In 1912 at the Olympics in Stockholm, George Patton, Jr. competed in the first modern Pentathlon.  It is said he was cheated of his victory when, in the pistol competition, the scorers couldn’t find one shot and presumed it a miss.  Most of the competitors were shooting .22s; Patton had chosen to vie with a .38 caliber Colt revolver, and his larger bullets hit so close together that the referees couldn’t account for all the holes.  Those who knew him were certain he hadn’t missed a shot.

I was reminded of that recently when testing the excellent EDC X9 9mm pistol from Wilson Combat for On Target magazine.  After shooting from a Caldwell Matrix rest on a concrete bench at 25 yards, I approached the target to find three holes, one larger and more irregular than the other two.  How could that be a five-shot group?

Secrets of the ninja: when you’re not sure if you have a “double,” two shots through the same hole, one thing you want to do is turn the target over.  Often times, the exit holes will be easier to distinguish such things in, than clustered entry holes.  Sure enough: there were three distinct radii in the larger, ragged hole.  A single .40 caliber (10mm) bullet would have encompassed all three hits.  A big thumbs up to my old friend Bill Wilson’s EDC X9 pistol, and to the ammo which delivered that group: Wilson Combat’s own +P 9mm load using the 124 grain Hornady XTP jacketed hollow point.

I don’t know if the scorers had overlays (circles the diameter of various caliber bullets, superimposed over clear plastic) in 1912 or plugs (bullet-shaped inserts in proper caliber, surrounded by a clear, circular magnifier) which help in such things.  I do know that good guns and good ammo can absolutely “stack” bullets through the same hole.

Many years ago in Nashua, New Hampshire a police officer shot it out with a gunman at a gas station, and finally killed his antagonist.  At first it appeared that he had hit him only once.  At autopsy, however, the medical examiner found two 145 grain Winchester Silvertip bullets inside the corpse, fired from the officer’s department-issue Ruger .357 Magnum service revolver. Both had entered in exactly the same spot on the torso.

You don’t see that in the field nearly as often as you do at the target range, but it happens.

Nobody shooting at you, and having a solid bench rest, makes it a whole lot easier to achieve.

 

Wilson Combat pistol and ammo…and 25-yard bench rest group.

Wilson Combat EDC 9mm

The group. Upper left defect looks like a double…

Wilson Combat EDC 9mm Target Front

…but, more visible on exit side, it’s actually a triple.  Hash marks indicate the distinct radii.

Wilson Combat EDC 9mm Target Rear

25 COMMENTS

  1. Cool info. I’ll be glad when I can get to the point where I can put it to use on my own shooting. 🙂

  2. My old eyes pretty much preclude two in one but about 20 years ago, shooting in an unofficial match at targets that turned, my last round was fired as the target started to turn. That resulted in a hole in the target that didn’t line up with the hole in the cardboard backing. I was able to convince the judge that, using a pencil, that the holes were made by the same bullet. In timed relays I always used all the time allowed and usually ended up as the last one shooting. In the Marine Corps , at PI, when they said 10 minutes for 10 rounds at 500 yards with a M-1 I always took the time to rest my eyes between each round. My Dad (also a Marine) taught me to look at the green grass between shots as it seemed to make the black and white sharper. That worked for me as I fired a possible (10 in the black) each of the 5 times I qualified. High expert 5 years running.

    • I made it a point to be the last one shooting slow fire on the rifle range and the last one shooting at the 25 yd line slow fire pistol range.
      Staring down range was a big “No-No”. And I never knew what I shot on pistol until I headed down range. Once the shot is made, looking for it ain’t gonna move the impact point.

      USMC 1980-2002

  3. Very good information Mas. I can attest to the task of trying to score IPSC targets for example so this article is helpful indeed. Hornady is probably my favorite bullet brand, either reloaded or from a commercial maker !

  4. Happens to me on a regular basis: fewer holes in the target than I’ve fired.

    My shooting buddies never believe me when I try to explain what *must* have happened— all my shots going into the existing holes— insinuating instead that I flat-out missed!

    Thanks, Mas, for giving credence to my alabi. I’m going to print this article and keep it in my range bag.

  5. Happened to me with a Belgian Browning BAR I inherited. My first shot at 100yrds was 1 1/2″ at one o’clock. Thought I missed the target on the next two; ready to throw the thing away till I cranked up the scope to 80x and said hello to Mickey Mouse!
    Wish I was good enough to do that with a handgun…

  6. The EDC X9 looks like a total winner. A dream 9mm Parabellum 1911 pistol, I want two of them.
    We will surely be turning our targets over from now on. Thanks, Mas.
    The story is that Patton was a cool handgun shooter vs. anti-US raiders from (and in) Mexico back in the day. Imagine how much he would have liked to carry a state-of-the-art Wilson Combat 1911. Of course the 1911 .45 ACPs have always been popular, however illegal, south of the US border.

    • @ Strategic Steve – Yes, the 1911 in .45 ACP has always been popular South-of-the-border.

      In fact, it is a little-known historical fact that Mexico manufactured a handgun that was supposed to be an “improved” 1911 design. It’s styling was very similar to the 1911 and, from a distance, it looked like a 1911. It was also chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge.

      However, it was not a 1911. It’s barrel lock-up was quite different from “linked barrel” design of JM Browning. In addition, it had an “improved” slide release / safety system. See this link:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obreg%C3%B3n_pistol

      Given how popular the 1911 still is today, I am a bit surprised that one of our many makers of 1911’s does not come out with a new version of the Obregon handgun. After all, if you already have the tooling to make 1911’s, it would not seem to be that difficult (with today’s computer controlled milling machines) to build a Obregon version. If nothing else, it would draw attention to and set that maker apart from the general herd of 1911 manufacturers. In addition, it would give all the “Gun Writers” (including Mas 🙂 ) a new topic to debate. They could argue endlessly about whether the New Obregon Pistol really represents an “improvement” over the time-honored 1911 design. Or whether it was a step backwards! Seems like the gun press coverage (alone) would be worth the effort to make it on the part of some current 1911 manufacturer.

  7. When I attended FLETC, and for a few years afterwards, my agency used S&W Model 10s, and used wadcutters for qualification.

    More than one joker quickly figured out that after the bulk of the course of fire was shot at 3 and 7 yards, there was a nice fist-sized hole right in the middle where shots couldn’t be counted, so at 15 and 25 yards they could just shoot into the berm.

    Quite a few “perfect” scores were recorded that way.

  8. Howdy,
    It might be more trouble than worth, but in benchrest there is a moving stream of paper behind the target to verify 5 shots…
    But, I’m sure you knew that….
    Thanks for all your efforts,

    Paul

  9. somehow, on the Appleseed trail, we’ve learned all of those tricks you mention. With 20 or 30 shooters on the line, averaging 400 to 500 rounds in a two day shoot, we get plenty of stacked holes.
    One time we had a Father and Son pair next each other on the line. Dad too it upon himself to “help
    ” Son, ( ot intentionally, we’re certain, as Dad was shooting very well too). On one course of fire, Son had eighteen rounds in his target, Dad had only two. Ten rounds per shooter, it was obvious what had happened. DAAAAAAaaaaaddddd!!!! Ooops. As I studied the target I noticed that all the rounds in the other three stages of that large target had a certain appearance to the endges of the holes. On Stage Two, the eight etras had a noticeably different edge characteristic. I wandered over to check what brand/type of ammo each used… sure enough, they were different. One was brass plated hollow tip, (WInchester?) the other bare lead round nose (Peters). I went back and re-examined that stage, and Son’s different looking rounds were identifiable, so I scored as if Dad’s, also distinguishable, had not been fired. SOn had a qualifying score.. but we could not count it. Son was encouraged, and kept trying. Hilariously, after both ahd qualified, Son inadvertently also helped out Dad…. throughout the afternoon they kept leapfrogging, one beating the other, then the reverse. Pretty fun day at the range…..

    • On my first Appleseed qualifier, a young boy to my right accidentally shot my target twice. Discounting my 2 highest because of that caused me to not “make it.” The young fellow was terribly embarrassed but, with coaching, did just fine the next time. Me? I got a 241 out of 250 to get my Rifleman patch.

    • We had the same occur where I live. An off duty, armed, security guard, who was merely a customer, shot an armed robber as he attempted to rob a pharmacy. There was incontrovertible proof that the robber had pointed his sawed off shotgun at the guard. One of the guard’s bullets was stuck in the shotgun’s barrel.

  10. Happened to me in the Marines during rifle qualification. Scored a 45 out of 50 at 200 meter rapid fire. 9 bull’s eyes and a ‘miss’.

  11. That guns’ 3K USD well spent!

    The 2in1 is a true dooblay! Flipmode those targets? Could see two…

    I love it, great post and what a piece design-wise. Wilson Combat – A beauty.

  12. Bench rest shooters are so good that multiple bullets through the same hole are a very real possibility. To reduce the chances that this will happen, my club runs a blank paper back and forth behind the target. It’s extremely unlikely that any of the holes in the backing will line up with a hole in the official target when the shooter fires again.

  13. Hey, it’s 2018! Why are we still shooting dumb bullets? Shouldn’t our bullets follow the laser beam we shine onto the target? Or, shouldn’t we have developed, “smart” bullets, which can be programmed by GPS where to impact? No more misses!

    Why is technology moving so slowly? Is it because the techno-geeks are busy playing computer games instead of inventing tomorrow’s new stuff? I’m tired of buying tires for my car. Remember, the first car was invented in 1886. That’s a long time ago. Where is my flying saucer? George Jetson had a flying saucer, and Gilligan was using a jet pack 50 years ago! Technology has been moving at a snail’s pace ever since Walt Disney died.

    • Back in elementary, we were singing, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me”. I’ve been working hard on my part, but what happened to everyone else? There are still far too many people calling for violence against others. I want my money back from Rock Creek Valley Elementary.

      • I remember singing those same songs in elementary school too. I don’t think that it worked too good for any of us. But then, I don’t think that the kids of today learn much of any of the kinds of things that we old types took for granted as a part of our body of knowledge. Things that most of us would just assume everyone knows the young people of today are not learning, but instead are learning to question authority and how to march for their “rights”. They are much the poorer for it.

  14. Hahaha, a triple there! What a story about the gas station shootout double… Legendary. Glad the good guy won.

    Congrats for getting to enjoy the EDC X9, what a thing!

  15. Well old timers Mas are going to have to get ready to kiss cardboard bye-bye. Smallbore shooters in the last few years have transitioned to acoustic targets. Now the CMP down in Talladega have moved to acoustic targets on the service rifle range. With 1/1000 of an inch accuracy and instant scoring all debate and “misses” will become footnotes of history. They will get smaller and cheaper over time just like chrony’s have. Clubs will be able to afford them.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSaOSPBGKXo

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