I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes anyways.
A little bit of my back story:
The Christmas before last, I was the proud recipient of an amazing amount of generosity from this group that is the Tumbleweed Christmas and Brassy Clause. I've had a lot going on in my life since then, but have found a little time here and there to do some research and load some rounds. I just haven't had the chance to actually shoot anything for quite some time. This is very troubling to me for a couple reasons:
1- I've always been a shooter. Since I was 7 years old. It is a part of who I am. Going almost two years without the time/opportunity to shoot felt like I had lost a little bit of my soul. That's not good, and there is no excuse.
2- I believe in training, and maintenance of skills. How could I possibly feel confident in my skills to protect my family if I hadn't taken the time to hone those skills? This is unacceptable and I should be slapped.
A couple of weeks ago, I took the family out for some much-needed time in the woods... with guns.
My boy shot a real gun for the first time in his life. He's 12 and has been my son for almost 2 years. I gave him a nice safety brief before we left the house, then reiterated those points at the range. He wanted to put a couple rounds down-range from my XD40, so I gave him a couple of 165 grain ball rounds. He did remarkably well, then spent the rest of the day shooting my dads old Remmington single shot, bolt action .22 that I learned to shoot on as a kid. He loved it. Simply could not get enough of the fact that when he opened the breach, smoke came out.
My wife spent most of the day with my little 10-22 Carbine with a 3-9X scope, drilling holes into log rounds. I'm talking a quarter sized hole at 25 meters from a kneeling stance. And this was her second or third time ever shooting. I think I've got a couple naturals on my hands.
On to the reason of this post.
Over the last 10 years that I've had my XD40, I couldn't even begin to speculate how many thousands of rounds I've shot with it. I always shot store bought rounds, either Winchester or PWC. I used to think they were good, accurate and consistent. I was wrong. I had a couple hundred rounds that I loaded using knowledge that I've gleaned from my Dad (@bbogue1), and a few others, along with some books and research materials I've been led to. I very carefully began to load some rounds, 170 grain Semi Wad Cutters, not sure what to expect. I was careful, and maintained my attention to detail with every step of the process. But I wasn't sure what to expect.
I loaded a single round into my XD, put on gloves and safety glasses, held that gun as far from by body as possible, and slowly pulled the trigger. Annnnnd BOOM! I've never shot a round that made that pistol feel so smooth. All of that research and due diligence payed off. I fired a round that I LOADED! And it worked! I'm sure you all have experienced the pride of knowing that you are just a little more knowledgeable and self sufficient than before that moment. It is good.
I've now gone out twice and fired almost all of the rounds I loaded, so I need to load some more. They are the most consistent rounds I've ever put through that pistol. They are accurate. They are predictable. And they are mine.
I have a huge thanks that is owed to all of you on here, especially to my Dad for convincing me I need to be loading my own, and to Ron (whose screen name I can't remember) for the conversations and guidance. You all are a wealth of knowledge and an all around great community. I can't wait to gain more experience and to get to the point where I can pay it forward.
Thanks for this all,
Tim
P.S. If you know how to tag someone in a post, please let me know how. Or if you know the people mentioned, please tag them on here so that they can see this post.
|
   
   
|
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by osteodoc08
