Lower Providence USPSA Shooting – Stage 3

This particular stage actually started out different than when I shot it. Initially, shooters were to start in the far box, draw and fire one round at each target, perform a mandatory reload, then race to the near box and do it all over again. At some point during the first stage, a shooter went down in the mud and swept himself.

The Match Director decided to make a change to the course of fire and have those that shot the stage already, re-shoot it under the new stage briefing. The change broke the stage up into two separate strings. Rather than race from the far box to the near box, the timer would be stopped and the shooter would start a second string from within the near shooting box. After the change, there were no further safety issues.

The Plan:

When I stepped into the shooting box, everything seemed painfully simple. At the buzzer, draw my gun and press out. Once I had a solid sight picture, pull the trigger and repeat the process until each target has one round on it. Once complete, reload and do it all one more time.

The second string would be even easier as we were so close that I could point-shoot the targets. One round on each target, perform a smooth reload, and do it all over again.

Simple, right?

The Execution:

When the buzzer sounded, I drew my gun and pressed out. I got a good sight picture and pressed the trigger. I did this four more times and felt good about the results. As I stood there for a second, it dawned on me that I had to reload and do it all over again. The hesitation cost me a bunch of time and I felt like an idiot for forgetting about the reload.

The second string went much smoother except my reload could have been better.

The Results

Aside from the delay in reloading my gun on the first string, I didn’t shoot this stage particularly fast. My time was 17.79 seconds with 14 A’s, 5 C’s, and 1 D. I earned 86 of 100 possible points, giving me a point percentage of 86%. My Hit Factor was 4.8342 with a 12th place finish in Production Division.