Name one thing you learned at your last match...

[cpaspr]

but what's a Texas Star?

[GoSlash27]

CPASPR,
It's a five spoke wheel with steel plates on the end of the arms and it rides on a bearing in the middle. Whenever you knock a plate off, it rotates/ swings because the remaining plates are out of balance.

Lycanthrope,
Yeah...but what if your course designer covers the top half with no-shoots? :barf:

[Lycanthrope]

Yeah...but what if your course designer covers the top half with no-shoots?

Devil Spawn!

[GoSlash27]

Seriously...isn't there something in the Geneva conventions about this?

[Dave P]

One lesson I learned this weekend: after packing the truck carefully for your big match, don't accidentally unload it without thinking twice.

I unloaded the boxes of match loads that I needed - Didn't get to shoot at all.

[glockopop]

Yes, the designer of our course was an evil, evil, man. That was also my first experience with a Texas star. I actually did better against it than I expected to, but I left one plate standing because I shoot L-10 and only have 4 mags. In addition to the star, there were 2 other steel and 8 paper, so I ran out of ammo with that one damn plate still twirling in front of me.

[Lycanthrope]

L10 has the reputation of being entry level.....but in reality.....it's where "A Class+" goes to practice.

[glockopop]

Or, in my case, D-class Limited Glock shooter who lucked into a sweet deal on a Wilson KZ45.

I also learned today that I need to follow my own advice from a couple pages back in the thread and dryfire. I found today that I didn't miss when I made a conscious effort to place my trigger finger correctly. I keep putting it in the spot that's right on for my G35 but all wrong for my Wilson. Your subconscious will always revert back to what you've trained yourself to do.

[Big Don]

I've been shooting combat matches for years. Iron sights for all three guns, can't think of too many things I'd rather do on the first Saturday of each month!
1. Always carry extra ammo in your pockets. Last match, I finally loaded a short mag. It was short because I allowed myself to be distracted and failed to upload it and let it go back into my mag holder. Yes, I was astounded at myself and that cost me time. I WILL NOT do that again!
2. Unless you are super-competitive, don't try to beat the other guys, especially those who are always in the top three places. Shoot against yourself and how you did last time. You will improve and will likely catch those other guys.
3. Remember, you're out there to have fun and become a better shooter. If you shoot combat matches on a regular basis, you're probably better than most of the other shooters out there, even if you're not in the top half of the monthly crowd. At least you're out there and they're not!
4. Practice, practice, practice. If you can put some rounds down range the day before the match then do so!
5. Volunteer to design scenarios. Then, design them so you have to work on those things your really suck at. You can only blame yourself for how hard it is and you make yourself work hard at making yourself better. Many of the other shooters will "complain" about "Who designed this nightmare?" but will really be glad you did because they also suck at the same things you do! Weak hand, prone pistol, weak side shotgun, etc.
6. Have fun!
7. Take your time. A 10-second round with 5 "mikes" is worse than a 20-second round with no "mikes."

[GoSlash27]

Lycanthrope,
There are some pretty good L-10 guys in our group....but I'm not one of 'em.
I got all the plates, but I carry twice as many loaded mags as glockopop.
/needed 'em, too...

[HiPowering Along]

Got curious to see a "Texas Wheel" after the comments about one...found a pic on another site:

http://shooterslegacy.net/forum/view...0f01a42e2e0779

If you're prone to seizures watching something spin, that might do it.... Looks like fun, unless you're trying to make up time for a blown stage!

[rhino]

Last Saturday's steel match . . .

It's something I already knew, but I "learned" it again. You can't miss fast enough to win. Pushing too hard and missing costs more time than holding back 5-10% and getting the hit on the first shot, especially if you are already transitioning to the next plate before you realize you didn't hit the prior plate.

I was also reminded that confidence is a good thing. Trusting the sights and follow through is good; waiting until you hear a "Ting!" is too slow.

[Jeff22]

I shot a USPSA special classifier match on Sunday.

All four stages were done entirely on steel. The match cycled very quickly -- If I would've known how quick the match was going to go, I would've brought a revolver and got classified in the "revolver" class as well.

Follow through and a proper rhythm are important in shooting reactive targets.

I was shooting a borrowed .45 on a para-ordnance frame with a recoil compensator (I usually shoot in "production") because I wanted to get classified in "open".

A 4-1/4 lb trigger may/may not be practical for carry on the street, but it's certainly a joy to shoot.

I saw lots of people who were trying to improve their classification go too fast and "crash and burn" on multiple stages. But, you can't find "the edge" until you go over it a few times.

Each stage had 6 pepper poppers of various configuration (full size and 2/3rds scale) at different distances. I usually was able to clean the plates in about 7 seconds. Some guys were doing it in right around 3 seconds, depending upon the stage.

I couldn't be that fast on the best day I ever had . . .

[rhgunguy]

The Texas star is realy not that difficult once you start thinking in the 4th dimension. It is not a moving target, but a target that is in one spot at one moment in time and at another spot another time.

I know that is deep, but bear with me. You know the exact route that the plate will be following. Pick a spot on that route and aim for it. Don't move the gun to the plate, I promise the plate will come to you. Just before the forward edge of the plate touches the edge of your sight, squeeze off your shoot. Don't get distracted by the spinning, that is what it is designed to do, don't let it win. The tricky part is learning the timing.

I do fine on the steele versions, but GoSlash's clever pratcice rig can give me fits. Who knew that slow-moving clay pigeons would be tougher than whirling steele plates?

The thing that I learned was not at a match, but at our end of the year banquet were I was awarded the dubious honor of "most no-shoots". It is only the most among active club members, and most of them were mearly grazed, but still no-shoots. Yet somehow I managed to move up a class, and take 2nd in my class for the year. It didn't take much thought over a cold beer to realize that if I hadn't hit all those hostages I would likely have taken 1st in class and possibly moved up a little more. So my goal for the year is to put every shot on the target I want, where I want it.

[tanksoldier]

On the Texas Star you can actually estimate were the plates will come to a momentary stop... and you can figure out which plates will cause it to spin faster. You have to keep it balanced, don't shoot two next to each other right off if you can help it.

I hit the wrong plate at the wrong time once, and the star just started spinning without stopping. It went several revolutions before slowing down. Cost me lots of time.

[HiPowering Along]

Final stage, last shooter of the day, and doing better than I've ever done in the division, and get the signal to "load and make ready".

Draw Sig, draw mag, shove mag up the well, grab slide, rack and sling. Halfway it jams. Grab and rack again. Still jams.

Aw, futz.

Eject mag. Clear malfunction. Pickup the offending round and shove in opposite pocket. Insert another cartridge into mag. Reinsert into Sig, rack; chambers fine. 3.58 seconds later, the match is in the history books.

My Sig doesn't screwup like that. Never has. It does, however, when you can't read the caliber on the cartridge that you picked up on the previous stage after "unload and show clear" - and the cartridge is just a hair larger than your 9mm (.40 cal).

Watch what you pickup after "unload and show clear" - make sure it's your caliber before mixing it in a jacket pocket with extra rounds to top off with! If that malfunction had happened during the stage, it would have been ugly in more ways than one!

[HiPowering Along]

Found this pic in another forum - just the opposite of what happened in the post above. 9mm into a .40S&W after malfunction clearance drills during a training session.

Same color (Blazer) ammo, got it mixed in a Sig P229. According to the poster, it was *click* no bang *tap-rack* BOOM! The 9mm casing made a good hit on the target at least....

And no one was hurt in the incident, save for pride

[Samurai]

Wow! Old thread.

I'll tell you something I learned in my last match: I learned to keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire! I also learned not to get in so big a hurry that you forget to do things right.

One of the competitors (not me!) in my last match got in a hurry and dropped a magazine. He reached down to pick it up with his weapon in his hand, and reached through the trigger guard to grip the mag. When he did,... BOOM! Accidental Discharge! Noone was hurt, but it left a big puff of dirt right next to his hand, and a lot of competitors with arythmic heartbeats!

Says he: "D.Q. I'm going home!" And, quite disgusted with himself, stopped the clock and packed his gear. He was one of the more experienced shooters at the match that day.

Let this be a lesson: Think you're too good for it to happen to you? It can! Keep your mind on what you're doing when you shoot.

[FM12]

I'm way worse than I remember or even thought.

[Kirk Keller]

That it is indeed ME screwing up my scores... not my gun.

[Caseless]

Oh well, it happened again this year at the local 3 gun match.
Near the end of stage 1, twin Glock shooter re-holstered primary handgun, drew BUG. Stoppppp. Primary pistol fell to the ground with partially expended 33 round magazine. We in the back all dived for cover. It turned out he was shooting for world records in re-holstering.
Last year, shooter with 1911 race gun drew with lightning speed, but we didn't hear any shot fired. Instead, the highly-tuned and super customized race gun sailed 6 feet through the air, but stopped short of the closest target.

[Jeff22]

I shot my first IPSC match in March of 1978 with a Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP. I later on used that pistol as a duty gun on the small town PD where I worked part-time right after getting out of the Police Academy. (The Chief carried a Browning High Power (in condition 2, hammer down on a live round. He had to thumb-cock to fire the first shot!!) and 3 of us were IPSC shooters who carried various Colt Auto Pistols cocked & locked. They had a wide open firearms policy until about 1990 or so, when they mandated that all auto pistols had to be DA/SA or DAO.

So anyway, I did lots of shooting with that gun, in training and in matches and through a couple of instructor schools, until the spring of 1988 when I replaced it as a duty gun with a Beretta 92F. After that, the gun was shot much less frequently, and until late last year, hadn't been fired in the 21st century at all. The same was true of the Browning P35 High Power that I bought in 1980 and used as a spare duty weapon.

Last fall I decided I needed to get classified in "Limited 10" division in IPSC and in the "Custom Defensive Pistol" and "Enhanced Service Pistol" classes in IDPA. So I took the Combat Commander and the P35 out of the safe and shot them a quite a bit.

In practice, I didn't have any malfunctions with either gun that weren't cured by some minor tuning of the magazines.

A few weeks ago I took the .45 to an IDPA classifier and shot so I could get classified in CDP. I had a failure to extract malfunction on each of the three stages. I cleared them right away, but that probably added 20 seconds to my total time and disrupted my concentration. (I replaced the extractor on that gun twice in the 80s)

Further examination revealed that the extractor had the edges all rounded off and was past it's useful life.

Thursday night I went to shoot in an indoor IPSC match. Two stages, one being a classifier. I took the Browning HP to shoot in the "Limited 10" classification. Same story. One failure to extract malfunction on each stage. The edges on the extractor were still in pretty good shape, but after 30 years I think maybe there's some metal fatigue there or something . . . (I never shot the HP anywhere near as much as I did the Colt)

So I have replacement extractors for both guns ordered from Brownell's.

I keep spare extractors in stock for my various Sigs and the Beretta 92FS and the Glock 19, and do have one replacement extractor for the Commander as well. I feel foolish for not inspecting the guns more carefully before putting them back into service in competition . . .

[Lycanthrope]

Buy an Aftec for those 1911's.....you won't be sorry.

[rhgunguy]

I learned that you should reload on the move, even if you may not need to.

We had a stage that had 5 paper targets realy close in behind a ten foot long baracade and 4 pepper popers at about 25 yards. You had to engage paper from the right side and steel from the left. Well since I have 14 rounds in the gun and the round count is 14 I felt I did not need to reload. It took me two shoots each on the first two steel, which ran me to slide lock. If I had just reloaded while I moved, I could have saved a second or two.

[glockopop]

If you want to attend the match, don't get hammered the night before. I had a great time at the strip club while my girl was out of town, but I didn't even wake up until an hour before the match was over and gunshots were the last thing I wanted to hear in my hung-over state. Sorry to disappoint you, rhgunguy, but I'm pretty sure I would've crushed you anyway.