hukdizzle

No I did not since it's an extra strength striker spring it could have an issue going into battery with a full mag. I also use Federal Match primers so I have no problems igniting primers even with a lower powered striker spring. The 16LB spring definitely feels to be more linear and closes the gun into battery much better than the factory spring. I like it so far but I have no shot the gun with my reloads so we will see how it performs. How does an extra strength striker spring cause issues with a gun going in to battery with a full mag? That striker spring is compressed on the backstroke of the slide, which has nothing to do with forward movement. Don't take that the wrong way, I am just asking the question because maybe something else is involved I am missing? The striker spring is actually not compressed on the rearward movement of the slide, it's compressed once the slide is moved forward from it's most rearward position and the striker is captured by the sear. The recoil spring is the active force that is causing the striker spring to become compressed. Under ready to fire conditions both of the springs are pushing the slide in opposite directions and if the recoil spring is providing too little force it can not allow the gun to go into battery and fire because the striker spring is overcoming the force of the recoil spring. With that being said, I went ahead and put a 20% striker power reduction spring along with a reduced power striker return spring from PRP. Initially I had a PRP ultimate match trigger kit in the gun with a fully polished PRP sear and the pull was very smooth and at 3lb 10oz per my lyman guage. After the installation of the PRP striker and striker return spring the gun is currently right at a 3lb trigger pull. I can no longer feel the break of the trigger and it's exactly where I want it. The reduced power striker return spring will allow the striker and reduced power striker spring to carry more momentum and velocity to impact the primer which should alleviate any chance for a light strike.

No I did not since it's an extra strength striker spring it could have an issue going into battery with a full mag. I also use Federal Match primers so I have no problems igniting primers even with a lower powered striker spring. The 16LB spring definitely feels to be more linear and closes the gun into battery much better than the factory spring. I like it so far but I have no shot the gun with my reloads so we will see how it performs.

Just picked up a 16lb Wolff recoil spring for my XDM 5.25 9MM and it's almost an inch longer than the stock spring that came in the gun. Is this normal? Also is it normal for the Wolff spring to feel heavier than the stock spring?

Right on, are they shooters? If I do go to a major it will probably be Birmingham, several of the guys in my club typically participate in that event every year.

Thanks Marshal82! I will definitely keep the dry firing up, it makes a difference without a doubt. I will work more on getting my grip together faster out of the holster for sure. I shoot at Escambia River Gun Club in Pensacola, FL. I would love to hit a major this year just to see what it's all about and watch the pros go at it but it just depends on how close it is to me and my finances at the time.

Thanks for the analysis waktasz. That little leg movement tick during my draw used to be much more pronounced and I am not exactly sure where it came from as I didn't practice it. The only thing I can think of causing me to do that is my subconcious telling me to clear my leg out of the way of the muzzle before I draw the gun. Do you think it's my center of gravity or is it due to my locking my elbows/wrists/shoulders and it transfering all the recoil into my body that is causing me to rock like that? I normally keep a pretty wide stance that feels fairly solid but you're right it's not solid enough to allow quicker follow up shots.

So I didn't have my beam scale zero'd properly on my previous two trips to the range and it appears that I was loading 3.4g and 2.8g respectively to my last two range trips. 3.4g runs around 950fps average and 2.8g wouldn't cycle the gun properly an was running around 810fps. I finally got my scale zero'd correctly and double checked several charges and ran 3.2g over the chrono today and it was right at 131PF or 892FPS average. Gun cycles great with stock recoil spring and has very little recoil.

Here is a recent vid from today with a couple of strings from a practice. I haven't shot an actual match since November due to holidays and weather but hopefully I made a little progress with the dry firing and practice session. My accuracy was great all day and I think I have found my current "speed" that I can effectively shoot at and balance accuracy with quickness. Things I think I can improve on, please feel free to chime in. 1. I think I am at least standing up a bit straighter now and not carrying as much tension in my shoulders and upper chest which is a good thing but I have a long way to go as far as getting my tension sorted in my upper body. I naturally have some poor posture due to some physiological issues and working at a desk 8 hours a day so it is going to take me quite a bit of time to correct this I think. I have been making a point of the posture in my dry firing as much as I can conciously. 2. My draw seems to be a bit more precise and efficient after practicing with your advice and a mirror. The weird pause in the middle of my draw that I had earlier last month in the video seems to be at least reduced bit. I am trying to be much more direct with my draw in my dry firing and cut down on the "animation". 3. Reloads were a bit more precise but the gun is still dropping too low to be fast and efficient, I need to keep it up in front of my face more and bring the mag to it. I think I for the most part have stopped the whole "shake the mag out of the gun" tick that I developed although I seem some small movements that could be eliminated. I have got to learn to clear my garment properly before grabbing the magazine from the pouch, several times today I tried to stuff shirt into my pistol along with the mag. It happens most of the time with shooting out the right side of cover due to the garment draping on the mags. 4. My off hand work is obviously atrocious, I never practice it and I really should at least dry fire practice it 5 minutes every time I have a dry fire session. I seen my self trigger slapping and milking the gun terribly. Thanks for the help guys, so far I think it has helped me quite a bit.

Great advice, thanks Marshal82. I watched the Vogel video and will try and study his form a bit more.

Thank you for the tips sir! 1. I do notice that little pause in my draw and I am not sure why I do that yet. What should be going through my mind when I am attempting to teach myself to literally go from point A to B on my draw in the most efficient way possible? 2. I definitely do need to move my mags and holster farther forward. I have been trying to move them forward but my initial grip on the weapon and indexing of my mags with my hands was inaccurate and I found myself fumbling a lot. I need to relocate both of these things and work on learning these new positions. I try to do some dry fire/reload/draw practice at least twice a week for about 20 minutes so this upcoming week I will work on relocating my gear. 3. The shoulder rolling thing is a terrible habit that I picked up when I first started shooting last year and has been the toughest for me to break. I know it's a bad thing to do but I haven't put much emphasis and have spent my practice time on other aspects of my shooting, I really need to tighten up on this bad habit. Do you have any tips on how to break this particular habit? 4. My shooting buddy dinged me on my mag release technique as well, it's wasted movement and slow without a doubt. I have only just recently started using a normal technique to drop mags fortunately so I should be able to break this habit quickly I hope. I actually previously used my middle finger to drop it from the right side of the gun instead of my thumb due to having small hands it just felt more natural at the time. I put in a custom made single sided extended mag release in my gun so now I have no choice but to use it with my thumb but I still at times have a bit of difficulty depressing the release completely without breaking my grip a slight bit. I really need to get clarification on this from IDPA before I dump more money into the gun to fully get it to ESP spec. The issue here is that I have a PRP trigger in it which has a visible trigger over travel stop which "by the rules" means the gun isn't SSP legal but there is so much grey area and vagueness regarding these rules that I can't make heads or tails of it. Thanks for the compliments on the grip and stance! When I first picked up a pistol last year I was actually putting my support hand index finger on the trigger guard like the old 80's grips and had to break my self of that this year so I am glad to hear that I am doing at least something right so far! I watched some of your videos and I can definitely see the improvement in your speed and precision of your movements. Your draw seems like it has always been pretty proficient but you've picked up a lot of speed in your reloads and splits.

Hey Guys, I have been shooting IDPA ESP for the past year or so and was hoping to get a critique on my fundamentals to make sure I am not building any bad habits and also advise on what I could improve upon or do a better/more efficient way. I am the guy in the black beanie and black shirt. At this speed my accuracy was very good and I scored on 95% or so of my shots that day. All targets were within 10 yards except for one 25 yard slow fire drill. Thanks for the critique and comments!

Thanks for the info chevyoneton. I have 30 loaded up with 3.0g of Titegroup that I will be putting over the chrono and through the gun this weekend to check the performance. I am not averse to shooting a 140PF load but if I can get the gun to cycle reliably at around 890-900FPS with potentially a lower recoil I believe I will give it a shot for a bit. I am looking at dropping in a 16LB wolff recoil spring as well and MAYBE going with a lighter striker spring if needed since I am using federal match primers.

If anyone wanted to know it appears that the following load. Xtreme .356 147g RN 3.2g Titegroup Federal Match Primer Shot out of a 9MM XDM 5.25" in roughly 60'F weather is running around 950FPS average over two 5 shot strings, gun was already dirty from an IDPA match earlier that day. I am shooting some 3.0g loads this weekend over the chrono and will update with my findings.

Fantastic info gentlemen, thank you!

Fantastic, I will start around 3.2 gr and see where I am at FPS and accuracy wise.