Greeting from Tampa Bay

[Collie]

I was referred here by another site. I'm interested ingetting int to USPSA or IDPA and wanted to learn what I can here on the forums. 92 degress today - yeah Florida!

[ericjhuber]

I'm also from Tampa metro and getting started with action shooting. You should check out the Wyoming Antelope Club and the "Intro to Action Shooting" class that they put on there. There are a lot of great places to shoot that are pretty close to us here in Tampa.

[Ruppster]

Hello from another Tampa Bay member. Have you ever been to the Wyoming Antelope Club range that Eric mentioned above? It's a really nice range so if you haven't been there you might want to check it out.

[ericjhuber]

WAC is my home club now. I have a membership there and the people have been very welcoming and helpful to me as a rookie action shooter. Dan Bernard and his team put on a great "Intro to Action Shooting" class which I highly recommend. We're also in driving distance to a bunch of other ranges like Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Central Florida Rifle and Pistol over in Orlando, and some others that I haven't had the chance to visit yet.

[Collie]

Hi Eric and Ruppstar, thanks for the advice. I live on Pinellas county so I'm only about 10 minutes from WAC. I'll definatly call and take Dan's class, it looks great. Do they do any weekly orgainzed "practice" or is it all autodidactic learning?

[ericjhuber]

If you check out the website for WAC, you'll see that it's a pretty busy place when it comes to action shooting so you'll have plenty of opportunities to get out and shoot. I just did a Steel Challenge match today and had a great time. They shoot USPSA on Tuesday and Friday nights and also have matches periodically on weekends. They do have people who provide instruction from time to time so there are a variety of classes that you can take.

You're also very close to several other clubs so that will increase your options. One of the very nice things about being a shooter in the Tampa metro area is that we're an easy drive to Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof which hosts quite a few major matches each year along with their normal club matches that they put on. The action steel matches that they run on Saturdays are a good way to increase your action shooting and steel shooting skill at the same time.

[McGlock]

Welcome Collie!

[Collie]

If you check out the website for WAC, you'll see that it's a pretty busy place when it comes to action shooting so you'll have plenty of opportunities to get out and shoot. I just did a Steel Challenge match today and had a great time. They shoot USPSA on Tuesday and Friday nights and also have matches periodically on weekends. They do have people who provide instruction from time to time so there are a variety of classes that you can take.

You're also very close to several other clubs so that will increase your options. One of the very nice things about being a shooter in the Tampa metro area is that we're an easy drive to Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof which hosts quite a few major matches each year along with their normal club matches that they put on. The action steel matches that they run on Saturdays are a good way to increase your action shooting and steel shooting skill at the same time.

Eric,

Wow! I didn't realize that they did quite so much!. I’m busy and/or traveling for most of the next three weeks but I’ll see if they are doing a May class and sign up. I also located the WAC calendar so I can drop by and watch a match or two.

Thanks!!

[Koppi]

Welcome,

We have snow! and its cold. 30's Go Vikings! wait, its not fall! Its global warming

Good luck!

[ericjhuber]

Eric,

Wow! I didn't realize that they did quite so much!. I’m busy and/or traveling for most of the next three weeks but I’ll see if they are doing a May class and sign up. I also located the WAC calendar so I can drop by and watch a match or two.

Thanks!!

They normally do an Intro class each month from what I can tell, but it can vary depending on what major matches they have going on during a month.

I completed my first Steel Challenge match at WAC yesterday and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a good way to get started with action shooting since it doesn't require you to move and shoot since everything goes from the bench. The Glock Shooting Sport Federation matches are good for that also and they start showing up here in Florida towards the end of the year and early next year. USPSA is shot all over the area and each club seems to have standing matches so you'll have plenty of opportunities depending on your schedule.

I'm planning on shooting Production (Glock 34 Gen 4) for the May WAC Steel Challenge match so if you are there, I can show you what I decided on for my first set of competitive gear. Some of the best advice I received is to not go out and buy anything until you see what others are using and how they get on with what they have. That will save you some time, money, and sanity. Everyone is very nice at WAC and they are very welcoming for new shooters. They do pay close attention to when you shoot if they know you are new so don't take offense. They just want to make sure you are safe and they're very nice about the extra attention. The Range Officers I had yesterday were great and the match director (Dean Herrig) does a very fine job running the match and welcoming new shooters.

I'm going to shoot the Doc Welt benefit match coming up also so the same offer stands for that match since I know I will be there also.

Edited April 21, 2013 by ericjhuber

[Collie]

Eric,

Thanks for all the advice! I see on the results sheet you shot rimfire in your match: how did you feel it went?

My favorite pistol is my Sig 226 and I’d like to start out shooting that until I get some more experience and can decide on a “real” competition gun, however from what I’ve read I’m not sure it won’t end up being a double handicap. It’s a traditional DA/SA hammer fired action which I understand is much slower than the striker fired guns in Production. In addition it’s 9mm and I can’t get ammo for it for anything less than usury prices. I have a small stash of about 1500 rounds that I’m using for limited live fire practice. I’ve been doing mostly dry fire practice at home every day working on draws, point of aim, trigger pull and mag changes. (I’m just deadly on paper plates at 15 yards) :-).

I also have a p220 that’s a single stack .45 (it’s my nightstand gun) but I really think I’d learn faster starting out with minor power at first.

Any thoughts?

[ericjhuber]

I'm a former police officer who took about fifteen years off from shooting before getting back into it recently. Thus, I'm learning a lot of new things because quite a bit changed over the past decade and a half. For example, switching from Weaver to the Isosceles stance has been tough, but I'm starting to see the benefits. I suppose it's like a golfer trying to change their swing. So keeping in mind that I'm new and don't know what I'm talking about...

I'm seeing people use some DA/SA pistols in Steel Challenge locally and if you search on YouTube, you'll see people using all sorts of SA/DA type pistols for USPSA. I think your plan makes very good sense. The Sig P226 is a very fine pistol with a long and impressive history so I'm sure you'll do just fine with it. You'll have the opportunity to see what other people are using and then make some decisions on what divisions you want to shoot in and with what.

I've decided to do USPSA Production as my primary game to start since it has a low cost of entry compared to buying a really nice limited 1911/2011 model and 9mm is the least expensive round to play the game. I figure I'll shoot Production for a couple years and then decide if I want to try Limited or something else. I'm using a Glock 34 Gen 4 that I bought through the GSSF program for a very nice price and I'm a Glock armorer so Glock was a natural choice for me. That said, don't think I wasn't tempted to take my trusty Beretta 92FS into action. It went through the academy with me and then onto patrol. I've shot countless thousands of rounds with it and it's a great gun.

The other reason I decided on Production is that I'm also figuring I'll learn faster shooting minor so we're either both right or both wrong.