First time shooting Open
So Yesterday I shot another small indoor pistol match. First gun I was shooting my XD-45 Tactical in Limited-10. In the previous match I had a jam related to what I believe the magazine spring being too soft and the rim of the case did not slide of the breach face properly jamming the gun as the nose of the bullet went into the chamber but he back of the case was driven back down into the magazine. This wasn't the first time I have had similar jams. So before this match I replaced all six magazine springs with new stiffer springs. This time on the third stage I had a problem with a magazine that caused the round to nose up and the round jamming the action with the bullet sticking up out of the ejection port. I am pretty sure this was due to the forward part of the feed lips spreading and letting the nose of the round start too high up. It was an easy fix by gently bending the lips back together but I am coming to realize the the XD-45 magazines are not nearly as durable as my XD-40 magazines. I have had few if any magazine related problems with my XD-40's on the other hand nearly all of my problem with my XD-45 have been due to magazine issues.
For my second run I borrowed a buddies SV IMM Open gun. This gun uses a very unique barrel and compensator. The barrel is ported and has a large comp on it like most Open guns. The thing that is unique is that the first port in the barrel is only about 1.375 inches in front of the chamber. Supposedly this is suppose to make the whole gun shoot flatter. I don't know having only shot a few open gun previously. What I can tell you is this gun has a horrible bark and an amazing amount of muzzle flash. In addition to the noise and flash the single action trigger and manual safety really messed with my brain. So needless to say I did not shoot very good. To add insult to injury I zero that fourth stage when a 9mm Largo case had been mixed in the all the 38 super comp cases in the reloaded ammunition. The 9mm Largo case will chamber and fire just fine but locks the action up pretty bad. All in all I did not enjoy Open very much. I could certainly see how the good open guys sound like there shooting a sub-gun but honestly it wasn't really appealing enough to spend $3000+ on an open gun when I have as much or more fun with my $450 XD.
For my second run I borrowed a buddies SV IMM Open gun. This gun uses a very unique barrel and compensator. The barrel is ported and has a large comp on it like most Open guns. The thing that is unique is that the first port in the barrel is only about 1.375 inches in front of the chamber. Supposedly this is suppose to make the whole gun shoot flatter. I don't know having only shot a few open gun previously. What I can tell you is this gun has a horrible bark and an amazing amount of muzzle flash. In addition to the noise and flash the single action trigger and manual safety really messed with my brain. So needless to say I did not shoot very good. To add insult to injury I zero that fourth stage when a 9mm Largo case had been mixed in the all the 38 super comp cases in the reloaded ammunition. The 9mm Largo case will chamber and fire just fine but locks the action up pretty bad. All in all I did not enjoy Open very much. I could certainly see how the good open guys sound like there shooting a sub-gun but honestly it wasn't really appealing enough to spend $3000+ on an open gun when I have as much or more fun with my $450 XD.