Back At It

On By Tom LindsayIn Competition, GSSF, USPSA4 Comments

2019 has started out well as the year of my return to competitive shooting, and I am working to keep it going.

It started with USPSA at Cherokee Gun Club, and River Bend Gun Club. As I reported before, I decided to switch from Production to Limited Minor, and, while I can’t say I’ve seen a big difference, not having to plan my stage based on 10 rounds is rather nice. I now pack 18 rounds, plus one in the chamber if I need it, and this usually means only one mag change.

The result of this is I am shooting the Classifiers well enough that I think I can start out as a C class Limited shooter, once I get 6 scores. Seeing that I spent 7 years as a D class Production shooter, I feel good about it.

The next news came from the GSSF match in Dawsonville on March 16, where I shot 94.16, beating my best match ever by over 8 points. I did this y have zero Mikes, and by shooting my fastest times ever on 5 to Glock and Glock M.

Of course, being a perfectionist, I look at Glock the Plates and ask why I didn’t do my best ever, there? But it was easy to see – my stages went 10.47 >> 9.21 >> 6.12 >> 6.21. Since this was my first stage, the answer, to me, is warm up. I could have shot it 7 seconds or so faster. But I’ll take it.

So where is this coming from? Dry fire. I’m spending at least 15 minutes a day in my office dry firing, smoothing up my trigger pull. about a third of that is draw and fire, to speed up my first shot and make it accurate.

And, I have to admit, watching myself on YouTube, my next area to work on needs to be to lose weight and speed up. Given I have always had catcher speed, I don’t know if losing the weight will really work, but it can’t hurt.

More to come!

New Year’s Resolutions

On By Tom LindsayIn Self Defense

Hey, why not? I know I do this ever year, and then I don’t do it. But here goes:

I am going to post more in 2019, you have my word.

On deck:

  • Changing to Limited Minor in USPSA
  • EDC Choices
  • More “Be Prepared”

So look for this coming.

Seriously.

Changing it Up – Production to Limited

On By Tom LindsayIn Bruce, Competition, USPSA
Bruce, my Gen 2 G17

I recently shot my first USPSA match in about 18 months, and I must admit, my lack of practice in that time showed. To me the biggest hamper was that my magazine changes made me even slower that normal. As a result, I actually shot next to last in Production. I was not happy.

So, in order to speed things up a bit, I have decided to change from Production to Limited class for the next match. For those who don’t know, the main thing for me will be that my magazines can hold as many rounds as they can hold, instead of being limited to 10 rounds in Production. So now I can shoot twice as many shots before requiring a magazine change.

Now, I am still going to shoot Bruce, my G17, which means I will be shooting Minor power factor, which puts some lesser value on the C and D shots. So, this means I need to shoot all A’s, doesn’t it. Yes, I know this will automatically put me behind from the beginning. But, I don’t expect I would win if I shot Major, and right now I can’t afford a Major gun, nor the ammo.

So my plan is to compare how well I do in Limited, to my Production performance, and if I do well enough, then start saving for a Glock 35, in .40 caliber, which would be Major power factor.

I’m probably going to but new mag pouches as well.

So, please keep me in your thoughts on December 8. And, please feel free to share your thoughts about what I might do in order to maximize my scores. I know I can use the help.