Competitive Handgun Shooting

[HighLander51]

Maybe Rob Leatham's explanation will help

http://robleatham.com/blog/?p=187

In the game of practical shooting, if you are too slow it will not matter how accurate you are

[Voo]

More importantly, why haven't you been shooting USPSA in the last 2 years?

hehe.. I've been out of the country for the last year..

I can only live vicariously through youtube and calguns.. they dont' allow the civilian population to own guns where I'm at..

[Gary13]

I shot my first actual match yesterday and had a great time. It was a bit frustrating when I made mistakes. I did not score as well as you...by far, but still had fun. It's weird how I get a bunch of targets with hits in the A zone, then entirely miss other targets. I guess the answer is, more practice.

By the way, I was shooting my SP01 with the first shot DA, and really did not see any issues. The first shots on most stages were within a short distance so they were usually in the A zone. As mentioned, I would stick with what you have for now.

[choprzrul]

I shot my first actual match yesterday and had a great time. It was a bit frustrating when I made mistakes. I did not score as well as you...by far, but still had fun. It's weird how I get a bunch of targets with hits in the A zone, then entirely miss other targets. I guess the answer is, more practice.

By the way, I was shooting my SP01 with the first shot DA, and really did not see any issues. The first shots on most stages were within a short distance so they were usually in the A zone. As mentioned, I would stick with what you have for now.

It's a riot, isn't it? I keep wondering why I waited so long to start???

.

[Gary13]

It's a riot, isn't it? I keep wondering why I waited so long to start???

.

Sure is. Why wait? Money, time. Shooting paper at a range is not near as much fun, but I can go for a hour at a time, after work, any time of year since I have a indoor range in the same town as I live. I will be trying to go to matches more often, and the range less so, but overall my cost of shooting has gone up. Between the cost of running the match twice, and the ammo, I spent just less than $100. Worth it, heck yes. When I can, I will start reloading, but that eats up time I don't have much of.

[JaeOne3345]

It doesn't take much time to reload. I spend 30-35 minutes tops each Friday night loading and checking 200 rounds for Saturday morning's IPSC/USPSA run and gun in Norco.

[HighLander51]

JaeOne3345, your brother Brian1979 wants to know if you got a new gun.... He says if I buy you one I have to buy him one also. And you know how he can keep that stuff up for weeks. He is already freaking out because he found rust on his 1911 grip screws from forgetting to wax the holster.

[Gary13]

It doesn't take much time to reload. I spend 30-35 minutes tops each Friday night loading and checking 200 rounds for Saturday morning's IPSC/USPSA run and gun in Norco.

When I start to reload, it most likely will not be a progressive to start, so more like 2-3 hours to set up(will be put away after each use since I will not be able to have a dedicated spot for reloading), reload 2-300 rounds, then put away. That does not include the time to sort and clean brass, purchase supplies, etc. It will happen, just not now. In the meantime, I like the ease and reliability of factory loads. I saw several people last weekend have ammo issues with loads they made themselves, so when I do this, I want to take my time and learn how to do it correct.

[HighLander51]

I saw several people last weekend have ammo issues with loads they made themselves,

That happens for 2 reasons.

Some competitors are always messing with new loads, especially Open Guns, and that's why you check them out at a club level match to match sure they run for the big important matches. They may be trying to get a Steel Challenge load worked up, for example, which is different than a USPSA load.


Newbies cooking their own loads and don't case gage and chamber check every round in the gun they are running. Eventually they figure it out.

When you change any single thing on a reload, everything changes.

[JaeOne3345]

JaeOne3345, your brother Brian1979 wants to know if you got a new gun.... He says if I buy you one I have to buy him one also. And you know how he can keep that stuff up for weeks. He is already freaking out because he found rust on his 1911 grip screws from forgetting to wax the holster.

Dad, tell Brian to bring his 1911 out on Saturday. I shall be there with my new wife. She's from Texas and hard chromed.

[JaeOne3345]

When I start to reload, it most likely will not be a progressive to start, so more like 2-3 hours to set up(will be put away after each use since I will not be able to have a dedicated spot for reloading), reload 2-300 rounds, then put away. That does not include the time to sort and clean brass, purchase supplies, etc. It will happen, just not now. In the meantime, I like the ease and reliability of factory loads. I saw several people last weekend have ammo issues with loads they made themselves, so when I do this, I want to take my time and learn how to do it correct.

If they had issues with their own loads, they screwed up along the way and didn't check something.

I would get a progressive to start. Just run it like a single stage if you want to. I started on a progressive. As long as you use common sense and you understand what each stage is doing and why, you will have no issues.

Have fun shooting!

[9mmepiphany]

Newbies cooking their own loads and don't case gage and chamber check every round in the gun they are running. Eventually they figure it out.

That is something that you learn to do when you want to complete a match. It looked odd when I first saw it, but it made a lot of sense once it was explained how many things could actually go askew