USPSA 2014 Handgun National Championship

I had the opportunity to compete in the USPSA 2014 Handgun National Championship at the end of September.  The match was held just outside of St. George, Utah and consisted of 27 stages.

Stage 27

I shot my normal competition gun (a Springfield Armory XDM 9mm) and have a C classification.  The match was a ton of fun and I'm glad about that because I did not shoot very well.

Here is a video of the match.

Here are a few stats regarding my performance at the match.

2014 Production Nationals
Overall Production Finish:  141st place
C Class Production Finish:  15th place
Match Percentage:  51.14%
Points shot less penalties (3,135 possible):  2,447 or 78.05% of possible
Total Time:  658.17 seconds  (166% of 1st place)
Alpha %:  66.99%
Mikes:  14
No Shoots:  4
Prprocedurals:  1

Not bad for me, but certainly not great.  I've got a lot of areas to improve on.

I also shot the Production Nationals last year and comparatively I did a slightly better job this year.  There were more shooters at last year's Production Nationals match.

2013 Production Nationals
Overall Production Finish:  222nd place
C Class Production Finish:  17th place
Match Percentage:  46.03%
Points shot less penalties (1,830 possible):  1,386 or 75.74% of possible
Total Time:  357.30 seconds  (174% of 1st place)
Alpha %;  58.47%
Mikes:  6
No Shoots:  1
Procedurals:  0

I can see improvement over last year, but I had hoped for more improvement.  I am going to continue to work on losing weight and becoming more active and know that will help with my shooting ability.  I also plan to start a training program that will include dry fire drills and live fire practice.  Let's see if I can have an even better showing at next year's match.

The drive out and back was long, but the scenery was beautiful.  I had never been out to that part of the country and I'm glad I went.  Here are a few pictures from my visit to Zion National Park.