Ammo?

[strife]

Well I've called several ranges and none of them even have a Bersa BP9cc to even shoot. A couple had the Thunder .380 but that seems a bit underwhelming.

Not surprising, they aren't really that common.

I know Glock probably makes GOOD stuff, but is more expensive and like you said, I'm considering sticking with an American company like S&W, Springfield or Ruger. I saw the 26 is their small carry, but it almost looks too small as well.

yea the 26 is just slightly bigger than the 43. Vllad has good points about the glock as well. I would probably never buy a glock(imo there are better options for less $), but they are popular for a reason.

From my research both the Shield & XDS come in safety versions so they can sell in states with gun laws like Cali. I'm not afraid of not having a safety but it seems like it could be useful at times.

When you carry, do you have round chambered?

Not sure if the XDS has a manual safety... I don't think I've ever seen one with an actual thumb safety. They have a grip safety but not sure about a manual thumb safety.

Yes I carry a round in the chamber. Personally speaking, I would never carry without a round in the chamber. If there ever is an instance that I'm going to need my gun, odds are it's going to be reaction to have to draw it and use it... having to chamber a round would greatly increase the chance that I'm too slow to use it. I do have a manual safety on mine though, which is something I have on all of my guns so that I will hopefully instinctively thumb off the safety if I ever need to use it. If I had some guns with and some without, then when I practice I wouldn't' always thumb off the safety, so I prefer all of mine do have it.

Do you use a laser at all? I saw XDS had a version from factory with laser in the grip that looked pretty nice. I'm new to semi-autos and havent shot in about 3-5 years with my revolver. So watching a ton of videos for accuracy and stuff. A gun shop video pointed out that laser can be very helpful to see what you are doing wrong and easy for an observer to notice.

I don't have a laser at all. I have nothing against them though, I just don't have them.

Did you replace your sights with your shield? I saw a couple videos where they had fiber optics so rear were green and front was red and that seems like it would help focus on front sight a ton. Would it be bad form to just use a red sharpe on my front sight dot? LOL

I did replace mine. I put XS Big dots on mine which (see the picture attached), definitely get you to focus on the front site.

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