​Getting Ready For the USPSA, IDPA, and 3-Gun Season

Getting Ready For the Season

The 2017 USPSA season is fast approaching. I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about making your preparations for the upcoming season.

The first thing I like to do is get my gear squared away for the upcoming year. If you are thinking about making big changes then you should make them now so you have time to work with the new gear. Maybe you want to try some bullet out magazine pouches. I think that is a change that will require a few months of dryfire (you dryfire, right?) in order to get comfortable with. I know that you see a lot of the cool kids using the bullets out pouches. If you want to be one of the cool kids you need to work at it. On the other hand you may have decided you don’t like the bullets out pouches and want to change to the conventional pouches. This is the time of year to make such changes.

If you are changing guns then you have work to do. You should get your new rig now and start dry firing with the new gun, magazines, etc. As you do a bit of live fire priority number one is to make sure the gun functions properly. Make sure the gear fits you. Make sure the holster is adjusted to work for you. If you constantly mis-grip the gun when you draw then adjust the holster angle and get it to work right. You don’t want to be 1 week out from a major match and still be trying to figure out if your gun works. That is not cool.

I like to load my practice ammunition ahead of time as well. I really don’t like being in a situation where I need to load ammo the night before I want to go practice. I want to get all that stuff sorted out now. Get together with your friends and get some bulk component orders in. Get your bullets. Get your brass. Get your primers. I recommend budgeting out your time and practice ammo now. Make a plan! If you want to shoot once a week for your practice and you want to shoot 300 rounds a sesh (a good number) then do the math on what ammo you will need. Be sure to budget in a bit of extra ammo so you can shoot extra when your major matches are upcoming. I have found that if shooters make a specific plan for their training then they are much more likely to actually get out and do it. You aren’t going to wander out of C class, you need to work to move up.

The fact is that all you guys put off ordering your gear and pro grip and whatever else until you “need it”. If you need new stuff, order it now so you can actually practice with it.

Ben Stoeger

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