The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: Bidah on June 13, 2011, 01:42:03 PM
-
I am taking this is as a huge learning experience. My son Joshua (11) and I went to our first ever USPSA match. I mulled the entire match over many times on the way home. There were 62 shooters for the match, and 25 for Production division. I was using my XD-9 that I have had for about 6 years, and my son was using my CZ-75B. Final scores put me in D class with a 34%.
About halfway though my very first stage I had my XD lock up so tight we almost had to get a mallet to get the live round out of the chamber. After I looked at the round I found that it was a reload, not mine, and I did not catch it when I loaded up the magazine. I figure someone tossed it in my box at some point thinking it was. It was not sized correctly. The rest of the match went very poorly for me shooting wise. I normally will drop 1 or 2 for an entire match (club level), but over half my shots were out of the A zone today. More on that in a minute.
Joshua did fairly well today and did not drop that many points on the stages.
Pro: We came away with no extra holes, and I did not get DQ'd. Joshua had a good time.
Con: I, and Joshua, were repeatedly told what we were doing incorrectly. This is not a bad thing, just that there was a LOT of it. Of course Joshua gets his from me because I am the one that taught him. So, I found myself trying very hard not to break the rules and to heck with the front sight and if they were lined up was a result, along with my poor grip coming back (more later). I was told several times that we could have been DQ'd but they let it go since we were new. I am guessing that at the club level that we have been shooting, which is more of a 'fun' type shoot, has allowed bad form to set it or never get noticed.
Learning to be done: When moving, do not lower the muzzle of the weapon, keep it horizontal. This was a big one for us. It is what I was taught to do, and is evidently a big no-no. I also tip the pistol over too far when I do reloads and they want it to be close to vertical. I should stop getting so flustered and remember to keep on the front sight. Watching the front sight is a must, and getting my better grip ingrained needs to be done.
I have nowhere to go but up. Heck, I can't get much lower. I do have a timer coming, but there are a lot of basics that I need to cover first before shooing and speed is not one of them. Good or bad, almost all these issues can be done without actual shooting. I have to readjust my practice planning. I had purchased the training book my Mike Seeklander, and have spent 2 months working on my grip and shooting of the XD. The XD is a very poor shooter in my hands, but if I grip it just right, and concentrate, I can do ok with it. I am determined to use it this year and I am shooting NONE of my other pistols while I work on it. I have over 2000 firing repetitions that I have done wrong just in the last 2 months, so now I have to get forming new correct habits.
-
Way to go Bidah, and Joshua too!! Well done guys!
-
I'm glad you guys got out and had a good time. Frustration is a part of learning and a part of getting better. It sounds like you are ready to work and move forward, which tells me that as negative as it sounds it was actually a good time.
I'm curious but don't want to do it all in the open - PM me with things they said they could have DQ'd on. I'm curious, because I am an RO and am not sure if some of what you stated were the issues or there was something else. Club matches can build in some traps that aren't your fault, and turning a blind eye can also foster bad habits.
-
Congrats. Check around and you might find a club that does practice nights during the week and doesn't charge to shoot. Also try to hook up with a mentor from that club or someplace else...especially for Joshua but also for you. Hopefully he will not have too hard a time unlearning.
Richard
PS: I remember my first match some 30+ years ago and I'm still having fun!
-
Glad it was a good outing with your son......always a positive thing spending quality time with family.
One of the worst stumbling blocks we humans have is learning to accept criticism....even the positive, constructive type....It sounds like you have that under control.
Much good luck to you and Joshua as you seek to improve.
-
Good to go!
I took the oldest to her first match last year. We got squaded with people we didn't know which really hurt her chances of having a good time. One guy on the squad was always in her face telling her to hold the gun a certain way or that, similar to what you discribe. found out later he hadn't been shooting very long and that was what he was taught. Around here if the muzzle is pointed down range at least 10ft (about 45 deg) it's legal. If it's legal for Todd Jarrett, its legal for her. He was harping on her "flagging her feet" while she moved. I was ROing her and she was clear but he "saw" it from 20ft away and kept harping on her.
She hasn't been back since, and has no desire to either :(
-
Hey Bidah,
I'm sorry that you had a couple of bad experiences with your first shoot. I also did my first USPSA shoot here (Tacoma, Wa.) yesterday and found out a couple of my own faults. One of them was that I was shooting reloads (not my own, I don't reload yet) in my 1911 and had some issues with them hanging up on my feedramp (bad lead castings as I figured out later), which cost me time and points. All the guys I shot with were very encouraging and it might just be the guys your were squadded with.
Don't let it get you down I'm probably gonna shoot a steels match this weekend to see what lessons I've learned. :)
Good luck.
Jason
-
Congrats. Check around and you might find a club that does practice nights during the week and doesn't charge to shoot. Also try to hook up with a mentor from that club or someplace else...especially for Joshua but also for you. Hopefully he will not have too hard a time unlearning.
Richard, thanks for the thought. Sadly that is a close club at 137 miles away and they don't do anything during the week. The one club that does is about the same distance and besides the 2.5 hour drive one way, I would never make it in time. So, it will be me using books and video, and some classes as I can afford them.
Yes, I am overly critical. It is just my nature. I have taken plenty of classes and compete at the local club fun matches plus doing 3 gun. I chose this year to branch out and really improve and getting into USPSA was my move to do that. I am not there so much to game it as I am there to practice. I have really taken on a large task since I am also shooting my XD, which I have historically sucked at shooting. So I have had to change my grip, be very aware of the trigger, etc.. I got flustered since I was doing automatic things wrong, so the stuff that I am still working on got dropped and my scores tanked. Chalk it up and move forward.
-Bidah
-
Don't be too hard on those eager beavers. They, in their own way (some not so gracious), are trying to help.
PLUSes+++++ on not DQing. That was my number one goal the first time I shot USPSA. #2 was no warnings. The RO did privately tell me how I was sweeping my weak hand when I was holstering the gun, though, which I appreciated.
I so like my XD so much more than my Glock. Of course the XD is 10,000+ cycles and the Glock is only in the lower thousands.
One thing to do with a child, is discretely make it clear to the local "experts" that any advice or suggestions should come through you. I've seen this handled by several fathers (especially with daughters - granddaughters, some "gentlemen" want get a little too friendly with some of the young ladies.) But the idea is that he's your child and you'll handle the teaching. Usually a quiet word with the "expert" and they'll back off. Due to my work with children, I have an eye for this type of thing and I've headed it off by telling other people on a squad that before they go giving advice to a jr. they might want to check with the parent first. (Safety violations excepted of course.)
For some reason in all my shooting, I've always trained to keep the muzzle pointed downrange at the backstop/berm. So it's natural for me. It's just safer in competition. Don't want to A/D but if we do, we want it into the back stop. Not near our feet or over the berm.
We all.....okay most of us..... some of us?..................okay you and me have no where to go but up.
Once you get comfortable with the safety aspect and the procedures then the shooting and moving comes easier.
-
Bidah, I feel for the distance thing! Any chance an indoor range might be doing something?
Good Luck,
Richard
-
Congratulations on givin' 'em the right kinda start.
-
Good job.
-
Bidah, I feel for the distance thing! Any chance an indoor range might be doing something?
Only if I build it, and that was in the works a few years ago before it fell apart. To my knowledge there isn't an indoor range in the entire state. I believe there might be one in Boise at the cost of 8 hours of one way driving. :( Oh, how about Spokane at 6 hours.. Living in the sticks is great, and I just have had to give up some things. Access to training from professionals, or indoor ranges, is one of them. I did note, too late, that Mike Seeklander was having a two day competition shooting course not far from here. Now THAT would have been a good thing to go to, and completely unexpected.
-
Congrats, any time on the range with the kids is a good time. Show them what you know. Guess that is why I assist also with a Boy Scouts of America Venturing Crew? ;D The kids are our future to shooting sports. They need to learn while they are young.
-
Ping I believe you are right. It is one of the reasons that I was involved for quite a few years with the Appleseed Project. We had a lot of kids come through the program, besides my own.
I got some great Pro advice on how to do the movement with the pistol and not get DQ'd for it. I have been practicing all week, and have a few more till the next match. Then we can see if I have made the new stuff 'stick'. :) I should say it is not just me, I have been also having both boys practice too.
-Bidah