I go back and forth on whether to post individual after match reports or a monthly match summary. I suppose individual match reports give me an opportunity to go into more detail of each individual match while keeping the overall post size a little smaller. So I guess we will give that a try. Here is the latest match report.
| Date | July 21, 2019 |
| Match | Local IDPA Match |
| Class / Division | Standard Service Pistol (SSP) / Unclassified (UN) |
| Range | Austin Rifle Club |
| Host | Texas Tactical |
| Gun | Sig Sauer P229 Legion |
| Ammo | 9mm 115 Grain FMJ Federal American Eagle |
| Score | 194.42 |
| Standing | 7th out of 10 |
This was an interesting match to say the least.
This first thing to note was a double feed during stage 1. Stage 1 used limited scoring, which means the shooter my fire no more than the number of rounds specified. We had three targets that were to be shot in any order with two rounds each using the strong hand only, followed by a reload, then shot again with two rounds each using the weak hand only. Now I’ve been having grip strength issues with my weak (left) hand due to some arthritis which makes me very susceptible to malfunctions when shooting with weak hand only. And sure enough, my limp wrist, induced a double feed after the fourth shot while shooting weak hand only. I also learned that I don’t know how to instinctively clear a malfunction when shooting weak handed. It took a few seconds to grip the gun with my right hand and begin clearing the malfunction. After recovering from the malfunction I fired an extra shot on the second target which resulted in a procedural penalty as well.
If there is any silver lining to the double feed, it must be that I need to practice to clear malfunctions when shooting with my weak hand. Truth is I rarely work on clearing malfunctions one handed and essentially never work on it when shooting with my weak hand. I suppose I will add it to the list of things to practice.
On a positive note, I shot my first “clean” stage – that means I had zero point deductions. My time wasn’t stellar, but I was proud of this nonetheless. I even gave the score keeper and the safety office a high five afterwards. I’d like to repeat this again and again with higher frequency, but at the same time this is an indicator that I could have probably moved and shot a little faster. Either way, I will take this a sign of improvement.
I’m looking forward to the next match.