09/07/2026
Over the weekend I took a break from WNPL to be the CRO for Stage 2 at the Utah State USPSA Championship.
Here are my reflections on two days of seeing about 270 folks shoot the stage. Hopefully this helps our club shooters prepare for similar matches.
My stage, called “Southpaw”, was a 32 round long course featuring 4 partials, 3 steel poppers, lots of hard cover, tight shots around a no shoot popper, and about 20 yards of quite choppy technical movement. All shooting was freestyle, despite the stage name.
The “safest” stage plan saw 5 distinct shooting positions and very little shooting on the move. With this plan a very good time was 22 seconds. To do that meant zero shooting or stage planning mistakes. More of this later.
The most “aggressive” stage plans featured one target shot while retreating, a partial shot while moving laterally, and two / three positions that could then be blended together.
The best hit factor on the stage was 7.9, which was a PCC Junior shooter with insane speed and splits. This included 1 Miss (!) and 2 Cs.
Some way behind we had a 7.6 from an Open A with two D and 4 C, and also from a GM CO, with 10 C and 1 D.
Approximate average and best stage times per class were as follows:
GM - 22 seconds average, best 17.76
M - 24 average, best 19.95
A - 26 average, best 19.62
B - 30 average, best 23.9
C - 40 average, best 23.87
The best “cleanish” run was 21.97 seconds with 2 C, resulting in an 8th place finish and a 7.1HF. In other words, being fast and accurate puts you at about 90% of the stage leaders.
So, when I reflect on how I finish a match 40 or 50 seconds behind the good guys, you can see how just one stage costs 3 or 4 seconds for even very high level shooters and even more when you get to my level :)
What then are my conclusions?
First, coming to a complete stop while shooting will be a 20% + time penalty on a multi position stage like Southpaw. Let's say at least an added .75 seconds per shooting position and probably more like 1-2 seconds for your average A class shooter. This is the equivalent of shooting at LEAST 2 Charlie.
So shoot on the move and take some Cs and Ds !! You will also look WAY better on social media.
BUT… With the exception of the stage winner, the highest placed shooter to actually MISS a target came 39th. In general, the top third of shooters in B class or above did not miss.
Second, don’t make avoidable mistakes. They kill your time. Most commonly I saw competitors being slightly out of position when shooting, losing their stage plans midway through the stage (insufficient visualization?), and as you got to B class and below forgetting targets.
Third, delaying on the first shot once in a position was common, as was hunting for the next target when in a shooting position.
Finally, splits don't matter on a mixed stage like this, unless you are shooting .11s on all targets like our stage winner (who sounded like he was using a machine gun). Most were probably shooting .18s - .25s
What about gear? The most popular guns I saw on the stage were 2011s and Glocks by a wide margin. I also saw three or four Shadow 2s, the same number of 1911s, two or three Walthers, a couple of Caniks and M&Ps, one Beretta and one revolver. These figures don’t include the pre match shooters.
I don't recall any Sigs but that can't be right, can it???
99.9% of the guns ran totally reliably. One PCC died mid stage. One open shooter needed to replace his gun when the optic mount lost a screw.
The guns were definitely NOT the reason folks were winning and losing.
We didn’t have any DQs fortunately. Not even any close ones. We had two targets for the rangemaster to look at for doubles. Neither was given. On the whole, it was an uneventful two days!
Oh and it was kinda entertaining to notice that 2 or 3 squads queried all calls, while the majority did not. Sometimes you actually MISS. Shocker!! Squad culture is a thing :)
Anyway it was a fun match. I will be back. I had a great team (thank you Jonathan, Elvin, Landon and Mike) and now need to sit down for 24 hours.
That’s all for now…
Steve
