Competition gets you killed on the streets.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Since I don’t trust that the reloads I used in the now sheared AR weren’t involved in that debacle, I spent the afternoon unloading a set of mags to back to factory. The reloads were remanufactured by some well known outfit. They were given to our group by a generous individual. However, I will keep them around for Teotwawki trading. Another group member said he had one the rounds with an overcharge but didn’t say anything to avoid hurting feelings. The nine mm kaboom was impressive with smoke and flames and self ejected mag.

[Cory]

@cheby and I shot a local USPSA match yesterday. It was a fun, although very long day because of the number of shooters (78), many of them new to USPSA. It's great to see our sport growing in popularity.

Here are a few observations:

There were zero douchebags on our squad, and in my experience that's typical of USPSA. Even though it was frustrating to have to stand around pretty much all day because of bottlenecks at certain stages, everyone was positive, friendly, and helped reset.

The guy who was back from deployment overseas was very squared away with his Glock. He was relatively slow, but accurate, safe, and knew how to run his gun. I was impressed by how calm he was.

The two new-to-USPSA active LEOs had great attitudes, and asked for advice.

A few shooters did not have much experience with moving, shooting, and reloading in a complex environment. We were able to give them some tips about keeping their finger away from the trigger guard, and how to move in any direction while not sweeping themselves. I noticed improvement over the course of the match.

Some shooters learned that their guns and gear did not work reliably enough for competition --let alone defensive use. A Walther CCP was especially troublesome.

A 75 year old shooter (Vietnam vet, retired LEO) with serious health issues fell backwards while I was ROing. He kept his gun pointed downrange, and navigated the muzzle safely around his knee as he went down. We helped him up, and he continued the stage, shooting mostly As on very difficult targets. It was impressive, and he received a round of applause afterward.

Thanks for bumping this. I went back and read my original post. I now far better understand why someone posted "sigh" on the first page. At the time, the concept was new to me. At this point re-reading it seems like obvious stuff. At the time I was just starting to learn it.

I still need to get to a USPSA match. I think I actually have a schedule that will allow that now.

-Cory

[olstyn]

The reloads were remanufactured by some well known outfit. They were given to our group by a generous individual.

So basically they were "mystery meat" ammo. With that context, your earlier proclamation, "don't trust reloads," makes a lot more sense than it did before. Speaking as someone who has been reloading for about a decade, it's more than a little bit different when you know exactly what components went into your reloads, and you know that you personally did the proper quality control checks on the loaded rounds.

[Alpha Sierra]

Exactly this. I load for myself and for my wife and nobody else. Many thousands of rounds down that road, and I'm satisfied with the results.

Same here.

[GuanoLoco]

The majority of ammo screw ups I've seen are reloads. Not to say that factory doesn't screw up but just relative probability.

Reloads are merely a reflection of the person doing the reloading. In and of themselves they can be far better or far worse than factory. If I want a custom load for a particular gun and a particular sport optimizing cost, power factor, COAL vs. nose profile, primer hardness, reliability in that firearm, etc. - well, I just can’t do that with factory ammo.

Some people reloading know exactly what they are doing, and why, and have exacting standards for consistency, quality control and measuring results.

Other reloaders are just roughly following a recipe with no real understanding of what they are doing, or the nuances of how their equipment works.

Also - blowback PCC’s can be different animals than pistols.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I like the term mystery meat and agree with experience. I suppose I have seen to many beginner oops.

[Alpha Sierra]

Most of my rifles have seen about 99% reloaded ammo for the reasons Guano Loco mentioned.

[El Cid]

@cheby and I shot a local USPSA match yesterday. It was a fun, although very long day because of the number of shooters (78), many of them new to USPSA. It's great to see our sport growing in popularity.

Here are a few observations:

There were zero douchebags on our squad, and in my experience that's typical of USPSA. Even though it was frustrating to have to stand around pretty much all day because of bottlenecks at certain stages, everyone was positive, friendly, and helped reset.

The guy who was back from deployment overseas was very squared away with his Glock. He was relatively slow, but accurate, safe, and knew how to run his gun. I was impressed by how calm he was.

The two new-to-USPSA active LEOs had great attitudes, and asked for advice.

A few shooters did not have much experience with moving, shooting, and reloading in a complex environment. We were able to give them some tips about keeping their finger away from the trigger guard, and how to move in any direction while not sweeping themselves. I noticed improvement over the course of the match.

Some shooters learned that their guns and gear did not work reliably enough for competition --let alone defensive use. A Walther CCP was especially troublesome.

A 75 year old shooter (Vietnam vet, retired LEO) with serious health issues fell backwards while I was ROing. He kept his gun pointed downrange, and navigated the muzzle safely around his knee as he went down. We helped him up, and he continued the stage, shooting mostly As on very difficult targets. It was impressive, and he received a round of applause afterward.

This makes me very happy to read. Especially the part with the LEO’s asking advice. I hope they stick with it. I’ve lost count of how many get bruised egos and never return.

[jetfire]

I now far better understand why someone posted "sigh" on the first page.

I read this post and thought "man that sounds like something I would do" and sure enough it was me. I am very glad that you've come around! Also if you get a chance and are in the Miami area you should check out the matches at Homestead.

[Cory]

I read this post and thought "man that sounds like something I would do" and sure enough it was me. I am very glad that you've come around! Also if you get a chance and are in the Miami area you should check out the matches at Homestead.

Haha, when I posted this your internet fame hadnt reached me yet. I didnt know who you were.

I'm about an hour north of Tampa. Probably going to wind up going to Hernando Sportsman Club for USPSA.

-Cory