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Intro to USPSA class


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1 hour ago, Racinready300ex said:

 

That's great, you're well on the way. You should come up with a class outline which you kind of have, just add some detail. Figure approximate costs for the class. Are you thinking at the range day of the match have the new shooters show up a 7AM for a 10AM start? Or a separate day, maybe once a month? Similar to how clubs need to hold a minimum number of matches a year should there be a minimum number of classes? Will there be activity fee's for the class? Try to address every possible concern. 

 

Once you have all your thoughts together approach the BOD with your proposal. I'd still consider running it locally for your club. This could help you work out the kinks, and help you to show them just how easy it would be for clubs to implement. 

 

Thank you for the constructive criticism.  That's the kind of dialog we need.

 

Some of your suggestions I've already thought of, some not.  I'm a pretty new Range Officer.

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My club runs its own practical shooting starter courses that are required for first-timers. However, we are a big club - not all clubs have those kinds of resources. Instead, this is exactly the kind of thing USPSA should be offering as an online course. Run it in a similar format to those compliance courses corporate America forces us to complete annually... information, video story and then a test to make sure the viewer has been listening. If they can enforce this kind of requirement for ROs, they can sure do it for new shooters.

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5 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

 

The guy who swept me didn't know what he didn't know. 

 

IDPA and IPSC classified shooters would be exempt because they already know the basic safety expectations of the sport.

 

The amount of effort needed to put this on is hardly "a lot of extra headache and volunteer hours".  I'm not even going to ask why you think this would be such an imposition.  I honestly am not in the mood to care about opposition when I had to stare at the muzzle of a pistol on Saturday.

 

Did this new shooter have access to the internet, so he could look at the rule book? If he did, blatant lack of basic firearms safety is wholly on him. I’d consider that a good riddance; I’ve chewed more than one guy out for doing dumb sh!t at public ranges when there wasn’t a match going on. 

 

 

I can’t speak for anyone else’s clubs except for the ones I shoot at, but in short, guys are already stretched pretty thin. Typically it’s the same 3-5 guys showing up the day before a match to build stages, run squads, and tear down the match. Adding teaching a safety class for new shooters to have the rule book read to them would be more volunteer hours and headache than these guys already do. On top of all that, a lot of guys that shoot our matches are military or are in the energy industry and may not have “x” weekend available to take a class

 

I just don’t see the merit in mandating a class by USPSA when everything a newb needs to know is already in the rule book. If anything (and it may already be on the website), USPSA should have a “read this before your first match” PowerPoint that is easy to find; I get that half the crap in the rules does NOT apply to shooter safety. 

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7 hours ago, HCH said:

 

Did this new shooter have access to the internet, so he could look at the rule book? If he did, blatant lack of basic firearms safety is wholly on him. I’d consider that a good riddance; I’ve chewed more than one guy out for doing dumb sh!t at public ranges when there wasn’t a match going on. 

 

 

I can’t speak for anyone else’s clubs except for the ones I shoot at, but in short, guys are already stretched pretty thin. Typically it’s the same 3-5 guys showing up the day before a match to build stages, run squads, and tear down the match. Adding teaching a safety class for new shooters to have the rule book read to them would be more volunteer hours and headache than these guys already do. On top of all that, a lot of guys that shoot our matches are military or are in the energy industry and may not have “x” weekend available to take a class

 

I just don’t see the merit in mandating a class by USPSA when everything a newb needs to know is already in the rule book. If anything (and it may already be on the website), USPSA should have a “read this before your first match” PowerPoint that is easy to find; I get that half the crap in the rules does NOT apply to shooter safety. 

 

Like I said, not interested in reasons why it can't be done

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6 hours ago, rustychev said:

We run one intro class per year and this is our outline.  We set it up so a new shooter can get thru in 50 rounds. and about 2 -3 hours

USPSA FUNDAMENTALS CURICULUM (1).pdf 29.95 kB · 4 downloads

 

Thank you.  That's a slightly different focus than what I have in mind but still very helpful

Edited by SGT_Schultz
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I get your passion, staring down a barrel is not fun, but I honestly don't think anything could have changed what you experienced. Even with a required class, a new guy could come to a match to register same day, not having a class taken, and still do the same thing.

 

This is one reason I no longer shoot at a local indoor range. It's a static range and they require a new shooter orientation before being allowed on the range and there is still all kinds of craziness on the range.

 

What I would suggest is a basic online course going over gun handling, what to except at your first match, etc. USPSA could still do this with none members by giving them a tentative member number after completing the online course, like T0000001. This would be required to shoot a match and should you choose to join later they would just drop the T.

 

No class is going to stop everything bad, but I'd agree that some basic education is needed beforehand. My local club does an action shooter orientation to use the pistol bays at the club. They set up a short course trying to get people to be more familiar with gun handling as well as a 180 trap to make sure the shooters know and are aware of it.

 

Best of luck creating a course, make sure to keep us all updated as to the progress.

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A couple of our local clubs have tried the intro to USPSA  Class. Never been required to shoot at their matches. A couple of people showed up. Not enough to keep them going. Most have the new shooters basic safety orientation.

 

Here is how I was brought into the sport and this happens every weekend at all matches'

 

One of my buddies from our local range tells me about how fun USPSA is and there is a match Saturday. Bring your basic gear and come out and shoot with us. Tells me a little about what I need and how it works.You will have a great time.

 

I show up Saturday. When asked if who is new, I and several others raise our hands. Now, do you as the MD ask them if they have had the mandatory USPSA official new shooters class that was held last month, online, or once a year? We say no and you tell the 3 or 4 new shooters and potential club members that sorry you can't shoot today and must attend the next class, get certified, and send them packing or do you call them aside and have a group basic safety orientation and range commands to get them started on their first match? 

 

My guess is if you want to grow your club you do the safety orientation & make sure they are in a squad with good people to help them have fun, enjoy the match, & be safe. Then they will come back.

 

I am sorry you got swept, but that is an on going problem at almost every public & private range, indoor & out with the influx of new gun owners and most of them never having any basic safety training after buying their first weapon.

 

Good luck, hope you can figure out a way to make this happen and keep us all safer.

 

gerritm

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the key is stopping mistakes/infractions before they can happen.  again, have a box in practiscore for new match shooters to check.  email them and have them come an hour early to the match, and leave all their stuff in the car.  designate a RO to go over cooper's rules, 180, finger outside triggerguard, safe table, RO instructions, etc.  identify them as new and put them on a good squad with designated mentors.

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Davsco has the right idea.  Practiscore and other advertisements should tell new shooters to leave their stuff in the car until after they check in.  When you get a new shooter ask an experienced shooter to accompany them while getting ready.  My experience is that usually they're at the match at the invitation of a friend who could serve the role.  Most clubs around here have a new shooter's meeting.  After that we tell the ROs/SOs if there are new shooters on the squad and they are monitored appropriately.  I guess HQ could publish a YouTube video, but it only counts if shooter has seen it.  This is an issue that will need to be handled locally.

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I previously mentioned that my club has such a course. Its $40 and was held monthly (usually) until coronavirus happened. We cover

  1. What is action shooting
  2. Four basic safety rules
  3. Cold ranges
  4. STOP!
  5. Unsafe gun handling with USPSA focus but applies to all/most action shooting)
  6. Specific 180 examples and dialog
  7. Video examples of safe and unsafe handling
  8. Safe areas covering both allowed and disallowed activities
  9. USPSA divisions (names, equipment, round counts)
  10. USPSA equipment placement
  11. USPSA scoring methods, targets types, major/minor, perforations, steel (have some example targets to show hits)
  12. USPSA classification system
  13. USPSA WSBs and what to look for
  14. USPSA Walls and Ports
  15. USPSA fault lines (what is in, what is out)
  16. Everyone helps
  17. USPSA range commands and the COF

Then we go to the range and cover (dry fire first) the following and always using the complete set of range commands with timer and repeated multiple times until they get it right start to finish

  1. Basic draw, fire, holster
  2. Draw, fire, reload, fire, holster
  3. Draw, fire, lateral movement with reload, fire, holster (to both strong and weak sides to highlight the muzzle awareness required)
  4. Draw, fire, move uprange, go around a wall, move downrange reloading sometime during that movement, fire, holster. Do this from strong side to weak and weak side to strong to highlight muzzle awareness issues and options for muzzle control  when moving uprange (backpedal, sideways, trailing, over the shoulder)

In the end I can get 8-12 shooters through the entire process in 5-6 hours with a break and lunch, depending on how inquisitive they are. 

 

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4 hours ago, broadside72 said:

I previously mentioned that my club has such a course. Its $40 and was held monthly (usually) until coronavirus happened. We cover

  1. What is action shooting
  2. Four basic safety rules
  3. Cold ranges
  4. STOP!
  5. Unsafe gun handling with USPSA focus but applies to all/most action shooting)
  6. Specific 180 examples and dialog
  7. Video examples of safe and unsafe handling
  8. Safe areas covering both allowed and disallowed activities
  9. USPSA divisions (names, equipment, round counts)
  10. USPSA equipment placement
  11. USPSA scoring methods, targets types, major/minor, perforations, steel (have some example targets to show hits)
  12. USPSA classification system
  13. USPSA WSBs and what to look for
  14. USPSA Walls and Ports
  15. USPSA fault lines (what is in, what is out)
  16. Everyone helps
  17. USPSA range commands and the COF

Then we go to the range and cover (dry fire first) the following and always using the complete set of range commands with timer and repeated multiple times until they get it right start to finish

  1. Basic draw, fire, holster
  2. Draw, fire, reload, fire, holster
  3. Draw, fire, lateral movement with reload, fire, holster (to both strong and weak sides to highlight the muzzle awareness required)
  4. Draw, fire, move uprange, go around a wall, move downrange reloading sometime during that movement, fire, holster. Do this from strong side to weak and weak side to strong to highlight muzzle awareness issues and options for muzzle control  when moving uprange (backpedal, sideways, trailing, over the shoulder)

In the end I can get 8-12 shooters through the entire process in 5-6 hours with a break and lunch, depending on how inquisitive they are. 

 

 

Very nice.  I can take a lot from that.

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Having taught the BB course in Canada I would suggest starting with that as an outline. You don’t have to adopt it wholesale but you could parse out what you feel is relevant. 
A couple of suggestions. Since safety Is and should be the primary purpose,  whoever is going to teach should have some skills but understand it’s about safety not teaching them how to be future top competitors. They don’t have to be GM’s but they should be able to demonstrate any skill competently and be able to focus on teaching safe methods. Also the students should have to do some drills on the timer under reasonably tight time limits,  not to weed out less skilled but to put them under some kind of pressure similar to what they’ll experience at a match. I think we’ve all seen guys gun handling go south once they are under time pressure or something goes wrong. I don’t care how someone’s gun handling is when they are relaxed and happy, I want to see what’s going to happen when they are having a bad day and they just had a jam on the biggest stage of the match. Aside from that basic safety procedures regarding cold ranges, bagging and unbagging, where you can and cannot handle ammo or the gun, and the basic safety rules should be covered. Chapter 5 through 10 are the important ones to the new competitor.

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1 hour ago, SGT_Schultz said:

Practiscore will never, EVER, be a solution to this.

 

People new to the sport almost never know WTH Practiscore is until after they've found their way to the sport.

i disagree.  most new folks find their way to practiscore to sign up for a match.  and again it's easy enough to add a box during registration to select whether new or experienced shooter.  then it's on the MD to take it from there.  some of the local clubs do that here and it seems to be working just fine.  again, it's already being done.

 

and i've had buddies signing up for their first match, without a 'new shooter practiscore button' and the MD reached out to them because the MD wasn't familiar with them, to vet them and prepare them for the match.   practiscore, or i guess matchsignup, are the gateways and the only or at least the best way to catch shooters before they have a chance to load up at their car or muzzle you at the safe table.

 

guess you could also put a sign at the parking lot entrance - newbies, find the MD BEFORE taking anything out of your car...

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About 2-3 years ago, IPSC started a program called MISSIA … Master International Shooting Safety Instructors Association.  You can find information on it here:  https://www.ipsc.org/missia/

 

Their stated objective is:  MISSIA was created to establish a structure for the accreditation, recognition and maintenance of International Shooting Safety Instructors. It ensures that IPSC Instructors are the best trained, the best qualified and the best prepared to establish a uniform worldwide standard for training IPSC sports competitors.  [Emphasis added.]

 

If I remember correctly, Mike Foley (President USPSA) completed this course in Jamaica during the Pan American Championships back in July 2018.  You may want to see what he thinks of its content and format and how it might be adapted to resolving the noted issues of the subject at hand.

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3 hours ago, Schutzenmeister said:

About 2-3 years ago, IPSC started a program called MISSIA … Master International Shooting Safety Instructors Association.  You can find information on it here:  https://www.ipsc.org/missia/

 

Their stated objective is:  MISSIA was created to establish a structure for the accreditation, recognition and maintenance of International Shooting Safety Instructors. It ensures that IPSC Instructors are the best trained, the best qualified and the best prepared to establish a uniform worldwide standard for training IPSC sports competitors.  [Emphasis added.]

 

If I remember correctly, Mike Foley (President USPSA) completed this course in Jamaica during the Pan American Championships back in July 2018.  You may want to see what he thinks of its content and format and how it might be adapted to resolving the noted issues of the subject at hand.

 

Awesome.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.  So many resources.......

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11 hours ago, broadside72 said:

I previously mentioned that my club has such a course. Its $40 and was held monthly (usually) until coronavirus happened. We cover

  1. What is action shooting
  2. Four basic safety rules
  3. Cold ranges
  4. STOP!
  5. Unsafe gun handling with USPSA focus but applies to all/most action shooting)
  6. Specific 180 examples and dialog
  7. Video examples of safe and unsafe handling
  8. Safe areas covering both allowed and disallowed activities
  9. USPSA divisions (names, equipment, round counts)
  10. USPSA equipment placement
  11. USPSA scoring methods, targets types, major/minor, perforations, steel (have some example targets to show hits)
  12. USPSA classification system
  13. USPSA WSBs and what to look for
  14. USPSA Walls and Ports
  15. USPSA fault lines (what is in, what is out)
  16. Everyone helps
  17. USPSA range commands and the COF

Then we go to the range and cover (dry fire first) the following and always using the complete set of range commands with timer and repeated multiple times until they get it right start to finish

  1. Basic draw, fire, holster
  2. Draw, fire, reload, fire, holster
  3. Draw, fire, lateral movement with reload, fire, holster (to both strong and weak sides to highlight the muzzle awareness required)
  4. Draw, fire, move uprange, go around a wall, move downrange reloading sometime during that movement, fire, holster. Do this from strong side to weak and weak side to strong to highlight muzzle awareness issues and options for muzzle control  when moving uprange (backpedal, sideways, trailing, over the shoulder)

In the end I can get 8-12 shooters through the entire process in 5-6 hours with a break and lunch, depending on how inquisitive they are. 

 

Pretty much what we cover in the IPSC Australian course. No fee associated with IPSC but I have heard of some charging a fee. It's usually run by RO's but these days its mainly done as part of licence training course run by our clubs. Yes we need a licence and there are very few things we can do to get a licence and mostly it's competition shooting and luckily IPSC is one of those competitions allowed. 

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On 5/11/2020 at 9:47 PM, HCH said:

 

 

 

I just don’t see the merit in mandating a class by USPSA when everything a newb needs to know is already in the rule book. If anything (and it may already be on the website), USPSA should have a “read this before your first match” PowerPoint that is easy to find; I get that half the crap in the rules does NOT apply to shooter safety. 

 

That's actually a great idea, but it should be a video (modern times and all that) and have a short quiz at the end to make sure people were listening. 

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When I affiliated my club Uspsa sent me a new shooter DVD , curriculum, and "Practical Shooting safety check" cards  to give out. 

 

many clubs have some form of new shooter training. Some better than others. Some clubs are restricted in facilities that they would have issues complying with classes on off match days. Most clubs are low on volunteers to do such a thing.  Making this compulsary may have some damaging unintended consequences for clubs   who are unable to comply. 

 

It is a great idea. I used to teach such a class years ago, 2004-2007. It was 4 hours long and the students shot 100-150 rounda, sometimes more.  I loved doing it, but it is a difficult thing for me to do these days due to getting access to facilities. 

 

Edited by Ted Murphy
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One more thing to consider:

 

how many new shooters have we all seen show up to a match and NOT get DQ’d? I’ve been shooting USPSA for 15 years or so and can count on one hand the number of guys that have done something blatantly stupid and got sent home for it. 

 

On the flip side, there’s no telling how many I’ve seen come through and shoot a safe match. No classes, no formal training on safety; just the typical MD talk and help from the squad. I think those numbers speak for themselves. 

 

Sure, a class MIGHT have kept the dumb ones from getting sent home, but there are no guarantees. Or a class might keep the dumb ones from ever showing up at all... which is a win in itself.....

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There is a difference between a new shooter class (e.g. a new gun owner) and a new to comp shooting class. The former is for new owners that need to learn the function and safe handling. This sort of thing will help mitigate the experience of the OP where a guy at the registration table just pulls out a gun and sweeps everyone. The latter is for experienced shooters that want to understand the rules and processes in order to not DQ, know how scoring works, what the basic rules and USPSA concepts are rather than just jumping into the deep end and not knowing what is happening.

 

Apples and oranges. 

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The thing is, people believe themselves to be in the second group, and based on my experience teaching these types of classes, are more likely to be in the first group. The majority of gun owners are terrifyingly oblivious to proper gun handling.

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