blownhemi

What if the guns were reversed? Glock goes down (rare i know) and a buddy has a spare S?I or something? Is there any advantage to shooting an unfamiliar gun? I'm slower with 1911/2011 guns than with a Glock because of dealing with the safety and so forth. Is the competitive advantage based purely on the gun or is the shooter taken into account too?

Why, because I'm speaking the truth? Is that a banning offense on this site? Or is a low post count some indication that I'm some kind of armchair shooter? ShokShwn quotes some rule at me (I don't have a USPSA book so it's irrelevant to me) and reckons that the 6 foot rule excuses whatever the shooter does on the draw is okay as long as he keeps the muzzle within that six foot. Well the RO is standing within that circle on this stage and I can guarantee he's not going to be happy if a gun is pointed at his toes regardless of some 6-foot circle. Where I shoot, you draw a gun while facing up range and you'll be going home. Turn before you draw - As I said before it's a pretty simple concept and it seems at least 11 shooters at the match didn't grasp that concept. RO's don't DQ shooters, shooters DQ themselves through unsafe gun handling.

Obviously USPSA has a looser interpretation of 180 than IPSC.

Don't know who this guy is but it sure looks like a 180 break to me. Turn, then draw. Not really that hard a concept.

I wonder if anyone has ever shot a camera positioned down range?

Probably get more entry fees (higher profit margin?) running them back to back seeing many shooters double up. This is probably a good thing because it adds to the profitability of running a big match. I'd love to shoot two divisions at the nationals but we run our as a just a big all in one affair.

Just an opinion. Look at the guns used by the Top 16 in production and Ben's is the glaring exception. That's an interesting observation Shawn. You're right, there probably is no one who can shoot a Beretta better, but the question is, can Ben shoot better using a different gun? I reckon he probably could. It's not like he's sponsored by Beretta or owes them anything (could be wrong though).

You won't like it, but I'll say it anyway. Get rid of the Beretta and get a better gun. Seeing you're already used to DA/SA I'd go the CZ SP01. You've done pretty well with it to this point but it's time to vote the Beretta off the island. Nice shooting on the vid, where the rest?

We Aussies have the same issues - jobs, school, etc. Maybe people just don't put enough value on the Nationals there.

So you've got to ask yourselves why people from these categories aren't entering? How many people are there registered for USPSA, I remember seeing the figure 16,000 somewhere. And you can't get five juniors to shoot in the same division? Something needs to be changed if that's the case. I'm not trying to make this a IPSC v USPSA thing. I'm just saying that if people aren't entering these categories there has to be a reason. Here's the figures from our Darwin Nationals last year. Darwin is about as far from anywhere on the planet. There's not alot to do there really and it's hot and sticky so as a destination it ranks pretty low. Here's the breakdown of the various divisions. OPEN - 107 competitors Ladies - 17 Junior - 6 Senior - 23 Super Senior - 19 Production - 70 Competitors Ladies - 3 (still got awards) Junior - 6 Senior - 7 Super Senior - 6 Standard - 63 competitors Ladies - 9 Junior - 2 (still got awards) Senior - 14 Super Senior - 8 In Vegas you guys had: (roughly counted) Open - 281 competitors (more than our whole nationals 8) ) Ladies - 31 Junior - 10 Senior - 49 Super Senior - 5 Production - 145 competitors Ladies - 12 Junior - 4 Senior - 10 Super Senior - 2 So why, in a country where shooting sports are so huge, are the Juniors and Super Seniors staying away?

Be careful falling into the "Everyone gets a prize" trap. Something given has no value but I agree the juniors should have something to aim for at the end of the match. Was it a reduced entry fee for juniors?

Can't control the weather, that's why they call it practical shooting.

Alright, I'll be the bunny. Why does it matter where the Nationals are held? It's once a year, so it's worth the plane trip.

So why did they ditch the palms?

Looking from the outside in, just going off the videos I've seen, the stages looked easier and faster than last year. Not a criticism, just an observation. Last year it looked like there were many more distance targets and more PT's. This year looked like there were quite a few close and open targets.

She looks like she's about 14yo

Must be a USPSA thing. I know at our IPSC Nationals here in Oz they give awards for the sub categories like Junior, Senior, Super Senior, Women's etc. If you give a womens award you should give a junior award, at least a first place, it really is that simple. More than five shooter in the category, then do the top three places. Just my opinion. edit: So I just went back and looked at our entrant lists for the Aussie IPSC Nationals and we had at least five in almost every category, but I do remember seeing awards for the couple categories that didn't have five (like ladies production). But all the others had five or more in every category (Junior, Senior, Super Senior, Ladies, plus the grades GM, M, A, B, C, D and Rookie). So it makes we wonder why we can fill out almost every sub category here in Australia where gun ownship is hard but not there in the US where gun ownership is easy. What is scaring people away from competing at a national level?

I actually logged on to see if you were doing it again but it doesn't look like you are. Unfortunately I've been out most of the day so it's probably all over now.

There's a cheaper no frills version called Premiere Elements. I don't know what it's like because I use Premiere too but apparently it is very much like Studio in layout. Personally I've had no recent issues with Studio but once I get a working version I don't update it or change it in any way. I learnt my lesson. I use Studio for my web mpegs and Premiere for my DVD stuff.

BritinUSA: Yeah some camera guys (video & still) need slapping sometimes. I'm a motoring photojournalist who does video on the side and the stuff I see people in the industry do, makes me shake my head sometimes. There's no need to be that close to the shooter. Sharyn: Yeah, the number of times I've had people do that to me is beyond belief. I've set up my camera before while working and had people set up directly in front of me (I mean within slapping range) like I'm not even there. One time at Bathurst (which is like the Indy 500 of Australia) I had a guy I was paying to be there do it to me. Well I ripped him a new arsehole in front of a hundred other photographers who were also trying to find the right spot on turn one. The rest of the weekend no other photographer dared step in front of me. Maybe I should do that every year, pay some guy to abuse. You might need to assert yourslef and set up a bit closer. I do appreciate the efforts that you've gone to Sharyn, it's just amazing that Vegas has almost third world reception. It looks like sometimes you might need a plan B.

So they ditched the palms? Why?

Sharyn, I think we all appreciate your efforts to stream the video live but I think you might be better off filming with a regular video camera, maybe giving it a light edit, and then dumping it to youtube or something. I would have thought that Vegas of all places would have excellent reception, but I see this as an ongoing problem for you if you wish to broadcast USPSA/IPSC events. Unfortunately the ranges for our sport are remote and and so cellular reception will always be sketchy at best. Quote of the day would have to be: "Oh you've got to f*cking joking" When that guy set his camera up in front of you.

Can't complain about something that's free.

I didn't say pactice on 10mins/day, just keep it to 10min sessions. Personally for me though just 10mins/day is fine. Dry fire is all about muscle memory - perfect the act using slow and precise movements and they will come naturally in competition.

Alot of people are pushing the dry fire angle and I agree it's a good way to go but hours and hours as some have quoted is not the way to do it. The technique to taught to me by an internationally ranked master is slow and precise movement but in sessions of no more than 10mins. Your muscles will burn after ten minutes of this. If you go for longer or try speeding up you become lazy, and then sloppy, and then you are doing damage to what you are trying to achieve, which is a quick and precise draw. Bad dry fire practice is worse than no dry fire practice.