Shot my first match in a while today. IDPA. Came in 7/22. One stage absolutely crushed me. I had a solid plan, the timer went off and I apparently lost my mind.

I had planned to dump an extra round into a mover which A) heightened the chance of -0 on it, and B) it would have programmed my reload on the move. Yeah, no. That cost me unnecessary time and the second round I drug off the target for a -4 on that target alone. Nothing about any of it was hard. I shot a couple of stages at GM level but just wasn’t consistent.

Shot a match with the guys yesterday morning. They all shot pistols, I was one of five PCC shooters out of 32 total.

I'm still too focused on clean A zone hits and my time seems to be dragging my hit factor. The guy who came in first overall had a lot more C and D hits than I did, but he was blazing fast, comparatively. I'm not sure how to train that out. Stages where I thought I was moving pretty fast, the videos my friend took make me look super slow. Average hit factor for the four stages was right at 4, shot a 52.8%.

I gotta get the pistol rig squared away. PCC is fun and all, but I really would like to get a lot better with a handgun.

Awesome guys.

I made A class in USPSA Carry Optics this past weekend at a match otherwise had a couple significant errors on other stages.

I had set that as a goal for the year. I guess I'm pushing for Master this year now.

I'm not sure it's low goal setting or poor self assessment as much as it's limited exposure to classifiers with the Area 3 drama last year and the issues with the 23 and 24 series classifiers' HHFs.

Either way, pleased with the results.

Congrats, that's quite an achievement!

Well, I shot my first real pistol match Monday. It was a USPSA Level 1 match, and I figured it would be mostly duffers and casuals, based on who all showed up the previous weekend. I was wrong. Lots of shirts covered with sponsors, guns every color of the rainbow, and everyone was wearing the same belt with the same canted mag carriers and magnets. I had the feeling I was in for a rough time, and I was right.

Shot my stock G17.5 that I swapped the irons for some Truglos. I was the only one out of 50 shooters in the Limited division. I actually feel pretty good about my shooting - About 75% A shots, and there were two stages where I was one of the few in my squad to either have only one miss or none at all on some poppers a lot of guys seemed to struggle with, and I cleaned them quickly, too. But where it all fell apart for me was stage planning. I did my best to watch and try to follow what the other guys did, but I was high in the order and only got to watch a few other shooters before it was my turn, and the stages were laid out by some regional champion of some sort, and everyone was grumbling about them. It was not a beginner friendly event by any stretch of the imagination. I came in 47th out of 50. It was the confusion about the stage layouts and getting completely lost on one stage with seven misses and two procedurals for targets I just completely failed to engage that really sunk me. Otherwise, I was just slower than everyone else, but still faster and more accurate than I've been with a pistol of late. I just focused on the front sight and tried to trust my grip and mechanics I've been working on. I feel really good about my draws and reloads, so that practice has been paying off. Things to work on going forward are going to be getting back on the target a little faster and getting second and third shots off quickly. Also, stage planning. I need some sort of instruction or help with this shit, I'm just totally in the dark.

I'm going to keep shooting matches because I want to improve. I'm going to get off my ass and get this gun cut for an optic and try to do something with the trigger. I'll probably figure out a different belt setup. I am not going to go super deep and hard with USPSA, though. I don't enjoy hyper-competitive people, I don't enjoy the shit-talking and drama I heard, I don't enjoy having to wait to shoot my stage because three super-sweaties are sneaking in a few last dry runs of the stage when everyone's back from taping targets. I can ignore that stuff and get what I need out of it, but I'm not going to invest on getting deep into that culture.

I shot a Steel Challenge match this month at
https://deep50.com/

I shot PCCO in .45acp. Everyone else was shooting 9 or 22. I thought I shot well, with only 1 miss in 6 stages. I was not fast.

I finished dead last in my category on every stage. I am out there to have fun. I’ll shoot it again in June. We just have to keep the jerks out of our squad.

quote:

Well, I shot my first real pistol match Monday. It was a USPSA Level 1 match, and I figured it would be mostly duffers and casuals, based on who all showed up the previous weekend. I was wrong. Lots of shirts covered with sponsors, guns every color of the rainbow, and everyone was wearing the same belt with the same canted mag carriers and magnets. I had the feeling I was in for a rough time, and I was right.

Wish you were closer...we'd shoot with you. Then there would be three of us without the fancy race gear, lol. I noticed the same thing at my match...almost everybody else had logoed jerseys and was wearing speed rigs and magnets, and I'm over here in shorts and a T-shirt with a Safariland ALS/SLS, handcuffs, OC spray, and a Taser on my belt, with a Barney mag in my cargo pocket lol. My kid had an old duty belt setup with an surplus Safariland "SLS only" duty holster that I used a dremel to clearance for his red dot.

I had a squad full of really nice folks, though, who seemed genuinely interested in teaching us the game and weren't overly competitive. It made it a lot more fun. And they all seemed to relax a lot after my son and I shot our first stage and they realized we weren't totally incompetent or a danger to ourselves or others.

Like you I'm going to keep going back because I want to get better, but I don't aspire to ever integrate with the culture. I'm going to keep using my duty gear and just live with the limitations, because I'm getting value out of the reps. I've been working on drills and trying to improve my times. Stage planning I think is just going to have to be learned through practice on the fly.

I'm hoping to get to the match next month, and maybe score a little better this time. I don't plan on becoming a USPSA member at this point, or striving for official classification...that could change in the future but for now I'm happy to just show up when I can and shoot. I am going to keep track of my classifier scores on my own as a benchmark to track progress, though.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Well, I shot my first real pistol match Monday. It was a USPSA Level 1 match, and I figured it would be mostly duffers and casuals, based on who all showed up the previous weekend. I was wrong. Lots of shirts covered with sponsors, guns every color of the rainbow, and everyone was wearing the same belt with the same canted mag carriers and magnets. I had the feeling I was in for a rough time, and I was right.

Shot my stock G17.5 that I swapped the irons for some Truglos. I was the only one out of 50 shooters in the Limited division. I actually feel pretty good about my shooting - About 75% A shots, and there were two stages where I was one of the few in my squad to either have only one miss or none at all on some poppers a lot of guys seemed to struggle with, and I cleaned them quickly, too. But where it all fell apart for me was stage planning. I did my best to watch and try to follow what the other guys did, but I was high in the order and only got to watch a few other shooters before it was my turn, and the stages were laid out by some regional champion of some sort, and everyone was grumbling about them. It was not a beginner friendly event by any stretch of the imagination. I came in 47th out of 50. It was the confusion about the stage layouts and getting completely lost on one stage with seven misses and two procedurals for targets I just completely failed to engage that really sunk me. Otherwise, I was just slower than everyone else, but still faster and more accurate than I've been with a pistol of late. I just focused on the front sight and tried to trust my grip and mechanics I've been working on. I feel really good about my draws and reloads, so that practice has been paying off. Things to work on going forward are going to be getting back on the target a little faster and getting second and third shots off quickly. Also, stage planning. I need some sort of instruction or help with this shit, I'm just totally in the dark.

I'm going to keep shooting matches because I want to improve. I'm going to get off my ass and get this gun cut for an optic and try to do something with the trigger. I'll probably figure out a different belt setup. I am not going to go super deep and hard with USPSA, though. I don't enjoy hyper-competitive people, I don't enjoy the shit-talking and drama I heard, I don't enjoy having to wait to shoot my stage because three super-sweaties are sneaking in a few last dry runs of the stage when everyone's back from taping targets. I can ignore that stuff and get what I need out of it, but I'm not going to invest on getting deep into that culture.

Stage planning is something that just takes time to develop. I also think stage plans for novices are different than they are for more experienced competitors. The best squads I have been on aren't the ones that are the most competitive, they're the ones that are the most collaborative. That is, the ones where everybody wants to talk stage planning and then offer pointers and critiques.

The guys sneaking in all the extra walk throughs are annoying. The ROs should be on those guys for it.

Also for those having issues with the culture, I'd consider trying another club even if it means a longer drive. You may also find some look trying to pick a squad with unclassified or lower classified people, at least until you get a better handle on who's who in the zoo, so to speak. There are definitely guys at my area clubs that I prefer not to shoot with.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Wish you were closer...we'd shoot with you. Then there would be three of us without the fancy race gear, lol. I noticed the same thing at my match...almost everybody else had logoed jerseys and was wearing speed rigs and magnets, and I'm over here in shorts and a T-shirt with a Safariland ALS/SLS, handcuffs, OC spray, and a Taser on my belt, with a Barney mag in my cargo pocket lol. My kid had an old duty belt setup with an surplus Safariland "SLS only" duty holster that I used a dremel to clearance for his red dot.

It would be a lot of fun to shoot a match with you, or anyone from Sigforum, honestly. Thankfully, I wasn't there all alone, two guys from my group were there with me. Would've been three others, but one of them had to work. We were all wearing ALS holsters with camo or tan belts. One of the other randoms in the group who was a good humor type had basically the same belt setup, an interesting correlation.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Stage planning is something that just takes time to develop. I also think stage plans for novices are different than they are for more experienced competitors.

I stopped in at one of my preferred gun shops yesterday and talked with one of the guys there about gear and matches. Turns out, he did six years of USPSA until taking a break from it last year. He strikes me as a no bullshit type and echoed what you said. He also said that complicated stages where you could engage the same target from multiple spots and the confusion that comes with that is just part of target identification. We talked through basic stage planning stuff, and he concluded that once he got to the point where he was counting his targets, shots, and planning where and when to reload that his times started dragging because he was too focused on a game plan. Throwing all that out and just being aware of where the targets were and letting the rest happen once the clock went off was where he saw big changes in his times. He also said if you're shooting more than about 75% Alphas, that you're shooting too slow, and not to be afraid of throwing about 40-45% Charlies and Deltas. It kind of affirmed what I was feeling, having looked at the match breakdowns. He had some more specific advice as far as the shooting mechanics I'm not going to get into, but it was helpful to have someone who had no vested interest in outscoring me want to give me some pointers.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
The best squads I have been on aren't the ones that are the most competitive, they're the ones that are the most collaborative. That is, the ones where everybody wants to talk stage planning and then offer pointers and critiques.

One of the night vision matches we shot back in January or February, we were on a squad with a Grand Master, and this guy was an absolute monster. I wish I could remember his name, but he looked just like Blake from Workaholics. A couple of us wound up talking to him afterwards and he was super helpful and just a genuinely nice guy. He said he wound up taking a year off because of the drama and bullshit he was encountering. "When you start off, people generally want to help you out, but once you start improving enough to become a threat to their scores, suddenly nobody wants to help anymore and you have to figure out the rest for yourself. I'm not about that. If you guys see my name on a match you're looking at, feel free to squad up with me and I'll be happy to work with you and tell you anything and everything I know."

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
The guys sneaking in all the extra walk throughs are annoying. The ROs should be on those guys for it.

They were all buddies. The guys who would RO seemed more interested in pushing the novice guys through than policing their own.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Also for those having issues with the culture, I'd consider trying another club even if it means a longer drive. You may also find some look trying to pick a squad with unclassified or lower classified people, at least until you get a better handle on who's who in the zoo, so to speak. There are definitely guys at my area clubs that I prefer not to shoot with.

Yeah, this club is actually about a forty minute drive for me. I live five minutes down the road from a better facility, but the matches at the place up the road fill up quite literally in minutes of being posted. A couple guys I've talked to said they used to shoot matches there all the time, but before Covid, you had to show up in person and physically sign up on a sheet of paper just before the match, and they were never full. Covid, and they migrated to Practiscore and blah blah. I guess I'll just start signing up to be on standby for matches there. There's always people who drop or don't show, and it's nothing for me to keep my belt and mags ready to go in a bin and just drive up there if I get an email that I've been approved for a match with basically zero notice.

My group of guys, there's a half dozen who shoot matches regularly who are pushing to make this a regular thing for us, plus another half dozen of us who've either shot matches who want it to become a thing, or else used to shoot matches regularly and are open to it. I'd love for us to be all online at the same time and just lock an entire squad down one of these days, but that's unlikely.