What is your favorite handgun sport?

[motosapiens]

I've attended 2 USPSA matches as an observer and shot at one.  It was incredibly fun, but for the amount of time invested, there is less than 3 minutes shooting for 4 stages that lasted half the day.

Here's the irony: the better you are, the less shooting time you'll actually have in a USPSA match!  I've always said that the D or C-class shooter who takes an eternity to get thru a stage (compared to a M or GM) is really getting their money's worth!

I know you know this, but it's obviously not all about shooting time. It's an athletic performance, and the challenge is to do it as well as you can, so all the training and preparation also counts. World-class track athletes only compete for a few minutes per year.

I find that most good USPSA matches *barely* have the time necessary to analyze and plan each stage before shooting them.

[1SOW]

I know you know this, but it's obviously not all about shooting time. It's an athletic performance, and the challenge is to do it as well as you can, so all the training and preparation also counts. World-class track athletes only compete for a few minutes per year.

I agree with this.

James.  Also Consider this:
When you bought your comp. pistol,  what did buy it to DO?  ($$$$)
When you reload.  what do you load the pistol rounds FOR?   ($$$$ & Time)
When you scoot back and forth in your home dry firing at door knobs,  why are you doing it?  (Time)
When you pack all that gear in your cart getting ready to go: firearms, ammo, timer, tools oils, etc. etc etc..  Why are doing it?  ($$$ & Time)

WHY?,  because it's challenging and FUN!  and a lot of other good people are there doing exactly the same thing.
It's FUN to get a new and better gun to practice with and play with.
It's FUN to build 'your' new best load for 'your' gun.
It's Fun to see yourself progress in the sport.
It's Fun to anticipate and prepare for your next match where it all comes down to that timer beep to SEE what you and your equipment can do.
All this,  and knowing most of the others out there competing "with" you are doing their versions of the same thing.

One of my favorite local shoots is only 100 rds + in five stages , but challenging.  My 'first goal is to be well under 100 seconds.  The better scores are in the 50-80 second times depending on the stages.  It tests and 'measures' you to quickly see your progress.
After the match the shooters are comparing experiences, trouble spots in the match , places where they did well, and already talking about what they need to do to fix any problem areas before the next match.

You already know all this,  but it may be reassuring to explain why so many shooters are just as nuts as you are.

[jameslovesjammie]

Please don't think that I am against USPSA because of only shooting for a few minutes during the day.  Like I said, I had an absolutely amazing time.  And I agree with everything you guys have posted above about fun and camaraderie.

My issue is the time committed to the match.  I work ~10-15 days at a time with ~7-10 days off.  The club I belonged to was fairly good size, but shot USPSA once a month.  It hardly ever landed where I was off work when there was a match.  If I was off, I could either go to the match or shoot with my boys at the lower range.  For the time I was going to commit to shooting (say that afternoon) I wasn't going to sacrifice time shooting with my boys for time shooting with my friends.  I would rather sit at a bench with my boys and have a competition shooting shotgun hulls and pop bottles at 25 yards with .22's.  That's just where my priorities lie at this time.  When my oldest is 12-13, I may start shooting a little more competitively.  For now, the most fun I have shooting is with my kids.

[1SOW]

THAT Sir,  I fully understand and agree with!

My post was mainly intended for those new to shooting sports,  if they read the thread and questioned the shooting for less than a minute or two.

[cntrydawwwg]

I wasn't going to sacrifice time shooting with my boys for time shooting with my friends.  I would rather sit at a bench with my boys and have a competition shooting shotgun hulls and pop bottles at 25 yards with .22's.  That's just where my priorities lie at this time.  For now, the most fun I have shooting is with my kids.

    Now THIS ^^^^^ is my favorite handgun sport. I couldn't agree more James. [emoji2]

[Canuck44]

 Alpha Sierra in 50 words or less explain the USPSA scoring system.  Start to finish.

If you get to 50 take 25 more.

Bob

[Smitty79]

Take total points scored for hits, minus penalties, on stage and divide by time to get hit factor.  (18 so far)  All shooters on a stage get points for the stage base on percent of the stage winner's hit factor.  (Up to 37)   Add each stage's percents together to get shooter's match score.   High score wins.  (50)

Does exactly 50 get bonus points?   I must admit, I prefer time plus.    It is easier.

[Alpha Sierra]

I see I am late the party, as I had to sleep to get up early.  Thanks Smitty, for taking on the canadian's "challenging" assignment....LOL

Really Canuck, I get that you are a hardcore IDPA apologist.  But if you're going to issue a challenge, at least make it a good one.

You know why IDPA's "easier" scoring is meaningless?  Because within a day or two of a match I can go to uspsa.org and see the match results nicely broken down in a standardized way.  During a match I am focused on me and not on what anyone else does or does not do.

And BTW, any sport with a rule like FTDR is a joke.

[Smitty79]

All shooting sports that are done safely and ethically are good shooting sports.

The scoring description challenge was fun.    But I would never call someone an IDPA apologist.   

I've never shot an IDPA match because of one particular rule.    I have limited time to shoot matches, I like high round count "hoser" stages and I don't want to have to join IDPA and shoot annual classifiers just to shoot a match or 2 a year.   If I was retired with more time, I'd certainly join IDPA and shoot a match a month.

Waiting a day or 2 to get match results is so last century.   We use Practiscore.   Our match director has scores printed 5 minutes after the last bang and I can down load and slice and dice them by the time I get home.

[recoilguy]

If you have the app on your phone you can see it while you put gas in your car after the match. Because it is dangerous to look at your phone and drive.
 
My shooting bud and I see the scores on the way home and see how we did. It is pretty cool!

RCG

[Alpha Sierra]

Waiting a day or 2 to get match results is so last century.   We use Practiscore.   Our match director has scores printed 5 minutes after the last bang and I can down load and slice and dice them by the time I get home.

I don't do smartphones, for several reasons.

[2morechains]

Take total points scored for hits, minus penalties, on stage and divide by time to get hit factor.  (18 so far)  All shooters on a stage get points for the stage base on percent of the stage winner's hit factor.  (Up to 37)   Add each stage's percents together to get shooter's match score.   High score wins.  (50)

Does exactly 50 get bonus points?   I must admit, I prefer time plus.    It is easier.

Nice job! 

[trgt]

1) USPSA - by far the one I most enjoy - stage diversity, problem solving + marksmanship + movement, many clubs 'close' so at least one match a week possible
2) Night Matches - local MD does night matches, USPSA-like, but not, lights and lasers, done time+ scoring in the dark (1A or 2 on paper), lots of 'extra' target types like clays and any mix of cardboard
3) Steel Challenge - is also fun, much less so though because not many local matches for that
4) 3GUN - USPA x 3 :-)
5) PPC - nice for a quick fix (short duration match) of pure accuracy
I've not tried Bullseye or IDPA, maybe someday

[Smitty79]

Waiting a day or 2 to get match results is so last century.   We use Practiscore.   Our match director has scores printed 5 minutes after the last bang and I can down load and slice and dice them by the time I get home.

I don't do smartphones, for several reasons.

I'm not getting scores on my iPhone.   I get home from the match, pull up the scores on the Practiscore web site and transfer my performance to my analysis spread sheet.   I use the template that Larry from powerfactorshow built.

[2morechains]

We started using Practiscore at my club last spring for USPSA, Steel Challenge, and IDPA.  It works great, and Practiscore the website is becoming a one-stop-shop for setting up and managing a match.  I've worked several matches in St. George UT, home club of the developer of Practiscore and he keeps making it better and better.  There's no reason match scores shouldn't be posted by the evening of the match.  The old paper score sheets and EzWinscore was the bane of my afternoon following a match for 2-3 hrs.  I for one am very appreciative of what Practiscore has done for us.

We use an iPad as the master device for building the match, then use re-rooted NST Nooks for the actual squad/stage scoring device.  A local LAN provides the connectivity between devices for syncing but we're not hooked up to the internet (haven't seen the need).  We post scores or email out the html's when the MD gets home, but generally speaking scores are pushed out within an hour or two of the match ending. 

For those that can't wait until they get home, I make the iPad available for them to look up their scores and see how well they did once everything is torn down and all Nooks have been synced back to the iPad.