Also keep in mind that nobody is making any promises that their 140mm extension will meet the 141.25mm limit that is the USPSA mag gauge. If you are too long at a major you are now shooting open. You should find someone with a gauge before hitting a major with whatever you set up.Originally Posted by dogcaller
Is it?
I ask that genuinely, not as a troll.
As someone that has dipped in and out of various competition shooting eras, who currently shoots PCC when I can get out there (due entirely to already having appropriate gun and the complete lack of required other support gear like holsters and belts and so forth), I would *like* to try CO. What I find daunting is that it just feels like the equipment isn't really there, and like I wouldn't know what support gear to buy.
Maybe that's because I participate in this forum and have been around a long time. Maybe I see reports of this failing or that being sub-optimal, and know enough to want to be able to future-proof any equipment I buy to some degree... I don't know.
What is that "easy button" when it comes to the pistol, the optic to install, and the other support gear?
ETA:
Also as someone that left the games and came back... It *feels* like the addition of CO and PCC are pushing stage designs to require harder shots? Maybe I just always sucked, and now feel like I would suck even harder, with an iron-sighted handgun but when I was shooting the games regularly I don't recall encountering very many shots that I felt I couldn't make or would struggle to hit with an iron-sighted G19 or (for awhile) CZ. When I attend matches today with my PCC there have been more than a few times when I've found myself thinking "I'm glad I have a rifle with an optic today, because if I had showed up with my G19 I'd likely be embarrassing the shit out of myself at multiple points in the day, perhaps as often as once per stage".
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I would caveat first off by asserting that you, like most all of P-F, are more experienced and more of a “power user” than most people approaching USPSA for the first time.
I’d also state that there’s difference between “generally competitive” equipment for the new USPSA shooter, and the kind of “deeply optimized” equipment that I would expect from someone really competitive with possibility of wins.
The first part of the “easy button” is that there’s no ammo reloading, that factory 9mm is all that is needed. No .38 Super Comp or long-load .40 needed like in Limited or Open. There’s also low recoil and great sights. Almost all the popular pistols are coming with optic plates, and the current generations of dots are reliable and are not prohibitively expensive to acquire or complex to mount. I think most guns cut for optic plates also have factory extended-capacity magazines.
None of this is to imply that any modern plate-cut gun, or any optic are at the top of CO competitiveness, but pretty much any combo ought to be enough to get the new USPSA shooter in a happy place.
Per the PF Code of Conduct, I have a commercial interest in the StreakTM product as sold by Ammo, Inc.
Thanks, all. Lots of good discussion here.
So I shot the match yesterday. Had a great time and (relatedly) didn't embarrass myself--but also didn't cover myself in glory. Came in ~24 out of ~80 shooters, with CO definitely being the largest class. The comments about wanting 140s, but them not being mandatory were spot on. I have a few 18 rd mags and several more 15s. I arrived at the match with all loaded and the idea being to not need to worry about loading between stages--just grab and go. That didn't make it past stage 1. i found myself reloading and strategically staging the 18 rd mags because they provided me with exactly what ya'll said--options. I never ran one dry, but that's the point, isn't it? All but one of my 15s came home loaded with the same rounds they left with.
I do agree with Cluster that it would be better if they were limited to 15, for a variety of reasons. I'm working to keep myself from joining the club and then complaining about the rules. Still working on that, but not grumpy about it.
A chicken/egg question. Is the prevalence of ~24-rd stages a result of these 24-rd magazines, or vice versa (or neither)?
Some additional complications: The 140mm mags may/may not fit the USPSA gauge. WTF? Also, some do/don't lock the slide back. Some might fit 24 rds, but most don't. But if they do, they almost certainly won't lock the slide back. Do I have that right...?
Good sentiment. That's my goal as well, and I'm only partially succeeding
USPSA rule 1.2 specifies a 32 round max for a stage. I wouldn't say 24 round stages are especially prevalent, but when there's a 22-24 round stage it's an advantage to have a mag that can hold 23+1 or even better, 24+1. It's like when there's a "mag pickup" stage, it's an advantage to have a magnet on your belt.A chicken/egg question. Is the prevalence of ~24-rd stages a result of these 24-rd magazines, or vice versa (or neither)?
Yep, if you're going to a Level 2 or 3 match you better check each mag tube/extension combo to make sure it fits in the gauge. With CZ Mec-Gar mag tubes, every extension I've tried fits. Back when I shot p320s, I had to file the rear of the feedlips to fit the gauge with Springer extensions. I know a shooter who got bumped to Open at an Area match.Some additional complications: The 140mm mags may/may not fit the USPSA gauge. WTF? Also, some do/don't lock the slide back. Some might fit 24 rds, but most don't. But if they do, they almost certainly won't lock the slide back. Do I have that right...?
I don't use slide lock followers for 140's. I can't recall the last time I've shot to slidelock in CO.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Doubt it. I dunno anyone around here who builds stages with number 24 in mind. If you think about it, stages with target arrays with 2, 3 or 4 targets will frequently arrive to 24 total.
Yes. Some of this shit never ceases to amaze me. For example, I've never had any issues with passing the gauge, even remotely, with my Megcar/Hennings until last year's state match when the dude said it wasn't fitting unless he pushed hard enough to worry about feed lips...
I don't know anything at or above 22 rounds that would lock the slide back.
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
I think as stated above, 24 is not usually an intent, just an outcome of stage design.
23 or even 24 round magazines are the result of magazine geometry and the 140mm limit. In some platforms it is easier to get a 23-24 rounder that will run that other platforms.
This past weekend our sole 24 round stage had 3 plates in the course plus a Texas Star at the very end with two paper targets....no way was I coming into that final end port with just 9 rounds in the gun since there was a distance to cover to get there...came in with a fresh magazine although I nailed the star without a miss, but I don't think coming in with a full mag actually cost me very much time because it was an easy reload on the move.
More bullets = more options.
Serious uspsa competitors should own (and use) a Springer Precision mag gauge that measures 140 and 170. $35
https://shop.springerprecision.com/mag-gauge-for-uspsa/
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Barring some completely hoser stage, with 12 close open targets, I don't know many shooters that would shoot a 24 round stage with zero extra cartridges available for a make up shot. In my experience, you are slower shooting carefully enough to not have a make up then, if you just did the reload and gave yourself the insurance.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
NOT LICENSED BY USPSA. FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY NOT MATCH ADMINISTRATION.
https://www.shootersconnectionstore....Magazine-Gauge
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
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