AIWB now legal in all divisions?

[JCN]

Weight matters.

I hate comparisons of this versus that, because they can be pretty unscientific, but follow this. I been shooting my PDP and loving it. From the get go, I can do tasks easier or faster with a stock full size PDP than with my Apex trigger CORE 5 inch pistols that I have been shooting since end of summer. On a lark, I bought a Walther Q4 steel frame on Monday of this week, and have now had five range sessions with it, in stock form excepting I added a DP Pro 6moa since I had a plate for it off an old Q5 polymer pistol. The Q4 is about 40 ounces, or about 16 ounces heavier than the PDP. The results have been consistent every range session, I shoot the Q4 significantly better, even though the trigger is better on the PDP and I prefer the full grip of the PDP. The heavier weight of the Q4 allows you to be less perfect on the trigger without deflecting the shot, splitting is easier, and the dot moves less.

Since USPSA is a game, all things considered, heavier is easier to shoot, and gamers will increase weight.

I have been dry firing and live firing with my "flashlight" equipped Shadow 2 since the rule was announced. At this point, I am surpassing all my previous unladen benchmarks, including draw to first shots. There has literally been no downside except the need for more strength training.

[cheby]

Weight matters.

I hate comparisons of this versus that, because they can be pretty unscientific, but follow this. I been shooting my PDP and loving it. From the get go, I can do tasks easier or faster with a stock full size PDP than with my Apex trigger CORE 5 inch pistols that I have been shooting since end of summer. On a lark, I bought a Walther Q4 steel frame on Monday of this week, and have now had five range sessions with it, in stock form excepting I added a DP Pro 6moa since I had a plate for it off an old Q5 polymer pistol. The Q4 is about 40 ounces, or about 16 ounces heavier than the PDP. The results have been consistent every range session, I shoot the Q4 significantly better, even though the trigger is better on the PDP and I prefer the full grip of the PDP. The heavier weight of the Q4 allows you to be less perfect on the trigger without deflecting the shot, splitting is easier, and the dot moves less.

Since USPSA is a game, all things considered, heavier is easier to shoot, and gamers will increase weight.

Of course weight matters. Nobody denies it. I think the topic, however, is the problems with eliminating the differences between CO and Open, Limited and Production, and between divisions in general.

[Clusterfrack]

I found the Stoeger podcast thoughtful and compelling. The new rules further divide USPSA and IPSC. I don’t support this.

[YVK]

As a regular listener who generally enjoys the show (~halfway through my second listen on all 140 episodes), Stoeger sounds like he's gone from jaded and cynical to straight up burnt out in this episode.

Ben is a guy who went on a vacation the very week before his last Nationals, that he happened to win, and he didn't even go to the last Nationals. That's way before these changes. He may or may not care what is done in USPSA but he has disliked how things have been done in USPSA for a long time. He had been vocal about what went legitimately wrong in the sport he cared about, now he doesn't give a shit. Personally I don't particularly care about this specific rule change, meaning I can do with or without. I even support them if my buds feel it'll help them be even more competitive, but I 100% agree with Ben on the fucked up ways how rule changes have been implemented.

[LittleLebowski]

I have been dry firing and live firing with my "flashlight" equipped Shadow 2 since the rule was announced. At this point, I am surpassing all my previous unladen benchmarks, including draw to first shots. There has literally been no downside except the need for more strength training.

Further reinforcing me not caring about my ranking, since I don't plan to carry with a light nor buy a competition rig; but honestly good on those that do. Shooting is fun.

[Eyesquared]

I think it is ironic that I may put a light on my CO gun when I don't carry a WML. Some people claim this change makes the sport more "practical" but somehow every recent change that has been made to the sport makes the most competitive game gear less similar to my carry gear.

[Artemas2]

I shot a match last Sunday and left my light on my CO Glock 17. I have always preferred the extra weight on the glocks.
Despite the endless ridicule from my squad about it I am happy that I don't need to keep taking it off for a match, even
if the difference in weight with 130pf loads seem negligible.

A shadow 2 on the other hand...
Turns out a full 18 round mag is a close substitute for the tungsten grip inserts. I have to admit this did not feel bad at all, but I have no interest on that much extra weight on my hips.
Just shy of 59 ounces

[Whirlwind06]

Beretta 92X with a no-name light weighs in at 37.9 I was already thinking of running the 92 vs my G34. my first match at the end of the month.

[YVK]

somehow every recent change that has been made to the sport makes the most competitive game gear less similar to my carry gear.

For me that ship has sailed when I went to my FFL to pick up my first Tanfo while packing a Glock 43...

We need to set up a p-f Shadow 2 group, with flashlight and no flashlight factions, and compare how we're all progressing in our development.

[Sal Picante]

Ben is a guy who went on a vacation the very week before his last Nationals, that he happened to win, and he didn't even go to the last Nationals. That's way before these changes. He may or may not care what is done in USPSA but he has disliked how things have been done in USPSA for a long time. He had been vocal about what went legitimately wrong in the sport he cared about, now he doesn't give a shit. Personally I don't particularly care about this specific rule change, meaning I can do with or without. I even support them if my buds feel it'll help them be even more competitive, but I 100% agree with Ben on the fucked up ways how rule changes have been implemented.

USPSA and IPSC have been diverging for a very long time and, this is just my $0.02, but I can't really help but wonder if it is really a cultural thing...
Follow me here for a sec and I promise I won't be my usual laconic self.

I really wonder if a large part of the sport is rooted in the fact that we can generally build and shoot anything we fancy here in the states. People here are free do do whatever they want to a Glock - this really isn't the case outside the US.
Generally, outside the US, someone has to really be shacked up with a manufacturer and have them willing to produce guns suitable for the sport: Beretta and the 92X based on Italian competitor input, Tanfo and their previous long association with Eric and CZ with a whole team and agile method to produce firearms that would play well in the European market.

The US made the first really compelling Carry Optics guns, has been dabbling with competitive (... and useable) PCCs for a while and USPSA has supported those venues as they've become more popular in the mainstream, as opposed to the sporting crowd.
(The cross-pollination of ideas, it seems, may cut both ways. We all credit the creation/testing of red dots and high-cap 2011's that seem to come due to the sport, but I wonder if the "average joe" interest in CO and PCC has driven that back into the sport.)

My point is, the sports serve radically different markets of people: one where "anything goes" and the other where it is really up to the "elite" and manufacturers to dictate what is acceptable/not.
At the end of the day, USPSA and IPSC are only slightly similar and maybe it is for the better that we've allowed them to diverge so much...

Is it time for a US IPSC group that follows the IPSC rules to the "T"?
Is it that horribly difficult to use a stock gun and 15 rd mags to play production in IPSC for a USPSA shooter?
Is it really, honestly, that bad that someone can strap a flashlight to gun?

Maybe... No... IDFK... But, I don't mind the innovation we've seen here in the US. @Paul Sharp and I were remarking that 15 years ago there weren't any AIWB guys/gear/doctrine.