Saturday Short Range Trip

Went to the range this morning, it was sunny but cool out at 31 degrees with a touch of wind. 

 Decided to try out my new p365.

It's the P365XL Spectre Comp in FDE. Got it on sale last month, and just got a Holosun 507K2 to mount on it (EPS Carry was not in stock unfortunately, as I would have liked to give that a go). So, I took it to the range to get it zeroed today.

It was shooting quite low and left, and then I managed to adjust it.

 

Then I shot two B-8s with 10 rounds at 10 yards each, and I'd say it's been zeroed in now.

I was very happy with those results. I'll take 100 points any time, and getting 2 100s in a row was very happy making indeed.

Then I did some Bill Drills.

The slide's integrated comp really does reduce recoil quite measurably, and the dot stayed in the A-Zone box throughout each Bill Drill at 7 yards.

However, combine the winter jacket, sweatshirt, some very cold fingers, and a lack of practice, and my performance was rather off.  

While I wasn't throwing shots out of the A-Zone, the times themselves were rather sub-par, averaging 3.56 seconds per clean Bill Drill with a 1.5+ second draw.

So yep, more practice is certainly needed if I'm going to improve.

I ran 300 rounds through it on this first outing, with no issues whatsoever.  I was by then rather cold, especially my fingers, and decided to call it a day.

As a carry piece, the P365XL Spectre Comp certainly has a lot going for it.  

Recoil is less than the P365X, due to both the slightly longer slide and, of course, due to the integrated compensator which really does work. The trigger is very good right out of the box.  It carries a ridiculous amount of rounds in the magazine (12 flush fitting. 14 flush fitting with a mag guts internal change, or 17 slightly extended). It also is a very compact size and conceals perfectly in a PHLster Pro holster, while still carrying a full-size gun's capacity, and with the comp it feels like it shoots like a bigger gun, too.

In short, I do indeed like this P365XL Spectre Comp, and I'll be shooting it more, soon.

Sunday Range Trip, Now With Snow

Went to Huron Valley Guns for breakfast and some range time.

It started snowing as I began driving this morning, but I got there and the snow wasn't an issue, at least not until I left.

Had a god time at the range.

I had sent the Sig Romeo Zero Elite back to Sig for repair/replacement and had a new Holosun 507K  on the P365 to Zero.

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The Holosun is more substantial than the Romeo having a metal housing.  Two buttons for brightness on the outside is much more accessible than the single button for the Romeo Zero,  and the side loaded battery means I don't have to take the sight off every time the battery needs changing. In short, it is a major improvement over the Romeo Zero Elite.  Installation was a snap, as it uses the same mounting footprint, and even the same screws as the RZE.

The only downside is the squared off top of the Holosun is a little different from the rounded top of the Romeo Zero Elite and makes for a slightly different feel to the presentation and it feels and looks bigger and more chunky, but still fits in the Desantis Nemesis pocket holster just fine for front jean pocket carry, or the Phlster Pro without any issues.

It zeroed pretty quickly as it was just about right on with its default settings, just slightly low and left, and with a bit of tuning it was just right. 100 rounds later it was pronounced good to go.

I also did some 7 Yard single shot and Bill Drills.  I still can't get the Bills under 3.1, so more practice is needed.  I was also off on my single shot to 7 yards, ranging in the 1.3s to 1.4s for almost all of them and not touching thew 1.2s like last time.  Again, more practice and more dryfire practice can only help.

A darn good time at the range.

Driving home was a different story.

First major snowfall and it was a slippery one at that.

Roads including the highway were extra slow.

Did almost get in an accident.  I was in the right lane on a north-south road off of the highway when a complete bint in a black Mercedes decided to cut in front of me from the left lane, then jam on her brakes to make a right turn at the next street ahead of us.

I almost lost it having to break with the car starting to slide due to the idiot's sudden stop in front of me.  The left lane beside me was occupied so there was nowhere to go, and the accident was barely avoided. That will get your BP up a tad.

Rest of the drive home was uneventful until reachign the Driveway of Doom™.

As you might guess, the car didn't make it up and I got to slide back down to the bottom backwards.  Much fun, but I missed the ditch on the way down.

So I managed to walk up the driveway and only lost my footing once but avoided a fall.  Then I cleared the driveway and scraped it down to just asphalt and then got back down the driveway, drove up and parked the car.  

So, I got an extra cardio workout with this week's range trip.

Romeo Zero Elite - Battery Level Zero

As I had mentioned before, the battery life of the Romeo Zero Elite on my Sig P365 is rather less than satisfactory.

Was going to take it to the range yesterday but I found the battery had once again been drained.

That's 4 dead batteries in 6 months, not being carried daily, and mostly sitting not moving and thus not on in a safe most of the time.  

Contacted SIG and will see what response I get, as it is nowhere near the stated 20,000 hour battery life.  Of all the red dots I have, this is the only one that's going through batteries like they are going out of style.

So I expect I will replace it with a Holosun 507K as having to dismount the sight and mess with the evil allen key head screws each time, and then having to verify the zero for it is simply annoying.

Sig P365X - An EXcellent Pocket Carry Pistol

Got a SIG P365X in July and have been using it ever since.

With 12+1 rounds of 9mm in the XFrame, it fits the hand well and fits and conceals easily in a DeSantis Nemesis holster in a front jeans pocket even with the red dot.  It also fits nicely in a Phlster Pro holster for appendix carry when I'm not wearing jeans.

Even better, with a MagGuts spring and follower, you get 14+1 in the magazine in a very compact yet very shoot-able package, which is pretty darn amazing capacity for such a small pistol. It's pretty much my favorite and most carried pistol at this point as its both convenient in sub-compact size yet still offers a  compact pistol's capacity.

It came with the SIG Romeo Zero Elite mounted.  The Romeo Zero Elite  is a very nifty compact sight and fits well with my idea of red dotting all the things. 

The sight is very easy to acquire form the draw, and the circle dot makes for very easy target acquisitions and fast transitions between targets. No problems shooting A-Zones at 25 yards, and transitions from A-Zones at 10 yards to 7 yards and back is fast and easy.

The only drawback is that the battery life of the SIG Romeo Zero Elite quite simply sucks.  The sight is aptly names as Zero as that's about the average battery life experienced.

The battery that came installed in the sight lasted about two weeks.  I chalked that up to a possibly old battery and the firearm moving around in shipping etc, and I swapped it out. Of course, to change the battery, just like the RMR, you have to remove the sight from the slide.

I then put in the new in wrap battery that came in the package with the SIG, and that lasted about a month. 

I replaced it with a newly purchased Duracell and that lasted all of thirty-eight days.

Just replaced that yet again yesterday and will be contacting SIG as it appears the sight is defective because this is sure not a 20,000 hour sight as advertised.  Instead, it is averaging less than 800 hours even with the sight shutting itself off automatically with the MOTAC system with no movement. That's three battery changes in less than a total of 4 months.

The MOTAC system works nicely and the sight does come right back up when the firearm is moved but it doesn't seem to save the battery much life, if at all.  Meanwhile I can leave an RMR on full time for a year and no problems.

On the upside, the sight returned to zero exactly even after being removed each and every time. It also has night sights on it that are pretty much co-witnessed so shooting through the window even if the sight is not functioning is very doable.

Further downside:  What idiot decided to use Allen keys as the screw head for mounting the sight? Allen keys suck and tend to strip.  They also tend to lack bits that fit in a torque screwdriver to set the screws at the required 9-inch pounds.  SIG really should have used a Torx head for the screws at the very least.

Overall, aside from the battery life issue of the sight and the terrible idea of using Allen keys for screw heads, the pistol has been great and reliable.  Over 400 rounds through so far with zero failures including 100 rounds of Speer Gold Dots.