Get out and compete!

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Dr.Rob

Dr.Rob

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You don't have to be the best at it, just give it a shot. You learn something every time, you push your limits and your equipment, you get dirty and spend a day outdoors. The worst you will do is outshoot everyone on the internet and make some new friends ;)

Shot my last match of the 2014 season (can't make the last match in October) and had a blast. No pics today, as all us camera hounds were RO'ing.

Thanks to everyone that make Pueblo West Tactical Rifle matches so much fun!

Already looking forward to next season.
 
I agree....I shoot local steel fun matches, silhouette, and rimfire benchrest matches regularly. I enjoy the people as much as the shooting.
 
If only folks would listen. We'd have a lot more gun enthusiasts.

The biggest hindrance to shooting competitions us the time it takes. If a guy could show up at a range and shoot a match any time he wanted like golf, it would be a lot more popular.
 
that's true. the competitions i shoot are usually 500-1000 miles from me and so i have to take 2 days of vacation to shoot them.
 
Agreed! I am very fortunate to have found a weekly match close to where I live. It's indoors, so rain or shine, hot or freezing, the match is on. It takes pretty extraordinary circumstances to force me to miss it... it's just too much fund and too valuable to my mental health and outlook on life.

Shooting on the clock is the fastest and most reliable way I know to achieve the mental state of "flow." There's simply no room in your brain for other fears or worries or distractions. You may or may not shoot well, but you will be present, in the moment, and aware!
 
If a guy could show up at a range and shoot a match any time he wanted like golf, it would be a lot more popular.
Click to expand...

Simple, start converting golf courses to gun ranges ;)
 
At least one/week here--often more--in and around S.A. TX, and this only includes USPSA, IDPA, Steel Challenge and two fun Shoots--one steel, one a mix. ALL on Sat./Sun., so you have pick between some. :) 45 minute drives to some--some closer.

Some Bullseye, rifle, Cowboy Action + that I don't personally shoot.
 
This summer I decided I would go to IDPA practice shooting sessions. They aren't really matches, but I saw them as the best of all worlds: they are run like matches, scored like matches, but are forgiving to newbies like me, and it didn't cost nearly as much. So I had a lot of fun, got LOTS of feedback from experienced shooters, learned a TON of stuff about my ammo, my pistol, and my shooting problems. Well worth the 50-minute drive each way and the $5 admission. All because I was disciplined to start going and go every Wednesday night.

Lou
 
EXCELLENT article Hoser.

I started in IDPA and while we had a few rifle and shotgun side matches. I found my pistol skills improving pretty quickly. I also found myself switching from a finicky custom DA triggered 1911 (you read that right) to a solidly built imported 9mm.

I started doing tactical rifle because it looked fun and I decided long ago if I was going to get an AR-15 I was going to learn to run it.

I'm on third AR now, and I'm having more fun than ever.

PS one of these days I need to try cowboy shooting just to say I did it.
 
I love shooting IDPA. There was a match today, but the heat and humidity is so high today, I stayed home.

Over 100* and no wind, sticky, no shade, sorry not for me today.

Hopefully in two weeks!

be safe
 
I have shot cowboy action for years. Only been able to gain 1 new competitor via may friends. The don't want to play the dress up part.
Went to my 1st 3 gun match 2 months ago. Loved it. I did have a friend go and shoot also, he is hooked. Hoping by next spring to have a semi aotu shotgun. We have one more next week, then finished till next year.
 
I compete in trap, clays, muzzle-loader, and archery. There is no better way to hone your skills than to compete with and learn from others.
I would like to try cowboy action, and IDPA soon.
 
A local indoor range has "IDPA" matches twice a month. I started attending early summer and have had a lot of fun and met some great people. They are not real rules conscious except for safety. Some nights we'll do concealed and some not. There's not a lot of structure as people come in late and they get fit in even after things have started. It's a great atmosphere. Newb's get helped out and we give each other pointers and encouragement. I'm very happy I gave it a try. I go there to shoot and if I do well, great, if not I've had fun and honed my skills. Beats standing stationary at a table and shooting paper.
 
1SOW said:
At least one/week here--often more--in and around S.A. TX, and this only includes USPSA, IDPA, Steel Challenge and two fun Shoots--one steel, one a mix. ALL on Sat./Sun., so you have pick between some. :) 45 minute drives to some--some closer.

Some Bullseye, rifle, Cowboy Action + that I don't personally shoot.
Click to expand...
Ive shot IDPA with Texas Tactical outside SA
 
I started in Cowboy action because I didn't know anything else existed. Then I moved to IDPA after I discovered other disciplines and then moved to USPSA/IPSC. After my club started 3-gun, everything else took a back seat. I've been doing 3-gun for 7 years or so and am completely hooked. I've also started long range/precision which is completely opposite of 3-gun, but really fun. I've done sporting clays with my old man and that is a blast as well. I'm not terribly competitive in anything except 3-gun, but when I'm shooting with my club members, I feel like I'm with "my people". That rarely happens for me as I'm not very social.

I think too many people get hung up on the "competition" part and forget the "fun" part. There's so much more than just shooting involved...it's huge mental exercise as well.
 
My wife and I, senior citizens both, started in with handguns early in 2014. I've recently started shooting IDPA with a local club, a complete blast, and my wife and I are giving steel challenge a try. Our biggest challenge is finding places to practice that don't restrict rate of fire. We've found a group that does steel shooting on Saturday evenings; we'll probably get up there 2x/month, but it's an 80 mile drive and we get up pretty early.

Once you've tried almost any sort of shooting competition just going to a range seems boring.
 
I started out shooting bowling pin matches last November, by February I tried my first real competition a gssf shoot. I kept shooting pin matches, by the second gssf shoot I did decently well. placed in the low 60's out of almost 150 shooters in my division. in the end of july I racheted it up to the extreme and tried my hand at USPSA, did horrible the first few times. moving too slow , taking too long to get good hits, slow on the draw,poor stage planning. slow reloads.

I still have ALOT to improve on but I feel im generaly on the upper end of c class now (im still unclassified tho) funny how there never seems to be any B class shooters, your ether C class or A class


there is a GM ranked junior where I shoot....its amazing to watch how fast AND accurate he is. hes like a machine. many times Iv seen him outright sprint, never even slowing down let alone stopping and get alpha hits.:what:
 
Shot my first local match 2 months ago and came in 4th out of 24. Shot one a couple of weeks ago came in 3rd out of 19, not too bad for a fat kid (48) with a dream.
 
The three semi-local ranges are "buddy clubs" with $100-$250 per year membership fees, plus joining fees, plus "maintenance fees", plus mandatory NRA membership, plus you have to be sponsored by an existing member. So they might as well not exist.

That makes the closest range 50+ miles, one way. They're open "normal business hours", which means if you have a day job, you can only shoot on Saturdays. Take a number and be prepared to wait a long time.

I've begun to feel some sympathy for the drive-by gangbangers. It's not like there's any other place they can shoot...
 
I shot my first Bullseye match last year with a 4" .22 revolver with open sights. I think I might have broken 500. It was a 1800 match; one of the shooters let me use his Buckmark that had a red-dot sight in the second match. I did much better.

So, over the winter last year, I bought a Ruger 22/45 Mk.III target. I put a Bushnell red dot on it. After the first Bullseye match (scored 747), I put in a Sam Lam bushing )so I could yank out the magazine disconnector and a Volquartsen trigger and sear. Second math in August, 767. The third and final club match was yesterday, I broke 800 (801-18X).

Two years ago, I saw a news story for a charitable fundraiser PPC match. The story said that anyone who wanted to shoot needed a centerfire pistol, a strong-side holster, and three magazines or two speedloaders.

I thought "hey, I can do that". I had a stock police trade-in Model 10, a Bianchi belt holster and some HKS speedloaders. I came in second place in the expert category. Last year, I switched to my 6" Model 19 and scored second place master category for one of the matches. Not sure how I did this year, though (club awards banquet is in the winter).

Thing is, I've been shooting off and on for a long time, but never competed. Turns out that it's a real gas.
 
I wish I could. We have an outstanding local outdoor range, (which many of you have seen in my YouTube videos), but the only two times I showed up and it looked like a match of one kind or another was going on; I was pointedly made to feel unwelcome. There is a cowboy action match that shows up once a year, and they lock down the entire range. Showed up to one of those, invited by the sponsor, and only one person would talk to me or my son. Then we were told to shove off when lunch was served.
I don't think I'm going to drive 100 miles one way to shoot in a match, so I guess I'll keep shooting solo down here instead.
 
I started in IPSC in the early 1990's (Life Member) and have had a blast. Then later they came up with IDPA (I don't Practice Anymore) with all kinds of restrictions you cannot do because of this or that. Out in the social world there are no restrictions where I live and I will carry a gun with 15+1 and two spare mags with 15 in each to handle any Social Situation I may get involved in. I no longer shoot IDPA (never joined but shot fun matches) because of all the restrictions I can't do on the course of fire, so IPSC and 360 degree Gun Fighting is where I am at.
 
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