Lower Providence USPSA Shooting – Stage 7

The last two matches that I’ve shot at Lower Providence, I’ve had the pleasure of talking with Mark and Annette. They are a husband and wife team that is fun to talk to and shoot with. When I’ve checked my scores after each match, Mark and I seem to come out very close to one another. Our first match had me placing one spot ahead of him and by less than 3 points, if I remember correctly.

I like the way Annette breaks down stages. We just so happened to be doing a walk through on Stage 7, at the same time, before the match got under way. Unfortunately, we weren’t squadded together but we both seemed to have the same concerns. One portion of the stage was very muddy and it just so happened to be where shooters would be coming around a hard corner. The other concern was minor, which had us coming into the last array of the stage needing to fire twelve rounds (two more rounds than our magazines allowed in Production Division).

The later concern wasn’t a big deal and I felt comfortable with a nearly standing reload. My biggest worry was finding a way to slowly take the muddy corner and make my movement efficient. With my poor accuracy on the previous stage, I felt like I had something to prove this time around.

The Plan:

The start position for this stage was ‘Toes on X’s’ without shooter orientation specified. What this meant was that shooters could somewhat game the stage and technically have their toes on the X’s but their body could be twisted to face downrange. Realistically this didn’t save a ton of time, but it put shooters in position to get rounds on the first target, which was a distance shot, a little quicker than if they were squared up with the start position.

Upon hearing the start signal, my plan was to take a half-step to my right and complete squaring my hips to the far IPSC Metric Target. This shot had a little distance to it and required a little extra time to shoot well. I would take the time needed, turn right, and begin moving down the shooting lane.

As I closed in on the first corner, I would get my gun back up and engagea pair of paper targets. As I moved around the corner, I would charge a pair of targets tucked behind a barrel, then get back out and continue on down the path. I would reload my gun and cautiously maneuver around the slick corner.

As I came around that muddy corner, I wanted to have my gun up and ready to engage a single paper target. Most people were engaging this target from bad breath distance but I wanted to make up a little time for taking the corner so slow. Once those shots were made, I would move to the end of that portion of the path, lean left around a wall, and engage another single paper target.

I would then pull out of position and continue on down the wall. At the end, there was a single target tucked behind a barrel. After putting two rounds on that target, I would lean hard around another wall and engage a pair of paper targets.

A reload would be performed as I made my way down the last stretch of the stage. As I rounded the last corner, I would press out and engage the first pair of paper targets that I laid eyes on. I would then turn to my right and pick up another pair of paper targets.

Not wanting to run my gun dry and have to perform a standing reload, I would reload one final time and take a step forward. From here I would engage a final pair of targets tucked behind a barrel to close out the stage.

The Execution:

My plan went off without a hitch but the video shows a couple of places where I could have shaved a little time from my overall score. At the start, I had a little trouble with my holster. The gun seemed to stick and didn’t come out smoothly, I had to yank on it a second time to free it. This was caused by a little trouble I’ve been having with the tension screw on my holster. I adjusted it after the stage and didn’t have any other issues.

When I engaged the third and fourth targets, I should have engaged them in the opposite order, taking my last two shots as I backed out of position. I the same can be said for targets seven, eight, and nine. The target that I engaged first should have been engaged last, as I backed out of position.

My reload before the last pair of targets was slow. I didn’t watch the magazine go into the gun and wound up missing the magazine port, causing the magazine to glance off of the side of the gun.

The Results

My pace didn’t set any land speed records but my accuracy was excellent. In 32.39 seconds I scored 29 A’s, 2 C’s, and 1 D (The single D was my second shot on the first target). I came out of the stage with 152 out of a possible 160 points, giving me 95% of the available points on the stage. I had a Hit Factor of 4.6928 and 10th place in Production Division.

I was squadded with three Master Class Production Shooters. After my poor performance on Stage 6, I took great pleasure in hearing them call out all of those A zone hits. As good as it felt hearing those A’s being called out, it was even better hearing those Master Class shooters tell me that I did well on the stage.