Prior Planning Prevents P. P. P.

[robport]

First mistake: When getting ready for a match this past weekend, I decided to chrono some rounds (just in case), the night before leaving for the match.

I should have done it with plenty of time and left them alone.

Second mistake: I assumed that Titegroup was stable across lots and hadn't chronoed, after opening a new bottle of it.

Three of ten rounds were low. With the same recipe, they were 10 PF lower.

Third mistake: Have plenty of the bullets, of the kind you are used to, for reloading. I usually order 500 to 1000 at a time. I use Precision 155's and they couldn't fill my order for a month. They kindly sent me enough 170's to hold me over for free, but I had some 165 Blue bullets, so I loaded them in a hurry. Same powder, now very stable power factor 20 above minimum.

Fourth mistake: I gauged checked the new bullets, but didn't chamber check them. Turns out I needed to make them another .010 shorter. The ogives looked the same, but weren't.

Fifth mistake: I haven't practiced clearing malfunctions enough. Each took about 10 seconds.

The result: Three major gun jams on two different stages and probably at least 5 failures to go into battery (I lost count) during reloads. It got so bad, I asked the match director for permission to switch guns. My backup gun is a different caliber and I had commercial ammo for that.

I didn't place well...still had fun though...lol.

...and on the bright side...I didn't get run over by a rhinoceros, hit by a tornado, or carried away by aliens on any stage!

Let me preempt those that will list playing in IDPA as one of the mistakes. Same thing would have happened in either sport.

[HoMiE]

Looks like you got squadded with good ol' Mr. Murphy.

[mike l m]

I THINK WE ALL HAVE BEEN THERE DONE THAT.

JUST SUCK IT UP AND FIX IT AND GO ON DOWN THE ROAD. IMVHO.

OF COURSE THERE ARE THOSE POEPLE THAT SAY I CHECK EVERYTHING EVERYTIME. BS!

[RAP]

I had a similar experience when I shot my very first USPSA match. I was shooting my M&P 45 in limited 10. A very reliable pistol up until now. Before the match I ordered 3 additional magazines (I only had 2 and needed 5) the Sunday before I left town. (I travel for business nearly every week) My wife called to tell me they came in. I thought great! Thats as far as my thought went. When I got back home that Friday I gathered everything I thought I would need; ammo, magazines, etc to get ready for the match. Along story short: My first stage I had 3 malfunctions due to the 3 new magazines that I had bought. The next 2 stages I had similar experiences. Finally the last 2 stages the new magazines started working just fine. Moral of this story for me is. Don't shoot a match with unproven equipment. I should've had my son or my wife load and unload the new magazines a few times to help break them in before the match! Oh well stuff happens. Most important, I still had fun. Intact I fell in love with the sport that day.