CHLChris

What does "blousing" mean? I can get a picture, but I'm not sure what that means for pants. And after being bloused, what sort of knot does one employ? I'm considering the "pull them tight and cut" method, but that is awfully permanent..

My new 5.11 TDU rip-stop tactical pants have stupid drawstrings on the pants legs. What should I do with them? To have little bows on the bottom seems lame, but to cut them off doesn't seem wise. Scissors or tie them?

My experience is that when switching the barrel, if you also switch out the recoil assembly to Glock 17 assembly (which is obviously easy), helps that issue concerning slide mass.

But isn't brass cleanup PART of stage reset? It isn't just a matter of picking up $nickels$, but a matter of keeping the ground clear of hazards. Stepping on random brass, depending on the surface, could be slightly unsafe, right? Do people of matches generally see brass cleanup as a bunch of "buzzards" or one job of many during the collective process of resetting the stage between shooters? I'm betting the attitude of the brass person matters...those who are handing brass back to the shooter who shot the brass vs. those who are pocketing all those $nickels$.

One thing I was disappointed in at this match was that so many of the stages had shooting boxes as opposed to larger areas from which to shoot. Shooters were really disallowed from shooting on the move. There were definitely clumps of targets that would have been quicker to engage if one could shoot while stepping past the ports instead of being required to stop in the small box, engage the targets and then move on to the next port. Now I get "freestyle"

Is the warning about safety or about success in a match? Are they suggesting a Glock 34 (that's basically what you're talking about) isn't a good host for an Open gun? Or are they suggesting that running a conversion barrel hard isn't safe? I've actually got the exact barrel and gun you're talking about. I compete in Limited-Major with my stock G35, and I keep the barrel (and G17 mags and recoil assembly) around for fun and prepping purposes.

http://www.gunbot.net/mags/glock/ This will show you everything available right now. You should expect to pay $30-35 plus shipping. They're definitely available!

I don't get it. What do you mean by freestyle? Because the transition from shooter to shooter gives enough time to go pickup some brass? Yes, most of the stages are on grass, but why would other surfaces make a difference?

Why ugh? It looked like a lot of fun! I had a moment in this weekend's match of my own that I had to transition on the move with a mag change from strong hand to weak hand only. In that very moment I yelled to myself, "You dufus, you forgot to practice this!" I guess it worked out, but don't you hate those moments? I think you did fine and your speed looked good!

I just had my first match on Saturday and I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew that I wanted to keep my brass and be helpful. I just scurried over when range was called safe and picked up as much brass as I could. Others were helping. At the start of the day, all the brass was basically the very last shooter's. I handed each shooter their own brass and/or magazines as they returned from scoring. I'd make sure to stay out of anyone's way who was doing walkthroughs and I'd clear out when it looked like the next shooter was almost close to LAMR. I think handing every shooter their brass created good will on the squad. Plus, throughout the day, I got to know all the shooters' marks and made sure to separate out their brass and hand it to them personally (especially the guy with 38S). By the end of the day, every stage had mounds of unpicked-up brass and getting particular cases was tough. So we just dropped the piles on shooting tables and sorted while shooters were actually going through the stage. I was really surprised that this club didn't seem to have a system. The new guy was basically setting up my own system. I just didn't want to create any ill will around being "that guy" who swoops down to take the brass for myself. Early in the day one guy did that after my shoot, when of course I wasn't working, and almost put my brass into his bag. I thought that was pretty lame.

"will..."? It is already making me sweat in anticipation of my next match! If ammo cost wasn't a factor, I'd be shooting every weekend...

Limited-10, USPSA. I decided to wear a Magholder.com horizontal mag holder on my strong side, just in front of my holster. I also wore two double mag pouches on my weak side, in front of my hip. Those magazines I know are fine. At LAMR, I would insert a barney mag from my back pocket to load a single round and stow it back in my pocket. I'd take the full mag from the magholder in question, load it into the gun, and holster. When the stage starts I do not have a magazine in that mag pouch. I can't find any info on mag pouches beyond the center line. I like using that mag pouch there for training purposes since I carry an extra mag in that position normally. Any problems?

Not bad for my first match, if I do say so myself. Overall: 25th out of 45; 41.32% Division: 2nd out of 6; 52.56% (#1 was apparently smoking!!) My best stage I placed 17th/45 with 50.54%. I tied for the highest number of hit points, but my time was double that of the winner. Based on the fact that all of my stages showed hit points that were in the range of the top shooters, I think I need to work on my footwork and faster transitions. I'm too cognizant of what my gun is doing during movement instead of it being second nature. The RO kept reminding me that I was arcing my muzzle in the air whenever transitioning from one side of a barrier to another. I'm happy and I really can't wait until next month!

Tomorrow is my first match, so I don't even qualify to be able to say, "I'm no expert, but..." For the last 3 weeks I've been: -Practice procedure of LAMR, draw and break a shot at a post-it 15 yards away, then the procedure for UASC...with snap caps...10-15 times in a row. I focus on proper hand position every time. -Practice reloads without slide lock, all 5 magazines in a row...5-10 times through entire procedure. I focus on proper support hand preparation of magazine every time. -Practice reloads with slide lock, all 5 magazines in a row. This process goes slower because I have to eject each snap cap and reset. I focus on rotating the cant of my strong hand correctly. -Practice reloads without slide lock, while moving quickly across my living room floor...I've got post-its on opposite edges of one living room wall. I focus on keeping balance and maintaining muzzle downrange during reloads. I had never worked on these skills with live fire, though. Just yesterday I went out to some national forest land and set up some tarps (to catch brass and keep my mags out of the dirt) and got one of those rolling orange rubber balls you can shoot. I performed all of these practice procedures with live fire for about 150 rounds and I was absolutely amazed at how much dry fire practice had helped. It made me realize that dry fire is almost as good. In fact, in some ways dry fire practice is better (it's sure cheaper!!).

I've heard the FRONT SIGHT mantra and believe it works for many people. Maybe my eyes are worse than other people, but if I want to hit a Shoot-n-See dot 25 yards from me, I can't even see the dot if I am focusing on the front sight. I suppose with clearly defined bullseye targets (blacks rings, several inches across, on a white background), I can see the target while focusing on the front sight. I can definitely imagine times that the intended target is so defined, the POI so precise that front sight focus isn't possible. But yes, most of the time FRONT SIGHT.

I think you're asking a couple of different questions, so I'll give my opinion on both. 1) Close weak eye -OR- keep both eyes open? I believe that keeping both eyes open is extremely important. I know that USPSA is not exactly defensive pistol training, but how you use your eyes is not really a switch you can turn on or off depending on the situation. I keep both eyes open all the time when I'm shooting, no matter rifle/pistol, close/far, fast/slow. You just need to get used to having visual information from your weak eye filling your brain at some level. 2) Where to focus? This is more personal. I actually do the opposite of what you were describing. If the target is far away I actually focus on the target, through my sights. If the target is close, I focus on my front sight. If I am performing a fast double-tap, I always focus on the front sight, no matter how far away is the target. Are you making good hits? That's really all that matters.

I am very new here and I can't tell you how many times I've looked for the like button!

I have my first match this weekend, but it's local. Do people actually measure at a local match?

I never thought about a smaller stage-to-stage bag... That gets me thinking.

Thanks for that suggestion. I am a musician and so am very in tune with starting slow until the muscles learn what they need to do automatically. I don't want to get DQ'd while I am trying to be some phenom. I'm just going to stay focused on smooth movement and accurate shots. I'd rather be slow with a lot of A's.

So many awesome ideas! 2 things: -The first aid kit must have major blood absorbing gear such as Quikclot and Maxipads. -If you use Crimson Trace or any other laser device, be sure to bring the right little tools for it.

I'm wondering how those sideways-facing buckets did not cause the shooter to break the 180 rule. When you began the match, facing that forward-appearing direction, was the entire stage in actuality at a 45-degree tilt? Meaning, did you start facing one corner and those sideways buckets were actually facing the other corner? I hope I am making my question clear.

Great to meet everyone here. I've noticed that every Bing search about competition issues leads me to this forum. So I have decided to join. August 3 is my first match. Limited-10 with my Glock 35 with major loads. My only upgrade so far has been Sevignys with fiber optic front. I'll add to this thread with my results. I'm very curious to see how I'll do...