Félix A. Hernández

I saw a video on how to use a flashlight with your gun. I originally had a small 2 AA Maglite LED flashlight with my gun, but after watching the video, I learned that you need a light that has a button you can press momentarialy turn on and off quickly with one hand. My Maglite required two hands to twist on and off. This is a problem, since you are going to have the light on a long time and I will lose my tactical advantage. The video suggested the SureFire 6P. The 6P cost $62 and the 6p LED cost $85. When I went to Lowes I found Coast LED Lenser flashlight model 7438 for $44.87 (aka LED Lenser Hokus Fokus) and this flashlight looks exactly like the 6P LED and uses 3 AAA batteries, alot cheaper than 2 123A batteries, is brigther 105 lumens compared to 80 lumens and last 120 hours compared to 11 hours. These specs are from the packaging that came with the flashlight, the web site has different specs. They also market the same flashlight as LED Lenser 7736TS, except it does not have the advance focus system. The LED Lenser T7 has the advance focus system, except it has a length of 5.5 inches instead of 5.0 inches.

I have been using Midway USA’s Pistol Target for my practice shootings. I decided to create my own Pistol Target, since the Midway Pistol Target has too much black and my toner cartridge will quickly be used up. I created it using Adobe Illustrator. Here is a pdf version of my Pistol Target.

I went to Walmart and bought some .40 S&W Blazer Brass ammo yesterday for $12.47. That’s is pretty cheap compared to the $18 I was paying at the range. When to the range and shot 2 full clips with no problems yesteday.

I went to the range with Liju today. We bought 4 boxes of 50 rounds for a total of 200 rounds. Liju rented a Glock 22 40 S&W pistol. I shot 31 rounds on the Glock 22, then the slide got stuck open and would release. I remove the magazine had 9 rounds left. Eventually the slide got unstuck, with Liju trying a few times, but it would not fire. Liju had to wait for them to come and un-jam it. Between Liju and me we shot about 100 rounds on my Springfield XD(M) without any misfires or jams. The Glock was nice, I like it and it was not as stiff as mine My gun is new and only beem fired about 150 times, since I got last Thursday. My pistol is getting broken in little by little. My only problem I had with my XD(M), is that I cleaned it and oiled this morning and I had oil in the magazine well, which got on the magazine, then on my hands, then the gun. I had to wipe it down a few times. Also some oil was ozing out the trigger. I found the sights on the Glock easier to see than the 3 dots on my XD(M) 40.

I would like to try out one day, 44 magnum revolver, 45 ACP 1911 pistol, 9mm and AR-15 rifle.

I had one more magazine that was empty and I need to load with some hollow points. I bought Hornady 40 S&W 180 grs TAP FPD ammuntion. The ballistics for the TAP is here.

Compared to the Speer Gold Dot 40 S&W 180 grs. GDHP Short Barrel Hollow Point, the ballistics for the TAP are higher in velocity and energy, but they are not shot out of same length barrels.

My XD(M) 40 S&W is a 4.5 inch barrel, so I would think the velocity would be slower, since the additional friction for the .5 inch (correction: I read in Guns and Ammo magazine an article on Winchester PDX1 ammo, that longer barrel increased the velocity), so I would think the velocity would be faster, since the additional .5 inch allows for longer expansion of the gas pushing the bullet faster. Looking and comparing the casing the coating on the TAP looks nicer and better quality. The TAP has a silver nickel coating compared to the Gold Dot’s nickle coating. I also see a bigger bump on the casing from expansion of the bullet inserted in the Gold Dot.

I used my caliper to measure the caliber or the bullet, case and hollow point size. Measurements are in inches.

Brand	Case	Bullet	Hollow Point
TAP	.4195	.3960	.1095
Gold Dot	.4195	.3935	.2125

The smaller hollow point opening caliber on the TAP would create less air resistance and would explained the faster speed, even with the extra .5 inch of barrel travel and also the bullet caliber being .0025 bigger would create more resistance in a barrel, since is pushed through an barrel opening of .3840 inch.

I went to Shoot Straight gun range today with my son Jeremy to try out my brand new Springfield Amory XD(M) 40 S&W semi-automatic pistol. This gun is great and accurate. Jeremy and I shot 55 rounds of PMC Bronze 165 grs. FMJ-FP ammunition throught with no problems. I was more accurate than the last time on the range, when I rented a XD(M) .40. I used my right eye last time to aim and today I used my left eye. I think my left eye is the dominant one. Had a empty 22 case land on my arm from the guy next door. It was hot and it left a burn mark.

Bought some Speer Gold Dot 40 S&W 180 grs. GDHP Short Barrel Hollow Point ammuntion for my defensive rounds. Balistics information click here. I also got me some Pachmayr 40 S&W Snap Caps (dummy rounds) for teaching my wife and daughter safe firearm handling and dry firing techniques.

Don’t forget rule number 1. A gun is always loaded, check it and clear it. If you see the snaps caps already loaded in the magazine remove all the rounds first to make sure they are all dummy rounds and there is not live rounds mixed in the magazine.

Guns are safe and not dangerous. The person holding the gun is dangerous and unsafe.

Go to The-M-Factor and download the Safety Manual for the Springfield Amory XD(M) .40 S&W semi-automatic pistol (my gun) and read all the pages. Don’t even skip a page. Then read it again.

The following are video links that I found for teaching me safety, how to shoot, clean, etc semi-automatic pistols:

The first video and is the most important video is:

The Four Basic Safety Rules

Clearing a handgun

How to Eject a Live Round from a Gun

Learn About .40 Caliber Semi Automatic Pistol

Shoot Straight With That Pistol

How to Grip a .40 Caliber Semi Automatic Pistol

How to grip a pistol

Gun Stuff : Snap Caps & Speed Loaders

Dry Practice and Snap Caps

Learn About the Types of Pistol Shooting Stances

How to Take the Weaver Pistol Shooting Stance

How to Take the Isosceles Pistol Shooting Stance

How to Take the Modified Weaver Pistol Shooting Stance

How to Shoot a Gun with One Hand

How to Take the Low-High Pistol Shooting Stance

Finding your natural point of aim

Breathing

Learn the Proper Arm & Hand Positioning for Pistol Shooting

Three places for a handgun

How to Load a Semi-Auto Handgun Magazine : Target Shooting

How to shoot a pistol

Strong hand/Weak hand shooting

How to shoot a “double tap”

Shooting in “Cadence”

Target transitions

Home Defense

Tactically Clearing Stairs With A Firearm

Malfunction Clearing for a Pistol

Pistol Malfunction Clearance

Cleaning Videos

Learn Gun Lubrication Tips

How to lube an auto pistol

Cleaning The XDM - Part 1

Cleaning The XDM - Part 2

Cleaning The XDM - Part 3

The following videos are just for fun:

Bill Drill

Mozambique Drill

World’s fastest handgun shooter

Fastest gun in the west

XD-M Classifier

The fastest clip you’ll probably ever see.

Just got my first gun, yesterday. Is the Springfield Armory XD(M) .40 caliber S&W pistol in bi-tone color.

The M Factor

After spending a month researching on which gun to buy I decided on the XDM 40. My initial gun that I wanted to get was a Glock 19 9mm semi-automatic pistol. I went in December to SPA Shooters Depot on 13938 W. Hillsborough Ave near Race Track Rd. Very nice people there. Paul and Peter where very helpful on showing me different pistols and informative. I looked at the following 9mm guns:

• Springfield XD Compact 9mm for $543
• Glock 19 for $599
• Taurus PT-111 for $459
• Smith & Wesson M&P 9c for $679
• Sig Sauer P250C  for $699
• Sig Sauer 239 for $750
• SCY CPX1 for $349

I went in on getting a Glock and left after holding the Guns, ejecting the magazine, aiming and dry firing I left with the Springfield XD Compact 9mm as my favorite and then the Smith & Wesson M&P 9C and Taurus PT-111 (liked the bi-tone color, price and key lock on the Taurus) as my other favorites.

I went to Springfiel Armory’s web site http://www.springfield-armory.com/ and discovered the XD(M) 9mm and I liked it even better. I started reading about this gun and found the following reviews:

• XD Torture Test
• Springfield XDM review
• Springfield Armory XDM Pistol: 16+1 Rounds of .40 S&W Firepower
• Review from Bullet Boy blog
• Springfield XDM .40 Review from firearm fun blog

After reading in the forums I decided on the Springfield XD(M) 40 all black, since it was cheaper that the bi-tone Stainless Steel/Black pistol. I prefer the bi-tone, for its real nice looks.

In January I went to Shooting Sports on Dale Mabry and got prices on the following guns:

• Springfield XD(M) 9mm for $664
• Springfield XD 9mm Bi-tone SS/Black for $593
• Springfield XD .40 S&W for $603
• Glock 19 9mm for $576
• Glock 19 9mm with night sigths for $600

They did not have the XD(M) .40 S&W in stock, but the said it would be about $10 more, when they get one in.

I went to the Shoot Straight gun range on U.S 301 near MLK and the had the:

• XD(M) .40 S&W for $719

I told them that I can get an XD(M) at Shooting Sports for $664, the salesman asked the manager and he would not lower the price and basically to me to buy it at Shooting Sports.

Last week I then called SPA Shooters Depot to see if the had a XD(M). They had:

• XD(M) .40 S&W bi-tone SS/Black for $749

I then went on January 15th to University Pawn and Gun on Fletcher Ave and they had the following guns:

• XD(M) .40 S&W bi-tone SS/Black for $679 (new)
• XD .40 S&W bi-tone Black/Olive Drab for $499 (used)

They lowered the price on the XD(M) .40 S&W bi-tone SS/Black to $650, so I bought it. Had to wait the 3 day waiting period. This wating period excludes weekends and holidays. They told me to pick it up on Wednesday, January 21st.

On Friday I got a called from University Pawn and Gun and told me that Monday was MLK holiday, so I had to wait to Thursday, January 22nd.

When I went to pick up the XD(M) .40 on Thursday, I saw this man that looked familiar. He said hi and asked if I was there to pick up a gun. I told him, yes. Then after a few minutes I remembered who he was. He was the manager from Shoot Straight checking out the competition. Well I guess he realized that he lost a sale, since he would not lower the price from $719.