First Official Match, First DQ

[tacomandood]

So last Sunday I had my first DQ... on the second stage... at my first USPSA match.

I’d shot a couple action pistol matches that were just treated like whatever before, so my first USPSA match didn’t feel that daunting to me. Unfortunately, I made a stupid mistake that I know I’m never going to do again lol.

 

It was on a classifier that had you start facing uprange, and you had turn, draw, and engage the targets. The Roscoe Rattle, if some of you are wondering the name or are familiar.

 

I was the second shooter in the second stage. Anyway, after the RO gave me the “make ready” command, I did a few practice draws and took my time getting a good sight picture. After feeling like I was wasting everyone’s time, and being a new shooter to the club, I got anxious and moved to my start position quickly facing uprange.. Without even thinking, I put my left hand on my first mag, and right hand on my gun. The RO just kinda stared at me, and waited..

 

The second I drew out of the holster he yelled “STOP, DQ”. It took me a second to realize before I looked down and said “DQ?.. Oh, yeah...” and then holstered my gun and slowly walked back to the bench. The best part was that this was a 2-Classifier-Stage match that our club does twice a year, and I was hoping it would help me get my initial classification sooner.

 

Either way, I was pretty embarrassed at first, and just sat there on the bench while the next couple of shooters went. Then, after a few minutes of thinking about what went through my mind, I promised myself I’d never do something so stupid again to get myself DQ’d.

 

I’d figured I could either leave early, drive 45 minutes home, and pout the whole way back about my mistake... Or I could hang out, watch how some of these other A&B Class guys shoot the stages, and help with pasting targets or running PractiScore on the tablet. I ended up being the main PractiScore guy for every shooter, that way nobody else had to worry about handing it off to try and load mags or get ready to shoot or whatever. By the last few stages, I was over being DQ’d and generally enjoyed just hanging out with everyone. Some of those guys were telling me stories about their first DQs being at State and Section matches, and it definitely made me feel better about doing it at just a local one.

 

I ended up sticking around to help clean up, and then won the end of match raffle for a $50 gift card to a local gun shop! So I at least got my money back for registering for the match, which softens the blow about the whole DQ thing. I even stopped by Dairy Queen afterward and got myself a milkshake to celebrate!

 

Overall, it ended up being a pretty humbling experience, especially for my first match. The good thing is, I think the way I took the DQ has allowed me to be even more motivated to do well at the next match coming up. I know I’ll never make that mistake again, and I’m excited to have another chance at it next weekend.

 

 

[Nathanb]

Did he start you with your hand on your gun and hand on magazines? 

if so he never should have started yoh as you were not in the correct stsrt position. not that it alleviates the blame for drawing a gun while facing uprange. 

 

im also curious if he knew you wwre a new shooter at your very first match. 

[RJH]

 

2 hours ago, Nathanb said:

Did he start you with your hand on your gun and hand on magazines? 

if so he never should have started yoh as you were not in the correct stsrt position. not that it alleviates the blame for drawing a gun while facing uprange. 

 

im also curious if he knew you wwre a new shooter at your very first match. 

 

That is what i am wondering too?  Did you draw facing up range or what?  If the RO started you with your hand on the gun, he don't what he is doing, it would not however trump unsafe gun handling if you did in fact draw while facing up range.  We need more info

[Hi-Power Jack]

6 hours ago, tacomandood said:

 

 the RO gave me the “make ready” command

I moved to my start position facing uprange.. 

 

The second I drew out of the holster he yelled “STOP, DQ”.  

 

 

 

He wasn't obligated to tell you to  "turn downrange and make ready",  but I would think

that he should have done that, especially since you were a newbie.

 

But, I LOVE the way you handled the situation - real Class.     

[tacomandood]

No, it was a loaded start, and since I was in a hurry I’d attempted to load my gun while I was facing uprange. I’m not sure he knew it was my first one since I’d been there for a few action pistol matches before, as I mentioned. And yeah, it wasn’t his responsibility to tell me, I just completely missed such a simple rule lol.

[stick]

You handled it with class.  You now know what you need to do in dry fire.  Don't dwell on the negatives.  Learn from your mistakes and move forward.

[EEH]

Saw the same thing about a year ago..New shooter up range start, he went to start position RO, make ready, he drew gun to load, stop stop.. His answer was - You said make ready- nothing about turn around, I told you earlier this was my first match. Then RO said turn around make ready. Let him shoot the match was as good at safety as anyone that day. He still shoots.

[RJH]

5 minutes ago, EEH said:

Saw the same thing about a year ago..New shooter up range start, he went to start position RO, make ready, he drew gun to load, stop stop.. His answer was - You said make ready- nothing about turn around, I told you earlier this was my first match. Then RO said turn around make ready. Let him shoot the match was as good at safety as anyone that day. He still shoots.

 

That RO was a lot more forgiving than i am.  I don't see how it would be the RO's fault for someone showing up at a match full on ignorant.  Am I the only guy in the world that read the rule book before going to my first match? 

[GrumpyOne]

2 minutes ago, RJH said:

 

That RO was a lot more forgiving than i am.  I don't see how it would be the RO's fault for someone showing up at a match full on ignorant.  Am I the only guy in the world that read the rule book before going to my first match? 

Most new shooters read the rule book before their first match (I would hope, anyway), but being new, they (the rules) are not burnt into their minds like with a seasoned shooter. Even seasoned shooters have brain farts now and again. 

[RJH]

2 minutes ago, GrumpyOne said:

Most new shooters read the rule book before their first match

I HAVE NOT FOUND THAT TO BE THE CASE.  MANY NEW SHOOTERS, THAT I HAVE SEEN, SEEM TO SHOW UP COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF THE RULES TO THE POINT THAT THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO ASK.  I OBVIOUSLY DON'T EXPECT A FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE RULES FROM A NOOB, BUT READING AND HAVING A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF

THE DQ SECTION SEEMS REASONABLE

 

 Even seasoned shooters have brain farts now and again. 

BEEN THERE , DONE THAT, PAID THE PRICE

 

PS, wasn't yelling, the caps was just for differentiation

[EEH]

25 minutes ago, RJH said:

 

That RO was a lot more forgiving than i am.  I don't see how it would be the RO's fault for someone showing up at a match full on ignorant.  Am I the only guy in the world that read the rule book before going to my first match? 

 

Some don’t even  know there is a rule book.

[Solvability]

You will run into RO's that will let you pop a squib and not warn you resulting in a KB - this is offensive to me.

 

You will run into an RO that will think they are helping you long term by letting you have a disaster. 

 

Read the rules and learn them - own the mistakes and move forward. You will develop a sense of squads that are more or less compatible - some squads are better for new shooters and will help you move forward - avoid the arrogant.

 

 

 

[Sarge]

40 minutes ago, Solvability said:

You will run into RO's that will let you pop a squib and not warn you resulting in a KB - this is offensive to me.

 

You will run into an RO that will think they are helping you long term by letting you have a disaster. 

 

Read the rules and learn them - own the mistakes and move forward. You will develop a sense of squads that are more or less compatible - some squads are better for new shooters and will help you move forward - avoid the arrogant.

 

 

 

Arrogant? Are you saying a squad of shooters who are there to shoot more than spoon feed info all day to a new shooter are arrogant? I don’t agree with that analogy. Whenever I shoot a match I try to help newbs IF I’M ASKED. But I find it VERY  distracting to get saddled with a person totally ignorant of the rules for an entire match. BUT, if I know a guy is literally shooting his first match or two I would remind him to face down range to make ready on an uprange start. BUT if I don’t know he is new, and knowing many shooters like to do a few turns before loading up, I’ll just give make ready and he will be on his own.

 My first match I had an uprange start. I asked the RO if I had to face down range to load. He said, “only if you want to shoot the rest of the match”.

[Eureka1911]

As has been said many times, there are only 2 kinds of shooters, those that have been DQ'd and those that will. I went 32 matches, over 180 stages before my first, which was yesterday. 2nd shooter, first stage. Shooting though holes in walls and narrowly slits. Zipping right along, moving backwards and to my left (right handed shooter), and I broke 180 bigly during a reload! So there's something I'll think about long and hard. Better still I drove 3 hours and spent money on a hotel. Let's just say it was a long ride home!

Edited October 14, 2018 by Eureka1911

[tacomandood]

Yeah I definitely read the rulebook before my first match, and did a little USPSA introductory reading and “test”. Like I said, I just got ahead of myself because I felt hurried for taking so long to make ready, so when I turned back around to the start position I was trying to get my gun loaded as quick as possible.

A pretty big brain fart, especially having been on several ranges and knowing that you shouldn’t draw facing uprange. I think it’s because I’m so used to just going out and shooting on my own in the desert that I don’t normally think about that when I’m loading a mag. It’s already something I’ve implemented into my practice too.

[EEH]

On the other hand,I was running a GM at major match in single stack , went to reload finger on trigger before I could stop him,boom over the berm.

He just turned to me said that didn’t take long. He new the rules,,,

Edited October 14, 2018 by EEH

[Eureka1911]

It is flat wrong to think only new guys who don't know the rules get DQ'd.

A couple of matches ago I was sitting comfortably in the shade while the next shooter got ready. I heard the "Make Ready" command and then saw people scattering in front of me. I looked up and saw the muzzle of the M Class shooter staring me in the face on the ground where he had dropped it while re-holstering.

[stick]

I talked with seasoned shooter today who was DQ'd yesterday at a level 2 IDPA match.  He didn't do anything safety related.  He shot the stage, unloaded and showed clear.  The stage required the shooter to wear a backpack during the stage.  While taking off the backpack, it caught his gun and dislodged it from his holster causing the unloaded gun to fall to the ground.  He made a trip to Dairy Queen.

[IHAVEGAS]

14 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

He wasn't obligated to tell you to  "turn downrange and make ready",  but I would thinkthat he should have done that, especially since you were a newbie.

 

A lot of us start facing uprange and get in one last practice turn and draw and simulated reload. 

[RJH]

14 minutes ago, stick said:

I talked with seasoned shooter today who was DQ'd yesterday at a level 2 IDPA match.  He didn't do anything safety related.  He shot the stage, unloaded and showed clear.  The stage required the shooter to wear a backpack during the stage.  While taking off the backpack, it caught his gun and dislodged it from his holster causing the unloaded gun to fall to the ground.  He made a trip to Dairy Queen.

 

Too bad he wasn't shooting USPSA, he wouldn't have gotten DQed

[teros135]

1 hour ago, RJH said:

 

Too bad he wasn't shooting USPSA, he wouldn't have gotten DQed

 

...if he dropped the gun after "Range is clear", of course ...

[RJH]

32 minutes ago, teros135 said:

 

...if he dropped the gun after "Range is clear", of course ...

 

True, i was jumping the gun a little and assumed that there would have been a "range is clear" command after the ULASC

[Gary Stevens]

8 hours ago, Eureka1911 said:

As has been said many times, there are only 2 kinds of shooters, those that have been DQ'd and those that will. I went 32 matches, over 180 stages before my first, which was yesterday. 2nd shooter, first stage. Shooting though holes in walls and narrowly slits. Zipping right along, moving backwards and to my left (right handed shooter), and I broke 180 bigly during a reload! So there's something I'll think about long and hard. Better still I drove 3 hours and spent money on a hotel. Let's just say it was a long ride home!

 

BS.

[blacklab]

23 hours ago, tacomandood said:

It took me a second to realize before I looked down and said “DQ?.. Oh, yeah...” and then holstered my gun and slowly walked back to the bench.

It happens, I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. I almost did the same thing last time I shot. It was the last stage of a long day and it was hot and I was ready to go home. Same as yours it was an up range start and I was facing up range when I grabbed a mag, looked up and the RO was giving me the "Evil look". So I tucked my tail between my legs and turned around to load. At the end of the stage the RO said "That was close, better pay attention next time." Like Grumpy One said, everyone has a brain fart now and then.

[Eureka1911]

2 hours ago, Gary Stevens said:

 

BS.

 Huh?