My (not especially) triumphant return to USPSA competition post-Rogers

[GJM]

I am enjoying this -- interesting combination of C class shooting skills combined with GM level blogging.

[TheTrevor]

I am enjoying this -- interesting combination of C class shooting skills combined with GM level blogging.

My ability to execute has not yet caught up with my ability to analyze and problem-solve. The goal is to converge the two at some point.

ETA: ...and hopefully provide some helpful insights along the growth curve to other folks also working their way up, if only by watching me screw up.

[Mr_White]

The other thing I took away from this: if I do ask for calibration, don't let them do it against a target I've already shot once. Request that someone go out there, release the popper hold-back and properly reset it. The popper can and should remain standing, held up by hand during the reset.

I suspect that my problem popper fell over because the calibration shot was done against a target which had already been shot once.

Actually, I don't think it is going to work that way.

You may be totally correct with your factual assessment of the situation with your popper. But I believe that in the calibration procedure, the potentially-offending popper cannot be touched or reset or interfered with in any way. That's the one they are going to shoot for calibration, not a different one, even if they should theoretically be identical.

I say that because I have seen the situation come up twice now, where a shooter shot a popper, popper didn't fall, shooter asked for calibration, the calibration shot went a little high to the top of the round hit zone on the popper and knocked it down, shooter protests the sorta high shot, but there was no allowance to repeat calibration because the popper had by that point been interfered with since the competitor's failed shot on it (yes, interfered with by the calibration process.)

Calibration is iffy and is not a good situation to be in - best case is reshoot, worst case is you get stuck with a miss. This whole mess is why the advice I have received is to shoot it until it falls. Not ideal, but the least bad outcome short of it falling when shot the first time.

[TheTrevor]

Good to know. Definitely better to put a second round on that kitten in the first place.

[BN]

Good thoughts on stress management. I agree overall, but do think I need to get better at leaving the previous stage behind when I go to shoot the next stage.

I have shot what I thought were really crappy scores and ended up winning the match. Everybody else shot even crappier. I try not to get too excited about my performance until after the match is over. I actually don't want to compare my scores to anybody else until the results are out.

PS. I hate Poppers that don't fall and need to be calibrated. I think they should be reset before checking but that isn't what the rules say.

[TheTrevor]

Here's the real irony: at this point, I'm not even seriously shooting for score or expecting to win anything. I'm running a nearly stock P30 in L10.

There's no good reason I should care, but I can't NOT care because I'm wired to be ultra competitive. Need to find my samurai zen and throw myself into battle without so much attachment to the outcome.

[Slavex]

In IPSC if the calibration shot is outside of the calibration zone the shooter gets the reshoot, as well, the popper cannot be touched until the calibration shot is performed. I'd say I'm 50/50 on calibration requests. I don't think I've ever asked for a forward falling popper to be calibrated, but I know I've had to re-engage a few over the years. Any popper can fail if it's not set properly. A good MD/RM will ensure that on stages with poppers that the crew understands how to set them and maintain them.

[Lomshek]

Here's the real irony: at this point, I'm not even seriously shooting for score or expecting to win anything. I'm running a nearly stock P30 in L10.

Why not just do Limited and run the mags at full cap to avoid the scar of initiating a reload with 5 rounds in the mag (if you're shooting 9mm)?

I went through this myself with my M&P and just decided to do LTD and accept that I don't havea bunch of 22 round mags. If I was just worried about competing I would shoot major anyway so if I'm going to use my social gun I might as well run at full cap.

[TheTrevor]

Why not just do Limited and run the mags at full cap to avoid the scar of initiating a reload with 5 rounds in the mag (if you're shooting 9mm)?

I went through this myself with my M&P and just decided to do LTD and accept that I don't havea bunch of 22 round mags. If I was just worried about competing I would shoot major anyway so if I'm going to use my social gun I might as well run at full cap.

Because California. I have no legally plausible explanation for standard-capacity magazines which only became available in 2006, when I would have had to own them as of 1 Jan 2000 for them to be grandfathered in.

Otherwise, I'd be running 20-rounders built with Taylor Freelance +5 base plates in Limited and reloading once per stage...

ETA: Same problem with the M&P (introduced 2005, new magazine design). Anyone who moved to CA after 1 Jan 2000 is similarly hosed, as they could not have legally possessed standard-cap mags in CA before the cutoff.

Fortunately, this does not apply to most Glocks, SIGs, CZ75's or HK USP-family guns because standard-cap magazines for those were all available pre-2000.

[HopetonBrown]

Do you need a legally plausible explanation when possession of "high capacity" magazines is not illegal?