Nathanb Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 5 hours ago, Bakerjd said: I did 8+ majors for 4 years straight. Every weekend not at a major I was at a local match or working. Always worrying about getting on PS quick enough to get into a match, then getting omna squad with cool people. Spent time practicing, loading ammo, repeat. This year I cut way back. The fun was 100% gone. I quit mid match at a few majors, and didn't even go to CO nats. This year in the beginning of the season everything about it just turned into a drag. Between all the BoD vs. Everyone drama, match drama at locals, ect... it was not fun. Decided to get back into an old hobbie I had of jeeping and rock crawling. Build a very capable rig and did that most the summer and fall. I'm going to go to a local indoor match next weekend and shoot. Just for fun. I ha e tried the just for fun part a few times this season and have a hard time not getting sucked into the gamer part. Hopefully this goes well. I'm taking my carry gun, and holster. A couple mags and that's it. I never practice my carry stuff so I'm gonna see if I can use uspsa as just a fun way to practice with it. You got burnt out. I had to take an enormous step back and stop the “Help” aspect of it. I’ll still RO or run pad etc but I will try to stay away from it. Now it’s back to being fun. funny enough I bought a side by side to plow the driveway and I find the play aspect of it to be the ultimate mental refresher. You need to focus and pay attention to what you’re doing where you are all of it. The two compliment each other really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JCN- Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) Timely thread. I started USPSA in 2019 and made paper GM in a couple divisions. I don’t have the fire to practice classifier stuff anymore and at almost 50 I know age isn’t on my side. So I’m finding fun and enjoyment in other shooting sports. Steel Challenge, PCSL, more long range rifle stuff. Has the advantage of some personnel crossover to see familiar faces but new skills on the sweet spot of the learning curve so I feel like I can make large gains without grinding effort. Edited December 10, 2023 by -JCN- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Mitch Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Good thread. When you’re not feeling it competitively, shoot something you like to shoot, or something easy like PCC. I usually shoot PCC if I’m not feeling it; PCC might be nearly dead, but it’s fun AF. I also really enjoy shooting single stack and never have a bad time shooting single stack. Keep it fun. Shoot other sports and other areas of interest. One thing that works great locally is a group of us invariably goes to BWWs after the match for beer and chicken. Sometimes it’s the main motivation for going to the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPENB Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 18 hours ago, Dr Mitch said: Good thread. When you’re not feeling it competitively, shoot something you like to shoot, or something easy like PCC. I usually shoot PCC if I’m not feeling it; PCC might be nearly dead, but it’s fun AF. I also really enjoy shooting single stack and never have a bad time shooting single stack. Keep it fun. Shoot other sports and other areas of interest. One thing that works great locally is a group of us invariably goes to BWWs after the match for beer and chicken. Sometimes it’s the main motivation for going to the match. This^. Different divisions are like a completely different sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygunner77 Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 I would not suggest to stop dry firing as it is a good exercise for gun handling. You can stop shooting matches, just not stop the dry fire as it can help you if you carry. The matches are a hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakerjd Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 On 12/10/2023 at 8:33 AM, Nathanb said: You got burnt out. I had to take an enormous step back and stop the “Help” aspect of it. I’ll still RO or run pad etc but I will try to stay away from it. Now it’s back to being fun. Funny you say this. One of the clubs I still belong to, mostly because the membership cycle hasn't lapsed has a small and quick indoor match in the winter. 4 stages with one being a speed shoot and three being around 25-40 shots but very little movement. It's more technical with mandatory reloads, tight shots, ect... and only about 1.5hrs long. No work except pasting required. Well the lady and I decided to go shoot it today. Mind you neither of us has done any USPSA style shooting since August of this year. And I've gotten rid of my fancy guns. Decided to use my A01LD that has a little trigger work. Shot it with no magwell in LO. What a fun way to shoot that gun. I ha e an extra wide safety on it so clicking it off was easy. My score.... about as expected against some pretty good M class guys. But all in it was nice. Not sure I'd be up for an all day 8 stage local but it's still something I enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borneoknives Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 On 11/15/2023 at 9:05 PM, JRM83 said: We've shot together a few times btw, hope you are doing well. Hey that's awesome! I hope you're doing well familiar stranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperman Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 A view from the other side. (I haven't read all of the replies, sorry if I'm duplicating anything.) In 2014 I came home from Area 6 with a long building case of burnout. A lot of things contributed to it. (USPSA politics. Cheating friends.) Mostly it was needing some time away from the range. I decided I was going to take a couple of weeks off. A couple of weeks turned into a couple of months, turned into almost 10 years and counting. When I finally focused on something else, it was clear I had other priorities. I had four very dear friends (one of which is my avatar) who had spent a decade with me. They were nearing the end of their lives and I wanted to spend more time with them. I also realized that I hadn't done much in the way of maintenance around the house and if I was ever going to put it on the market, I had a lot of work to do. I always said once I got caught up on things I would go back as one of the old farts who just hung out with friends and didn't care about the score. But that's not me. If I'm going to invest time in something I have to attempt to do my best. Even when I was deep into USPSA, there were way too many 8 hour days for 110 rounds. I shot one match a year later. I had been an advocate for production optics so I wanted to shoot a match in that division, but I mostly wanted to see if the spark was still there. It wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowdyb Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 I can tell you I have much more money and time. But I also haven't found something that works in the same way to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donno Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 19 hours ago, rowdyb said: I can tell you I have much more money and time. But I also haven't found something that works in the same way to replace it. Rowdy- Come on over to 3 gun! I went thru the same a few years back. IDPA last straw for me was 2015 Nattys when the infamous "circles of extended cover" were marked on the ground, but they weren't "fault lines". Needless to say pretty good cuss fights most of both days on that stage. I enjoyed USPSA to start with but that was about the time the drama started a few years ago. I let my membership expire in 2022 and will not renew it again. Enter 3 gun 2015 or 2016, the most fun I ever had shooting. Great group of people and very little to no drama. So, moral of this story? Happy as can be, but broke 3 times over. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowdyb Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 2 hours ago, donno said: Rowdy- Come on over to 3 gun! My neurological issue means shooting is now just a casual, non competitive thing for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoops Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 5 hours ago, rowdyb said: My neurological issue means shooting is now just a casual, non competitive thing for me. SCSA may be option? Only movement is 6ft on Outer Limits. No drama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltdmstr Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/28/2024 at 1:45 PM, rowdyb said: I can tell you I have much more money and time. But I also haven't found something that works in the same way to replace it. PRS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extremist Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 As a long time IDPA and USPSA competitor, range officer, I too have gotten close to burned out. Discouraged that I've never made Master in anything, but was competitive 10 years ago. Age has taken it's toll, not as fast and frequent brain farts, and watching all the young guns demolish you gets old. I've sometimes shot something other than CO/LO or PCC just so I could say "I won my division in old man gun division (CDP/SS)", but even that is not satisfying since in local matches it's all "who's overall", ignoring divisions. I've stopped working major matches but do try and shoot once a week with our club. I will keep plugging away at it until I can't pull the trigger or see my sights anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 10 minutes ago, extremist said: As a long time IDPA and USPSA competitor, range officer, I too have gotten close to burned out. Discouraged that I've never made Master in anything, but was competitive 10 years ago. Age has taken it's toll, not as fast and frequent brain farts, and watching all the young guns demolish you gets old. I've sometimes shot something other than CO/LO or PCC just so I could say "I won my division in old man gun division (CDP/SS)", but even that is not satisfying since in local matches it's all "who's overall", ignoring divisions. I've stopped working major matches but do try and shoot once a week with our club. I will keep plugging away at it until I can't pull the trigger or see my sights anymore. Well James, you are still quite competitive in our group regardless of your age!! Keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPENB Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 2 hours ago, extremist said: As a long time IDPA and USPSA competitor, range officer, I too have gotten close to burned out. Discouraged that I've never made Master in anything, but was competitive 10 years ago. Age has taken it's toll, not as fast and frequent brain farts, and watching all the young guns demolish you gets old. I've sometimes shot something other than CO/LO or PCC just so I could say "I won my division in old man gun division (CDP/SS)", but even that is not satisfying since in local matches it's all "who's overall", ignoring divisions. I've stopped working major matches but do try and shoot once a week with our club. I will keep plugging away at it until I can't pull the trigger or see my sights anymore. I started looking at it from "I'm 80% of the winner today, I'll take it". Kinda puts all the variables in perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Well at an older age against 30 shooters my last match, I won one stage out of a 7 stage match. see no one beats me, ok if you do beat me they’ll say so what he’s old . But if I do beat you they’ll say wow you let that old man beat You . I’ll keep on till I can’t keep ON. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgt40 Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Its' got to be about the fun first and competition second. When it feels like too much work it's time for a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schutzenmeister Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 About 30 years ago I used to run a club on base in Germany. In the monthly newsletter I'd always state: If we're not having fun, we're doing something wrong! Some things (should) never change ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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