Full video links from last weekend added to those posts, here's the stage I am most proud of though:
Full video links from last weekend added to those posts, here's the stage I am most proud of though:
26th Match: 2024 GFDS and Southern Bobby-Q Maryland State USPSA Championship, September 28th , 2024
(1st Major Match!)
PCC Division, with my usual Keltec Sub2000
Placement: 2nd Place, B Class PCC
160th of 276 overall (57.5%) | 15th of 28 PCC (60%)
Scores: https://practiscore.com/results/new/ddbeab35-0147-48e2-9011-652373e1d413
Video: https://youtu.be/I08td7kNdnE
MD State Championship complete! As noted above, this was my first major match, and very exciting. My entry was sponsored by MD Arsenal, and ammo by Hill Top Arms, and additional support from my friends at Car Care Complete. A big thanks to them for supporting me!
I went into the match with a mixed feeling of trying to do my best because I felt I had a shot to get the B Class PCC win, but also recognizing that I should try to have fun, learn, and of course be safe and don't DQ. Since Thurmont is close to me, I took off work Friday to walk the stages and watch some of the staff shoot. It was a rainy, dreary day, but definitely worth the time to get familiar with the stages and have time to come up with a stage plan that makes sense without the stress of a 4 minute time limit, and the whole squad walking it at the same time like it is before shooting each stage day of. Alex, another regular at MD Arsenal also walked stages with me Friday, and we got some good plans which I think were especially helpful on some of the larger stages.
Saturday was the day we shot, and we got lucky on the weather. It was humid, and did drizzle a little bit, but compared to the day before or the day after, we definitely had the best weather day for the event. I got there early and walked the stages again, since I checked in the day before I was free to review the stages and then wait to get started.
This match was split into two zones, which I think worked well. In the morning, we shot Zone 1, which was stages 1-5, and we started on stage 3. I am just going to stick to the highlights, not a full stage by stage. Overall, the morning was a bit frustrating. The first two stages each had two misses, and of zone 1 I only had one stage with a hit factor above a 5. Then the 3rd stage (stage 5) I had a procedural FTSA because I stopped myself because the gun sounded weird. After being present for Bea experiencing two cracked case deals just in the last few months, I wasn't going to take chances. Fortunately, I only had one target left for the stage, so only 1 procedural, but still unfortunate. I guess since I stopped myself on a squib call that turned out to be incorrect, the scores were left as is. I didn't fight anything, and figured it was best to just play it safe and do the best I can the rest of the day. There was no squib round, and everything seemed ok. The only thing I noticed was that since I have one "primary" magazine for PCC, a 33 round Glock mag with a +10 extension, when stages often don't use the full mag, I would just reload the magazine as is. Those bottom few rounds were getting pretty dirty, so I suspect maybe something to do with that caused the weird sound.
After those stages we had a break for lunch from Southern Bobby-Q. It started out as a decent length break as we would be starting on Stage 8 after lunch, and we were done with lunch before them, so then the stage 8 ROs needed their lunch break. The break got extended further due to a medical emergency. One of the ROs there at stage 8 got stung by a bee, and to make a long story short the ambulance was called. Fortunately, he is doing ok, and was home from the hospital that night, but definitely a scary situation.
Zone 2 for the afternoon started off with stage 8, which was a fixed time stage with two strings. I was actually looking forward to this after the classifiers two weekends ago, I felt I had a good shot at a decent performance. For string 1, I did ok. String 2 was a disaster. Apparently when I made ready for string 2 before walking to the forward shooting box, I did not fully seat the magazine. So, I got one shot, then a click, then on my tap/rack/bang my angled foregrip fell off! I managed only two shots on the second string. Obviously, the mag seating issue was my fault which is frustrating. The foregrip I 3d printed a few years ago, I knew it had a crack, but I wasn't expecting that. That part was quite funny. The rest of zone 2 went pretty well and we ended on stage 7, which was by far my best stage for the day. I got 3rd PCC on stage 7, which I am pretty happy with.
Overall, when I got home and really could look at the scores, I could see that while I felt like I left some on the table, I did not do as badly as it felt in the moment. After the rest of the competitors shot on Sunday my final placement is 2nd place B class PCC. Initially there had been 11 or 12 registered, but a few dropped out leaving 8 total PCC/B competitors, so no second-place award, but that is still pretty cool.
Funnily enough, even if I had sandbagged and held myself back to C class, I still would have been 2nd place in class. Goes to show I made the right choice in not trying to game it.
All in all, it was a great time. My next level two will be the DelMarVa section championship in April, and I will be staffing the match. (RO class in January) I think the Keltec will retire from competition now, at least regularly. I think I will go back to PCC at some point, but likely with a "better" PCC. Until then, I begin to work at my Carry Optics skills now with my Canik.
MD State Video: https://youtu.be/I08td7kNdnE
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