Speaking of the Indiana USPSA Section Match

For the first time (not counting Top Shot) in over a year, I’ll be shooting a semi-automatic pistol in competition.  As my warm-up for the Quest for Master Class, I’ll be shooting the Ruger SR9c in the upcoming Section Match.  But there’s a catch – the SR9c isn’t on USPSA approved Production gun list, so I’ll be shooting it in Limited 10…minor power factor.  What that means is that for every hit other than an “A” zone hit, I score less points than someone making Major power factor, and unlike Single Stack division I don’t gain a capacity advantage in the magazine.

This is going to be a real test of my skills – to finish anywhere not last place, I’ll have to push myself faster and harder than I have before, all while still shooting solid A-zone hits.  I’m excited to do this however – the chance to push the gun and push my abilities before I start the Quest for Master Class is something that I’m looking forward to.  I want to see exactly what this gun can do when I’m driving it as hard as I can, and a USPSA match is going to be the perfect place to find out.  Because I’m shooting Minor, getting A-zone hits is even more important, and to stay competitive if I start shooting C-zone hits I have to shoot them in 3/4ths the time of people shooting major to account for the scoring differences.

Goal for the 2010 Indiana USPSA Section Match?  Not finish last place.  Normally that wouldn’t be too much of a goal, but here – my 3rd USPSA match ever, shooting a new gun with new gear and shooting minor?  Anything but last place will be a good day!

7 Comments

  1. I got my results back from my first USPSA match on sunday. I was 13th out of 14 in the production class. #14 was a 16 year old girl.

    I don’t understand the discrimination against 9mm and I don’t get why I’m not allowed to load more than 10 rounds in a mag.

  2. Well, Production was designed to be friendly to people coming in off the street with store bought gear. The 10 round limit is to make it even across the board, there are production guns that hold 15 rounds, some hold 11, some hold 20 – so setting that limit was a good way to keep things fair.

    In Limited-10, 9mm doesn’t make Major power factor, so it scores lower than a round that does make Major such as a .40 or a .45.

  3. I’m just tweaked because I couldn’t finish the one stage because I didn’t have enough rounds. The stage had a 38 round count assuming you hit every popper on the first shot which I didn’t and I only had 4 mags so 3/4 of the way through the stage I was out of ammo and couldn’t finish the stage. If I could have loaded my mags to their full 16 I could have finished the stage.

    Sure you could argue that I need to be a better shot and/or buy more mags; both of which I intend to do but what newbie is going to know he needs 5 mags per stage.

    And I still say that major and minor power factor is bullshit. What justification is there for not letting 9mm in Limited or Open? I’m not asking to shoot .25ACP here, 9mm is the standard pistol round for NATO for christ sake.

    I guess what I’m saying is that I much preferred my first IDPA experience than my first IPSC experience.

  4. You can shoot 9mm in Limited or Open; in fact you can even hotrod a 9mm to make Major in Open.

    In limited, there is a minimum bullet diameter requirement to make major, which is .40.

    I do understand the ammo issue. I tend to recommend to people that if you’re going to shoot USPSA production to bring at least 6 mags.

  5. Maybe it’s just that the rules are confusing then because when I read the class rules it seemed to me that 9mm was not allowed at all in Limited, only in Limited-10.

    I was told rather flatly that I shouldn’t bother with open or limited unless I’m willing to sink tons of money in a 1911 as those are the only real competitors. I reminded them of Angus Hobdell and none of them had heard of him. Is my CZ bias showing?

  6. I shot limited at Oakdale on Thursday with a stock CZ 75c just so I didn’t have to dick with down loading my mags to 10 rounds, it was a good thing, I shot the steel like crap and ended up using almost 60 rounds on the first stage, and I only had 5 mags.

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