This was a very tough match for me. It’s tempting to blame having a kid in January for lack of dry fire, or the ongoing primer shortages for lack of live fire. But if I’m honest with myself, neither of those things really are at play. I have the best setup I’ve ever had in terms of dry fire: a two car garage, with concrete floors and plenty of space to move around. No more slippery hardwood floors or carpet. 20 feet of space to put up targets, more if I go diagonal. But I haven’t done it. I also … Read More
What To Do If The Board Does Not Remove Mike Foley
This is post 4 of 6 in the series “Mike Foley” Petition For The Removal of Mike Foley I Have No Faith the USPSA Board of Directors Will Do Anything About Mike Foley Mike Foley Has (At Least) 155,000 Reasons Per Year To Fight Any Attempts To Remove Him What To Do If The Board Does Not Remove Mike Foley Letter to the Board Regarding the Motion to Remove Mike Foley I Was Wrong I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations over the past few days since I started publishing this series of articles. Some thank me for bringing everything … Read More
Mike Foley Has (At Least) 155,000 Reasons Per Year To Fight Any Attempts To Remove Him
This is post 3 of 6 in the series “Mike Foley” Petition For The Removal of Mike Foley I Have No Faith the USPSA Board of Directors Will Do Anything About Mike Foley Mike Foley Has (At Least) 155,000 Reasons Per Year To Fight Any Attempts To Remove Him What To Do If The Board Does Not Remove Mike Foley Letter to the Board Regarding the Motion to Remove Mike Foley I Was Wrong Let’s wind the clock back to 2015. The previous year, the US had just hosted the World Shoot for the first time in 28 years. The … Read More
I Have No Faith the USPSA Board of Directors Will Do Anything About Mike Foley
This is post 2 of 6 in the series “Mike Foley” Petition For The Removal of Mike Foley I Have No Faith the USPSA Board of Directors Will Do Anything About Mike Foley Mike Foley Has (At Least) 155,000 Reasons Per Year To Fight Any Attempts To Remove Him What To Do If The Board Does Not Remove Mike Foley Letter to the Board Regarding the Motion to Remove Mike Foley I Was Wrong Yesterday’s post about USPSA President Mike Foley threatening me with a lifetime ban over a joke on Instagram was a review of facts, supported by screenshots. … Read More
Petition For The Removal of Mike Foley
This is post 1 of 6 in the series “Mike Foley” Petition For The Removal of Mike Foley I Have No Faith the USPSA Board of Directors Will Do Anything About Mike Foley Mike Foley Has (At Least) 155,000 Reasons Per Year To Fight Any Attempts To Remove Him What To Do If The Board Does Not Remove Mike Foley Letter to the Board Regarding the Motion to Remove Mike Foley I Was Wrong What follows is my email, with screenshots, to Bruce Wells, Area 6 Director, and the other 7 Area Directors, sent three years ago, on June 4th, … Read More
PCC and Carry Optics Belong in USPSA
At this point, maybe no one questions the two most recently-added divisions, but I’m old enough to remember when USPSA only had 6 divisions, before PCC and Carry Optics were added. I remember the debates and discussions about adding new gear specs to the sport for the first time in 15 years. When CO was proposed as a provisional division, with no slide milling except for the optic and a 10 round magazine cap, it seemed like an interesting, but niche place to compete. You’d get a few die-hard enthusiasts, but otherwise it wasn’t that much higher barrier to entry. … Read More
Chrono: Trust, but verify
This is post 5 of 5 in the series “2020 Carolina Classic” A series about things that went well in the 2020 Carolina Classic Match Format & Stage Inspection Walking the Prize Table Five Minute Walkthroughs Staff Reset Chrono: Trust, but verify The way that most major matches run chrono, including Nationals in my experience, would be trivially easy to cheat if you wanted to. Just keep a box or mag of full-power chrono ammo in your bag and take it with you when you walk up to chrono, and you can use whatever else you want for the rest … Read More
Staff Reset
This is post 4 of 5 in the series “2020 Carolina Classic” A series about things that went well in the 2020 Carolina Classic Match Format & Stage Inspection Walking the Prize Table Five Minute Walkthroughs Staff Reset Chrono: Trust, but verify When you pay your match fee for a Level 2 or above match, what are you actually buying? Debugged stages? Consistent staff for every stage? More competition? Trophies? I submit that it is also entirely reasonable for big matches to have staff do all the pasting and reset for you, leaving you to just worry about refilling your … Read More
Five Minute Walkthroughs
This is post 3 of 5 in the series “2020 Carolina Classic” A series about things that went well in the 2020 Carolina Classic Match Format & Stage Inspection Walking the Prize Table Five Minute Walkthroughs Staff Reset Chrono: Trust, but verify It’s become somewhat common at matches to cut walkthroughs down to 4 or even 3 minutes in an effort, misguided in my opinion, to save time and get more shooters through the match. First, this is bad for competitors. On any given stage, one of two things will be true. Either the stage will have a small shooting … Read More
Walking the Prize Table
This is post 2 of 5 in the series “2020 Carolina Classic” A series about things that went well in the 2020 Carolina Classic Match Format & Stage Inspection Walking the Prize Table Five Minute Walkthroughs Staff Reset Chrono: Trust, but verify Typically you only walk a prize table at bigger Area matches and Nationals where all the shooters end on the same day and there is a formal awards ceremony. Because of the multi-day schedule, only half the competitors will be on the range each day, which poses a problem. Most level 2 matches solve this by just randomly … Read More
Match Format & Stage Inspection
This is post 1 of 5 in the series “2020 Carolina Classic” A series about things that went well in the 2020 Carolina Classic Match Format & Stage Inspection Walking the Prize Table Five Minute Walkthroughs Staff Reset Chrono: Trust, but verify It’s been a few months now since the 2020 Carolina Classic, and I wanted to reiterate all the things that went into the planning and execution of the match that went well, to hopefully be emulated by more matches in the future. This is the first of a series that will be posted, one each day, for the … Read More
Polymer Offseason 2020
Back in the dim mists of 2012 and 2013, I spent the offseason shooting a 1911 in Single Stack and CDP. When November 2014 rolled around and I took a Steve Anderson class, I was motivated to just keep dry firing through the winter and shooting Production, which I’ve continued to do every year since then. I might take some time off from practice when it’s cold out, but I haven’t shot a match with a different gun than my main once since. At the time, it was an M&P Pro, then in the 2016-2017 winter I switched to a … Read More
Match Video: Sir Walter, January 2021
It was a good day out at the range with friends, and surprisingly warm if a little muddy in places. SC Section, Area 6, and Production Nationals are all coming up fast, so this is the first match of my 2021 season and it’s a good start. Scores are here. Since the last two matches, when I was shooting my M&P Pro, I had taken a few weeks off over Christmas and gotten back into dry fire with the Stock 2, putting in two sessions the week before this match. For the most part, it all came right back, although … Read More
#73: 2020 Carolina Classic, Part 2
This week on the podcast, I talk about this year’s NC match from the staff perspective. I discuss everything that went well and is worth emulating, including the format of the shooting days, 5 minute walkthroughs, all-staff reset, and more.
#72: 2020 Carolina Classic, Part 1
This week on the podcast, I talk about this year’s NC Section championship, focusing on my season leading up to the match and my performance during the match.
#70: SC Section 2020
This week on the podcast, I talk about the recent 2020 South Carolina Section match. I discuss whether it’s better to leave stages in or throw them out, why three minute walkthroughs are still a bad idea, andhow I shot the match overall.
#69: Improving Local Matches
This week on the podcast, I talk about the April 19th GoShoot USPSA match, and some things that I think they do differently that are worth emulating.
#68: No Such Thing As A Perfect Match
This week on the podcast, I talk about the idea that there is no such thing as a perfect match. First, as a competitor: you’ll never have a match without flaws, and that’s fine. Second, as a match attendee: there will always be something imperfect about the match, and all you can do is let it go and shoot the challenge in front of you.
#67: Offseason
This week on the podcast, I talk about shooting my first match in two months, and how moderate expectations led to a good performance. I also go into why I think an offseason isn’t that important early in your shooting career, and becomes more valuable the more you practice.
#66: 2019 Production Nationals
This week on the podcast, I talk about the 2019 Production Nationals in Frostproof, Florida. I talk through my thoughts about the match compared to previous years, review my personal performance, and raise my two big concerns with the way Nationals are being run in recent years. Match video of all 21 stages is here.