New shooter Need training and ammo help with USPSA

[Just4FunLP]

One more update.

I've been shooting now for about 6 months, and having a blast. I downloaded the Walmart app on my cell phone and it's been a great help in finding bullets. Although the bullets are costing me a fortune, Walmart is the best deal around.

I have shot three USPSA matches and have been reading all the books and practicing hard. It's really a cool sport. You can put a lot into it, or just go and have fun. I noticed pretty quickly that I was having problems with pain in my forearms, so it inspired me to finally get off my butt and join a gym. This has helped a lot, and I'm feeling better than I have in years.

As far as my gun choice is conserved the xdm 9 5.25 has been great. I have no doubt that it was the right choice. I have a couple of old family hunting guns, but the xdm is all I want. I'm enjoying studying competition shooting, and I'm going to try to get as far as a 50 year old man can go. The drills, shooting on the move, the challenges of the matches, it's all very enjoyable. So far I've been able to maintain a stock of about 1000 rounds but today I'm down to about 50. I'm going to hit Walmart in the morning and snatch a few boxes of fifty. I usually do pretty good with finding 100 boxes, but no luck this week. If I don't buy something soon I'll be out of business.

I've decided that I want to shoot about 250 rounds twice a week. This is in addition to 4 dry fire sessions. It seems to be working, my first match I came in 18 of 20, and on the second match I was 11 of 20. When I received the scores on my third match I was still stuck at 11, but after I double checked the scores posted on the USPSA web sit against the photos of the score sheets, I noticed a 56 point error. So I really came in 8th. That's a pretty good jump for me. And if it wasn't for hit on a no shoot and a stupid failure to engage I could have taken 5th. I need to somehow learn and practice stage breakdown. This is the second Mach where I've either didn't see a target behind a barrel, or got distracted by a bad reload and ran off leaving a target with no holes. This mantle part of the game is very hard for me. I've noticed the top shooters are pretty sharp guys and their brains operate faster than they can blast their way through a coarse. Me, not so much. I'm really going need to figure out a way to learn the stage programming and visualization techniques.

I would like to receive any comments or suggestions. Also any comments on the amount of ammo I'm shooting would Also be helpful. I'm chinking of buying a Dillon 650XL. Does anyone have a load they could recommend for shooting production USPSA? I'm looking for cheep and available. The federal ammo 115gr I'm getting at Walmart is about 25 cents a pop ..plus tax, and I'm hoping to use the new press to reduce my cost of ammo about 50%. Thanks in advance I'm sure I'll get some good info.

[Patrickxx]

If you go the reload route montanna gold is a great place for bulk pistol bullets.

[stick]

I've been reloading for years, but just recently got a 650xl (the 650 is awesome). Bayou bullets or Berry's bullets are priced reasonably. Montana gold are good also, but will cost you more money.

If you're shooting 250 rounds a week, then you definitely need to reload. Look online for a reloading calculator! It will breakdown components and it will tell you how long it takes to pay for the press with reloaded bullets. If you can't find a good reloading calculator, PM me and I'll send you the one I use.

I'm sure several people will chime in on their favorite load, but you will need to experiment with powders and bullets to determine what's best for your intended purpose. For example, I use 124 Montana gold or Berry's 124 gr RN with 4.0gr of Titegroup at 1.150 in both USPSA and IDPA.

Good luck!

[Noah my boy]

Stage breakdown is very important. Know the round count of the stage and count your rounds on every target before anything else make sure you get the right number of rounds so you don't miss a target. Then Plan reloads and positions on where to shoot. I have always said economy of motion saves time but for steel I always get closer. Good luck and watch a lot a videos. ?

FYI a reloader is choice the 650xl with case feeder is the way to go. Find local shooters and do a bullet buy the more you buy the more you save is the way to go.

[ktm300]

Get Ben Soeger's book and read the chapter on stage breakdown. Great stuff, gives you a way to methodically break down a stage. It helped me quite a bit.

Airsoft is cheep, you can shoot 1k rounds for the price of 50 factory loads. You can do it at home, you can do it every day.

You have to reload or go broke buying ammo.

Dry fire is great for reloads and all that other administrative stuff you have to do during a stage. When it gets to the point that you don't think about the reloads, they just happen you won't be distracted by them.

I started at 52, I am 3 seasons in and having a blast.

[GrumpyOne]

The 650 is too much machine for what you are planning to shoot (right now, anyway). A Square Deal would be ideal, and a 550 would be a great second choice. The SDB is a progressive, cheaper than the 650, works great...but uses proprietary dies, so you have to use Dillon dies...Powder Valley for primers and powder, range brass, and either Montana Gold or Precision Delta for bullets...

As for stage breakdown, watch and ask the better shooters of the match you are attending.

As for loads...do a search here...there are several thousand favorite loads of shooters...mine is 3.8 of VV N320 @1.150 with a PD 147 RN. But, each gun is different, and the OAL needs to fit the mag and the gun, so there can be a lot of difference between loads.

[Hi-Power Jack]

1. I want to shoot 250 rounds twice a week.

2. I'm thinking of buying a Dillon 650XL.

3. Does anyone have a load they could recommend for shooting production USPSA?

1. If that's 500 rounds/week - you can load that in two hours on a SqDeal or in less than one hour on a 650

but, as Grumpy mentioned, the 650 is a LOT more money than the SqDeal ($c500 for everything).

2. Lots of loads in the reloading section - check them out - you'll need to experiment and see if you prefer

the 124 gr or the 147 gr bullets, and then which powder you can find on the shelves.

[trgt]

Once folks are all-in, seems like they reload or have a good source to buy reloads from. If you are not quite there, and tired of Walmart, buying online isn't bad. Between watching for when Cabela's has bulk pack (w/ dry boxes) on sale, watching local forums, and finding online ammo folks that load/reload, I found I could at least keep ample supply in hand; although was a little bit of a mind set shift to go from buying a boxes at a time to ammo orders in multiples of 1k. Also check your local USPSA website and look at any events where you've had sponsors, often an ammo provider will sponsor something and that might be a great local source, especially to shoot 124 or 147 instead of 115gr 9mm.

Edited October 20, 2013 by trgt

[chuck s]

Get the 650 and cry only once, better yet get the 1050. I have never heard of anyone wishing they had gotten a cheaper dillon.

[Noah my boy]

Get the 650 and cry only once, better yet get the 1050. I have never heard of anyone wishing they had gotten a cheaper dillon.

Heck ya that's the truth. Never to much machine.

[StanN]

Get the 650 and cry only once, better yet get the 1050. I have never heard of anyone wishing they had gotten a cheaper dillon.

What he said.

Get the 650, otherwise, one of these days, you'll have a SDB sitting in the corner collecting dust while your using the crap out of your new 650!

[Hi-Power Jack]

I've been loading on my SqD for almost 20 years

[biscuit]

Hey congrats on getting off your butt and moving I too got moving and going lost pds dude if nothing else shooting gave me back some years. I'm not far from where you are in your progress I picked up my first pistol June 2011 and shot my first match that month. Like you store bought ammo cost was high and money was an issue at the time so I bought the Dillion Sq deal. Great machine no issues, I wish I had had the money for the 650 but hey you have to start some where. Also search loads on the site for your gun. Ditto on Powder Valley.

Books get Seeklanders book he is big on getting in shape, drills and mental game, also Bens book is great very practical info makes it simple, both go together well.

When you can get some training I have had Ben Stoegers training class great class, my time improved dramatically as I picked up points on targets ( about 3 sec a stage) and going through the stages faster (2 to 3 seconds faster) about 6 seconds a stage on IDPA and at a major match that's a bunch. I'm saving money and looking to get some individual training this December it will help with your weaknesses.

Also go shoot a Sectional or State match try to squad with guys you know or get in a Squad with same Division guys, its kind of humbling to go to a big match and see how good most of the shooters are there and the learning curve is big at those matches. Plus you get to make some good friends at those matches as this is a small world where you get to see those same guys over and over at matches.

[BSeevers]

I loaded 57,000 my first year with a SDB.

I did buy one of the very first 650's since I knew it would make ammo fast

I would start to reload asap as not only is it cheaper, the ammo is better, better componants, close to PF etc. You can probably load an exact copy of your Walmart load but most Production seem to like 147 gr with a fast powder. I would consider coated lead to same even more.

Get someone to show you how to load and start picking up your brass and buying components now

[Will Abrahams]

Get the 650 and cry only once, better yet get the 1050. I have never heard of anyone wishing they had gotten a cheaper dillon.

YES!

I started with a 550, used it for 2 seasons then bought a 1050. Wish I would have just started with the 1050 in the first place. I would rather spend less time reloading and more time shooting, dry fire, time with family, etc...

That being said, if you have a lot of time on your hands 1050 might be overkill.

Can't go wrong with any of the dillons, just depends on how much time you have/want to spend in front of the machine.

[BBQDawg]

I just started shooting IPSC about 3 months ago at age 60 and love it. I bought the Dillon 550b and go through about 500 rounds a week also, sometimes more. I am going to get an additional Dillon as soon as I can and seriously considering a 1050 though it seems to cost a heck of a lot more than the 650. I shoot single stack .45acp and want a dedicated machine that turns out more loads a lot faster so I don't have to spend as much time reloading. The 550b is a great machine and I intend to keep it because it is pretty easy to switch out to load my 9mm and .38 special. Also have the dies to do .223 for AR. It's the .45's I shoot practicing that take up so much of my time.

[Just4FunLP]

Hey guys. Sorry it took me so long to get back. I've been reading every word of your posts and really appreciate you taking your time to help me out. On the reloading for my 9mm xdm5.25 I'm going with the 650xl and I placed an order for 1000 147gr fp from bayoubullets.. Donnie seems like he will be helpful as I get started. My reloading manual recommends Power Pistol for these loads so I put my name on the Midway notification list and am waiting for it to become available But I don't know how how long the wait will be. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I want to order my machine ASAP, but I don't want it to arrive before I have a good supply built up..

If anyone has experience loading these 9mm 147gr Bayou Bullets for an xdm 5.25 i would appreciate any pointers. They will be the first bullets I ever reloaded. Some photos would be great.

We have our monthly local Match tomorrow and it looks like it's going to be beautiful her in tallahassee.

Last months Match was somewhat disappointing for me. My goal was to make no mistakes. I had a reloading problem in a place that was surrounded by Targets and I got flustered just missed one all together. I didn't see it. This killed that run. Also on the qualifier it was a simple marksmanship test at short range with strong And week hand shooting , And I ended up with one in a no shoot. This would have put me at about 5th out of twenty. I had made big improvements on my shooting, and my speed was very good. Unfortunately I had these two very disappointing errors. But on top of that I got a no shoot penalty on a course without any no shoots. The scorekeeper was a bit confused and had made some corrections and I guess it got worse when they tried to decipher the mess to post it online. And to make things even worse I got 63 (I think) penalty points for nothing that I'm aware of. I don't even know how a person can get 63 in one run.

Long story short I was 11/20 the month before, and even with my 2 legit ament brain farts I still would have move to 8. The bad scoring put me way back into 11th. If there had been no scoring errors and I didn't have the failure to engage and hit on the no shoot, i would have come in 5th or 6th. A couple of months in the top 5 would be a great accomplishment for me. But that's the way it goes. I really Injoy the matches. There,s no prizes so it's only for fun. Right????

I had taken the day off from work today, so I went to the gym for a light workout and headed out to the range. I got one of the big Bays and setup a small course with 7 targets and two barrel stacks. I ran through this for about an hour until I thought that I was wearing myself out for tomorrow. So for the first time I'm out hear on the big bay with paper targets scattered everywhere. I recalled reading Ben Stoeger and Brian Enos shooting at 50 and 100 yds, and thought I would give it a try for fun. Just to see if i could hit anything. Low and behold, it wasn't too bad. In fact I shot these 25 and 50yd targets for quite a while and I think that there is at least some good confidence building. I'm going to have to do this more often. Setting up short, but realistic stages is a lot of fun. I shot up 350 rounds. I hope I don't feel too sore in the morning.

Again, this month I want to just get through the course clean. With no penalties. I think my accuracy and speed are good enough to give me the performance I want, but I just can't have anymore STUPID mistakes. I can do this. The problem is between my ears...

At 8am I'm going to ask The Lord for a little help. It's just a expensive hobby, but what the heck, he might just understand...

When I joined this website I decided to use a low key name like Just4FunLP. It's still just for fun. ....I think...... .

I hope you get all A's tomorrow.

Edited November 2, 2013 by Just4FunLP

[Hi-Power Jack]

I placed an order for 1000 147gr fp bayoubullets.. . They will be the first bullets I ever reloaded.

I got 63 (I think) penalty points for nothing that I'm aware of.

I shot 25 and 50yd targets I think that there is good confidence building. I'm going to have to do this more often. Setting up short, but realistic stages is a lot of fun. I shot up 350 rounds.

Since you got a 650, I'd plan on buying a LOT more than 1,000 bullets at a time - they're cheaper - try Manny Bragg and order 6 cases of MG bullets and you'll get a big discount - you'll need them if you shoot up 350 rounds per practice session and they don't get cheaper or go bad.

You should read the rules of USPSA, and work with the score keeper after you finish shooting - make sure you fully understand what you've done and make sure (s)he has scored you correctly.

Long distance shooting is great - and shooting stages is super also - do you have a timer?

Since you've never reloaded before, get a Chrono, and work up your loads slowly and carefully - don't load too many up at first - load a few and test them - make sure they function in your mag/gun, they're accurate and have the proper PF that you need for USPSA.

Sounds like you're about to start a real adventure - good luck and welcome to the journey.

[GuildSF4]

When you are reloading the most important safety advice is attention to detail. Also see if you can get a buddy who reloads to show you the ropes and help you set up your new machine. As Hi-Power Jack says start low and work up.

[Croomrider]

My reloading manual recommends Power Pistol for these loads so I put my name on the Midway notification list and am waiting for it to become available

I would forget the Power-Pistol. Look in the reloading section and you will find better powders recommended for the type of shooting we do.

Mike