A couple of weeks ago I shot the regular monthly USPSA match at River Bend Gun Club.

It was my first match in some time, and I tried to concentrate a couple ofstrategies.

STRATEGY: ACCURACY OVER SPEED.

In my younger days I shot for a couple of years in a non-affiliated club, where the scoring was score divided by time. I found I could shoot fast enough to win with poor shot placement. Plus, with my eyesight, I was never able to see a sharp front sight, so I never developed good sight discpline, and I developed some poor habits as a result. In USPSA and IDPA, this plan doesn’t work.

Another thing I learned is to use all the resources available to me when preparing for a stage. This was brought to light on the first stage I shot:

Do you see it? I didn’t either. Here it is:

From this direction, it’s hard to see, but there is a paper target behind the barrier that is visible if we move to the left. When I first walked through this stage without reading the course description or looking at the diagram I thought that target was a no-shoot that was in place to keep me from shooting a close target to the right.

But later, walking through after pasting targets for another shooter, I noticed this view:

where it is obvious that this target is an active one that I needed to shoot.

The moral: Look at the stage drawing, read the description, and pay attention.

Wow, there it is.

It’s a good thing I wasn’t the first shooter on this stage or would have had two Mikes and a Failure To Engage.

In any case, the strategy of accuracy over speed, and I did something I had never done in all my days of shooting USPSA - I shot a stage clean. All Alphas, and two steel on two shots. Yes, I shot about 10 seconds slower than the match winner, but I’ll take it.

STRATEGY: STICK WITH MY GAME

Sometimes I let other people’s way of shooting a stage influence how I do it. But I find I shoot better if I stick to my game.

An example came in this stage, which consisted of four paper targets on the left, mirrored with these on the right, and a Texas star in the middle.

Most people in Production shot it this way:

• Two shots on 3 targets on the left, around the barricade, then a mag change (6 shots).
• Through the center window, shoot the paper targets, then the Texas star. That’s 9 shots of they are perfect. Change mags.
• Then repeat the first string on the right targets.

For me, though, I know I have had a bad time with Texas stars, historically, and I don’t want to end up with a mag change from slide lock, shooting through the center window.

So, here’s how I shot it.

• From around the left barricade, shoot the four paper targets. Yes, it means I had to lean out to get the last target, but I can make that shot easily. Change mags.
• Then, go to the right of the barricade and repeat on the four targets there, and change mags.
• Then, through the center window, shoot the Texas star with a full mag plus one.

Again, staying with my strategy paid off. Not only did I shoot the Texas star with a full gun, my accuracy over speed strategy meant I shot the Texas star in 6 shots, which gave me the 8th best score of everybody.

All in all, I thought I shot well for my first match of the year. The one down spot for me was on the classifier. Since classifiers are the means by which USPSA shooters are sorted by class (hence the name), it stands to reason that I need to shoot better on them to move up.  What killed me was a miserable performance in weak handed shooting. There were five targets, and we shot three strings of one shot per target. The first string was freestyle, the second was strong hand only, and the last was weak hand only.

No, this isn’t me. I suck at weak hand shooting. Time to fix that.

+++++

On a related note, I found this video on line from Randy Gamble, who shot in my squad. Enjoy.

Of course, I don’t see these businesses as anything to admire, but to be avoided, since criminals now know they can ply their trade unopposed. I already avoid most of these locations when an acceptable alternative is available.

It’s worth noting that my local CVS is not posted, which means it isn’t a Gun Free Victim Zone under Georgia law.

It’s also worth noting that, under Georgia law, weapons prohibitions are a property violation, not a criminal one, meaning that if someone is carrying a gun in one of these businesses, the owner is allowed to ask them to leave. The only time the police are involved is if the carrier refuses to leave. At that point they could be charged with criminal trespass.

It’s also worth noting that where I live, Kennesaw, it is very likely that people carry concealed into these locations all the time, without the owners ever knowing. Very likely.

Does this work? Does it reduce crime?

I ran across this chart on violent crime on CityRating.com. You decide for yourself.

I think it’s a good idea to let the new gun control bill come to the floor of the Senate, to be debated and voted on. Here are my reasons.

• In the debates all the senators who speak will be on the record about where they stand, and all the senators’ votes will be on record. Then we can vote accordingly the next election.
• People like Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer will get a spotlight to say something really ignorant and stupid, which can be replayed at our leisure for the rest of time.
• The anti-gun faction will finally get a chance to say things that, if enacted, would violate the Second Amendment, and probably other parts of the Constitution as well.
• Eventually, the bill will be voted down. In this I have no doubt.
• The anti-gun faction will not be able to claim that they never got their chance to make their point or be heard. In fact, their illogical and unconstitutional points will be part of the public record.
• The anti-gun faction will blame the NRA, (which will be true, especially when you consider all the NRA members who are swamping their senators right now) and the NRA’s membership will grow even more.

My two senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, are both on record saying they think this bill violates the Second Amendment, and will vote against it on the floor, but they voted for cloture to let that happen.

If we don’t give this bad bill it’s day, the anti-gun faction will just whine and complain, and it will be televised and marketed by their media friends, and we will be back in this situation again.

I’m willing to let the system do what it is designed to do.