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Old December 7, 2012, 08:13 PM   #1
andromeda673
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s&w SD9VE newbie question

I recently purchased a new smith and wesson SD9VE 9mm handgun for personal protection and CCW, I have put 400 rounds through the gun and no matter what I change in my stance, hand hold, finger placement etc, almost all of the rounds I put out there are far right and either low or high.

I've shot all sorts of ammo and tried a bunch of different brands, I'm happy with the gun, and I have not a single FTF or FTE prooblem, so in that aspect I'm pleased.

Also on the website it states that the sights are fixed, but in the owners manual it says the rear is adjustable with a brass punch and hammer, there are no screws that I can see that would allow me to adjust either the front or the rear sight.

Last edited by andromeda673; December 7, 2012 at 09:29 PM.
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Old December 7, 2012, 09:00 PM   #2
JollyRoger
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The Sigma VE series has a very heavy trigger pull. If you're not used to it, it can induce a flinch as you muscle the trigger, and with the long, heavy pull you have plenty of opportunity to anticipate recoil to generate a classic flinch.

I have the Sigma VE in 9mm and it takes some getting used to. Overall, though, it is a reliable and accurate weapon. I would try some shots from a sandbag and get some other good shooters to do the same before I monkeyed with the sights. Just my $.02.
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Old December 7, 2012, 11:20 PM   #3
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You don't need to adjust the sights, you need to stop anticipating the recoil (flinching).


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Old December 8, 2012, 02:25 AM   #4
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Are you left handed?
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Old December 8, 2012, 01:16 PM   #5
kahrguy
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This kit from apex would make a improvment to your trigger pull and can help with group size. - https://apextactical.com/store/produ...php?pid57.html

Also try to shoot your pistol off a sand bag to check how well your pistol can shoot, even have another shooter give it a try, then adjustments can be made if needed.
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Old December 8, 2012, 05:23 PM   #6
andromeda673
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thanks for the help and tips, and yes I do shoot left handed, I really don't think that this gun is this in-accurate, I'm really hoping it's something in my mechanics and technique. Everything seems to really be on the right hand side of the target, even my tight groups.
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Old December 8, 2012, 05:45 PM   #7
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I'd suggest you find a local NRA handgun instructor to give you a few lessons. Good luck.
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Old December 8, 2012, 06:14 PM   #8
Redhawk5.5+P+
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Quote:
thanks for the help and tips, and yes I do shoot left handed,
I think you just need to work on your trigger pull.
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Old December 8, 2012, 07:21 PM   #9
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As everyone else said about the trigger its a little heavy. Plus side is if you control your shot and become better with the sigma, the better a shooter you will be. Shoot a 1911 after shooting the sigma and you will shoot like a champ. I went through all this. The sigma was my first handgun and it is a very good sd handgun.
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Old December 9, 2012, 10:11 AM   #10
andromeda673
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is the sigma smith and wesson the same as my new SD9VE, the guy at cabelas had told me there not the same, there are a few differences, something about being sued by glock.

I'm going to buy the trigger spring kit and see what that does for trigger pull and hopefully that will help the accuracy and whatever issues are going on with my technique.
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Old December 9, 2012, 12:20 PM   #11
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Sigma history in a nutshell...

Quote:
is the sigma smith and wesson the same as my new SD9VE, the guy at cabelas had told me there not the same, there are a few differences, something about being sued by glock.
The Glock lawsuit is VERY old news, as in almost 20 years old!

The SDx VE (x = 9 or 40) pistols are essentially the 3rd generation of the basic double-stack Sigma series.

The original double-stack Sigmas were the SWxF full-size, SWxC compact, and SWxV compact; the F & C had black Melonite finished carbon steel slides and black poly frames, whereas the V had a satin stainless slide and light grey poly frame. The initial production version was the SW9F, introduced in 1994. S&W was sued by Glock for patent infringement over these pistols, but IIRC the lawsuit was very quickly settled out of court.

The 1st-gen Sigma series includes the sole factory .357SIG variant, the SW357V, which was sold for what seems like about 10 minutes in 1998. S&W apparently built a small run to gauge consumer and LE interest, only to discover that there really wasn't any.

The 2nd-gen "Enhanced" Sigmas were introduced starting in 1997. These pistols have straight front accessory rails, enlarged ejection ports and slide stops, revised grip frame shape and texture, and improved ejectors and extractors. The full-size F model was dropped. The 2nd-gen includes the SWxE (improved SWxC), SWxVE (improved SWxV but with a black frame), SWxG (black Melonite slide, OD green frame), SWxGVE (satin stainless slide, OD green frame), and SWxP (stainless slide with polished sides and black upper surface, ported barrel, black frame).

The 3rd-gen SDx (non-VE) pistols were introduced in 2010. These pistols have fancier slide machining with front slide serrations, a revised Picatinny-style accessory rail, revised grip frame shape and texture, redesigned magazines, M&P-style sights with a front tritium night-sight insert, and a slightly lighter trigger pull. Slide finish was black Melonite over stainless and the frames were black. These pistols were marketed as an upgrade over the concurrent SWxVE pistols, but were lower-priced than the M&P. (The other SW-series pistols had been dropped during the previous several years.)

In 2012, S&W dropped both the SDx (non-VE) and SWxVE and replaced them with the present SDx VE series, which carry over most of the SDx non-VE changes, but with satin stainless slide finish and no front tritium insert. SDx VE prices are slightly higher than the SWxVE but substantially lower than the SDx non-VE.

The Sigma series also includes two short-lived single-stack subcompact variants produced in the mid-90s: the 9mm SW9M and .380ACP SW380. These pistols are substantially different than other Sigma pistols; the mags are removed by squeezing tabs at the base of the grip frame, and takedown requires driving out a pin from the frame with a hammer and punch. Both pistols have a reputation for iffy build quality. The SW9M was discontinued after less than 2 years, reportedly for an excessive rate of factory service returns.

[EDIT: I know this post goes well beyond answering the previous question, but I've been meaning to write this up for a while. ]
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Last edited by carguychris; December 11, 2012 at 02:49 PM. Reason: minor edits...
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Old December 9, 2012, 12:24 PM   #12
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Quote:
Also on the website it states that the sights are fixed, but in the owners manual it says the rear is adjustable with a brass punch and hammer...
It is fairly common for "fixed" rear pistol sights to be drift-adjustable for windage. Most shooters don't consider such sights to be adjustable per se.

As with the other posters, I suggest getting some instruction and letting someone else test the pistol before attempting to adjust the rear sight. It's most likely shooter error.
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Old December 9, 2012, 01:48 PM   #13
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has anyone here had any experince installing the apex tatical trigger spring kit? is it easy to install, and did it help with the rather heavy trigger pull?
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Old December 9, 2012, 04:45 PM   #14
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I installed one for my dad, took about ten minutes. It is just about the same as the Glock so I had no problems. I think there are a videos on how to install on youtube you may want to watch first.
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Old December 10, 2012, 06:46 PM   #15
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Duplicate, oops.

Last edited by kahrguy; December 10, 2012 at 06:57 PM.
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Old December 10, 2012, 06:56 PM   #16
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carguychris WOW Good sigma SD history lesson. Thanks.


andromeda673 Check this video out- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOw-1FoJV4
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Old December 10, 2012, 10:03 PM   #17
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thanks for posting that video Kahrguy, I haven't ordered the kit from Apex yet, I'm probally going to within the next few days, I'm gonna call around and see what some of the charges are to get something like that installed by a local ugn smith, I feel like I certainly could do it, but I'd like to know the going rate for something like that is.

Does anyone here have this kit installed in their S&W handgun?
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Old December 11, 2012, 12:22 PM   #18
blackamos
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The kit I installed on my dad's 9mm droped the trigger down to about 5.5 pounds and made it a very shootable pistol. Before the kit it has hard for him to break a good shot. After the kit he had much better groups. The Apex kit turned the Sigma into a serviceable firearm, not a target trigger but much better than the factory stock trigger.
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Old December 11, 2012, 05:07 PM   #19
kahrguy
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Look for a good smithy rate of around 50 bucks and hour. So watch the video several times and give it a try. Freeze frame the video, do a bit, run some more video and do the next step.

If you have any mechanical ability at all you can do it.
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Old December 21, 2012, 11:30 PM   #20
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I have probably 4,000 rounds through my SW9VE. I shoot the gun very accurately, I am so confident in it that it is my nightstand gun of choice. I shot the factory trigger for probably the first 1000 rounds. If you have any mechanical ability and patience you can make the trigger much much better in about 5 minutes for free. GunsmithUSA on YouTube has a video that is step by step and easy to follow (Google Sigma trigger job). After removing 2 springs I have put around 3,000 rounds through my gun and still have never once had a failure of any type. I saw no need to purchase and additional spring kits or pay a gunsmith. The pull is still long, but much lighter. I feel safe carrying the gun still because of the somewhat long pull, although this is not really my carry weapon as stated earlier. My accuracy with the gun improved dramatically after this trigger job, which just proves out what some other people are saying about possibly jerking the trigger and how that may affect your accuracy. I also learned from video how to disassemble the slide and remove the firing pin and ejector. Boy did some crud accumulate in there, I was quite amazed that the gun kept working so reliably with all the bits of brass and crud that collected in my firing pin and ejector channels. Testament to the "Glock like" reliability of this platform. If the gun wasn't as inexpensive as it was I probably would have not done either the trigger job or slide disassembly on my own. They both were actually very simple with the help of some good step by step YouTube videos. Last thing, I have never fed this gun anything near high quality ammunition, she is a Pabst Blue Ribbon kind of girl.
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Old March 30, 2013, 06:54 PM   #21
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MY new S&W SD9VE....
Think when you shoot such a light gun, you tend to notice the small things that you didn't notice before! I went through a 100 and punched the bull a couple times....noticed when i squeezed slower the groups started tightening up and then i just pulled it and it went way off.

The trigger pull is not hard, but it's long. I progressively got use to it, guess i need a couple hundred more to dead on b*%@s.
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Old March 31, 2013, 10:22 AM   #22
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I don't actually see a question in the OP.

However, training and practice are key. Once you get use to it, you'll do fine. The sigma hits point of aim and I suspect the SD will do the same.
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