JASracer

There is nothing wrong with the dot torture drill. As with any drill, it can be customized to fit your needs. I started using the dot torture drill and it really helped me. I started closer than you are and it made it easier. By making it easier, it allowed me to speed it up a little the more I practiced. When I felt that I had a good amount of accuracy and a fair speed, I then increased the distance. I believe that it is a good drill to use. It is not the only drill to use. Change up your practice sessions, use several different drills. If every practice session is the same, then you will get bored faster. Work on speed with a drill and then do a different drill for accuracy. Structured practice is the best. If you just go to a range and shoot, you won't improve as fast. Keep it fun.

I also us the Mission Power Grip. I just started using it. I found that a small amount before each stage works well.

I shoot at a small club. We have one female shooter who comes on her own, she does not come because of a significant other. She is very welcomed and is greatly encouraged by everyone. She has brought a couple of friends with her at times to get them into it, unfortunately none of them have made a habit of coming back. A vast majority of the guys have been trying to get my wife involved. My wife has been very reluctant to come to the range. This spring I shot a larger match in Colorado and had a female shooter on my squad. The shooter was shooting an open gun, my wife made many comments about the lack of recoil from an open gun after watching her shoot. Needless to say, we have an open gun on order for her.

elbandito, I understand your situation. I am in the same boat that you are in also. I have lost a fair amount of weight this year and am wearing pants that are a size to big. Not wanting to spend money on pants that won't fit in a short period of time as I am wanting to lose more weight. I am using the CR Speed belt. Not enough of a difference from the DAA set up to make that big of a difference. Get rid of the regular belt under the inner belt. It won't allow the inner belt to tighten up enough to work right. I am cinching up the inner belt nice and tight (not enough to make it uncomfortable). I am having no issues. Try it without the standard belt under it all. YMMV. Congratulations on losing the weight. It is tough to do, but I feel more energetic and a lot better.

I am using CFE in a 40. I am shooting either Berry's or Xtreme bullets, these are plated bullets. I am loading 6.1 grains. Velocities are about 1000 fps. I hope this helps.

I have used the Blade Tech Black Ice holster with my XDM 5.25. I liked it since it worked great for USPSA and for IDPA.

I ran the overlap in the front for limited last year. This year I am running it in the back, about the 5 o'clock position. I am liking the overlap in the back much better. I am overlapping the inner belt in the front and the outer in the back, like others have said, it keeps the bulk down to a minimum.

I can only say the same things that everyone else is saying. -Keep the gun higher, closer to eye level. Makes for faster transitions. -Practice with loaded magazines (dummy rounds). I just heard to practice with loaded mags myself. I was quick with my reloads during practice (using empty mags), but at a match I always fumbled the reloads. I am now practicing with loaded mags. They will feel different and will seat harder.

Is a dump pouch or something like that allowed? I am preparing for my first big USPSA match and this match has a tendency to be wet and very muddy. Is it okay to have a pouch to drop a magazine into rather than into the mud. It seems that it could be a little faster to drop the magazine into a pouch than try to put it back into a magazine holder or pocket. Plus, it won't get mixed up with a full magazines.

Welcome, I am assuming that you are from the Cheyenne area. Is this correct? I am from Wheatland. I normally shoot USPSA and a little IDPA in Casper. You may want to check out the ecouspsa website. It is for eastern Colorado and there are some good matches in that area that would not be that far for you to travel. Hope to see you on a range someday.

I have to agree with what Sarge said. I am fairly new to USPSA shooting, a little less than a year. By no means am I an expert, but this is from my experience. I started off shooting an xdm 4.5 and shot that fair. After a couple of matches I decided to move to the xdm 5.25. There were several reasons for this. The one that pertains to this topic is the longer sight radius. I felt that it helped me with accuracy. I started out as a low D shooter and am now a higher D shooter. Did it make a difference in how I shot, yes. Was it a huge difference, no.

The biggest problem with energy drinks is that they can cause that "energy drink crash." A person is taking in a lot of sugar and caffeine. After a little while they get the "crash," it is in the form of shakes, sluggishness, etc. The crash is usually a condition of the body's blood sugar dropping. These drinks will cause a spike in blood sugar and then a rapid drop in blood sugar. In a loose interpretation same thing that diabetics encounter, (very loose interpretation). This is why it was mentioned a few time that it helps to drink one after eating a good breakfast. With the other food/proteins in your body, the body does not react as severely as if it is consumed on an empty stomach. I unfortunately drink the energy drinks. I have had the "crash" happen in the middle of a match. Talk about a negative affect on my scores. You can counteract this "crash" by eating a snack that has protein. Something like jerky, cheese, etc. This can take a little while though. I still drink one the morning of the match, but I live about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from the closest range. By the time I get there, I have finished drinking it a while ago, and I will eat something before we start shooting. It can be quite a while from breakfast to lunch at times.

I started with an XDm 4.5". I quickly moved up to the XDm 5.25. I feel it is a great all around gun. It has a lightened slide and fiber optic front site. It also comes with 3 high capacity magazines from the factory. It is a pretty good bargain for the price. I hadn't really shot a gun with fiber optic sights until that one. I had always had the guns double as duty/defense guns so always went with night sights. I was amazed how much better the fo sights are for competition. Nothing but those on my competition guns. The best advice anyone gave me was to find a gun that YOU like, that YOU are comfortable with. The best gun is the one that you enjoy shooting.

If you are only going to shoot production or a class that power factor does not play a role, then get the 9mm. If you think that there is a chance that you will use it for Limited or something that does have power factor involved, get a 40. If you are reloading, then it is not a whole lot more to shoot 40 than it is to shoot 9.

There is a range out east of Fort Collins near AULT. Look up eastern Colorado USPSA on the web, don't know the actual web address. You will find a site that will list several clubs and ranges and a schedule of matches (IDPA, USPSA, 3 Gun, etc.). There is a private range in Cheyenne, WY that shoots IDPA also. They did one 3 gun match last year and it was a big success, from what I hear. Read the USPSA rules. Very high probability that it could bump you into the limited class. Several of the people I shoot with, shoot limited with Glocks and SA XDm's.

Not sure of anything along that route in Wyoming. I had found some information once about a club in the Rawlins, WY area. I can't seem to find anything about it since. About middle of the state is Casper, WY and they will probably have a USPSA club shoot around that time. It would be a little out of your way, but that is about all I know of.

As a new shooter to USPSA this year, I was trying to save some money and bought the Black Scorpion belt. I am going to go to a CR Speed belt as I am upgrading my gear this winter. I can't really compare it to anything else as of right now. I will give you my thoughts or opinions, It is a good starter belt. It seemed to work well for me and I will probably keep it for my back-up or maybe 3 gun. I don't get much chance to attend the local 3 gun matches due to work, so it should work for that. I always changed from a regular belt to the double belt when I arrived at the range. So I never had an issue with the hook and loop being on the opposite belts. If you are shooting a heavier gun it may not be as good. I was shooting an XDM, so a light polymer gun, this year and it worked good for me. It was a good starter belt to figure out what I want, and what is better.

Hello and welcome. I see from the title that you are from the Denver area, but your screen name is WYgunner. Any ties to Wyoming???

IMO, I do not see the benefit of trying to change the gun from a 40 for carry to a 9 for IDPA. The added cost of a different barrel, more magazines, another spring, etc just is not worth it to me. I shoot IDPA with a .40 XDM. I have not seen any disadvantage to shooting the .40.

I used the Blade-Tech Black Ice holster without the DOH. I used this for IDPA and USPSA for a while. I am going to a speed holster for USPSA. I will keep using the Blade-Tech for IDPA and 3 gun. I use it with the tek-lok that way I can move it from belt to belt.

I wasn't aware that brass could become "Glocked" until I started reading on this forum. I started to research this to see if it was something that I needed to be aware of. At first I didn't think it would be necessary for me to worry about, since I shoot an XDM and they are advertised with a fully supported chamber. I then purchased some range pick up brass and decided I should buy a case gauge to check that brass. About 1/3 of the range brass would not fit the gauge. I then tried the brass that I had shot through my XDM, not a single one would pass the gauge test. I use the GRX die to get the bulge out of the brass. I now run all of my brass through the GRX die and then run them through a Dillon RL550.

All of the talk about the Tomasie Custom was that they had to redesign their magazines. A while back I had heard that they had the magazines figured out and were happy with the new design. In September, I emailed Para asking when the Tomasie Custom would be available. I was told, "Hopefully, as soon as next month." That would have meant October. Well, I still can't find one. It is a shame that Para can't get this gun off the ground. I was wanting one, but I guess Para lost out on a sale since I ordered a custom double stack built off of a PT frame.

Congratulations. It can be a very rewarding career. My wife has been an RN for 17 years.

I have helped to set up events of a different nature. It is hard to get sponsors to donate items. Especially if it is a small event. The number of companies that told me no was about 10 to every one that said yes. While that was in something different, I can see where it is the same for the shooting sports. It is not hard to find sponsors for an Area Championship or National Championship. The sponsors have a greater probability of getting their banner on TV. It might be in the background, but a lot more people are going to see it. A small match where there are a lot fewer participants and no national report will be harder to get sponsors. What I find frustrating is that they feel it is not worth their time to help the small matches. I had a small business tell me that all he wanted was to be able to get his product in the hands of a GM shooter that will go to a large match so his business would have a chance to get his name on TV. I felt like he didn't really care about my business since I am a new/D class shooter. I am fairly new to competition shooting. Because of this, I am still trying to find the "right gear" for me. It was beneficial to attend a match and to walk away with a Safariland discount card and a few things that I could use. When I finally made the decision to get a new gun, I went to a small company that had sponsored a shoot somewhere else. If they are willing to sponsor the sport, then I will give them a chance at my business.

I am surprised at the inconsistencies of the velocities that you posted. There is almost 100 fps difference in them. Almost everything I am using is different, but my velocities were only a difference of 35 fps when I checked my ammo with a chronograph. Are you getting consistent metering of your powder? I have played with a couple of different loads and powders, each time I tested any, I recorded the velocities for each round fired and fired a minimum of 25 rounds. The biggest difference I had was about 35 fps. I would double check the amount of powder you are getting in each casing. Sounds like the loads are not consistent.