Western

I'm going to set it up and leave it, I'm not setting it up and taking it down every time I go to the range. I might move individual plates around some but that's about it. I've only shot local stuff so far, two of which were very steel-heavy matches. There were a lot of poppers (not interested in having to walk down and reset those) and silhouette-sized rectangular plates. With the national stuff I'll probably start off with IDPA because it matches my current equipment better, I'd have to buy 2-3 more magazines and mag pouches for USPSA. Most of my shooting before I tried this out was standing in a range bay slow-firing at 1 target. There aren't very many people who shoot there and a lot of the other guys shoot mostly rimfire. We've got some notices up to not shoot steel up close with rifles, we haven't had any problems with it so far.

I have access to a range that I can pretty much set up however I want to. Right now there are a few 8-inch and 5-inch steel targets out at ~75 yards (max distance) for rifle shooting and that's it. I want to get this set up so I can practice my pistol skills for competition. I'm thinking maybe a plate rack and a couple of rectangle/silhouette targets? And then I can move the existing little steel targets around if I want to. Any advice? The range turns is in a depression and is surrounded by hills on 3 sides, so it turns into a swamp for much of the spring. I have a few target stands for paper targets that I made, but I don't use them very often because setting them up and taking them down is a pain and I tend to get quite a few ticks on me as well. Thanks!

I'm going back up to NH for school on Jan. 3rd so I probably won't be shooting any more matches the rest of the time I'm home. There's a local gun club near my college though that runs some stuff I plan on going to. I had a great time at ETTS, it's the best range I've ever been to and I'll be back whenever I'm in the area.

Yeah, I think I'm going to just try both and see what I like better. I've just been shooting local stuff so far.

I got out there today! They have a great facility, it's really cool that you can bring your own steel and set up your own bay. Took a video of me shooting one of the stages. There were less than 10 other people out there which was a nice low-key environment. I missed quite a bit, I'm definitely noticing that my trigger press is messed up unless I really focus on it while under time pressure. I also bungled my last reload, couldn't get the empty mag to drop out. https://youtu.be/2usOIm19eDg (is there a way to embed this?) Thanks for the advice! I've had good holsters made by JM Custom Kydex for both my handguns in the past and I know they make mag carriers. So when I get around to buying more magazines I'll probably start using their carriers. The Esstacs will end up being used for hiking/hunting/outdoor stuff, I might look into doing those Run N Guns too, that sounds like a lot of fun.

Thanks, this was really helpful. If I stick with it and get to a decent level, switching to Production definitely makes sense to me because I have no desire to shoot .40 or substantially modify my 92 in any way. If I end up with 6 magazines, how do people generally hold all of them? A lot of the more experienced guys have some mags on their 11 and 7 o'clock pointing in weird directions. Right now I'm just using an Esstac KYWI double pistol mag pouch on my belt. Could I just extend this setup with 2 more of them? The retention on them is a bit too strong for my liking so I might switch to kydex mag pouches if I buy more. I've heard good things about ETTS before. I love shooting steel so I signed up for the steel match this weekend. I'm not 100% sure I can make it because it's a long way from me but I'll do my best.

I hear USPSA often requires higher round counts - can I get through a stage with some misses if I have 3 15-round Beretta mags?

I live in Dallas, I've been to two of the DAPS matches at Elm Fork since that range isn't too far away from me.

Hey folks, I recently started shooting competitions for the first time two weeks ago. I've been to two matches at a gun range close to my house and have had a good time, I definitely plan on going more. I've always thought I was decent with handguns from shooting on the range and these matches have been an eye opening experience for me showing me how far I have to go - I was third from last place both times! I shoot a Beretta 92 Elite LTT, it has been a great gun so far with no failures of any kind yet. I've seen a lot of guys have trouble with their guns already so its nice to have one that has been completely reliable. I did have to replace my sights because the fiber optic rod in my front sight fell out so I switched to some Ameriglo night sights. I know I need to get substantially better at basically everything. I'm shocked at how inaccurate I've been in timed conditions in general, I think I tend to yank the trigger under time constraints. I haven't really had a chance to work on target transitions before because the ranges near me don't allow it. I've practiced my reloads a fair bit and they've improved but still need work. My draw/initial sight alignment could definitely be faster too. Hopefully I can find some advice/drills here to work on all of this stuff. I'm going up to New Hampshire soon where I have some land and a range available to me that I can set up with steel targets pretty much however I want. I'd like to get to figure out what steel targets I should get and what ranges are best to put them at to practice this kind of stuff. I also think working with a shot timer would help me get used to being under time pressure.