jkmccoy

Mr. Enos, I appreciate that, I think I even understand it, I think it's helpful. It makes great sense that while shooting the focus (the only focus) needs to be breaking the shot in the A-zone. It's a bit strange for me since in my "real world" life the ability to maintain primary and secondary and tertiary and quaternary (sometimes fifth and sixth) concerns is a useful skill. But while shooting, the only priority must be focusing on the sights in the A-zone while the trigger breaks. But sometimes one makes a mistake (surely even the great ones). In my example the best course of action would have been to ignore the D and focus on the next shot (because I was moving and it would have cost too much to go back and make it up). But I lost my focus and wasted the next three shots (and all that time) while I was thinking about the D hit. I'm not looking for a "magic bullet". I'm willing to work to develop the skill to maintain that focus, I was just wondering if there are strategies that better shooters use that might help those of us trying to develop our skills. Or, is it just that if you are always focused only on the shot that you are making and there are NO other concerns...Oh, never mind...I think I just answered the question (or just understood your answer to the question)....Thanks. I can retreat graciously (when appropriate) but I sometimes have doubts. Noli illigitimi carborundum roughly "don't let the b*stards wear you down"

Amen Patches, Although I started this thread, you have expressed many of my thoughts far more clearly than I. Obviously the new divisions are working better at other clubs than they are here. Thus they seem to be good for the sport (better than I would have predicted from my observations). I assume that none of us would be here if we didn't love this sport, and that all of us would accept any changes that are overall/long term good for the sport. I will. Cheers, Fry them bream up crisp. The tails are my favorite part.

WHOAH!!! Too darned cool! Getting comments to my post from Brian Enos. (Sorry guys, I'm a newbie and have a little trouble adjusting to the concept of one of the real Big Dogs discussing shooting with me. OK, he's discussing it with all of you too, but it's my post.) Detlef called it just right. I'm not one of those "fastest shooters" but I move pretty good for a middle-aged fat guy. I was really rocking when I shot that D. I was running between positions and turning/stepping to engage the next array through a port. The problem wasn't shooting the D, I could live with that. As TDean said, the Big Dogs could have taken a miss and still finished well because of their time. The problem was that I was worrying about the D when I needed to be shooting the the next array. I wish that I had slowed enough to shoot two A's on that target instead of pulling the second shot into the D-zone as I was turning to the next array. I could not have stopped myself in time to make up the shot without taking a LOT of time. Not to disagree with BE, but I was really moving (one foot in the air and headed to the next position) and by the time the information was processed (that the shot had gone wide) I was past the position to makeup the shot. It was really cool seeing the front sight lift off of the upper left corner of that target (not cool that it was a D, but cool that I could see it). But in that position, how do you quit thinking about it and go on to shoot the next array? How do the Big Dogs take that mike (TDean's example) and roll on when there isn't time to make it up? How do you remember to shoot the shot you are working on NOW and not worry about the one you just made (or didn't make)? Cheers, Kelly McCoy

The past couple of weeks I've decided to really improve my shooting. Started with reading everything (almost) on this forum. Next I think I better read BE's book. Last week I started practicing looking at the sights. Burned a lot of powder just putting bullets into the berm. Thought I was really getting it. At last weekend's club match I shot the first two stages (both simple speed shoots) really well. I could see the sights, called the shots, my hits were great and my times were only very slightly off of normal. Scores were great (barely behind our local M shooter). The next stage was a little more complicated. A 30' wall across the bay with three ports in it. Steel and some targets behind each port (three separate arrays) and one target at each end of the wall. The buzzer goes off and I hit the far left target (2 alpha) take the 4 plates through the left port (one shot each). One step right and engage 4 steel (one shot each) and one paper (alpha, charlie). Step right, reload (smoth), two shots at the far right target (alpha, delta - I called them) and turn to the right hand port. Then I burned three shots at a small popper without hitting anything. Re-focused and took three small poppers with three shots. My time was OK, but would have been really good if I hadn't wasted those three shots and had to re-focus. When the adrenaline subsided I could tell what happened. I shot that delta and was worried about it. While I was shooting at the small poppers I was busy thinking about whether or not I should go back to make it up. I'm not really concerned about the D hit. I was coming off of a reload, moving, and turning to engage other targets. I got a little loose and pulled it off. The problem is that worrying about that hit (called) broke my focus and messed up the next three shots. Lots of things might happen in a stage to break focus in a similar manner. How do you maintain your focus and move on when faced with these distractions?? Cheers, Kelly McCoy A42081

I've been shooting various sports for 25+ years. Been shooting IPSC/USPSA for 3 yrs. I've been C class (limited) for about 2.5 years. There are some real reasons for stalling in C class (wrist surgery, too much time working) but a lot of it is a lack of practice, and no real idea of how to do anything else. I think I'm capable of shooting a lot better than C class. When everything works right I shoot stages up there with the A and M shooters. But way too often I crash and shoot a stage with the D and U shooters (so I average C). Lately I've shot two big matches poorly and decided that I want to do better. As a start I've read nearly everything on these forums. Lots of useful information. Last week I shot some practice focusing on looking at the sights (burned a lot of powder just putting bullets into the berm). Thought I was really seeing something. At the club match last weekend I shot three stages really well. Felt good, a very little slower than normal, but with good hits and good scores. (Then I crashed a couple, but that's another post.) Today I went to the range at lunch time. Set up three targets at 25yds. Wasn't going for any speed, just wanted to see the sights and make the hits. Starting from high ready with the timer running, but not looking at time to first shot. I fired 2 shots on each target (at about .65 splits, not trying to go fast remember) and went to look at the hits. A couple of A's, a few C's, and some D's. Tried it again with the same results. OK, I'll just put six on the same target, I'm not working on transitions anyway. Same thing. Slower, faster, hits about the same. All right, six more shots before I have to go back to work. I lift the pistol and just before I break the shot I realize that the sights are fuzzy. I haven't been watching the sights at all. I've been seeing them peripherally, but not focusing. I lower the gun and raise it again focusing on the sights. I fire six shots focusing on the sights. I can see the front sight lift off the target and settle back down. I go down to look at the target. Six A's, in fact six hits in a neat 2" circle just above the center of the A-zone. Then I look at the timer - .60 splits. Better hits and just as fast. Too bad I needed to go back to work (I was already late). I think I'm beginning to see. Guess I better read that book too. Cheers, Kelly McCoy A42081 (Edited by jkmccoy at 10:58 pm on Sep. 24, 2002)

I'm with Erik on this one. More divisions just waters down the match. We wind up with a very few shooters in the new divisions (L10 and production) and they don't really have any idea of competition because the better shooters are all in Open or Limited. The people that want to stick with the sport all wind up buying hi-cap guns so that they can play with everyone else. If it brings in new shooters...Great! But that isn't happening here (sounds like it may be better in other areas). Lots of us started shooting Limited division with guns that would be L10 or Production now. It looks to me like most of the new shooters we see shooting single stacks or production guns would still come out to try the game just like we did (even if there weren't divisions specifically for them). Does it hurt competition? I think so. When we split up the 30 or 40 shooters at a local match into four different divisions we have fewer shooters in each division and less competition. I think that hurts. Just tryin' to keep the conversation lively, Kelly McCoy

OK, it isn't a new subject, but I feel the need to vent a little... The separation of Open and Limited makes sense to me. I don't want to compete against someone shooting a compensated gun with a dot sight (I shoot a .45 Para, limited), but do we really need other divisions? (L10, Production)?? Why? Do these divisions add anything to our sport? Every sport winds up as an equipment race, and I agree (in principle) with trying to minimize that. BUT...Most of us will NEVER win a regional/state/area/national match no matter what equipment we are using. There are some shooters out there that are VERY good at this sport and they are going to win (no matter what equipment they are using). We already have classifications. If you aren't intersted in winning the match you are only shooting against shooters of equal ability. So someone who can get 18 rounds in a magazine edges you because you had to reload 3 times and he only had to reload once. Is that really a problem? Your classication is based on your overall performance, so is his. What can you do with your equipment? (That sounds bad, but you know what I mean.) I started in this sport with a .45 Witness (10 rnd. magazines) with an Uncle Mike's holster and all my mags in my back pocket. I had a blast. Could I win with that equipment? NO! Could I have won with the latest/greatest equipment? NO! We have a lot of new shooters who begin in L10 or Production division, but most of them who stay with the sport very long wind up with a high-cap pistol. Very few stick with the other divisions. It looks to me like most of the people shooting L10 or production in the major matches are doing it because they think they have a better chance of winning (fewer competitors = better prizes). Have we really gained anything with L10 and Production divisions? Cheers

The classification system and its "problems" is a difficult question. Should we allow grandbagging? Can we prevent sandbagging? I personally know shooters who work hard, practice a lot, and avoid shooting classifiers so that they can win prizes at big matches (sandbagging). That offends me. We ought to try to prevent that! I know shooters who have reshot classifier stages to get a better score so that they can move up in class. I think that's their business and if they want to be in a higher class we should let them. Does the current system accurately represent a shooter's "on demand" ability??? Why don't we include low scores? If we assume that every classifier submitted represents an honest attempt at that stage shouldn't it be included with the scores used to calculate classification? I've been C class for a long time now. My shooting is very inconsistent. When I'm shooting well my ability is clearly well above C class. But I also trash a lot of stages. I have a lot of very low classifier scores that get thrown out because they are more than 10% below my average. Those were honest scores. I was trying to win those matches. They represent my real ability at that time. I really am that inconsistent. You have to go back more than two years to find eight scores that keep me in C class. I'd have won prizes in D class at major matches, but I finish way down in C. Is this really fair??? Don't mean to be whining. I enjoy shooting USPSA matches and I'm not really after prizes. I'm just not sure that the classification scheme is as equitable as it could be. Cheers,

I'm sorry all of you guys can't experience USPSA shooting with the people I shoot with. Many of our local shooters are certified RO's and work a lot of the major matches in the area. I've never heard any hint of conflict in pointing out penalties, nor have I ever heard anyone trying to avoid penalties that they earned. Ethics clearly demand that a shooter point out a penalty if the RO's miss it. Ethics also demand that other shooters point out the penalty (and that the shooter accept it) if the RO's miss it. If you shot the penalty...'fess up. Take the score and quit whining. When people won't take the score they earned it will quit being fun. Fortunately, those people don't last long out here. Cheers, Kelly McCoy

I've got a couple of questions, if you all don't mind... I've been using a Springco in my P14-45 for about three years now, and I really like the feel. I've never experienced the "infamous weak mainspring/Springco" failure to feed. Have I missed something? What is this? How does it happen? Why is it different from a failure to feed from a weak mainspring? I've seen the RM and some of my friends are using one. I haven't had a lot of chance to inspect one and I have a question for those of you that have one in hand...It appears to me that as the slide starts back both springs are compressed. That is, there is nothing mechanical that limits the travel on one spring so that it is compressed before the other spring. Is this correct? Cheers, Kelly McCoy A42081

Although I am by profession (perhaps by inclination) a herpetologist, I work mainly with lizards and leave the handling of deadly snakes to others. Cheers, Kelly McCoy

The results are now posted on the USPSA website. Major Match Results - 2002 - Texas State Limited Championship Cheers, Kelly McCoy

eerw, The TSLC is a great match. This year's stages are a real nice balance, some hosing, some run and gun, some more deliberate stages, some interesting props. It's a good group of people running the match (watch that R Kelly though), I'll be keeping score. Cheers, Kelly McCoy Noli Illigitimi Carborundum (don't let the b*stards wear you down - roughly)