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How exactly do the USPSA matches go?


R1_Demon

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Mr. Jack - No sir, not exactly.  I have done LEO and military qualifying and shoots and I have done special tactical training/qualifying and "fun competitive" shoots as a LEO and military, but nothing I would consider as competitive handgun shooting like how USPSA is setup.  I have run similar drills and done training on the same scenarios and drills, but not while "competing".  So, I would answer no to that question (after I just gave you a three page story about it.  LOL!)


I think you're gonna do great. I'm behind the curve quite a bit from you. I shot my 1st gun about a year ago. I bought my 1st pistol in Feb. I've been going to an indoor range about once a week since then. Shooting paper. Quite limiting.

I did get to go out to BLM land with a group of friends that shoot. We set up some targets so I was able to get a taste of shooting from the draw, transitions, and shooting on the move. Man did I have fun. Only made me want to compete more.

I'm nursing a broken neck right now. Wearing a cervical collar so I was really limited in what I could do. Did it while surfing. I get it off next month and start PT. Hoping I can do my 1st match in July. Till then, lots of dry fire with the holster, mag swaps, etc. Just trying to practice this as much as possible.

This post has been really helpful. Hope you don't mind me asking questions as well. Don't want to hijack [emoji12]

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Maybe I missed it. Mentioning your location or the club you'll be shooting at might find you a "tutor" on here.

It's easy, don't be intimidated, take your gear and shoot. Listen to your RO, keep the muzzle downrange, finger out when not aiming/shooting. Have fun.

Being early is good anyway if you can manage it.

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22 hours ago, TennJeep1618 said:

 

 

Here is the rule:

 

8.5 Movement

8.5.1 Except when the competitor is actually aiming or shooting at targets, all movement (see Appendix A3) must be accomplished with the fingers visibly outside the trigger guard and the safety should be engaged. The handgun must be pointed in a safe direction.

 

I emphasized the operative words.  "Should" is not the same as "must."  

 

Thank you TennJeep. :)  Yup, I looked it up in the handbook late last night after I got home from work and read the exact same thing because I was curious.  Funny how the brain sees "must" on the first part and automatically carries it over to the rest.  LOL  But thank you for the clarification.  I thought it would be kind of nuts to try and flip the safety on and off in between movements, but you never know. :o 

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20 hours ago, anonymouscuban said:

I think you're gonna do great. I'm behind the curve quite a bit from you. I shot my 1st gun about a year ago. I bought my 1st pistol in Feb. I've been going to an indoor range about once a week since then. Shooting paper. Quite limiting.

I did get to go out to BLM land with a group of friends that shoot. We set up some targets so I was able to get a taste of shooting from the draw, transitions, and shooting on the move. Man did I have fun. Only made me want to compete more.

I'm nursing a broken neck right now. Wearing a cervical collar so I was really limited in what I could do. Did it while surfing. I get it off next month and start PT. Hoping I can do my 1st match in July. Till then, lots of dry fire with the holster, mag swaps, etc. Just trying to practice this as much as possible.

This post has been really helpful. Hope you don't mind me asking questions as well. Don't want to hijack emoji12.png

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Sounds like you had fun.  Just be careful.  You don't want to move your neck too much and reinjure it.  I hear ya about the pain and PT though.  I just had shoulder/rotator cuff surgery back in Dec.  I'm still going through PT to try and work it all out.  They are now saying that my shoulder may be freezing up.  Oh joy.  LOL  So, believe me, I understand about doing what you can within your limits.

 

I don't mind at all...I feel we are all here to learn, even the experienced people probably learn something new now and again, so it's all good to me. :) :cheers:  (thumbs up) (no emoticon for that here...booo.  LOL)

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On 4/26/2017 at 1:23 PM, R1_Demon said:

 

Will do...appreciate it. :)  I'll shoot over the questions to him and see what he says.  I just thought I'd also post them here as general questions.  I guess I'm excited to get started, but maybe I should just hold off shooting my first match until June (they are held once a month here) and just go and watch in May instead?  Even though I'm excited to get started, I'm almost starting to think that may be a better idea.

Are you talking about shooting at Bluegrass Sportsman League (BGSL)? If so, they do hold a new shooter orientation right before the match...Great group of people to shoot with. When you register for the match, just tell them you are new to the sport...They'll have you all sorted out in no time at all.

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34 minutes ago, GrumpyOne said:

Are you talking about shooting at Bluegrass Sportsman League (BGSL)? If so, they do hold a new shooter orientation right before the match...Great group of people to shoot with. When you register for the match, just tell them you are new to the sport...They'll have you all sorted out in no time at all.

 

Welllll hot damn!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  :roflol:

 

I'm good to go then!  Yes, that is where I'm going to be shooting at.  I actually just joined them actually.  I just haven't had a chance to do my orientation yet.  I was going to go last night (they hold it every Wed), but I had to shoot Kentucky baseball instead. :)  So, I will have to wait until next Wed to go for orientation.  Anyway, they were the ones that were nice enough (the people that hold the matches there) to invite me to the private FB group, so they definitely know I'm a newbie because I told them and have asked questions there too.  I'm glad to hear they are good people.  Makes me feel better. :) I appreciate the info.  (we really need to get a thumbs up emoticon here.  LOL!)

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5 minutes ago, R1_Demon said:

 

Welllll hot damn!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  :roflol:

 

I'm good to go then!  Yes, that is where I'm going to be shooting at.  I actually just joined them actually.  I just haven't had a chance to do my orientation yet.  I was going to go last night (they hold it every Wed), but I had to shoot Kentucky baseball instead. :)  So, I will have to wait until next Wed to go for orientation.  Anyway, they were the ones that were nice enough (the people that hold the matches there) to invite me to the private FB group, so they definitely know I'm a newbie because I told them and have asked questions there too.  I'm glad to hear they are good people.  Makes me feel better. :) I appreciate the info.  (we really need to get a thumbs up emoticon here.  LOL!)

The match should have it's own orientation...USPSA is separate from the actual range...You don't have to be a member of the range to shoot a USPSA match there.

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30 minutes ago, GrumpyOne said:

The match should have it's own orientation...USPSA is separate from the actual range...You don't have to be a member of the range to shoot a USPSA match there.

 

Oh, I know.  I joined because I figured that would help me get in more range time is all.  It just happens to be at the same place. :)  Plus, I think I get a discount on the entry fee by being a member.  Whooohooo!  LOL! :P Have to look at the positives, right? :D 

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7 minutes ago, R1_Demon said:

 

Oh, I know.  I joined because I figured that would help me get in more range time is all.  It just happens to be at the same place. :)  Plus, I think I get a discount on the entry fee by being a member.  Whooohooo!  LOL! :P Have to look at the positives, right? :D 

One positive is that it is an awesome facility, with well run matches.

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I was in basically the same boat as you. I did have some experience shooting IPSC from before there was a USPSA, but found it was like falling off a bicycle, you never forget how. I shot my first match in many years with a great group of guys. It was a large match, 7 stages with the classifier with a round count up around 25 to 36 per stage, so around 200 rounds or so for the whole deal. Just go, tell them you are new, and then go be safe and have fun. I concentrated on being safe 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Then I thought about accuracy. Speed was not part of my thought process at this point. Let the speed come.  At least that is what I am doing and having a blast doing it!! Nobody laughed while I was shooting, although some in my squad had time for lunch while I was up.!!

Edited by Eureka1911
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What would you guys say is the average distance to target?

 

What I've heard and read is that if you can hit an 11x8.5" piece of paper at 10 yards with 8 of 10 rounds, you are good enough to at least not make a total ass of yourself. I can put all 10 consistently.

 

However, as a new shooter, I'm still working on my marksmanship. I want to practice in live fire and dry fire as much as I can before July and my first match. I have some scale down targets for home dry fire. I want to practice getting consistent sight picture and stuff for what I will see most and worry about the longer shots later.

 

 

 

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Just now, anonymouscuban said:

What would you guys say is the average distance to target?

What I've heard and read is that if you can hit an 11x8.5" piece of paper at 10 yards with 8 of 10 rounds, you are good enough to at least not make a total ass of yourself. I can put all 10 consistently.

However, as a new shooter, I'm still working on my marksmanship. I want to practice in live fire and dry fire as much as I can before July and my first match. I have some scale down targets for home dry fire.



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That really depends on the club, match, and stage designer.  You may not have any targets over 20 yards or you may have some at 40-50.  From my experience, most of the targets you'll encounter will be 25-30 yards and closer.

 

Keep working on your fundamentals until they are completely subconscious.  That way, you'll still retain as much as possible once the buzzer sounds.  Remember, the 2 biggest factors regarding accuracy are sight alignment and trigger control.

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13 minutes ago, TennJeep1618 said:

That really depends on the club, match, and stage designer.  You may not have any targets over 20 yards or you may have some at 40-50.  From my experience, most of the targets you'll encounter will be 25-30 yards and closer.

 

Keep working on your fundamentals until they are completely subconscious.  That way, you'll still retain as much as possible once the buzzer sounds.  Remember, the 2 biggest factors regarding accuracy are sight alignment and trigger control.

 

UGH. 40-50 yards. That gives me heartburn just thinking about it. I've been practicing everyday at home with dry fire. Things like drawing to get a consistent grip. Drawing and getting a good sight picture against a white wall. Drawing to first trigger pull. Mag changes while moving. I've also been working on my trigger pull which I think I have. I'm not great but I've seen improvement each day that I practice. 

 

The one big issue I have right now is jerking the muzzle in anticipation of the boom. I've gotten better. I have my wife load a couple dummy rounds in my mag to see how much I flinch. It's minimal but its there. The interesting thing is that when I went to shoot with some friends, where we were practicing drills that required more double shots between targets and shooting on the move, I did much better with this. I think maybe my mind was more occupied so I didn't have time to think about the recoil. 

 

I'm going to the range today and am going to add plugs in addition to my ear muffs to see if the sound reduction will help me with the flinch. I'm also going to focus on not blinking between shots. I know I do this and I know it's probably adding to this problem in addition to not tracking my sights. 

 

In the end, trying not to stress over all of this. As I said, I'm a very new shooter and I know that if I stick with the drills and practice, it will come. I know I'm doing a lot of things right so I try not to get discouraged. I'm having fun and I am safe so that's what is important to me in this stage of my shooting. 

Edited by anonymouscuban
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1 hour ago, anonymouscuban said:

What would you guys say is the average distance to target?

 

What I've heard and read is that if you can hit an 11x8.5" piece of paper at 10 yards with 8 of 10 rounds, you are good enough to at least not make a total ass of yourself.

 

 

 

 

The only way to make a total ass of yourself is to do something unsafe and get DQ'd. A ND would be the worst, breaking 180 second. FOcus on not doing either of those and don't worry about the rest. Go shoot and have fun. All the other stuff will come with time and practice.

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7 minutes ago, Eureka1911 said:

 

The only way to make a total ass of yourself is to do something unsafe and get DQ'd. A ND would be the worst, breaking 180 second. FOcus on not doing either of those and don't worry about the rest. Go shoot and have fun. All the other stuff will come with time and practice.

 

WORD! 

 

I've been working on stuff to hopefully prevent a DQ. At home, I set up some targets in my backyard and I have practiced moving from target to target, making sure when I'm not engaging the target, I have my finger along the slide. I've also been practicing drawing and turning around to my right (my holster side) for those stages where you start facing up range. Figured that if I turn left, I stand a really good chance of sweeping everyone watching. Turning right, I won't sweep anyone. Also the 180 rule as well. That's the one that I'm worried about the most but figure if I take it slow, I should be good. 

 

Anything else I should drill into myself that will keep me from getting DQ'd? 

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45 minutes ago, anonymouscuban said:

 

WORD! 

 

I've been working on stuff to hopefully prevent a DQ. At home, I set up some targets in my backyard and I have practiced moving from target to target, making sure when I'm not engaging the target, I have my finger along the slide. I've also been practicing drawing and turning around to my right (my holster side) for those stages where you start facing up range. Figured that if I turn left, I stand a really good chance of sweeping everyone watching. Turning right, I won't sweep anyone. Also the 180 rule as well. That's the one that I'm worried about the most but figure if I take it slow, I should be good. 

 

Anything else I should drill into myself that will keep me from getting DQ'd? 

if you're right handed, practice mag changes while moving left and staying behind the 180. if you're left handed, do it the other way.  many people turn the gun while reloading, and it can be a 180 dq while moving laterally

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1 hour ago, anonymouscuban said:

 

 

Anything else I should drill into myself that will keep me from getting DQ'd? 

 

Pages 46-49 of the Rule Book outlines them all:

 

https://www.uspsa.org/document_library/rules/2014/Feb 2014 Handgun Rules.pdf

 

I came really close to breaking the 180 in a recent match. Like 179 degrees!! Moving left while reloading. I'm a righty. Definitely been practicing that one!!

 

Biggest drill I am using is to continue focusing on safety and not worrying about much else right now. 180 rule and finger out of trigger except when pointing at what you want to go BANG at. Those are the two big ones for me.

Edited by Eureka1911
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Getting a DQ is not making a total ass of yourself. It is embarrassing but unless you continue to make the same mistake, it is an opportunity to learn. As people here always say, there are people who have DQ'd and those that haven't DQ'd yet. Don't let the worry of a DQ stop you from having fun. Shooters are the best people. All the people I have seen DQ'd are treated with respect, not ridicule by all the other shooters. If it happens to you, stay and help paste and reset targets. Come back again and shoot at the next match. The best advise I was given when I started was to read and learn the rules. This will help you to avoid breaking those rules.

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1 hour ago, Youngeyes said:

Getting a DQ is not making a total ass of yourself.

 

 

Allow me to re-phrase myself. Committing a Safety violation that results in a DQ is the closest thing you can do to coming close to making a complete ass of yourself. Point is, he should not be worried about that or even thinking it. Because, as you say, shooters, especially competitive shooters, are great people and there is virtually nothing you can do to embarrass yourself. Better? :D

 

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1 hour ago, Eureka1911 said:

Allow me to re-phrase myself. Committing a Safety violation that results in a DQ is the closest thing you can do to coming close to making a complete ass of yourself. Point is, he should not be worried about that or even thinking it. Because, as you say, shooters, especially competitive shooters, are great people and there is virtually nothing you can do to embarrass yourself. Better? :D

 

Yup.Better. :cheers:

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