now. My shots are always high though, so I'm wondering if I'm just reacting to the recoil a little too much there.


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

Lincoln said:


> My range only goes up to 25 yards, but learning to shoot it in the black at that distance seems to be the best goal for now. My shots are always high though, so I'm wondering if I'm just reacting to the recoil a little too much there.


Are you holding dead on? The pistol could be sighted for 6 o'clock shooting.


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## JagFarlane (Jul 23, 2008)

Lincoln said:


> My range only goes up to 25 yards, but learning to shoot it in the black at that distance seems to be the best goal for now. My shots are always high though, so I'm wondering if I'm just reacting to the recoil a little too much there.





PanaDP said:


> Are you holding dead on? The pistol could be sighted for 6 o'clock shooting.


Agreed with this.
Also possible you are reacting a bit much to the recoil. When I fire, the gun moves maybe a half inch upwards, if that. If you're moving a lot farther, I'd recommend practicing with snap caps at a target, and holding the gun absolutely steady. Snap caps can help a lot with ridding someone of reaction to recoil.


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## xd9atl (Nov 30, 2008)

same targets i use, lol. i have the same problem as you do. 10 yards isnt a problem, but once it goes back, i have a hard time keeping it around center. all my shots are way high from 20-30 yards.


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## Lincoln (Sep 28, 2008)

PanaDP said:


> Are you holding dead on? The pistol could be sighted for 6 o'clock shooting.


Sorry for the late reply. I don't get notifications of new responses for some reason.

I have no idea what that means by the way. How could I tell how it's been sighted?


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## kg333 (May 19, 2008)

Lincoln said:


> Wanted to report my second trip to the range, where my Stepdad gave a little styrofoam thingie to affix to the back of a paper target, directly behind the bullseye.
> 
> "What does this do?" I asked.
> 
> ...


Aren't you going to tell us what he did to make it go boom? :smt033

KG


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

I used to get those little exploding targets that you could put on a target. makes a good pop and ya get some smoke when you hit it.


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## Lincoln (Sep 28, 2008)

kg333 said:


> Aren't you going to tell us what he did to make it go boom? :smt033
> 
> KG


It's like a small styrofoam block that you place on the back of the target sheet, right behind the bullseye. If you hit it the styrofoam explodes. Awesomeness. :mrgreen:


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