Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
After the February 2015 Sir Walter Gun Club USPSA match, I decided that I needed to work on getting my butt moving during matches. I’ve been consistently dry firing since that match, and most all of the drills I’ve been doing have involved movement. Things like getting into position, leaving positions, reloads while moving from one side of the box to another, etc.
Last night was the first match I’ve shot since the SWGC USPSA match, and I have to say, I think it’s working. I shot 5 really good stages, and one not so great stage.
The Good
I’ve been working on movement drills, and I kept myself moving in places where I might have stopped in the past during this match. I noticed that my wobble factor while moving has been reduced because I’m practicing shooting while moving so much. Getting the pistol up, and grabbing the front sight and getting good hits while moving is improving, so I’m going to continue working on that.
The Bad
The 2nd stage in the video (at 0:19 here) I had a small mental malfunction that cost me a little time, although my hits were good on the rest of the stage. This stage required 5 hits on the first target while retreating, 4 on the swinger at a funny angle through the port, and 3 (2 to the body, 1 to the head) on the 3rd target. My plan was to fire 6 on the first target while retreating, since I’d have the time, and 5 on the swinger so my pistol would be empty. I’d then do a slidelock reload and move to the last target.
Looking back, this wasn’t a great stage plan, since I couldn’t reload while moving to the next position anyways. Well, I called 4 good hits on the swinger, and initiated the reload with a round still in the chamber. I dropped the magazine finished the reload, then had to pick up the mag so I wouldn’t get a procedural for that. I still ended up with a decent score on the stage, but it could have been better.
The Ugly
The 3rd stage in the video (at 0:40 here) really messed me up. We started with the first three targets, tactical sequence, but with each target requiring 3 rounds. The plan was to shoot 1-1-3-2-2 on them, and then transition to the far target. Well, that happened, sort of.
The targets were really close, maybe 3 or 4 yards, so I felt like I needed to really burn it down while shooting them, and then slow down to get my hits on the far target. Not usually a problem, but I was going so fast that I went 1-1-3-1-hit on a non threat-1-2 and then rattled off a few rounds at the far target way too fast. Ended the stage Down 7 on the far target, plus the HNT, for a total of 8.5 seconds in penalties on that stage. Ouch.
All in all though, 3rd place overall, behind two shooters that I have a lot of respect for is something I’m happy about. I’ll take it.
