Nice! I haven't done a competitive shoot in probably 6yrs now(trade off for working only weekends).
I have a stack of IPSC cardboard and ar500's that I'm going to use to set up a pistol/rifle stage at my place this week and have a timer. I'm sure I'll be rusty as hell, but at least my handgun proficiency is back. It's going to be fun as some of the people coming haven't done timed stuff before.
I'm dragging most of my milsurps out for this as well, so it'll be amusing at least.
In reply to WOW Really Paul? :
Sounds like a fun time! Eventually I will find myself a property I can have my own range on...
17th Match: Shadow Hawk USPSA, July 13th, 2024
PCC Class, Sub2000 + Internals, Red Dot. (No changes since last match.)
Placement: 45th of 118 overall. (62%) | 6th of 9 PCC. (69%)
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/94891d99-3dda-4621-bac2-448ca8262567
First time shooting st Shadow Hawk Defense in West Virginia. I have been wanting to at least try out a match at each range that puts them on within a reasonable distance of me. Shadow Hawk is only an hour away, and was a pretty nice range. The match there was $40, most others locally are $25, but I think the layout of the bays at Shadow Hawk helped keep the noise down better than some others. I will definitely come back at some point. Another plus is their USPSA matches are two days, so you can shoot either Saturday or Sunday.
This match was also a bit different for me because I was not shooting with any of my usual "crew". I had never met anyone in my squad before that day. At first I didn't talk much, but I did jump in and run the tablet for most of the time, by 2/3 of the way through the day we were all laughing and joking around.
This was also the hottest match I've done yet. I tried to prepare best I could. The jersey I got is pretty breathable, and then I put on those skin tight sleeves to keep the sun off and wick moisture. I also brought a Dewalt 20v fan, and had a cooler with plenty of drinks and electrolytes. Overall it worked pretty well. Hot, yes, but not suffering. I think to some extent I was possibly slower, or not thinking quite as clearly from the heat, but that might just be an excuse too.
As far as how I did, it was hard to gauge for most of it. Normally I'm in a squad with Bea (who runs the MD Arsenal match), and at the moment we are pretty evenly matched. She actually shot on Sunday, so now after the fact I am able to gauge against her. She beat me, landing at 41st in the overall, and 5th in PCC. It looks like we were only 2% different in the overall, so I think I had a decent day. Definitely not top performance, but fairly solid. At the indoor MD Arsenal match I've been beating her pretty consistently, but on the outdoor matches, it's a mix. Additionally, the only other PCC shooters in my squad were both Master level shooters, and the one was like 1.5% away from making Grand Master at this match. So obviously I was pretty far off of them, but it was hard to gauge how good or bad I was doing.
All that said, the classifier stage for the match was CM23-02, which I just did last month at York running a 65% (B class run). Knowing this ahead of time, obviously I wanted to do better, and I was also able to know what my hit factor needed to be to make the next class. I knew my time last time was not bad, but I had 4 C's, so I knew that it would be more likely that I could improve my hits better than my time. I did manage a tenth of a second better time, even with a decent trigger freeze on the last shot, but I only had 1 C, which gave me a 79.9% run, which is a solid A class run. (Master starts at 85%) So that alone was awesome. I knew that me and the sub2000 were capable of A class, to be officially classified as A class will take 5 more A class classifier stages, but it is an achievable goal. Technically, I think even Master is on the table with the sub2000, my skills are the limiting factor more than the gun. I just love that the little Keltec throws down so well.
York next weekend!
In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :
I seem to have irked one of the neighbors between Saturday and trying to practice a flaw in my pistol shooting that was exposed on Sat....
WOW Really Paul? said:In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :
I seem to have irked one of the neighbors between Saturday and trying to practice a flaw in my pistol shooting that was exposed on Sat....
I guess they don't like the sound of freedom then. ;p
18th Match: York practical Shooters USPSA, July 21st, 2024
PCC Class, Sub2000 + Internals, Red Dot. (No changes since last match.)
Placement: 52nd of 93 overall. (61.5%) | 6th of 9 PCC. (61.9%)
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/62986ac4-0385-496a-8fa2-4e9721997746?q_division=5
I was back at York on Sunday, the stages were posted in advance, and looked to be a fun match. 223 round count across 9 stages, including stage 4 being a 40 round stage, and stage 3 being a "memory stage".
I went into the match having high hopes, considering my last match included an A class run on a classifier. Unfortunately, at least my classifiers did not live up to the expectations I had. The first classifier was 19-01 (Hi-Jinx), I got a 5.65 hit factor, for a 47.7% (PCC) score. Looks like I had 8A, 2C, 1D, & 1M, @ 6.5 seconds. Till I was looking at it just now I didn't realize I got a miss, but aside from accuracy I recall something being off in my start, like I wasn't quite in the zone or something. Not a horrible run, but far from good.
The second classifier was 22-04 (Calm Before the Storm), which looked really fun, but after my first shot my mag dropped itself, and I got flustered knowing there was a required mag change still and all mags needed to come from the table, so I knew I couldn't pull a spare from my belt, and I just gave up. I should have kept going, really any way that I could. Ideally I could have picked up the dropped mag and kept going and been ok, or just used a mag off my belt as one procedural would have been a lot less penalty than 3 FTSAs, and 15 misses... So anyway, zero'd that stage and tried to keep my head in the game the rest of the day.
Stage 9 was fun, step onto a wobble platform, 4 poppers, and the popper on each side activated something, swinger on the left, drop turner on the right. I didn't do amazing on it, but I didn't do bad. Timing was great that if you hit the poppers 1 for 1, right to left, you could swing right and take care of the drop turner and swing back left for the swinger and be good. The wobble platform really wasn't too wobbly, I don't think it bothered me at all.
Stage 3 was the memory stage, I'll post a picture of the stage brief below, but it ended up laid out slightly differently. It looks simple enough, but as you move side to side different targets can be seen, and there are no markings on them to know which is which, thus "memory". It was the next to last stage for my day, and I didn't have the brain power to try and make a memory plan, so I just went kinda slow and tried to scan the targets for what I could see as I moved and watch for any I took care of already. I ended up with all As, aside from one target which I didn't shoot at at all, so 3 misses and an FTSA. Not mad about it, but it's something to note and work on.
Stage 4 was honestly pretty fun. 40 rounds, but with PCC that didn't require a mag change. One of the other PCC guys showed me a good stage plan, and I followed it, and it went pretty well, but I was still slow.
Overall, it was a good time, even if it wasn't my best time. I won't be at next month's York match due to a wedding, but it is still one of my favorite matches. I decided not to do Thurmont this weekend as I need a break to get some stuff done around the house. Next month I think I will be at Shadow Hawk and Thurmont if all goes well.
19th Match: MD Arsenal USPSA Outlaw, August 5th, 2024
PCC Class, bone stock Keltec sub2000, ~$50 tacticon red dot (just for funsies)
Placement: 1st of 20 overall. | 1st of 4 PCC
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/cards/ce40600b-afcf-4832-b649-5e6f5ee50d9b?q_result=0
Video: https://youtu.be/66XHTlh5gAA
I decided to have a little fun at the MD Arsenal Outlaw match last night. Since it's an outlaw event and doesn't really count for anything, it's a good experiment ground. So, I brought a bone stock sub2000 instead of my usual sub2000 with all the goodies and put on one of the cheapest red dots. I got the gun for cheap as a backup and figured I should give it a try. I also tried attaching a GoPro to the gun with a pic mount, which you can see in the video link above. The video is kinda cool, but I don't like it on the gun, it just feels off.
Stages 1 & 2 were both barrel/table start, and just in general it took some warming up. I should have done a little bit of dry fire before hand to feel the stock trigger again, but oh well. My loading sequence on stage 2 was a bit bleh because I'm used to the extended charging handle on my other sub2000. (Definitely one of the best upgrades I did on that one.) So these two stages were ok, but not amazing.
Stage 3 & 4 I got more in a groove, enough to win the stages, but Andy was shooting Production, not PCC last night so my biggest competition was not there. Just general movement I need to get faster and more stable on, which is a physical training aspect I am slowly working on. Perk to getting into this is it is motivating me to get in better shape...
In the end I pulled out with the overall win, which is awesome, especially when you consider my gun + dot was ~$350, and 2nd place was a $2500+ Davinci. 🙂
I am going to my first steel challenge match this year in two weeks. Just been crazy busy with life. I decided to try my Mete in limited optics class. We will see how this goes. I am also building out a 10/22 for steel challenge. I am going to see if I can keep the whole thing under 2.5 lbs.
In reply to dean1484 :
I have not tried steel challenge yet. At some point I will have to at least give it a try, likely with rimfire. I have a 10/22, but it has a 3x9 scope, so that's not ideal, and I don't really want to take it off either. Might end up with a Ruger mk IV soon though, so RFPO might be what I try. I like the movement aspect of USPSA practical shooting, so if I mess with steel challenge I would want to keep costs low, which is definitely possible with rimfire.
Definitely post up with how it goes! The Mete is a good gun from what I've seen.
Steel Challenge is fun, but almost a little too quick for my tastes. One of the coolest matches I ever shot was an all-steel match in Palm Springs. Big USPS style stages of 20-30 rounds of nothing but steel. If you ever get a chance to shoot something like that do not hesitate. it's fun AF.
JG Pasterjak said:Steel Challenge is fun, but almost a little too quick for my tastes. One of the coolest matches I ever shot was an all-steel match in Palm Springs. Big USPS style stages of 20-30 rounds of nothing but steel. If you ever get a chance to shoot something like that do not hesitate. it's fun AF.
Yes, steel is very quick. Max Michel and Jerry Miculek used to come out to the range I went to for matches in South Louisiana. Those guys could clean a 5 plate rack in 1.6 to 1.7 seconds from a draw. Jerry was using a Model 27 revolver with 8" barrel. When he shot open sights he was at 1.8 seconds. When he switched to red dot he got into the 1.6 second range.
Just unreal speed.
jharry3 said:JG Pasterjak said:Steel Challenge is fun, but almost a little too quick for my tastes. One of the coolest matches I ever shot was an all-steel match in Palm Springs. Big USPS style stages of 20-30 rounds of nothing but steel. If you ever get a chance to shoot something like that do not hesitate. it's fun AF.
Yes, steel is very quick. Max Michel and Jerry Miculek used to come out to the range I went to for matches in South Louisiana. Those guys could clean a 5 plate rack in 1.6 to 1.7 seconds from a draw. Jerry was using a Model 27 revolver with 8" barrel. When he shot open sights he was at 1.8 seconds. When he switched to red dot he got into the 1.6 second range.
Just unreal speed.
If you haven't watched it, Jerry Miculek World Record | Full Documentary (15 min).
I didn't know anything about Jerry until I saw this video, but man he's impressive.
There is a semi-local all steel USPSA style event next month that looks like a ton of fun, and even has cash prizes, but it's the same weekend I'll be at the MD state championship. In theory I could shoot one Saturday and one Sunday, but that's a busy weekend.
20th Match: Shadow Hawk Defense USPSA, August 10th, 2024
PCC Class, Sub2000 + Internals, Red Dot. (Back to my ususal PPC.)
Placement: 52nd of 120 overall (58%) | 5th of 7 PCC (67%)
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/88a262fd-6579-40ef-b3f5-83257ef922fc
Went back down to West Virginia to shot at Shadow Hawk on Saturday. 7 stages, 1 classifier. Our squad had 4 of the 7 PCCs at the match, including Ankeny who I squadded with last time here, and he actually made GM at this match. I unfortunately bombed the classifier... We did CM08-03 "Six" which is a very simple classifier, but you have to be smooth. 2 cardboard, and two steel stacked behind each other. I couldn't say what made it bad, but I got 2 Cs on the right cardboard, and on the steel in the middle I missed one. I heard the hits, but I guess I hit the rear one both times so that hurt the score pretty badly, and I ended up with a 24% for that classifier. Kind of a big bummer since I know I could've gotten an A or M score fairly easily, but obviously I did not. Hopefully I get a chance to try that classifier again soon.
We started out on stage 3 which had some low ports, that was a new challenge. It wasn't too bad, though I had to lean back out of the last port to snag a steel popper I forgot about. That slowed me down a lot.
Looks like stage 5 was my best stage of the day. 24th in the overall for the stage, 2nd in PCC.
Mixed feelings for the match, I know I could have done better. I'm not sure if I've gotten too casual on the regular stages, I try to relax and not over-stress about it, but I wonder if I need to be a bit more focused. The classifier was just a mess, I probably should just care less about them. It was still a fun time, and the weather was nice, hot but not too hot, decent breeze, and Shadow Hawk's setup makes it so the other bay's shots aren't overbearing the whole time.
No video, but I did order a selfie stick to try and get some video of the outdoor matches in the future. Next match should be Thurmont at the end of the month.
I have found that if I hold back to say 90 percent of what I think I can do I shoot MUCH better. If I go all out for speed I end up making mistakes and that costs time.
I got in some practice this weekend and I was pleased to find that I was not as bad I I thought I was going to be. I still need to work on my transitions (I always need to work on those) but over all, I am not going to be a complete mess next weekend. (I hope) LOL
In reply to dean1484 :
The 90% idea makes a lot of sense. I probably did try for 100% on the classifier, and that is probably what screwed me up.
I saw your post on the boom stick thread with the target from the mete, looks good! I think getting as good on pistol as I am at PCC is going to take some time. I think I will be toning back from as many matches, but trying to attend some trainings.
In reply to dean1484 :
Well, I guess I'm trying my first steel challenge here shortly. I looked into it a bit, and I don't think it is something I will keep up with much, but I was chatting with a friend that I'll be shooting the MD State USPSA match with asking what matches he's doing before then. (It's coming up quickly, only a month away!) He mentioned he is going to do the MD State Steel Challenge Match in two weekends, and convinced me to join. In theory it should give some good practice on target transitions and speed at the very least, and I am justifying it by trying to train/practice as much as I can before the MD State USPSA match. Whether I end up in B or stay in C class PCC it doesn't mean much, but I do want to give it my best effort.
21st Match: Thurmont USPSA, August 24th, 2024
PCC Class, Sub2000 + Internals, Red Dot.
Placement: 61st of 146 overall (62%) | 9th of 12 PCC (71%)
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/f3a96020-30fb-4820-99f3-202e55cf9f19?q_division=0
Video: https://youtu.be/rbySJTbcS_Q
Saturday, I went out to Thurmont for the monthly USPSA match they host. Good squad, good people, though fewer official ROs than normal, so I ended up running the timer and RO'ing a good bit. I do plan to take an RO class, York apparently usually hosts one towards the end of the year, so I am on the lookout for that.
This was the 2nd annual "Emperor's Cup" at Thurmont, though my first. Russel is one of the match directors for York and is known as the emperor. To please the emperor all stages aside from the classifiers (2 this month) were 32 rounds stages. They were all fairly straight forward but involved enough that I wouldn't say they were "easy".
We started on stage 1, and I did ok on that one. After that the weather started getting pretty hot, and last week was a cool week until Saturday, so I wasn't really expecting quite that much heat. I think it took more out of me there for a bit than I realized.
Stage 2 I did a silly and changed my stage plan before I shot. I haven't edited the video yet, but I'm going to try and point it out. There was a pair of poppers I had planned to take from father back, but then saw others actually waited till they were up front as there was more visibility up there than I realized at first. So, I switched the plan to take them from up front, but there were two pairs of poppers and that put the other pair out of my mind. So, I wound up with 2 misses and two FTSA's which hurt the score pretty badly. (-30 points)
Stage 3 was also rough, there were some super close targets I tried to hit on the move one handed, and they hit, but I think they were all C's & D's. I also had a lot of makeup shots on some far out steel, enough that I had to actually change mags to finish. Messy. I can try and blame some of the stage 2&3 issues on the heat, but some of that is just excuses.
Stages 4, 5, & 8 were not bad. Stage 5 was kinda fun actually, a little tricky at first walking through until you figured out there were a couple targets that could only be hit from a specific spot each, and one was a very small sliver of visibility. Stage 8 I think was my best field course stage of the day. Thankfully I heard some others talking about the 3 poppers in a row being forward falling poppers, so once the video is up you can see I did popper, paper, popper, paper, popper, to give the steel time to fall.
Stages 6&7 were the classifiers, two for this month. CM13-01 & CM13-08, which for PCC are literally the exact same stage. For pistol, on CM13-01 you would start out facing up range and have to turn before you can shoot, but PCC doesn't require turns for obvious safety factors. The first one I shot a 73.6%, solid. The second my hits were messy and actually had one miss and got a 53.9% on that one.
The exciting news here is those scores bump my overall classification to 62.8%, which gives me B classification for PCC. The downside is, now it is less likely for a class win at MD state next month, but I'm going to try anyway. Looks like 9 total B Class PCCs (including myself) are currently registered.
I talked to Gelnett last match and asked about his video setup for outdoor, and it's super simple... A selfie stick. I didn't realize they made them that long, but they do in fact, so I got one to try out. A 10-foot long selfie stick, plus two zip ties and you get a pretty decent perspective video. I need to finish editing the clips together, and then I'll post a link. I did forget to turn it on for the classifier stages, but they're also the least exciting on video.
Video from last weekend is online. https://youtu.be/rbySJTbcS_Q
22nd Match: MD State Steel Challenge, September 1st, 2024
PCCO Division, with my usual Keltec Sub2000
Placement: 120th of 209 overall (56%) | 16th of 20 PCCO
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/html/1046e6ae-ba65-4ad5-a487-a737d23a0185
Sunday, I went to my first Steel Challenge match, which was a level 2 match for Maryland State. Squadded with some of my usual USPSA people as a few of them just wanted to have some fun doing steel challenge, not ultra-competitive. I figured it would be some good practice for transitions, so I brought my usual sub2000 for PCCO Division. Steve also shot PPCO and we were trying to battle it out that day, I've consistently beat him at USPSA matches, but he's been doing Steel challenge longer, and did beat me at this match.
Looking at my percentage (56%), I didn't do much worse than I normally place at larger USPSA matches, but I had a lot of make-ups and trigger freeze, and overall, it just felt super slow. It was a fun time still, we all had a good time shooting, hassling each other, and then we went for BBQ after. I don't plan to take on steel challenge consistently, I enjoy the USPSA matches a lot more, though I do see the training value steel challenge provides for speed. I think if the MD State Steel Challenge match is at Thurmont again next year, I'll probably come again, maybe with a rimfire entry.
I didn't take any video, mostly because I didn't expect it to be very impressive, but also because steel challenge isn't as cinematic anyway.
This match had all 8 Steel Challenge classifier stages, a very different method than USPSA, but since I shot them all that makes me classified. I ended up with a 59.94% classification, which is C class. B class starts at 60%. So close! I guess if I wait till next year and shoot this match again, I could sandbag C class PCCO, but there weren't any registered this year anyway. Like I said though, it was all just for fun, and if I do more it will probably be with rimfire. 9mm feels more expensive on steel challenge than at a USPSA match, if that makes any sense.
23rd Match: MD Arsenal USPSA Outlaw, September 2nd, 2024
PCC Division, with my usual Keltec Sub2000
Placement: 2nd of 17 overall (93%) | 2nd of 4 PCC
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/be497be6-21ec-4af7-9687-4a704b345f00?q_division=0
Video:
Monday we were back at MD Arsenal for the outlaw match. We had some good stages, and all the usual people were there. I really like shooting with this group, good people, good practice, good fun.
Stage 1 I got the stage win on. Empty chamber start, it flowed well, and the evil target turned out to not really be a big deal. You probably won't be able to see it well on video, but there was two headshot only targets on top of a no-shoot, so not much room for error, but it was also a very close target.
Stage 2 I didn't do as well, not really sure why, but I had some trigger freeze. The targets in the middle I should have been able to fly through and it felt like they took forever. The twist on this stage was the last two targets had to be done weak hand only / weak shoulder, whichever two targets you chose, it just had to be the last two. I actually did the transition fairly well, and it was a close target at the end there so I just sent them home without the best sight picture but got my hits just fine still. Ended up at 7th overall for the stage still. Everyone is getting better and better.
Stage 3 was a fixed time stage, 7 targets, 2 shots each, 5.5 seconds. The time turned out to be plenty, but if you know USPSA you know that fixed time is Virginia Count. I knew this, but for some reason on the last target I did an extra shot for some reason. This gave me two procedurals, one for extra shot, one for extra hit, -20 points. That hurt. In fact, looking at the points, if I hadn't taken that one extra shot and gotten those procedurals, I would have placed 1st for the night. One little mistake, but that's the game. Only thing you can do is learn and do better next time.
Stage 4 I think Bea said she got from a national's event. 4 shots each on targets 1&5, mandatory reload, then 2 shots each on the 3 in the middle. I ran this one pretty well, and placed 2nd for the stage.
I say it every time, but overall, it was a fun time. I love this sport, and this small match is special to me. I am glad Bea limited it to 18 entries though, because we actually ended at a reasonable time. The last two months have been pretty late. Next month I'll be switching to Pistol with my Canik Rival-S in Limited Optics, and I'll have to work my way back to the top all over again. It will be some work to get there, but I'm excited to hone my Pistol skills.
Double header coming up this weekend. Shadow Hawk USPSA on Saturday, York on Sunday. Last two matches before MD State.
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