As I mentioned in a previous thread, I got a new 9mm SigSauer SP2022 for Christmas, and yesterday was my first day out on the range to try it out. I fired about 200 rounds through it - a combination of Remington and L&B range ammo, plus a couple magazines of +P Hornady Critical Duty. There were some problems at first, but all in all, it was a great day with my new EDC.
The good:
- I went with my wife, and a day at the range with her is better than solo any day. Mrs. Vol Texan fired her EDC (Walther PK380), and she’s doing great. She did some strong hand and weak hand practice, and did well with both!
- The new Sig is great to shoot! I’ve been carrying a .45 Glock 36 since I had my CHL, and I really like shooting it, but I do like the feel of the Sig. I’m far from being the ‘best’ shot out there, but I had pretty good groupings at the 3- and 7-yard lines. At full distance, I was spaced a bit further, but still better than I did with the Glock.
- My wife has smaller hands, so my Glock 36 fit her grip better, but she still liked the feel of the larger Sig when shooting.
- For this trip, we decided to try out the new Athena range in west Houston. It was really nice there, but it wasn’t a place that we’ll return to often. Tons of smiling, happy people willing to help you out (*for a price – see my note below). It was as clean as a Buc-ee’s bathroom, and it had a new, modern look to it. If you had a non-gun enthusiast with you, and you wanted to show them a clean, professional, stylish representation of a gun range in order to win them over, this is exactly where you’d want to go.
But we feel more at home at other places like Top Gun or MSC here in Houston. It’s sort of like a real pool player would rather play at a pool hall than he would Dave ‘n Buster’s. Both are good, but each appeals to a different audience. - I also had some failure to extract with my new Sig, but only when firing the Remington ammo. The other two did great, but for some reason, I kept getting jammed up on the Remington. Since it was a new gun (first trip to the range – ever), I thought I’d break it down and check to make sure it was lubed well enough. Once I did that, I learned some things about this Sig. The slide points on the frame that the slide fits into are quite short, so it’s pretty easy to come in at a bad angle (back too high) and not slide under the rear one. Also, when I tried to put the slide catch lever back in, I kept missing the guide hole on the barrel, because the barrel slid too far back. Simply holding the gun pointing straight down solved the problem, but it was a few minutes of frustration until I figured it out. I’d never had this problem with my Glock or my Beretta, so it was a learning experience for me since this is my first Sig.
*Side note: I asked the guys at the range check-in-desk if they had an armorer or gunsmith who might be able to lend me a hand. Their answer was, “It’ll be $50 just to have him walk out to you.”
I figured it out, got it put back together, sidelined the Remington ammo, and had a great rest of the day at the range.
We’ve had a great experience with one of our local gun stores here in the area, and they really deserve to be mentioned for it. I only recently went into Defensive & Concealed Guns here in west Houston, and met the guys who run the place. I told them I was looking for a new ECP, and gave them the criteria that I was looking for (DA/SA, no safety, good sized magazine, night sights, etc), so they could suggest something for me. We discussed a number of different options, and I was convinced that the Sig 2022 was what I wanted. It was close to Christmastime, so I deferred my purchase for a bit (and dropped the hint to my wife). They were good to her during the purchase - helped with the add-ons she requested, and gave us good service the whole time.
Before we went to the range yesterday, I stopped into the store to buy ammo (I prefer to support the local guys, when possible). After the range, we stopped by again to talk to them about the challenges we’d had. They gladly switched out the unused box of Remington (which had the FTE problem) for another box of L&B, and then did a full takedown and cleaning of my Sig to make sure everything was working OK after the problems I’d had. I've also been in there a few other times, and they are always ready to answer any questions, and help in any way possible.
Bottom line is this: the service and professionalism we’ve seen in this store is what we like – much better than we’ll find at Academy, Walmart, etc. I’ll gladly go out of my way to buy ammo, etc. from them, rather than from somewhere else, because small, local places like this need all the support they can get from us.
