Chad C.

Not based on his own stagement of "I raised the beavertail area, raised the area under the trigger guard and removed the finger grooves" I think you're referring to serevince's post. The stippling is the only modification I've done (except for replacing the ext. mag release with a factory ext. release). Curious - would "prepping" portions of the grip frame before stippling be considered out of bounds for Production based on the "removing material/changing grip profile" rule? The way I read it, stippling on top of existing finger grooves and the like = legal, but sanding off the grooves before stippling = illegal. Almost feel like I'm diving into semantics at this point, but still interested on how you all interpret it.

(Bold emphasis added by me) I understand the do/see components of your description, but how does the "feel" part come into play? Is it more of a "feel" with respect to the actual shooting (recoil, driving the gun, the tactile feedback of executing a reload) or are you referring to the mental state you foresee yourself experiencing during the stage?

I'll second the Mid-Carolina and Palmetto Gun Club recommendations. I've hit both clubs and the matches are well-run and draw substantial crowds.

Eventually, you will perform your best from a state of observation without thought. Or a state of thoughtless witnessing. be This is a realization (maybe better referred to as the realization) that has changed my entire perception of competitive shooting. I had never heard the concept of "witnessing" rather than consciously "attempting/executing" an act before I started lurking on these forums. Reading a few older posts on the topic was truly one of those lightbulb moments for me. I had stumbled across this mental state a couple of times while shooting collegiate bullseye (unfortunately, it tended to happen when things weren't going my way), after my goals shifted from shooting a competitive score to "shooting my own match." After these matches, I would sit down and try and put the pieces together, but was never really able to understand how and why this change of headspace occurred. I now understand that, due to a change in conscious goals, I was unintentionally changing over from the "execute" mindset to the kind of "witnessing" Brian is talking about. Looking back at my early IDPA/USPSA matches (back while I was still trying very hard to "execute" stages), I see that the dynamic nature of IDPA/USPSA only compounded the problems associated with mental overload due to trying too hard. Mental overload is bad enough on a square bulleye range; incorporate moving/shooting, reloads, transitions, and everything else associated with USPSA and the overload can be even more apparent and frustrating. I feel like I can now get into the witnessing mindset on-command during matches. It took a complete overhaul of how I approach stage planning (the "Stage Analysis and Ownership" document I found here is a great resource), but it was absolutely worth it. For me, it's almost like writing all the code to a computer program (this would be "Stage Planning" in shooting terms), then sitting back and watching the program run its course...you just enter the execute command (the buzzer in shooting) and the program (you the shooter) runs itself (shoots the stage). Sorry if my parallel is a bit confusing, but the computer program comparison is the best one I've managed to come up with.

Philip - the stippling is Production legal. Just for clarification, the stippling is one of my DIY jobs (90mins and $15 soldering iron), not one done by Bowie's shop. As far as the magazine release goes, I'm in the process of swapping for a OEM part which (if I understand the rules) is legal for Production.

I'll third the suggestion that stippling is a completely feasible DIY project. If you're looking into doing it yourself, the tapered chisel tips usually work better (in my experiences) than the standard non-tapered tip. David Bowie (based up here in OH) does nice looking work for the poly-framed guns- stippling, grip reductions, et al.

Thanks for all the greetings guys. The match went very well all things considered (13 out of 39 in Production, high C on the classifier). I made a few mistakes (miscounted some shots/forgot a reload, stage movement wasn't as smooth as I'd like), but that's all just extra experience I'll use to move up the learning curve. The biggest thing that I took away from the match was the ability to "detach" myself during the execution of each stage. I've experienced this feeling a few times in the past ("stumbled across" is probably more accurate), but being able to do it on demand was really awesome. I'll post a thread a bit later with my take on "witnessing" the stage instead of actively "trying" to shoot it...looking forward to everyone's input. For the SW OH crew, I'll be up in Oxford in a week or so...looking forward to the continued education.

Evening all, New shooter from the Cincinnati area checking in. I have some competitive shooting experience (mostly NRA Collegiate Bullseye; some IDPA and USPSA off and on for the past 12 mo.), but am now looking to take the plunge and approach shooting (namely USPSA) in a more dedicated fashion...this forum - along with an actual USPSA membership - seems like a logical next step in my development. Thanks in advance for the replies and future discussions. -I'll be hitting a couple of SW Ohio matches over the next month (Miami Rifle/Pistol and Oxford IWLA, then heading back to South Carolina to finish up my last semester), but am looking forward to a full season next year.