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Grand Power X-Calibur: range reports


NicVerAZ

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I shot my X-Cal for the second time yesterday.

As background, when I first got to the range I put about 200 rounds through my cajunized SP01 (anywhere from 3-25 yds) at various speeds. The SP01 is currently my preferred platform, simply because I'm very comfortable and accustomed to its weight, solid feel, and sight tracking; with the tweaks I've made to my grip the sights predictably rise and return to the target.

I then put about 70 rounds through the XC . The most noticeable thing after shooting the SP01 is how light the XC feels. Based on the difference in weight, I keep expecting to experience a lot more recoil and muzzle flip with the XC, but its not there. I'm not sure I'm prepared to state that it has less muzzle flip that the SP01, but it doesn't have noticeably more, and much less than expected. After modifying my grip a bit, I found good success with the Vogel technique of torquing the hands inward to "choke" the gun. The gun was then quite accurate in my hands (although I'm thinking about getting a thinner front sight since I don't shoot as well with the fat ones). I had 10 rounds left, the target was at 10 yards, and I decided to squeeze them off as fast as I could. The results surprised me, 7 alphas. I was surprised because I am not yet accustomed to the sight tracking on the XC. I was getting the sense that the sight was returning faster than I was used to with the SP01, so it messed up my timing a bit.

Short summary: this is a very cool gun, with some interesting performance qualities. I have no doubt that after more practice it will give the SP01 a run for its money, and may even surpass it in my hands.

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jroback - Thanks for the review with the direct comparison between a gun I have and a gun I might buy - very helpful.

I've also had good results using a Vogel type grip on polymer-frame guns. Something to do with concentrating gripping forces up near the center of mass? Whatever the reason, it seems to help settle things down to where only the slide is moving, not the whole gun.

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Not with the CZ (have two Shadows) and although I gave it a try, not with the STI guns either. Those tend to respond better to gripping the heck out of the bottom of the grip with strong hand pink/ring fingers, and gripping very hard, but neutral, into the left grip panel with the weak hand palm.

The plastic guns it seemed like the frame flex got more noticeable, in a bad way, when I gripped them harder down near the magwell. The Vogel grip seemed to calm down the gun in a good way and a side benefit is the pressure from the entire thumb riding above the trigger area seemed to allow a much more aggressive triggering without upsetting the sight picture too much. And torque (from the bullet augering down the barrel) was more noticeable with plastic frames - also better controlled by rolling the hands in.

With either grip style, you will see big improvements from using Captains of Crush grippers.

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  • 3 months later...

Anybody has any feeding issues ?

Just got my xcal and although , I love the trigger and feel of it , not happy about few failures , when slide wouldn't go completely into battery. I was shooting my practice ammo that doesn't fit 100% in case gauge , so I didn't worry about it.

But had same problem today at weekly shoot. Happened twice on less then 60 rounds , with 100%checked ammo.

Never really had this problems with CZ. Shooting precision bullets (Molly coated )

I'm bit on the fence. Really like the gun but if I have to use FMJs to keep it running , it's gone.

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Double check how you are lubing the gun.

(Did you wipe off the packing grease and re-lube?)

The locking shoulders at the front of the chamber and the cam path and roller are places few people miss.

Most people lube the frame rails and the front of the barrel in the slide.

However, not everyone thinks to apply a thin film of oil to the rear face of the barrel.

As the cartridge is chambered and is moving forward into battery, the face of the slide surrounding the breech is essentially a thrust bearing.

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Shot another 100 rounds today and had 3 more malfunction . I guess I'll put another 500 thru this weekend and see if it goes away

Never really had a gun that needed breaking in,certainly not a polymer one .I guess we'll see.

Other than that ,I love ergonomics and trigger

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This is just a part of the video I took. Actually had this happen with factory ammo right out of the slid lock .

All the ammo checks fine in barrel and performs 100% out of my CZ.

Cleaned the gun fire today and noticed tiny nick/burr on back of the barrel , outside edge , where it comes together with slide.

Polished it up and will try again tomorrow.

If that won't help it's going up for sale. I don't wanna load extra ammo just for this gun.

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I guarantee you I would make that gun sing. Also CZs and K100s don't exactly take the same ammo. People reload short on a CZ.

I load at 1.120" but I use an undersized die on stage 1. It makes a difference.

I'd do what Kingman says: make it a bit longer. I used to reload short without the U die and it would hit the feeding ramp.

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I'll take it for $100.

I'll give it one more shot and if it won't work , look for it in for sale section.

I should not have this kind of problems with $1000 gun.

Out of 12 of them I have , this is only one giving me problems. And this is the one I've been waiting for the longest. :)

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Well, back to one of the most common topics, 2 in one.

So, yes, Mk12 pistols can trade slides.

As for running the XTrim in IDPA, I think Steve Moneypenny does that. Production rules may be an issue.

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