classifications

[Patrick Sweeney]

A question to the group:  Is the insistance of the USPSA that your classification cannot be more than one grade off a help or hindrance?  That is, if you shoot Master Open, you can't have a Limited class less than A.

I'm a short step from going GM in Limited, which will drag my Open class to Master, even though I'm holding an A percentage.  (Assuming I don't suddenly forget how to hold the gun, that is.)

So, if I want to start shooting in Production, I have to begin in Master?  Or revolver?  What about old shooters whose eyes need a red-dot sight?  If their eyesight can't shoot irons at the same level as a red-dot, why shouldn't they have a lower classification?

(Sound of red meat thrown to wild dogs.)

[38supPat]

I think USPSA had to draw a line somewhere, they could have made your class the same regardless of gun. To avoid sandbagging, eg. hey I made master if I'm going to win any prizes maybe I should shoot limited and crap out a couple of classifiers and get into d class, they had to limit the classes a bit.

Pat

[Kevin Kline]

Patrick

I understand what you are saying perfectly, but I think USPSA was having a problem between Open and Limited shooter, where they were GM or M Open shooters, but shooting B or A Limited because they were only going off of classifiers and they were cleaning house.

[Ron Ankeny]

Patrick:

I am seeing the same problem with the advent of Limited 10. For instance, a Master Limited shooter decides to blow the dust off of his Les Baer and shoot it in Limited 10. Would it be realistic to start him out unclassified? Then after he shoots 4 classifers, classify him/her off of those? As you know, if you screw up just one of your first four classifiers, you could end up several classes below where you belong and really kick ass.

[ErikW]

I'm in the same boat, might soon be a GM Limited and get my Open classification bumped up to M. (I was hoping to make M Open with a B classification percentage, but it'll have to be with a low A.)

Say you make GM. The lowest you'll be classified in any other division is M. What irks me is that USPSA insists you shoot 4 classifiers in each division, even though they are going to rubber-stamp your card with M. (Unless you average 95+% on your 4 classifiers.) Why can't they just fill in M in everything else? Could it be that they want the $2 * 4 for each division?

[Patrick Sweeney]

Yes, I know why the USPSA did it, but I'm asking should it be?  OK, so I connive with my club MD and blow the classifiers at club matches until I'm the best darned D shooter in Limited 10.  I go the the Area 10 match, win D by posting an A percentage.  (This while carrying a Master class in Open.) I win once, and would anyone have a problem with my being immediately bumped up to A-Limited 10?  

Yes, you can sandbag, but as soon as you cash in, it catches up with you, right? Unless you think someone can shoot such a calculated score they can stair-step up from D to C, to B, etc. in the secondary classification?

Are the sandbaggers so clever we can't figure a way out?

[bonedaddy]

Patrick,  my first post at this forum related to 3-gun matches.  I asked a similar question to yours.   If a fellow is an "B" shooter with his pistol, then he gets to shoot "B" with all three guns.   I now know, after some excellent feedback from Kellyn and yourself that there is no way my 3-gun ability matches up to my handgun ability.   I say, GREAT!   Forcing me to compete at a higher level is the best medicine I could be given.  If I'm worried about winning, more than I care about improving, I'm stuck shooting at the highest level where I can best a group of less talented shooters.  Status Quo is reached and one more shooter falls out of the search for trvth, justice, and the American Way!  So I say, absoulutely, one classification down is plenty for a different gun!  If I think that my classification is "un-fair", I can either pout or work until my ability matches the little letter on my card.  The truly great shooters may go a long time without actually winning a major match.  But  they usually finish among the champions, soaring with the eagles, instead of pecking around with the ground based birds (to be politically correct) who opted for comfort rather risk.  

We walk this road together.

[Ron Ankeny]

Patrick:

I am not talking about sandbagging at all. What I am talking about is that in the initial stages of obtaining a new classification, a shooter can honestly end up with a classification that is several classes below their true ability. There are other cases as well. For instance, I just started shooting about a year ago. The first classifiers that I shot were in Limited, then I started shooting in Limited 10. Subsequently, I bought a wide body and started shooting Limited. In the next month or so I will honestly have earned, based upon the best of my ability at the time, a classification of B in Limited and D in Limited 10. Should I be allowed to shoot my Limited pistol in Limited 10 in the D class? Obviously, I would easily shoot B class scores. I think my case is the rule and yours is the exception and the BOD just can't write one rule to cover every set of circumstances.