Saturday, April 13, 2013

Fredericksburg USPSA Match

Last weekend was filled with shooting fun. The day after shooting the half-day Cedar Mountain Youths pistol match, I took part in the 7+ hour monthly Fredericsburg Practical Shooters USPSA match. Consisting of just one more stage than Saturday's match, the major difference being the number of shooters; 17 at Cedar Mountain, 108 at Fredericksburg. Despite the time it takes to shoot the match, Fredericksburg is always extremely fun, and this month the Spring-like weather made for a very pleasant day.

This month's match was a "classifier match," so 4 stages were official USPSA classifier stages, which were interspersed with longer "field courses." The first stage our squad shot was "After Work Blues." This stage was more field course than your typical "stand and shoot" classifier. You started by opening a door and engaging three targets, then moving to a long port to engage 2 paper and 2 steel, and then finally transitioning to behind a barricade to engage the last three paper targets. A lot of fun with some fast sprinting between shooting areas.

"Pop-Ups" was another exciting stage that had the shooter hitting steel poppers place at the end of the bay, in order to activate a swinger and a clamshell target at the front of the bay, before moving downrange to engage targets on both sides.

Pop-Ups

Overall, I did not have as successful a day shooting as I would have liked. There were way too many misses, not to mention one stage where I went running right by two targets without even engaging them. THAT was frustrating. In reviewing the day, I was very happy with the speed and consistency in my draw, a result of many hours of dry fire. I also feel I've made improvements in moving between shooting spots and being ready to shoot upon getting there. But for whatever reason, my accuracy was way down. However, I came away with some specific goals for training, that makes it a successful day. My next practice sessions will surely focus on shooting groups and making sure I am truly watching the sights.

But no matter the results, it was a great day of shooting with a lot of fun folks.

Curse you, no-shoots!

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