First USPSA Match

[Dedicated_Dad]

I shot my first USPSA match this weekend. Good time, learned a lot...

I decided to use my Taurus PT99AF (instead of my Sig 229 .40) for several reasons, mostly cost of ammo and the fact that my carpal-tunnel is acting up... I've only shot this pistol a few times before, though it's very accurate I tend to gravitate to the Maks... Anyway...

My accuracy was - if I judged correctly - over 95% "A"s but my times stank. Being crippled is bad enough, using a crappy nylon holster made it worse, and not being overly familiar with the pistol was the icing on the cake. It really made me think about the simple fact that a couple of times I would have been DEAD if this had been "real life"...

One little "episode" was especially bad.

For background, for those who may not be familiar with this pistol, it's very close to the Beretta "M-9" except the safety is on the frame instead of the slide. Safety "up" is safe, down one click is "live" and 2 clicks down activates the decocker and disables all the firing functions - it's like a "different" safe setting. If you rack the slide with the safety in this "down" position, the hammer will decock every time, making it a very safe way to load and unload your pistol.

The pistol can be "cocked and locked" with the safety up, and this was how I chose to use it in the box because the single-action trigger on this one is GREAT for "double-taps" - it has a very short SA pull, and a very shallow reset...

The buzzer sounded, I drew my pistol and swept off the safety - the hammer dropped. I thought "that sucks... It's never done THAT before..." then "screw it - I'll just shoot double-action." I pulled the trigger, and... Nothing. "Damn!" I think... "I'll just pull the hammer back" I did so, and it dropped again - the pistol was on "decock-safe" but I still hadn't figured this out...

Next I did a "tap-rack" - ejecting the live round in the chamber and - once again dropping the hammer in decock... The pistol was doing EXACTLY what it was supposed to do - I just wasn't smart enough ATM to figure it out.

At this point I said "CRAP! Malfunction!" and stopped, turned my body sideways to my right (keeping the pistol pointing downrange) toward the RO - and looked at it - which is when I realized what was wrong. I asked the RO if I could continue - he approved - and I did, finally nailing all 6 targets in just a few seconds.

At this point I was feeling REALLY stupid, and made it worse when I tried to "unload and make safe" -- I racked the slide without ejecting the mag, succeeding only in loading another round into the chamber. I felt REALLY dumb then, dropped the mag, locked the slide back ... The R.O. hadn't seen my mag fall, so he said "Where's the mag?" "It's on the ground..." After this display of stupidity, I don't blame him for being worried...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think he was upset with me, he just wanted to make damn sure I'd succeeded in unloading the pistol after my first stupid, failed attempt to do so...

Anyhow, as I see it, I learned a number of things from this experience:

(1) The design of this pistol makes it *TOO* safe. Yes, it's impossible to have an AD with the safety in either "safe" position, but it's also impossible to make it fire after a big gross-motor sweep-off of the safety. This is a good idea for training inexperienced people, but REALLY bad for a "combat" pistol!!

(2) This was a friendly competition, I was among men who had repeatedly boosted my confidence by complimenting me on my accuracy and safety, yet the minor adrenaline-dump born of embarassment caused me to make stupid mistakes over and over. I'd have been worse than useless in a firefight at that moment. Under REAL stress - as in real combat - I would have gotten myself killed.

All very sobering...

Still, given everything, I'm still pretty happy with my performance. As I said, my shooting was excellent, and just getting a decent holster will no doubt cut my times significantly.

I also decided that henceforth I'm going to wear my "knee immobilizer" to such events. Whatever minor handicap a locked-straight knee may bring, it will no doubt be preferable to the pain and instability which forced me to take a slow walk where everyone else was running...

DD

[randy]

Train like you fight, fight like you train.

If the Sig is your primary weapon, can you get a companion in 9mm or a 9mm upper so that you can shoot cheaper ammo with a familiar weapon?

Otherwise, all I can advise is practice, practice, practice with the Taurus, including dry firing.

And when you get a decent holster (for either piece), don't forget a good quality belt with it.

except the safety is on the frame instead of the slide. Safety "up" is safe, down one click is "live"

As it should be, as Ordained by John Moses Browning (Peace Be Unto His Name)!

[Ben Rumson]

Sounds like a good first time out.

My range is doing IDPA, USPSA, two gun and now three gun. I can only afford one, so I'm shooting two gun for now (will try three gun) which leads me to my story.

My last match, one of the combat (sandbox) veterans in my group shot first with his AR. He transitioned over to his pistol, pulled the trigger and click!?.............. He never "made ready" his pistol. He didn't catch it and neither did the RO. He did recover and shot a great sequence once he got loaded.

Don't sweat the mistakes. I know I'm learning from mine.

ETA: I'm still racking the slide on tac reloads which isn't required, not recommended and costs me time every time I do it.

[Dedicated_Dad]

Train like you fight, fight like you train.

If the Sig is your primary weapon, can you get a companion in 9mm or a 9mm upper so that you can shoot cheaper ammo with a familiar weapon?

If I am right, I believe it would take just a bbl and new mags. I learned long ago - roused by the dog from a dead sleep and reached over the tricked-out Sig.40 to grab a Mak - that my subconscious prefers the Mak. I don't even need the sights - it points like my finger - but it's under "minimum power factor" for USPSA or - AFAIK - any of them. The guy told me I could shoot it if I want but I'd get "a star by my name"...

Then there's the issue that I can only really carry a pocket-pistol...

Otherwise, all I can advise is practice, practice, practice with the Taurus, including dry firing.

And when you get a decent holster (for either piece), don't forget a good quality belt with it.

Already have good belts, they even did well for Cowboy with big ol' .45's... I've been practicing with both pistols, working on mag-changes (without looking) and snap-sighting.

Prior to now I've done most of my shooting at an indoor range where no holsters were allowed. The problems with my training were as obvious as anything could be - I shot damn near perfect but sucked at everything else... In talking to the guys there, a decent kydex paddle should be more than enough.

I learned some other lessons as well - I can't move right-to-left (left knee gone) but left-to-right I can do a pretty good shuffle, so I need to do this... Then there's the mag issue - I only had three, so I generally shot to empty before reloading. With 4-5 mags I could reload every time I move, thus gaining much speed/cutting time.

except the safety is on the frame instead of the slide. Safety "up" is safe, down one click is "live"

As it should be, as Ordained by John Moses Browning (Peace Be Unto His Name)!

Agreed - I don't own a pistol that works any other way, and doubt I ever will. The problem with this one is that third position... Most decockers just don't stay in that decock position... It's actually a smart idea for what it is - it allows (for example) decocking the pistol upon loading without a separate step - but it really screwed me up when it ended up there accidentally... I literally lost some sleep thinking how I'd be Dee-Eee-Ay-DEE had that been an "actual emergency"...

I'll definitely be doing more of this, and starting to reload ASAP...

DD

[Erik]

I can relate. I havent been in a real match yet, I'm just practising and waiting for the certification class I need to take to compete here. But during practise I've done some things too that havent been too bright. I just try not to rush it and always err on the side of caution, always putting safety first. First time I was doing a practice stage with my 1911, I had to spend maybe 30 seconds to get the gun to work, with everyone else behind me watching. The magazine wasn't cooperating and I finally gave up and just dropped it, reloaded and kept going. But I got some nice comments for safe handling, I kept the barrel straight ahead the whole time.

I take comfort in that even the best people do some mistakes, sometimes. At a big event at the local range a few weeks ago, the countrys top competitor spent several seconds trying to get his gun to fire before he noticed the safety was on. Another one was almost done with his stage and was about to clear his gun when he noticed a plate was still up, and proceeded to shoot it down with one last shot, many seconds after he was done, dropping his score considerably.

[Aglifter]

DD, there's a company called "ironmind" which sells different "grades" of rubber bands to use to build the muscles which open your hand -- they've helped me a great deal w. my hands. You may want to try them.

[Dedicated_Dad]

DD, there's a company called "ironmind" which sells different "grades" of rubber bands to use to build the muscles which open your hand -- they've helped me a great deal w. my hands. You may want to try them.

Did this help with carpal-tunnel, or...?

I should [strike]probably[/strike] get the surgery. Fixed that after I typed it...

Problem is (1) I came out of the "knee-fix" worse than before, a knee is bad enough but if I lose my HANDS I'd lose my MIND... OTOH the nerve damage is apparently progressive... Dunno...

(2) I often need a cane to walk at all, and won't be able to use one for a while after CT surgery ...

More info on your suggestion would sure be appreciated!

DD

[Aglifter]

I'm not sure about the carpal tunnel -- my hands start to get really sore as the semester goes on -- not sure if it's carpal tunnel, or typing just aggravates the fact that I've broken my metacarsals repeatedly. If I remember to work w. those bands, it does me a world of good -- they're just different strengths of rubber bands -- I'd suggest trying a rubber band you find around the house to see if it helps -- if you think it might, email me your address and I'll send you some of mine. (They come in sets of two, but I only ever do one hand at a time.)

[SoupOrMan]

Welcome to the disease, DD. I'm a life member of the USPSA, albeit the low man on the totem pole when it comes to ability. Shoot what you like, too; while you might be shooting before one guy and after another, the only competition to worry about is your last time. I'll see some of the guys bring out their tricked-out Open guns as well as a 1911 or Glock or XD9 or whatever. They'll shoot the stage once or twice with their Open gun, then run through it in with a 9mm for Production or just for fun. I've even seen one of our guys break in his Ruger 22/45 at the match, just for fun. He had problems with the steel targets, but he brought plenty of magazines for it.

Shoot what you like. The times and scores are just something for you to beat the next time through. Does your group do a weekly one-stage match or is it more like the matches where you run multiple stages on the same day? My group has weekly matches at a local range plus monthly and quarterly matches at sites around the county. If you run the weekly non-classifier matches, they'll probably cut you some slack on pistol choice. If you want to do classifiers, just run a 9mm for Production and call it good.

And don't get too ticked off at yourself for messing up. "Better in a game than in real life" is my mantra when I have problems like that.

Most importantly for new-to-the-game shooters? Shoot for fun to start with. Then even when you become a regular and a die-hard competitor, you'll still have fun. You'll just be doing it very quickly.

[randy]

+100 on what Soup said. The only person you're competing with that matters is yourself.

Since I look at all such activities as training for defensive combat, if I were you, I'd go with Mak and ignore the "*" next to your name. It will only matter to gamesters, not serious shooters.