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.

Nebraska State Steel Challenge Championship

I spent the day in Grand Island, Nebraska at the Heartland Public Shooting Park competing in the Nebraska State Steel Challenge Championship.

The match consisted of all 8 official stages.

I shot in two divisions; rim fire iron sight pistol and rim fire iron sight rifle.

I used a Beretta Neos pistol and a Ruger 10/22 rifle.

This was my first match shooting the rifle.  I made a few mistakes, but I feel like I shot pretty well with it.  I did well with my pistol, too.  I have shot it at several steel challenge matches and continue to improve withit.  I need to spend some time in actual practice so I can get better.

My time with the pistol was 149.19 seconds.

My time with the rifle was 133.78 seconds.

I finished in second place in both division and was happy with my results.

ENPS Monthly USPSA match

I spent most of the day yesterday in Louisville, NE at the Eastern Nebraska Practical Shooter's monthly USPSA match.  It was a great day for shooting.  I didn't do all that well, but still had a good time.

I did play around a little with setting a camera on a tri-pod down range so there is a little extra footage of the stages there.

I had a few hiccups and there are a couple of times that I guess I forgot I was shooting production division and didn't reload when I needed to.  Stage 4 was my worst stage.  I just couldn't hit the steel.

I finished 10th in Production (2nd C class) and 34th overall.

Big Shots Practical Shooters - September 3, 2014

We started the practical shooting league at Big Shots Indoor Range again last night.  Matches will be held each Wednesday evening with set-up at 7:00 pm and shooting starting around 7:30 pm.

The stage had 12 paper targets for a total round count of 24.  The stage description required that you engage at least 1 target from each side of the barricade and then you could either go prone and shoot the 4 targets from there or there was another shooting box at the back corner of the range that you could shoot those targets from if you didn't want (or weren't able) to go prone.

I think it was a good stage, but then I designed it so I am probably biased.  I shot quickly but ended up with 5 mikes.  I apparently need to practice my prone position shooting.

If you get a chance come on out and join us some night.  It is lots of fun and we would love to have you.

Great Plains Sectional Championship

I had the opportunity to shoot and work the Great Plains Sectional Championship match this past weekend.  I shot the match on Saturday and worked as an RO (Range Officer) on Sunday.

The match had 9 stages.  As always, the stages were lots of fun and presented different challenges.  There were lots of close targets in the match, but there were enough targets at range to keep things interesting.

I could have done better, but feel like I did well.  While watching the video of my performance, it is easy to see where I bobbled reloads, reloaded when I didn't need to, etc.  Overall, I had 2 mikes and 4 deltas during the entire match.  Not too bad for me.

I earned 2nd place C class Production (out of 11), 16th place Production (out of 35), and 61st Overall (out of 129).

I really need to spend time regularly doing dry fire practice, but never seem to make time for it.  I am going to work on that and see how much it helps me.

Check out the video and let me know what you think.  Any areas you see that I need to improve?

Great Plains USPSA Sectional prep

I got 400 rounds of ammo loaded for the Great Plains Sectional match this weekend at the Eastern Nebraska Gun Club in Louisville. I probably won't need that many rounds, but a few extra never hurts.

This match will be 9 stages.  I am shooting Saturday and will work as an RO on Sunday.  Good luck to everyone attending.  See you there.

Eastern Nebraska Practical Shooters - July Match

I spent much of the day this past Sunday at the Eastern Nebraska Gun Club in Louisville, NE.  The club there hosts a monthly USPSA match that is really quite fun.  I have been regularly attending these matches for a bit over 4 years.  I just love this stuff.

The match this month was a good one.  I got to shoot with some great folks and even did alright in the match.  I, of course, have much improvement to make, but it was still a great time.

I had 3 misses during the match.  All of which were really unnecessary.  I will continue to work on improving my shooting ability.  This match was a great warm up for the upcoming Great Plains Sectional Match.  Now I just need to get some ammo loaded.

Let me know if you have any questions about USPSA in general.  I will do my best to answer or get you in contact with someone that can.

Have you been to any good matches lately?  Any that I should try to check out?

Big Shots Practical Shooters June 25, 2014

Last night was the final night of our Wednesday night league at Big Shots Range.  We will be starting up again the first Wednesday of September.  

The stage had 16 paper targets with 4 firing points.  I enjoyed the stage even though I shot horribly.  Good thing I have fun with this sport.

Some of the target were further away than we are used to shooting and you could see the results of that in many people's scores.  I had 5 mikes and 2 no-shoots.  Certainly not my best performance.  I just need to slow down and focus more on my sight picture and trigger pull.  More practice needs to be in my future if I hope to perform decently at the upcoming USPSA National match.  

I shot the stage in 26.76 seconds and earned 95 point of a possible 160 points before I deducted the 70 points of penalties.  My hit factor was 0.9342.  Yikes!!!

I finished 5th out of 5 in production and 16 out of 21 overall.  I will be working on some dry fire drills and live fire practice on targets at 25 yards and further.

Have you been to any great matches lately?

Big Shots Practical Shooters June 18, 2014

We had a fun stage last night at our Wednesday night league.  8 paper targets with the best 3 hits per paper scored.

I got 96 out of a possible 120 points.  I had way to many D's, but at least I didn't miss anything.  My time was 19.80 seconds.  I earned first place in the production division and 5th overall.  Those open guys are really fast.

Let me know what you think.

Big Shots Practical Shooters June 11, 2014

Here is the video of the match on June 11, 2014 at Big Shots Indoor Range.  We have weekly matches there on Wednesday nights.  We use the USPSA rulebook for these matches and have quite a variety of stages each week.

Stage 1

Four paper targets and a plate rack.  The "plate rack" had 6 clay pigeons on it.  So that means those were 4 inch targets at about 9 yards.

I finished 1st in Production on stage 1 with 62 out of 70 points and a time of 15.28 seconds.  I could certainly have done better if I hadn't had so many misses on the clay pigeons.

Stage 2

Eight paper targets.  I had a miss on one target and that hurt me.

I finished 2nd in Production on stage 2 with 56 points out of 80 possible (10 point penalty for the miss) and a time of 11.11.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.