JFlowers

Look at some of the sponsors that are backing the UFC, training supplements and energy drinks. If these sponsors are willing to put up a lot of money to get the UFC (and whats more politically incorrect than two men fighting freestyle) air-time then they should not be scared of small sponsorships in the USPSA.

So it takes two shots of bourbon. I don't see a problem there!

One of the things that I found helped me was asking the right questions of the local "top" shooters. Not just "how are you" going to shoot this stage, but "why are you" as well. Once they figured out what I was trying to get from them, they quickly began to explain why they shot a stage a certain way. SOmetimes I still shot it differently, but their explanations gave me the information I need to make better decisions. After a while, you start putting the pieces together and coming up with ways to shoot a stage that are better. But I still ask the same questions even when my choices are the same as theirs cause they are always looking at things slightly differently. Also, don't rely on just one person's analysis. Three people might come to the same conclusion in three different manners and you can learn something from them all. Now after being out of the sport for half the year, its back to the learning for me again.

I think the "is more of a commercial" thought has some merit. In order to do what Bane wants, someone is going to have to put a lot of money into stages since they will have to meet two additional requirements ... be camera friendly and look good. Looking good will be very important for spectator appeal. Competitors will have to be made to meet a strict dress code, since they will have to look good as well. That will be much easier for the pro and semi-pro shooters who can wear their sponsors colors. Others of us will look like Kenny Wallace (NASCAR Driver) in recent races with the white car.

Bruce, I will go back and look again. I could have just skimmed over it too fast. Also, my hats off to Bruce, Floyd, GRD, etc for the work put into the documentation. James

I have found that this extends to competitive shooters in general, beyond just IPSC. Go to a major SASS match and look at all the gun carts sitting in berms basically unattended. At the 2004 NC State Match mine sat in the berm that held our after lunch stage with 4-6 rifles, 3 or 4 shotguns, and at least three pistol belts hanging on it. The only people I have ever seen messing with someone elses stuff where shooters who were close enough that grabbing a SOMETHING from Joe's was no big deal with Joe. Heck my cart has mysteriously moved to the next stage while I was busy helping repair something or another more than once over the years. The same happens to my USPSA range bag on occasion as well.

Bgary, Thanks. But what I am looking for is more of a "Here's what goes on at a match" rather than a what gear and skills you need to compete. We have a fairly formalize procedure for stages so I was hoping someone would have a "You got your gear, membership and show up on match day, now what" kind of document that would explain to a new shooter the procedures going on around him. GRD's page has range command and RO warnings (Finger, etc) on it and is close to what I was looking for except thats its IDPA rather than USPSA. James

GRD, Thanks, thats close to what I was looking for. David and Xre, I checked out the uspsa page before I even asked the question and while it gave good overviews of the sport and what you needed, it did not have what I was looking for. I did not look at the rulebook. The PRACTICAL SHOOTING ETIQUETTE section on page 12-16 also is pretty close to what I was looking for. Thanks!

Does anyone have a New Shooter's Guide? Maybe a page or two that bulletpoints safety rules and outlines general match administration for a new shooter. I have been recruiting friends and am looking for something to help them understand about gun handling in and out of safe areas, RO commands, etc. These are folks who shoot casually and are interested in something more, so they have some basic gun handling knowledge. I am hoping to get the together one night to go over the competition basics, but I was hoping someone might have something I could print or email to them. Thanks, James

What about the Founder's Ranch facility outside of Albuquerque, NM? For those not familiar with Founder's Ranch, this is the facility bought and built by SASS. I have never been there, but it could offer several bonuses: 1) Its held major matches before (SASS World Championship, End Of Trail) 2) Fees for its usage support the shooting sports. Competing maybe, but still in the family. 3) City and Airport of Albuquerque is nearby. 4) I40 is nearby for E-W travellers. I am sure there are other pros and cons. Of the listed ranges, I voted for Frostproof. It and Fredricksburg are about 6-8 hours from home and of the two Florida would seem to have the most to offer outside of the match itself.

Yesterday I recieved a letter from USPSA informing me that I had been moved from OPEN D to OPEN C "because of your outstanding performance a the recently-held South Carolina Sectional Championship". Now my first response was COOL! My scores (low but decent C performance) from the SC Sectional had been entered as a classifier and it had pushed me closer to making C the hard way. Normally my match scores are better than my classifier scores so I had hoped it would be counted. But I was wondering... is there a criteria that USPSA uses to push a shooter upwards based on a single match performance? I mean the percentage at the SC Sectional was less than 15 points above my classification nor was it a truly outstanding performance of anything (1 Mike, 1 No-Shoot, 2 time costing brain-farts). Anyway, I just thought maybe someone could enlighten me. Now to start pushing for the "B"s! James

If I undersood things right, Danica was under a 1 year developmental contract. With Indy only being her 5th race and her having led both the Dual Rings race in Japan and Indy, Rahal was asked what he felt Danica would be doing next year when her contract expired. Rahal just smiled and commented that she was now under contract and would continue driving for him. The indication was that the developmental contract had been upgraded to a standard driver's contract. Its great to see a young lady driver getting not only a ride, but a ride that has the power to let her compete.

My 98 F-150 4x4 went 70K+ miles on its factory brakes. Though that includes 98-02 when I was a traveling consultant and the truck only saw the Sat morning drive to the local match. A friend helped me replace them, which took about an hour. 45 minutes for the first side and 15 for the second..... slow learning curve I guess. This winter I broke the torsion bar and it took us about an hour and a half to install the new one, including a trip to the parts place for a larger gear puller since the one we had was not long enough. James

DogmaDog, On occasion, usually the month prior to a major match, someone will bring a chrony to one of the monthly matches I attend and set it up in the bay with the classifier. Not a mandantory thing mind you, but it sure is nice for all us poor shooters that do not have a chrony or a place to set one up at. James

Poor animal. He's just an young juvenile and probably scared to death. Think of what that picture would be like if it was a full grown American Bison!

Jaded, I too have this problem. I recently acquired 2000 rounds of Speer Nickle and it does not have this issue, nor does any of my non-Speer brass. So I just slow down and force the flashholes open as I reload the Speer.

The idea with the 60gr Aquila bullets was just a passing fancy, what I was really looking for was an explanation of the rational behind the fact that Open had a bullet weight restriction.

All personal feelings on the right and wrong of this issue aside (and I thinks its wrong), what right do we have to tell someone they can not do this? Do their actions violate your rights in any shape or form? I can not see where a "game animal rancher" allowing the killing of HIS stock via remote control in any shape or form impinges upon the rights of any third party, therefore the government should have no say so in the business. Many of you may take great offense at this (both what he is doing and my comments) and thats just fine. You have the right to not like something, not spend your money on it. I know I would never spend my money on such an enterprise that I personally find offensive. But neither you nor the government SHOULD have the right to tell someone what to do with their property. Now, reality is that the government does make laws to appease the sensabilities of the masses which infringe upon the right of individuals who are not violating the rights of others and they will continue to to do so in this case. Just my penny and a half's worth. James

Always loved to shoot. Dad and I would go down to the old sand pit and spend the day with the .22s and anything any of his friends would bring. Sadly, people leaving the sand pit in a mess killed it for all of us. Once I became an adult with a good pay job and disposable income, I got involved in Cowboy Action Shooting, not competively just having fun. Then I bought a 1911 and started shooting USPSA as well. I did this for about a year, no real competitive drive, just fun. Then I got in with the competition crowd among the NC SASS Clubs. The drive kicked up and I began to push hard to be better and really up'd the level of competition. So it went for several years, constantly moving upward in the SASS ranks, shooting as many majors as the money would allow. But I missed USPSA, so 2004 I split the year, USPSA in the spring and SASS in the fall. But three mistresses (wife, SASS, and USPSA) are one too many, so 2005 I dedicated myself to competing in USPSA at the highest level I can (which is not that high, sometimes!). Anyone one know a way to lose 80 pounds before Area 6 in 3 weeks?

I was looking at the bags of odds and ends in the shop the other day and case across a large bag of 60gr Aquila IQ 9mm bullets. These are full sized bullets with deep deep hollows made from some alloy that is very light. I thought they would make an interesting experiment to push them fast enough to make minor/major in an Open gun. Then I remembered there was a rule and pulled the rulebook off the shelves. Why do we have a bullet weight limit in OPEN? I noticed there is not one in LIMITED. The other thing I noticed was that the IPSC OPEN Appendix declares below weight (120grs I think) ammo as unsafe where the USPSA OPEN Appendix makes no claim about under weight (112grs) ammo. So in the US if you don't make your Division requirements you get moved to OPEN, so what happens to someone shooting under weight ammo in OPEN?

On the matter of venues ...... SASS, which is a private for-profit company compared to USPSA's non-profit status, is in the final stages of completing a new shooting facility. The range, called Founders Ranch, is just outside of Albuquerque, NM. What a show of solidarity it would be to move an Area or the Nationals to that facility.

Stuck, I would think, given the wording of that rule, that you could arbitrate such a procedural. The rule states "5.2.4 Spare Ammunition, magazines, and speed loading devices should be carried in a retention device specifically designed for that purpose, to reduce the risk of loss during a course of fire." There is a lot of difference between SHOULD and MUST. Plus, how many people have enough mag pouches to handle 6 mags (for PRD and L10) when they start?

The whole Chrono At Different places things is spooky. My 174pf Open loads (Chrono'd at Spartanburg the week before) came at to be a 184pf at Columbia! Guess that balances my 167pf L10 loads that Chrono'd at 165.1 after 6 rounds at A6 2004.

Jake, only 50 points....... Looks like Stage 2 did not burn you as bad as some others. One shooter gained 180 penalty points (6 misses, 6 extra hits, and 6 procedurals) on a 120 point stage. All from a relatively simple looking stage. Somebody had a twisted sense of humor! JFD, I liked the moving array and just want to say thanks for all the hard work. That the mechanism stood up to 200 shooters with only 5 reshoots is not bad at all!

Now, Now. I shot SASS for years (including a 1st in Frontier Cartridge at the NC State) before hanging up my sixguns and moving back over to USPSA. Not because I like one more than the other, but hey I have more than just cowboy guns in the safe calling my name. Cowboy is a load of fun and shooters are the best people around. Like any sport, SASS has its ongoing rules discussions (like our own with the SP-01 in Production) and these issues will get resolved. The Board of Governors only meets once a year. Erik - Cowboys love dump targets (large targets with multiple shots on them). It lets you see how hard you can push a sixgun or lever a rifle. And yes, you can miss a 4ft x 4ft steel plate at 11 yards by recoil walking the gun right off the plate. BSeevers - Wimp loads have become something of an issue. I mean a 32 SW Short loaded with a magnum primer, 1.2grs of powder, and a 78gr pill does not compare with a 45 colt with a magnum primer, 35grs of FFFg, and a 255gr pill. But SASS did away with its minimum velcoity rule basically because no one enforced it. I would hate to see what a stout BP load would do to a chrono! SRT - If sweeping is going on an the ROs are not calling it, then thats poor local officiating. The safety rules for SASS are a bit more generic but basically the same as the ones we live under. And as for snapping a timer, thats just so wrong on so many levels, any RO caught doing that should be escorted off the range and barred permanently! I have never known or heard of such a thing! As for scoring, what's screwy about it..... Time plus 5 secs a miss and most clubs use straight time scoring, rather than stage ranking. The RO should never be paying attention to targets, he has more pressing concerns managing the shooter. Designated spotters are supposed to LOOK and LISTEN to call misses (by the way, I don't like leaving the hit/miss call up to the eyes and ears of strangers but thats the way the game is played.) I would recommend to anyone any of the local SASS clubs in western NC.