For some reason, in the last two stages of this seven stage match, I forgot how to stuff a fully-loaded magazine in to my 1911. Stage 2, the classifier, was the worst of my match. Due to USPSA’s scoring system, a small hiccup on a short stage hurts a lot more than on a long one. So doubling my stage time from sixish seconds to twelvish by not seating the magazine on the reload really …

Last time, good stages. This time, the problems begin. To start with, the first malfunction I’ve had in this gun in at least 2000 rounds. Last match season, this gun was incredibly finicky, but this year, it’s just kept running and so I kept “forgetting” to clean it. Eventually, I got bit in the ass, to the tune of adding 6 seconds to what should have been an 18 second stage. This stage is a …

At this month’s match, I really tried to put in to practice the two main things I’d been practicing for the last few weeks: controlling recoil by really gripping the gun hard and moving with a sense of purpose and urgency. Both of these things manifested themselves in this first stage, which is one of the best I’ve ever shot. A good run on a stage relies on two things: good stage planning and good …

After this week’s episode of the podcast about how we got started in competitive shooting and the path we’ve taken to where we are today, I’ve been thinking about my own experience and the best way I can describe it is like gathering momentum. Something becomes the norm: shooting one match a month. And then you push a little beyond that, and shoot two matches a month for a while until that becomes normal. And …

Sir Walter held their annual classifier match this past weekend, giving USPSA competitors a chance to rack up four new classifier scores. Since classification is based on the best six of your most recent eight classifiers, this was a huge opportunity for me, especially since it meant knocking off some 28% classifiers. My goal going in was to make B-class, where I’ve been in Production since the fall. To do that, my six best recent …

After two years of cycling to shooting a 1911 during the winter months, I’m pretty much ready to say that Single Stack (CDP in IDPA) is the perfect off-season division for Production (SSP) shooters. The genesis of this pattern of changing guns around the time the leaves change comes from the simple fact that I’d finally picked up a 1911 in late 2012 and wanted to shoot it for a while. The main competition season …

Snooker is a game that is much more obviously about a good leave than 8-ball. By the same token, USPSA is a game much more obviously about speed than IDPA. But of course, in both sports, accuracy and speed (and power, DVC) are important. Let me back up for a second. After playing APA competitive 8-ball for a few months, I stumbled on snooker, another “cue sport” played with many more balls on the table …

Last weekend, while a few of us Carolinians were shooting the NC state IDPA match, the first big USPSA match of the year happened: the Florida Open. The club hosting the Open, the Universal Shooting Academy, is the same club that will be hosting the IPSC World Shoot later this year. Despite this being a USPSA match (USPSA is technically the US chapter of IPSC, but we use slightly different rules than IPSC), the whole …

I really didn’t want to dry fire last night. I know that I’ve seen huge gains from dry firing for fifteen minutes a day for the last few months. I know that I have a goal to go up in class at the USPSA classifier in March. I know that getting frequent practice is key to being able to perform on demand; fifteen minutes of dry fire four times a week is better than an …

Compared to shooting a pistol match, shooting a rifle match is much more about preparation and knowledge. What’s the hold over for your rifle, ammo, and optic to hit a head box at 10 yards? 5? 25? Not to mention reloading rifle ammo being much more labor intensive. Shooting those super high-end precision bolt guns a few weeks ago at 900 yards is the same way: you do all the work up front, and actually …