ErichF

I'd pay $30 a night for a primitive site with access to the range, CLEAN SHOWERS. But, not in the summer here in FL. Hotel AC is good for the soul after a long day in the FL sun pasting and setting steel.

I love the two day split format. Coming from Gainesville, I can drive down to Frostproof leisurely and get to the range by 1pm to start shooting, then finish the rest the next day. It also costs me one less night in the hotel (no Friday Night pre-match drive). I wish more local matches would shoot in the afternoons instead of mornings, at least in the winter months. I'm getting tired of waking up earlier on the weekends for matches I have to drive 1.5 hours to, than I do during the week for work, and I have started to attend matches a lot less because of that. New Scoring system is neat. Below is a copy of my results for the first day. This is printed out at stations around the range by swiping your RFID badge.

I agree completely. I do not play gun games for training. That is what paid training courses are for. I have recently found a range that holds what is essentially a USPSA match with rifles. I shot it for the first time and had a lot more fun than USCA matches.

I've stayed at that Econo Lodge once...ONCE.

The Hernando Sportsmans' Club down here in Central FL Gulf Coast has been doing an Action Rifle match for some time. They follow USPSA safety and procedural type rules, and score something like IDPA. I will be shooting in that match for the first time on Saturday, and I'm very much looking forward to it! http://www.hernandosportsmansclub.com/actionrifle.htm Check out the rules and video for an idea.

Remove a single letter "s" and that phrase brings a whole other meaning.

As they say, "You can't make this stuff up!"

There is such a thing. They have started to legitimize themselves now through a new National Body: USCA

Three years shooting this sport now, and over a dozen major matches including one Nationals...I haven't won a damn thing either in raffles, Division/Class, or table prizes. I don't even bother anymore. I go to a shooting match to shoot stuff and see if I can beat some other guys in the process. Prizes are irrelevant to me. I think the draw of the FL Open (I have yet to shoot one) is the challenge of the match. It's all field courses and from what I hear, very tough. Doing well in the Open means something.

FL has three Sections (maybe 4, don't know if the panhandle has its own, too) in it due to the number of active shooters. What other states have multiple Sections, and how many?

There is absolutely no reason on God's Green Earth that the official rule book PDF on the National Website cannot have a list of changes in it that are updated in real time. I do not look at Front Sight as a place for rule changes, since it is not any more appropriate as a rules outlet than this forum. It's an organizational newsletter required by law for tax-exempt status. It just happens to be good reading too :-)

Easy, the Wyoming Antelope Club in Largo/St Pete: http://www.wyomingantelopeclub.org/ Some the most excellent shooters in the state of FL come from there.

Fly into Tampa or Orlando direct. Standard IATA firearm regulations and no hassles. If you are held up for any reason in any of those northern states airports due to delay or weather, you will have to hold your firearms at the airport while you stay in a hotel somewhere. Folks have been prosecuted for possession of firearms after returning to the airport after spending the night in a hotel. They have been arrested when trying to check in for their flights the following day because they were obviously in possession of a firearm in the city. Stupid and insane, yes, but it happens.

Come on up to the Hernando Sportsman's Club Matches. USPSA matches are 2nd Sunday. They have multigun matches as well.

I shoot my XDM 5.25 in Limited minor every year at the Monster Match, and I can still hold my own against the major PF and fancy all-steel guns. The rest of the year I shoot Production. As for the OP, think of what Division we generally steer newbies: Limited. Limited can be both the easier, less stressful Division and at the same time be the most difficult. Easier for the less competitive shooters because reloads are less frequent with most modern double stacks, and equipment restrictions are minimal. More difficult for the competitive shooters because of the wider range of equipment brought to bear by your fellow Division competitors. Limited arguably has the widest range of gun and equipment options next to Open, but you have to stick with iron sights and no recoil reduction options. Production guns, by design of the Division, are essentially the same and equipment restrictions put most people on the same level field. We Production shooters are often playing a different game than the Open and Limited shooters, as are the poor souls subjecting themselves to Revolver

If what you're doing isn't working, anything else probably will.

IDPA is full of ironies, such as having the most rules of any other shooting GAME yet proposes to be the most "real-life". Sorry, in real life defense, there are no rules. Safety Officers are a misnomer. SOs have to account for a huge list of procedural penalties, most of which have no basis in safety and require attention elsewhere than the gun in the shooter's hands. They really should be called referees or umpires with a shot timer. But, what do I care? I. Don't. Play. Anyway. I was hoping to start shooting IDPA with the release of the new rules. In fact I will not be playing due in part to the new rules.

I asked and received confirmation with the USCA. It is an unwritten rule. Their rule book is still very new and basic, and doesn't detail any specific rules about gun handling at their matches. They have a long way to go with their rule book, but they are making progress. Look at the middle two paragraphs on page 18 and see if you can make sense of it yourself. I asked about the shoot through rule directly, and I was told that all targets are in fact impenetrable, but they were thinking of changing that. I would hope not, because it will be a disaster trying to properly score some situations.

All eight stages from the Monster Match 2013 in First Person View: If you missed it, enjoy the video and see you there next year! BTW, the Treadmill stage, "Run for Your Life", was awesome - and probably the best way to get a guy like me on one! https://vimeo.com/79005330

At the Production Nats, three of my four Mikes were on wide open, "easy" paper. I have never seen so many swingers in a match, but I managed to get all my hits on them, except for one on the third day. I agree with many here who have said that the "easy" stages aren't really any easier, since the compensation by the shooter is to blow through it faster. Speed wins, but it also kills, in this game. I have FPV videos of every stage (except for 17) on my Vimeo channel if anyone that couldn't go wants to see them first-hand.

My technique is pretty much the same as everyone else, too. As a shooter, I rest my hand on the grip until I am ready, making it easier for the RO to know I'm ready. As an RO, I take the 1 second period between AYR and SB to quickly scan left and right of course to make sure no looky-loos are creeping forward towards the shooting area. The time it takes for me to make that quick scan tends to be a perfect pause as well as a last chance safety check of the stage.

Yeah the vendor tent and concessions (or lack thereof) were embarrassing. For an otherwise smooth and well-run event, industry support was severely lacking. Too bad. At least there was respectable media attendance (Shooting USA, local news stations, LiveShots, etc). I sure could have used a food/drink concession now and then, without going all the way to the lodge. Overall, I would definitely come back. I don't know if I can swing a trip all the way to UT next year should I get another slot...

Last set of stage videos posted, 7 thru 12: https://vimeo.com/77313738 Many thanks to all involved in setting up and operating the Nationals. This was my first one, and the staff really made it easy and enjoyable. My squad didn't have a single re-shoot the entire match. That's incredible!

I had to DQ a shooter at a match for the same reason as the OP. Very experienced, senior shooter, too. It was literally the last shot of the match for our squad. He was tired and not paying attention when he ULSC. He pulled the 1911 slide back, round came out, I looked and saw the mag still in the gun. I yelled STOP, but then he dropped the slide. So I yelled STOP again, but he was on autopilot by then and dropped the hammer. Bang. He almost dropped the gun it surprised him so bad. It can happen to anyone. This is why we have the piled-on procedures and rules that we do. As I learned in aviation long ago, every accident is a chain of faulty events. Break the chain anywhere along its length, and the accident is prevented.

Actually I felt like I did worse, maybe it was just the rain and cold I shot yet another Mike on a wide open target, but I'm hitting all the swingers. Gotta git r done tomorrow, now.