lc2hl

You are correct, I will be shooting SS Major and SS Minor, with the occasional Production rounds thrown in. I noticed yesterday during practice that I am not "exploding" out of position while reloading, and that is something I definitely need to work on. I have a hesitation while reloading, and that is something I need to address. The mental game is the one thing that I think will take the most effort to get under control. I am used to planning my shots so that I am in an opportune place to reload, and concentrating on when to reload as well as picking up the pace while moving may give me some issues when attempting to negotiate the course effectively. On extended courses, I am figuring that efficiency is key, but without watching other shooters complete the course prior to firing myself, what are the key aspects of fluidly moving thru the stage? Should I focus on my strengths such as longer range shots, or focus on speed while negotiating?

The Rulebook says that if a competitor "prematurely starts, there will be a 3 second PE assessed". However, I see it as if you have the time to recognize an adjacent squad begin shooting, and to look back at the SO in between the SO commands, there is way too much delay, and it could feasibly be construed as an issue with the timer as recognized by the shooter. I have seen this happen with delay settings on timers as opposed to instant starts, or buttons sticking. As a SO, if it was a local club match and I was the SO, I would have stopped, disregarded and started the process over again. If you draw on the other hand, the SO has the sole discretion weather to STOP or continue the course of fire. If a sanctioned match, I have always seen SO's go out of their way to aid the shooter with commands, and I cannot accurately comment on how the situation would be handled as it would be an item to be reviewed with the match director.

I agree that a sanctioned match is probably not the place to push yourself. Lots of local matches and serious practice with a timer will help you out immensely. Let the cards land where they may. A couple of months ago, I was shooting a match while squaded with ESP and SSP Masters and Experts. I shot CDP ( the only one in the squad), and all match long I was beating myself up saying I am shooting too slow, mainly because of all of the reloads I was having to do while watching everyone else reload once, I was reloading twice on every stage. One of the guys on my squad (thanks Chris) talked me back down and told me to stay at my pace. I continued the rest of the match and was only beaten by 1 shooter by almost 4 seconds, and the next closest shooter behind me was ~20 seconds away. Shoot at your pace, don't buy into anyone else’s speed or hype, shoot your game and focus on that only. Enjoy the experience and the match.

Making up shots is something I have gotten away from over time to increase speed in the course of fire while learning to call the shot. I think the footwork is also an area that is dramatically affecting me as there are no fault lines in IDPA. I recognize that I have to move more fluidly, but I am so used to utilizing cover that I have trained myself to enter cover in a specific way and using an index point, and while on auto pilot shooting USPSA, I inadvertently crowd walls / barrels and barricades subconsciously adding a great deal of time to my scores. I have thankfully been really good at the ability to differentiate dropping full mags and stowing when in the appropriate game, and shooting for A’s is the same in both sports. I am sure I am missing more areas of concern, and will find them over time and continuous analysis.

First post, and I am sorry if this has been covered here before, but I wanted to get some thoughts from those who have transitioned from IDPA to USPSA, and what techniques learned in IDPA can hinder effective performance in USPSA. Are there skills that should be focused on in practice regiments that one would do differently while competing? I have been shooting IDPA for a year, with a longer history of rifle comps. The exposures I have had with USPSA have been at the local club level, and being in the Houston area, I nearly always have a match going on every month. I have read Brian's book, and am applying the topics covered to both sports. Obviously using cover, reloads, and the ability to break down the stage without a course description are key, but I am looking for subtleties that I feel I am missing. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated as I plan on competing regularly in both sports.