Shot my first official competition the other week and I thought I'd share my thoughts and experience.
Background: I've owned a gun for about 10 years, but didn't take my first shooting class until October of '12. I've taken a bunch since then.
I kinda knew the rules going into the match. I had met the club president in a Vickers class so he got me to skip their 1 day safety class that the club normally requires for shooting action pistol (hallelujah).
I finished 34th out of 44 shooters, and 5th out of 8 in CDP. Why did I suck so bad?
I probably took too long trying to get 0s. I don't know why they are so loose with the down points for crappy shooting. I think it should be 1 second per point down.
I got 2 procedurals for shooting out of "tactical priority". I go around a corner and see 3 targets, I shoot the one closest to me. No, I'm supposed to "pie the corner" (under time?) and shoot the target I see first. Okay.
I didn't do a flat footed reload once, but since it was my first match they let it slide. I don't really get that one. An SSP Master explained to me that it wouldn't make sense to advance with an empty gun. Okay.
So it was a lot of fun regardless. I've heard that it greatly depends on the club, and the guys running this one weren't too anal which probably greatly contributed to the experience being positive. Will go again. I brought two buddies and they had the same thoughts on the goofy rules. I signed up to a local club and I'm attending their USPSA orientation next month; we'll see which one I like better. I can see myself just shooting both.