Yesterday It Was 39 Degrees Out And Even Snowed A Bit

In other words, perfect weather for the first USPSA match of the season.

This would be a classifier match with 7 classifier stages and a field course in the shoot house.

So I showed up to the range in jacket and sweater, checked in, and started wandering the stages 

Kinda chilly, but at least the ground on the range was only soggy but not a complete morass of mud.

Spencer, Tosh, Jason, and Steve soon arrived and we then checked out some stages together and then gathered for the shooters' meeting.  

I was RO for our squad and we had two people who had never shot USPSA before on the squad. So after a pretty detailed safety briefing, and going over the basic range commands we got started.

First stage was the shoot house which was pretty straightforward except for one potential 180 trap, and a lot of fun.

Then we started going through the classifiers.

Quite a nice variety with new classifiers I;ve never shot before and the El Presidente for a classic touch.

Lots of fun.  

I did find out the mage pouches I had on my belt didn't quite hold the PDP magazines securely while running.  This resulted in them falling out as I ran to the next shooting position, which got some damp sand/dirt in them. I brushed them off and got what I thought was all the dirt out.

Not so much. This would be a problem on the next classifier stage

I was zooming through the next classifier which had 3 strings with reloads in the first two strings.  On String One I was zipping along did an great mag change, all Alphas and was doing great.

Then string 2.

I reloaded with a mag that had a bit of the gunky sand stuck that had worked its way down in between the top and second round in the magazine and the second and third rounds, stopping the gun twice, and messing up my score nicely.

On the upside, it allegedly made me look really good by immediately acting to clear the sequential jams and taking remedial action to get the gun back in shooting order.

First failure of the PDP and I really can't blame the gun.  Others had similar fun experiences, with even Glocks jamming due to the dirt clumping into the mags.

Annoying enough, when I got home and stripped the mags down to clean them, there was no dirt left inside.  Those two clumps were it. Weird.

It was a fun match and I got in over 12,000 steps chasing after shooters on the stages, especially the fun stages where they started up front with targets and have to run up-range to get to the next array.   A little cardio workout and sprint to stay ahead of them was very much in order.

So I was all sorts of tired by the end of it.  Spencer, Tosh, Jason,  Steve, and I all then went together to a Coney for a quick late lunch and headed off.

The scores came out and I finished in the middle of the pack of competitors and behind Tosh but ahead of  Spencer,  Jason,  and Steve - by three points in the case of Steve, and eight points on the case of Jason so we're all pretty darn close performance-wise at the moment. A fun time with a great bunch of shooters.

Not a bad start to the shooting season, but I certainly can use more practice and need to get to the range more. 

Sunday Match Day

Went to Romulus today to shoot the regular USPSA match.

It was a very full match with over 100 shooters, and 8 challenging stages.

It got a little backed up at times, especially when some of the stages got to be a little complex to score and reset after each shooter. It was also rather hot and humid, so I was drinking a ton of water during the match.

I had a darn good time, and was shooting with a great squad of people.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far, as I await the scores to be posted. No hit factor was under 3.1 and many were much better than that which was happy-making.

I also shot two stages clean with all Alphas.

Best of all, I had zero, count 'em zero, misses the entire match. Every round hit, mainly Alphas or Charlies, and maybe a one or two Deltas the entire match I'll have to check the official scores when posted.

I'm rather happy with that, as Romulus always puts on a fun and challenging match. I seem to be improving with stage planning so I would leave no target behind and my accuracy is increasing including on swingers and disappearing targets which is great.

A great way to spend a Sunday, and it's nice to see some improvement in my shooting.

Sunday Match Day

Shot a match today at Brighton.

Very small turnout so we only had two squads running and 5 stages.

The forecast for rain and thunderstorms scared most people off, but it only spit some rain on occasion and was otherwise overcast and muggy.

I was an RO on one squad, and overall it went well, aside from feeling like I was herding cats at times. People were just not getting the concept that if you;re not on deck, the shooter, or reloading your magazines after shooting, you should be helping pasting to move things along.

As to my shooting, it was very mixed and inconsistent. Out of five stages two were lousy, and three were good.

First stage I was rather focused on two shooters shooting their first match ever, going over the procedure with them etc, and did not develop a stage plan before I shot and it showed when I stupidly missed a hidden target array of two targets that I really should have seen had I been properly concentrating. On another stage I did the same darn thing with a complete brain fade.

But, on two stages I was likely solidly B-class, including the dark shoot-house which was shot without lights inside and only outside illumination this time.Hit 14 targets with two shots each in 25 seconds. The other stage I nailed 14 targets in multiple arrays in under 20.72 seconds.  So those were good.

All three of those stages had solid stage plans and worked well.

So, I need to work on my consistency and stage planning, if I can just quit missing the hidden target array that would be nice.

A very nice little match, and shot with a great bunch of folks as usual.

Sunday Range Day - A Great Match

Shot a USPSA match today at Wayne County Racoon Hunters Club, which is always a challenging match.

Spencer came along and it was his first WCRHC match.

8 Stages, around 220 rounds.

Fun, challenging, sunny and warm out, and a good time was had.

Overall, I think I did rather well.

I shot two of the 8 stages clean with all Alphas, a personal best.

On top of that, I did not skip over and fail to engage a single target. Every target was addressed and engaged - even the rather tricksy ones.

On top of that, I had 2 and only 2 missed shots in the entire match -  I thought I only had 1 miss (a hit on the target but on the blacked-out hard cover rather than the brown scoring zone. But, in seeing the stats it says 2 so we'll go with the official count.

Overall I'm pleased with that performance and just have to start getting faster.

After that, we headed to meet up with friends from Jitsu at Great White Buffalo Brewing Co. Brew Pub in Northville, owned by a friend of ours and fellow jiu jitsu practitioner. The beer was excellent, and the bison burger rocked.

That was a very good day.

Sunday Match Day - The Romulus 4 Seasons Match

I went to the USPSA match in Romulus this morning. It was their first outdoor match of the year and it was full, with 96 shooters coming out.

Why do I call it the 4 Seasons Match?

Because we got to experience all 4 of Michigan's seasons in a single match.

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained;

It hailed;

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained again;

It was even more cold, dropping into the 30s.

Did I mention the rain and hail?  There was repeated bouts of rain and hail.

Yep, we got to experience winter, spring, summer, and fall all in one match.

On our second stage, just as I got the standby command, the sky opened up, and I was then shooting in the rain.  It was heavy enough that they paused the match for it blown over - but only after I had done my run.

Kinda sucked as water was covering my the shooting glasses and optic,  and it was coming down in sheets in front of targets so that cranked up the difficulty level just a bit.

Overall, I had a good, if kinda shivery, match.

I actually was able to develop some stage plans and shoot the plans.

I did not skate by a single target this time on any stage, even as some others on my squad did. That was good.

I almost had a miss-free 8 stage match.  

Of course, on the very last stage, after not a single miss the whole day I then did two of them.  One on a fast moving swinger and one miss at a longer distance target.  I could blame my hands being numbed with cold for that.  Lots of people were showing reduced performance by the last stage.

No results yet, but overall, I think I'm improving performance-wise.

Oh, and after the match I got to experience Michigan's 5th Season - Road Construction. 

Both 696 and 275 are torn up but good, both down to 2 lanes and the traffic is fugly. Took quite awhile to get home.

A great way to spend a Sunday, aside from the being stuck in traffic parts.

Spring Classifier Match And Happy Easter!

Quite a few shooters chose to celebrate Easter by shooting the Classifier match at the club in Brighton. Given that Brighton always does their matches on the second Sunday of the month and the first match of the year is always a special qualifier, it was today.

Overall, turnout was somewhat light with 4 squads of 8 shooters each.

I was RO on squad 4 and was joined by Spencer and Scott M for this match.  Always good to shoot with friends.  Had a good squad of nice folks and we got things going.

The first bay we shot in had two different classifiers so we did one after the other.

First one was a nice warm up for everyone while requiring some thinking. 

An array T1-T3, with T3 mainly covered by a no-shoot and T1 having a tuxedo on with only the width of the A-Zone available at about 15 yards.

Had to shoot T1 6 shots, then switch to strong hand only, and shoot T3 6 times.  Then reset shoot T2 3 times freestyle and then 3 times weak hand only. 

Of course I had one mag jam to slow me down.  The Henning extensions and magazine follower doesn't seem to like 150 grain 9mm and I had stupidly only tested them with 115 which worked fine.  The standard factory 21 round mags handle it fine but when you add the Hennings to turn them into 23 round magazines, they keep choking on the 150 grain bullets.  Learned that the hard way on that stage.

4 more fun classifiers including one with a lot of running - and with one shooter almost getting DQ'd as he almost broke the 180 running downrange from one port to get to another. He likely hit 179 degrees before getting the gun back in the right direction.  We finished with a freestyle course of 30 rounds on 15 targets in the shoot house, which was a lot of fun.

A darn good way to spend what had turned into a beautiful sunny morning and early afternoon. Good bunch of people to shoot with.

Scores are not out yet, so I'm not sure how I did. I suspect I didn't get up into B class, not yet anyways.  It will still be something to keep working towards. 

I hope all my Christian readers are having a very happy Easter.

Sunday Match Day

Today was the Guga Ribas Invitational Match at WCRH Club.

An auspicious omen, as the penguin is my spirit animal.

9 stages with over 300 rounds, and it was a tail-kicker. 

I was the only Carry Optics shooter in my squad.  The vast majority were Open-class shooters with race guns, and there was a production and a single-stack shooter to round it out.

It was a nice bunch of shooters and a good squad. 

Interestingly, my squad was mostly Filipino  -- and damn good shooters too.  

Lots of Filipinos also came from not just the US but also Canada to shoot this match, which was kinda neat as well. Darn good bunch of folks all around.

Lots of fun and challenging stages, with difficulty likely on a par with a Sectional match as compared to a standard club match.  

I definitely made some mistakes, including shooting past cleverly hidden targets, which I really, really hate doing.  

If it was any consolation, and if it was it wasn't much, at least 6 of the shooters on my squad of 13 on the last stage we shot missed and waltzed past a target due to the cunning design of the stage.  

Aside from messing that up, my accuracy was pretty good though my penguin-waddling speed is still not quite where I'd like it to be.  

On the upside, I did not come in last, in either overall ranking nor in carry optics and I am shooting better than I did before and seeing some improvement. 

Some fun  stages, including one where you had to hit each target a minimum of three times as opposed to the normal two, and a neat stage where to get to the r you had to walk through a tight path lined with shotgun clays, and for every clay you broke it was a procedural.  I didn't break any, but a few of the squad did, to their dismay.

Still having trouble with the Henning mag extensions which slowed me down on a couple phases so I'm going to contact them for some tech support, as the problem continues. It looks like the spring and follower is not getting the round high enough to clear the front edge of magazine consistently.

Overall a good match with lots of improvement still needed and a fun time spent with a good bunch of people.

Sunday USPSA Day

So today I headed to Brighton this morning for a USPSA match,

Turnout was impressively small - just one squad worth of all of seven shooters but the match went on anyways.  It appears another club just started matches on the same day close by, which is pulling shooters away from the Brighton match.  It's also nearing the end of the competition season here in Michigan, so turnout is low because of that as well.

On the plus side, we had a lot of fun with just one squad moving through all five stages.  A good bunch of people indeed, and I was the secondary RSO so I got to run about half the small squad while the primary did the other half. That way we weren't being ROs when in the hole or on deck to shoot.

I'm overall quite happy with my performance - certainly I've gotten better at stage planning and my shooting is definitely showing improvement.   Had a couple magazine feeding issues that slowed me down, which was weird, and the first time that has happened.  It started in the later half of the match and was rather annoying.  Time to tear down and clean everything.

On the one classifier stage, I was the only one to shoot it clean and hit all Alphas, including 4 head-shot Alphas.  This classifier might not be actually used for classification - it's on trial at various clubs and is a lot of fun it's Classifier 22-04 "Calm Before The Storm".  You start seated outside the shooting box, with toes touching the shooting box.  You then get up at the beep, get your gun off the table in front of the shooting box then shoot 4 rounds at two targets of your choice, and then do a mandatory reload from the table and do 4 rounds on each of the remaining two targets. 

Each outside target has hardcover diagonally through it, and the center third and fourth target are one above the other with a no-shoot target in the middle.  Oh, the 4th and topmost target has a no-shoot covering the lower A-Zone, thus my 4 head-shot alphas. 

Quite a bit of fun to shoot, and I hope it does become an official classifier.

Still waiting for the result but I had a good time, and my speed and accuracy have both improved. I had some rather good runs with decent hit factors and not a single missed target nor missed shot in the entire match, which is happy-making.  

Update: Results sorta came in.  I can't see it on the Practiscore site that gives overall rankings, but only on a site that gives it by division.  So out of three Carry Optics Shooters, I came in 2nd, not bad considering the guy who came in first was really, really, good. I also had zero misses, no Deltas, 93 Alphas and 17 Charlies. Not too bad, and had I not had the malfunctions the times would have been better.  

Pretty happy with my performance at this match and it was a lot of fun.

Sunday Match Day

This morning I headed out to a match, in the rain.

Luckily, the rain subsided as I signed in and got ready. I was in a good squad of 11 shooters and we had a good time.

The morning went quite well, and thanks to the class I took last weekend, I was measurably more accurate and quicker shooting, and had better stage planning and was more aware of where the targets were.

Overall pretty happy with my performance, but, of course, there's plenty of room for improvement.  

I did not fail to engage a single target the entire match, compared to my normally sailing past at least one hidden one per match. Even better I did not engage any targets twice either. Better stage planning certainly helped, especially with the confusing stages where some target could only be seen form certain angles or were viewable from multiple locations.

Got the match results, and it turns out I shot one stage with a B-Class percentage, and the rest with mid to high C-class scores, with the overall percentage within 7% of a B-Class score, so that's a nice start to some improvement.

First Match Of The Season

It was a big day today.

First thing accomplished: Shot my first USPSA match of 2022.

It was mainly a classifier match with one long field course.

Most classifiers were stand and deliver type, with quite two different el Presidentes, the classic and the Nuevo, but we also had 21-01 Trigger Freeze which offered three arrays of targets and movement.

Only issue with the El Presidentes was the turn as the hip did not enjoy that much, but I made it work.

Moving around I was pretty slow but got there ok in all cases. Did use the cane to get to and from the different stages due to the rough ground and steep inclines and that worked out well enough.

Actually had a  clean run on one of the El Presidente 99-23 Front Sight with all Alphas. 

We also shot 13-05 Tick Tock into the darkhouse which made it a fair bit more difficult in identifying the targets.

A fun match with a good squad of shooters and good to be back in to it. Tosh and Scott were in my squad which made it fun.

Overall I think I'm still well and truly in C class territory, much of that due to slow movement right now, but my Hit Factor is creeping up into the 4-5 range rather than the 3 and lower where it used to be.

Update: Yep, still very much in C Class.

Sunday Match Day

The day began walking Piper at 0600.  I swear, she has an alarm clock in her butt, as she's up like clockwork. As I walked her, fog began forming until visibility dropped rather impressively.

 

I then walked Jett and after that had breakfast and headed out in the fog to Wayne County Racoon Hunters for what is likely the last outdoor match of the season. 

The fog had pretty much blown out by the time I arrived, and it was sweater weather with the last stage getting some rain.

Our squad was a little small as we had two last-minute cancellations.   Kept us busy pasting targets, and I was scorekeeper for a fair bit of the match which is fun to do. 

Two Master-class shooters were in the squad, and to say they were good is an understatement. Very neat to see how they analyzed stages and figured out the most efficient way to shoot them. Both were super nice and helpful, and gave lots of good advice on analyzing and shooting a stage. 

Happy to note I did well, at least for me, in this match.  Certainly the pre-stage coaching helped, as did observing how the Master-class shooters tackled the stages. 

 There were certainly some fun stages, such as this unloaded table start with two separate shooting boxes:

Still, I put in a C-class performance but I felt I improved.  

On the last stage I got as re-shoot due to range equipment failure.  Someone had setup the popper that triggered one of two swingers but had installed the stick backwards.  Instead of the popper pulling the stick when it fell, the stick kept the popper up and stopped the swinger from swinging. Oops.  Good thing I had brought enough ammo.  On the upside, getting to shoot that stage again did improve my performance with the first one acting as a live fire practice as the swingers were the last targets in that stage.  So, that worked out well.

A very fun match and I learned quite a bit.  Still an absolute ton to improve on.

Sunday Match Day

After taking Piper out at 6am today, I headed to Livingston for their USPSA match at 9.  Caffeine is my friend.

The day began with rain so between that and the ammo shortage, it made for a light turnout.

There were 6 shooters in my squad as opposed to normally 10.  All good people with good senses of humor and no one took themselves too seriously. We all had a fun and enjoyable time shooting the match.  With 6 people it moved along pretty quickly, but took awhile to paste between shooters as three people - the shooter, the RO, and the scorekeeper were all busy recording the score, but we made it work.

I had a good match, no missed targets.  Did hit one target twice as it showed up in two arrays to make sure I didn't miss any, which cost some time but not too bad.  Again mainly Alphas with a few charlies.  No deltas or mikes which was great.

Scores are not up yet so not sure how I did overall, but I'm happy with my performance.

Sunday Match Day

Headed to Romulus this morning for a USPSA match. WCRHC always puts on a challenging match, and this was no exception.

Got caught in traffic on the way there as they had closed 96 and 275 was down to a couple lanes and was a mess.

Managed to get through the mess and got there ok, checked in, paid the match fee and got ready.

First stage was a difficult retreat stage.  You started up range with the gun on a table and shot the 4 targets arrayed in front of you and then there were two sets of angled arrays behind you of two targets on each side per array and then a final array behind you of a single target on each side of the range right at the rear fault line. Breaking the 180 was a concern.

I had a plan, did the plan and it went pretty well.

Next stage was pretty challenging with quite a few targets only visible from very fine angles. Had the plan and at port 2 planned to shoot two targets.  Shot two targets.  Wrong targets.

I had moved in just a bit too much and missed the two in the array I should have shot and shot other targets twice so they had 4 alphas each but that doesn't help.  As a result learning occurred.

I did mess up another stage by missing a target in a similar-ish fashion which didn't help any.  One of the more experienced shooters said it happens and that was a very challenging stage, and otherwise I was doing quite well.

Other stages did go quite well.  Still need to improve a lot.

Overall I'm decently accurate but I made these dumb mistakes which cost. Only had one D the whole match, 20 Cs and all the rest of the 175 rounds were As. Still not fast enough.  If I can just stop doing the dumb, I'll be in much better shape, need to figure out why I do that and how to track and ensure I hit the right targets better.

There was a very good bunch of shooters in my squad, also they're a very good bunch of people.   Even messing up shooting during a match is better than not shooting at all.

Sunday Classifier Match Day

Went to WCRHC for a USPSA match this morning.

It was an all-classifier match.  On the upside each stage was 12 rounds so it was done by 1 pm which was good as it was hotter than hot out. 

I shot Carry Optics.

Overall I did ok, mid to high C-Class this time.

The last stage of the day I had a nice run on Classifier 18-02  where I missed B class by all of 3%, and came in second in my entire squad for that one which had some very good shooters.  A lot of them being B class were pushing it a tad too fast so the wheels were coming off and they were hitting the hard cover and losing points.  I got all hits on a reasonable enough time.  Now if I could just do 3% better and also similarly better on 4 more classifiers I'd be in good shape.  Still definitely a work in progress though.

It was fun, shot with a great bunch of folks, and it was a great and well-run match as always at WCRHC.

A Good Match Today

I went to the local USPSA match.

This time I wasn't RO'ing as it was a pretty small turnout with only three squads to shoot.  This meant I actually got some time to focus and prepare a stage plan for each stage.  Not that it helped all that much, but it actually did help a bit.  

I'm pleased to report I did not miss nor fail to engage a single target , even the devilishly cleverly hidden ones, and had no misses  at all which is very happy-making.  Some of this is clearly some improved accuracy and some speed from taking the Modern Samurai Project class.

No functioning issues with an of my gear, and the dark house shoot was a lot of fun with the 509T functioning perfectly now that I've taken it out of auto-adjust mode.

Still awaiting the results, but aside from messing up a stage by unintentionally sliding my foot over and past a fault line for a couple final shots on the first stage, it went rather well.

Unfortunately there was no classifier so i can;t see if I was measurably shooting better  classification-wise.

A total of 145 rounds shot and it was a fun match with a good squad with some pretty darn impressive shooters to learn from.

Sunday USPSA Range Day With Murph

So today I headed off to pickup Murphy who was in town visiting and then to a USPSA match at my home club.

I was RSOing as usual and had three shooters on the squad that had never shot USPSA before, Murphy among them.

Overall thing went well.  But I'll let Murph describe how he did if he chooses to do so (hint: lookup significant advantage procedural penalty...).

Unfortunately one new shooter (not Murphy) when being told to unload and show clear thought that meant dropping the magazine and then pulling the trigger to discharge the round in the chamber.   

Not quite what we're looking for there.

We explained that to him and worked on a few other issues he had and he did alright for the rest of the match.  Not a DQ as it was in a safe direction and was before the slide forward, hammer down, holster command was given.

I did ok, but certainly not great.  Missed a hidden target in  two different stages which sucked and cost me some badly needed points. One problem I'm finding with RSO'ing is it takes my attention  away from  my own shooting and planning for the stages as I'm really focused on the shooter, safety and scoring which really is as it should be and not on my own stage plan.   I'll learn to handle both in time.

On the upside, the last stage of the day I had a plan, stuck to the plan, and did it quite well in reasonable time, with only one C and the rest A hits.  Rather pleased with that one.

So, it was a darn good time had by all and overall a really good squad.  Had one Open class shooter who was an older fellow and  a bit of an attitude - first stage he started pasting before the targets were scored which is not helpful.  He also didn't like when I said he should not do that as we need to score them first and the shooter has a right to see them before they are pasted.

Then he argued with me about range commands as he apparently was used to the much older ones.  "Nope", I said, "we're using the standard USPSA commands here, sir".

Then finally on the last stage he said he would be shooting from the back of the free fire zone and didn't want me in the free fire zone.  That's not really up to him as I go where I need to be to do this properly and I'll note I did not block a single shooter at any time during the match (or in prior matches I've RSOs for that matter.  You often need to be behind the shooter in the FFF ZOne in order for the timer to pickup the shot sound, not to mention be able to handle a safety issue if it comes up, and scoring issues as well.   In any case I simply said "make ready".  Dolt then did not actually shoot from the back of the free fire zone.

Even better, I beat him at that stage on time and accuracy, and I was shooting carry optics with my carry Glock and he was slinging a $5,000 gun.   Shooting well is the best revenge I suppose.

So, it was a good match and everyone had fun in a safe manner.

Then home to my place to eat some ribs I had smoked in the smoker last Wednesday, and enjoy an adult beverage while going over the events of the day.

Anyways, more adventures are scheduled for tomorrow with Murph, weather permitting.

Sunday Match Day - First Outdoor USPSA Match Of 2021

I got up early this morning, Picked Tosh up along the way and headed to the range.

First outdoor match of the season and my first as a certified RO.  Happily enough it rained both before and after, but not during, the match.  So we had mud but we were not playing in the rain, which was nice.

It was a special classifier match - 6 classifiers and 1 field course.

The classifiers interestingly enough all required movement which made them a bit more fun than the traditional stand and deliver classifier courses of fire. 

I had a good squad to RO and we moved right along.  I brought along the Glock with the 509T and shot Concealed Carry Optics from my carry appendix holster and appendix Koala mag pouch as you can now shoot form appendix in CCO division. 

Still awaiting the results, but I think both using the same drawstroke and having put in some dryfire time have made me a tad bit better.  I'm definitely more accurate and slightly faster but there is still lots of room for improvement.  Probably still C-Class but hopefully a bit more towards the upper end, but we'll see.  Hit factors were generally and consistently in the  high 4s to 5 somethings which was an improvement for me.

Overall it was a good match and I ro'd rather smoothly.  

I only had the one horrible, awful, no-good very bad stage.  Last one of the day - the darkhouse field course.  12 paper targets.  I was shooting first of course.

It started well from the entryway I was hitting targets with aplomb, but as I entered the darker interior the 509T dimmed slightly and I lost the dot which was an unpleasant surprise.  That was not happy-making.  I then fumbled the reload as well. So yes, it sucked and I ended up owing hit factors for that one.  Learned a lot from that mess though and I'll make sure it won't happen again, so that's something.

Overall a darn fun and positive start to the match season.

A Helpful And Welcome USPSA Rule Change

USPSA just announced some rule changes that are very happy making.

The quick summary is that Carry Optics and Production shooters can now use appendix carry holsters without being moved to Open division, the handguns can have flashlights attached, so long as they actually work, and magazines can be carried forward of the hip,  are also acceptable in those divisions. 

In short, I can now compete using my carry gear with the PHLster Floodlight holster without getting booted to Open, which is very nice.

Definitely a nice and timely rule change to let people compete with their carry gear as more and more people are using appendix carry and slide-mounted optics.

Sunday Indoor Match Day

So today I headed over to DSC for their indoor USPSA match.

First time shooting there, and also the first time shooting a match with a different gun, but more on that later.

It was a very well organized match.  Between Covid restrictions and the match being held in a confined space indoors, your squad gets a starting time and you show up then.

Tosh, Duffy, and I had a 12:30 start so we got there a bit early, paid our match fee and geared up.

4 stages with the first stage being a classifier.  After the classifier, there were three fun, short, and challenging stages.

Since they were all in the one room, space was at a premium but they did a real nice job laying it out.

Each of the three stages was shot by a different shooter one after the other, and then all scored together.  it moved along very quickly.

These other three stages were small but brain teasers.

In Stage 1 it was Amoeba/Classic targets rather than standard targets and you had to shoot 6 rounds at each of the first three targets and transition to two shots on each that you had to engage after moving as they were hidden behind a wall.

In Stage 2 it was multiple targets separated into three shooting positions.  Rather fun and not too complicated.

Stage 3 however was a brain twister.  Virginia count, three shooting boxes, each one closer to the target but each each offset differently.  It was mandatory to shoot 8 rounds form each box and each of the 4 targets had to be hit 6 times.   Stacking on targets was allowed,  but you couldn't go back and you had to do the match right, and some were more hidden from certain locations.

So I engaged T1 with 6 shots and T2 with two, then moved to Box 2 and hit T2 with 4 more shots and hit T4 with 4 shots.  Then in Box 3 I hit T4 with 2 shots and finished by nailing T3 with 6 shots.

Math is hard.  Lots of procedural penalties occurred on stages 1 and 3 due to shooters messing that up. 

A fun match with a good bunch of people, took about an hour to get through and shoot all 4 stages.  I definitely would shoot there again.

Sunday Match Day - First Indoor Match

I shot my first indoor USPSA match today.

Certainly different but a lot of fun.  Wayne County Racoon Hunters was hosting it at an indoor range in Belleville.

4 stages, all on the 50 yard indoor range with two stages run at a time in tandem with one shooter doing a stage to the left and then as soon as they finish a shooter doing the other stage on the right side.  Then both were scored and pasted and the next two shooters went up and then the squads swapped stages once everyone had run through their stage.

Then the stages were swapped out for the next stages.

Pretty neat, it worked very well and was a pretty quick match. Great bunch of shooters and I got some good advice for improving my shooting which is always good.

The dry fire practice I've been working on has helped a bit. I moved up one point on the hit factor scale - not much really, but its an improvement.  I ended up in the middle of the pack of shooters which was also an improvement for me.

The classifier was the El Presidente, which is almost never run at the matches I've been to, and is a lot of fun to shoot.

A good match, I had a great time shooting it, learned a bit and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

That's another 92 rounds through  the Masada with zero failures - even after completely tear down last night and having a deuce of a time getting the trigger return spring on the chassis to fit back into the frame in its proper slot.