Where to compete with the gun I'd actually carry?

[Mr_White]

I couldn't agree more with what's been said.

Directly to the original question, you can legally shoot an appendix-carried, laser-gripped, WML'd, mini-RDS'd pistol in Open Division of USPSA. Competitively, it will be a ridiculous hill to climb. Developmentally, if you try to climb that hill over and over and over and don't let yourself get frustrated, it is going to help light your skills on fire. Morally, if you personally are committed to competing as you carry, it's the only place where you have an equal place at the table and can shoot for official score and can roll how you want to roll.

USPSA Open truly is the original division where the pressure of competition is used to help determine which techniques and equipment work 'best.' Over decades, this has led to a number of significant equipment changes that have raised the bar of potential performance from equipment that has evolved to the point of factually being practical for defensive practitioners of the plain-clothes and uniformed varieties.

[LittleLebowski]

I couldn't agree more with what's been said.

Directly to the original question, you can legally shoot an appendix-carried, laser-gripped, WML'd, mini-RDS'd pistol in Open Division of USPSA. Competitively, it will be a ridiculous hill to climb. Developmentally, if you try to climb that hill over and over and over and don't let yourself get frustrated, it is going to help light your skills on fire. Morally, if you personally are committed to competing as you carry, it's the only place where you have an equal place at the table and can shoot for official score and can roll how you want to roll.

USPSA Open truly is the original division where the pressure of competition is used to help determine which techniques and equipment work 'best.' Over decades, this has led to a number of significant equipment changes that have raised the bar of potential performance from equipment that has evolved to the point of factually being practical for defensive practitioners of the plain-clothes and uniformed varieties.

Excellent post!

[JeffJ]

Might be fun to revisit the accepted wisdom about lasers with a close-to-bore-axis green laser set to show the dot slightly above the front sight at 7 yd. Some of the new units are seriously bright, and quite visible in full daylight within typical USPSA distances.

That could be interesting, theoretically could work much like a dot.

The thing about lasers is that most skilled shooters are going to be able to outrun them using the sights with a decent lighting condition, grip and stance - where lasers shine (ba dum!) is in the more compromised light, stance, grip situations. I'm a big proponent of competition as testing ground, but I think this is an area where we've got to critically think about what is being tested. I think lasers have a value that isn't going to be very evident in competition.

Says the guy with no lasers...

[Rick Finsta]

I couldn't agree more with what's been said.

Directly to the original question, you can legally shoot an appendix-carried, laser-gripped, WML'd, mini-RDS'd pistol in Open Division of USPSA. Competitively, it will be a ridiculous hill to climb. Developmentally, if you try to climb that hill over and over and over and don't let yourself get frustrated, it is going to help light your skills on fire. Morally, if you personally are committed to competing as you carry, it's the only place where you have an equal place at the table and can shoot for official score and can roll how you want to roll.

USPSA Open truly is the original division where the pressure of competition is used to help determine which techniques and equipment work 'best.' Over decades, this has led to a number of significant equipment changes that have raised the bar of potential performance from equipment that has evolved to the point of factually being practical for defensive practitioners of the plain-clothes and uniformed varieties.

So after reading something that Nyeti posted somewhere or another, about performing his tac-load and such prior to unloading and showing clear, is this going to be a super annoying thing to do at local level matches? As much as I want good reps under stress, I found myself almost INSTANTLY learning to unload, check clear, show clear, and hammer down in my very first USPSA match, without much thought. I don't want that to develop, but don't want to be "that guy" at the same time.

[JeffJ]

I doubt that most of the squad would even notice. I would mention it to the RO before you shoot, they are used to seeing things and bucking that trend could throw them off a little, I wouldn't want to do that.

[Mr_White]

So after reading something that Nyeti posted somewhere or another, about performing his tac-load and such prior to unloading and showing clear, is this going to be a super annoying thing to do at local level matches? As much as I want good reps under stress, I found myself almost INSTANTLY learning to unload, check clear, show clear, and hammer down in my very first USPSA match, without much thought. I don't want that to develop, but don't want to be "that guy" at the same time.

I couldn't claim to be well-traveled enough in USPSA to have a sense of how this would go over anywhere other than the clubs I usually shoot at. Even there, how it will be received probably depends on who happens to be the RO. Bottom line is that it is not against the rules, so they shouldn't be able to have a very big problem regardless of how much it might conceivably annoy them. I have holstered a hot gun at the end of a USPSA stage on a number of occasions, just out of habit. No one got upset about it. They just repeated 'if finished, unload and show clear.'

I think adopting a deliberate 'hard break' practice may help counteract ingraining an unload and show clear response. Even if the hard break doesn't also include scanning or reloading (though that would be better), just taking a deliberate moment of dismounting the pistol back to a ready position, taking a deep breath, taking a moment to consider 'is there anything else I need/want to do?' before unloading and showing clear, might be very helpful in avoiding the habit you are concerned about.

[JeffJ]

That is also a good competition habit, especially for those moments when you might have missed a steel target or something.

[Dr. No]

I couldn't claim to be well-traveled enough in USPSA to have a sense of how this would go over anywhere other than the clubs I usually shoot at. Even there, how it will be received probably depends on who happens to be the RO. Bottom line is that it is not against the rules, so they shouldn't be able to have a very big problem regardless of how much it might conceivably annoy them. I have holstered a hot gun at the end of a USPSA stage on a number of occasions, just out of habit. No one got upset about it. They just repeated 'if finished, unload and show clear.'

I think adopting a deliberate 'hard break' practice may help counteract ingraining an unload and show clear response. Even if the hard break doesn't also include scanning or reloading (though that would be better), just taking a deliberate moment of dismounting the pistol back to a ready position, taking a deep breath, taking a moment to consider 'is there anything else I need/want to do?' before unloading and showing clear, might be very helpful in avoiding the habit you are concerned about.

You will probably get yelled at if you do that, because the RO is expecting you to unload and show clear. Easy way to prevent that - tell the RO that at the end of your COF you're going to do a reload so it coincides with your training. There is nothing in the rules preventing you from doing it, so there's not a lot of arguing he can do.

I have to agree with Origami - automatically programming yourself to reload is not a good habit either. Proper post shooting procedures will vary depending on circumstance, but the one thing you will need to always do is evaluate your target you've engaged. That target may need more shooting, so if you automatically reload and a threat pops up you may be left with one round and way behind the power curve.

I would suggest just stopping, scan and assessing, and then *thinking* about the problem at hand. In this case you'll need to unload. In other cases you may have to reload. In some others you may need to shoot more... All three of those conditions could also be proper in a match setting.

[Rick Finsta]

Sounds good - I'll rattle that around in my skull for awhile and see what comes out. Thanks!

[rob_s]

I couldn't agree more with what's been said.

Directly to the original question, you can legally shoot an appendix-carried, laser-gripped, WML'd, mini-RDS'd pistol in Open Division of USPSA. Competitively, it will be a ridiculous hill to climb. Developmentally, if you try to climb that hill over and over and over and don't let yourself get frustrated, it is going to help light your skills on fire. Morally, if you personally are committed to competing as you carry, it's the only place where you have an equal place at the table and can shoot for official score and can roll how you want to roll.

USPSA Open truly is the original division where the pressure of competition is used to help determine which techniques and equipment work 'best.' Over decades, this has led to a number of significant equipment changes that have raised the bar of potential performance from equipment that has evolved to the point of factually being practical for defensive practitioners of the plain-clothes and uniformed varieties.

Great post.

What would be especially interesting is looking, then, at the overall scores without taking into account division.

If you show up to the track in a Ferrari, and get lapped by a guy in a Datsun 510...