Triangle Tactical - Uspsa | 3 Gun | Idpa | Competitive Shooting

Every hear people complain about range lawyers? Ever heard people spout off about the rules at a match about the rules and be blatantly wrong? What about the folks who are intentionally trying to bend the rules to their benefit? What about folks who are just trying to make sure we play the game by the rules? Last week I had to take my USPSA Range Officer exam, and in doing so, I noticed I was pretty rusty on the rulebook, so I sat down and read it cover to cover one more time, and… I learned a LOT. So, I’m the guy that brings his rulebook. I intend to use it should their be a question about the rules at a match. I even keep a .pdf of the applicable rulebooks on my phone so I can text search them quicker than looking through the paper copies at a match. Does that make me a “range lawyer?” I don’t think so. I want to win, but I don’t want to win by bending the rules. I want to win on a fair playing field against everyone else, and my conscience wouldn’t allow me to win by bending the rules. So, the next time so

Listen to the Podcast [powerpress] Have you ever noticed that at some matches, it's totally cool to pull out a rulebook when there's a question about a rule, but at other matches it's almost offensive to the parties involved? Have you ever noticed how some folks just seemingly want to buy junk? It's like some people just want to buy the underdog gun, and shoot it well so bad that they'll ask for advice, then completely ignore it.  Have you ever noticed that some folks just can't put their machismo away for any reason? A couple weeks ago I encouraged you to go buy a tourniquet, and I was surprised by the reaction of some folks, saying they don't need one, because they'll just use their belt, etc. I'll be honest, I don't think you probably can use most belts to stop serious bleeding, and if you can, I have my doubts that you'll be able to put it on and find a makeshift windlass to cinch it down before you lose too much blood. Listen, I like to do tinker and do things myself, but TQ's aren't expensive and they c

I've been asking for your voicemails for this episode of the podcast asking "what makes you go "ugghhh" at a match". Now, the goal of this episode isn't to bash the shooting sports, or bash other competitors or anything like that. My goal with this was to have some lighthearted entertainment, and hopefully get some things that other might be able to use to improve themselves, or improve their match.  ...and that's exactly what I got. So, sit back and enjoy. I think you'll like it if you're a long time competitor or even someone who's looking to shoot your first match soon.  

This week I wanted to wrap up a couple loose ends that I didn't cover in the last few episodes about folks that are new to competitive shooting. Leniency for new shooters. I'm the first person to tell you to come shoot with the gear you've got just to get your feet wet in the shooting sports. I don't care if your gun isn't quite legal (as long as it's safe) or if your magazine pouches don't quite fit the rules for the division you're shooting or whatever, because I think it's important to just shoot what you've got before dumping boatloads of money on something you're not even sure you'll like. However, I am not willing to afford this sort of leniency when it comes to safety rules. If you can't be safe with a gun, you shouldn't come shoot. If the phrase “but it isn't loaded” is part of your vocabulary, you're not ready. We're playing with real guns, and safety is always first. I won't compromise, and I won't be a part of any group that does. Try all the flavors of ice cream. If you go shoot your first match a

Disqualifications Continuing on with my new-shooter kick over the past month or so, this week I'm talking about the most common disqualifications are that I see at matches. 99% of disqualifications are for unsafe gun handling. The most common things I see are as follows: Sweeping the weak hand on the draw. This generally happens when someone is using the holster that shipped with their gun, as in my experience these holsters tend to be on the tight side. The shooter gets the make ready command, tries to pull the gun out of the holster and it doesn't come right out. They then reach across their body and grab the holster with their weak hand, pull the gun out, and then sweep their hand with the muzzle in the process: Breaking the 180. I asked on the Triangle Tactical Instagram and Facebook pages about the most common disqualifications at matches, and breaking the 180 was OVERWHELMINGLY the most common thing suggested. Table starts. The biggest thing here is this: Don't take your gun out of the holster until

A few weeks back I talked about how it's important to always get video at a match, because it gives you something to review later and reflect on your performance, see the things you need to work on, etc. After this last weekend's match at Carolina Guns and Gear in Ramseur, NC, I found another reason to take match video, and that's to keep you honest. I had an absolute blast at this match. I was on a great squad with fun folks, and we cut it up all day. I left the match thinking about what I great time I had, and in my head I thought I had performed fairly well. Then I looked at my video... My video showed that I moved slow, missed positions, got my lunch money stolen by a Texas star, and missed way too much on steel targets. However, if I'm being honest with myself, this is probably some of the most valuable match video I have. Plug of the Week: The Feed Ramp. I don't know who's behind this site, but it's a satire website (Think The Onion, Babylon Bee, DuffelBlog, etc) based around practical shooting. It's on

Do - Do some YouTube research on different matches. If all you’ve done is read forum posts about different matches, and you’re SURE you know what you want to shoot, because the”other game” has too many rules, go watch some videos of the other games too. Just like with self defense law, most forum posts about matches, and rules and stuff are just plain wrong. Don’t - Don’t go spend a ton of cash on competition gear before you’ve shot a match or two. I've seen people buy a bunch of stuff wanting to shoot in a certain division, only to find out the stuff they bought isn't legal for that division. Do - When it’s time to buy gear, buy good stuff. I messed around for literally years making sub-par gear, constantly fiddling with things, when I should have just bought stuff that gets out of my way and lets me be awesome. Don’t - Don’t take advice about competition from random gun people, or people behind the gun counter about competition gear, matches, etc. Find a higher level competitor to get your advice from. Thi

A common question I get from people who are somewhat new to shooting (or at least new to practice) is asking what they should be practicing. Sometimes folks even buy a book of drills, and don't really know where they should get started with those drills. I don't think there's a "right" answer to this question, but I'm going to tell you what I do: Take some notes right after shooting a match. What felt good? What felt sucky? What did people compliment you on? (the last one is a good ego boost too) Review your match video. You are filming all of your matches, right? If your not, you should be. Your phone probably takes good enough video, so just turn the camera on, and hand it to whoever is standing closest to you. It's not weird. You don't have to publish the video anywhere, and you don't have to let anyone else see it, but you can go through the video and see the things you're doing well and doing poorly. Here's a few things you can look at: Match video diagnosis series Look at your Practiscore results. A

This week I go through the very basics that you need to shoot your first match. Obviously there's a LOT more to know about competitive shooting (I've been doing this podcast for nearly 5 years) but I hope I give you enough in this to make you feel more comfortable getting started in competitive shooting. If you want more, check out my primer on getting started in competitive shooting here. The News A good article about kids in the shooting sports, and how it makes them more responsible. It definitely echo's what I've seen on the shooting range with junior shooters; they're some of the safest, most responsible shooters on the range. Gear That Doesn't Suck You should have a squib stick in your range bag. Even if you've never loaded a squib, it's handy to have on the range when someone else loads one, and you need to check if the barrel is clear. The thing is, the places that sell them specifically for shooting are prohibitively expensive, but I've got a solution: a brass rod. www.triangletactical.net/doesntsuck

Last week over on the Triangle Tactical Facebook page I posted "Ask Me Anything", and Ryan asked "Shooting while moving, ever worth it?" My initial reaction given what I've seen and heard in the past was that shooting Minor power factor, it's hard to score enough points to make shooting on the move worth it. A couple other dudes called me out, and it really made me want to put it to the test. So I did. This is the 7 round stage I setup:   Start position was about where I took the picture from, then there's a second position past the 3rd target which was the only place the steel could be shot from. I shot it two ways: Shooting all the paper from the start position, then running to the steel position and hitting the steel, and moving from the start position, shooting the paper as I got closer to it, then shooting the steel from the steel position. This had me moving the same amount of distance, shooting the same amount of targets. The results were interesting. Shooting static my hit factors were as follows: 4.

  On Saturday I shot a Day/Night IDPA match at H2O Fowl Farms. We shot all 6 stages once during the daylight, and then when the sun went down we shot the match again with flashlights. If you've never shot with a flashlight before, it can be a challenge that you're not expecting. Holding the flashlight while shooting is a challenge, but then reloading your gun with a flashlight in your weak hand can be even more of a challenge than just shooting.In addition to the Day/Night match, we also shot with the new IDPA rules. The biggest changes I noticed during the match were the fault lines, followed closely with the new reload rules. I think the fault lines have profoundly changed the game for the better. Gear that Doesn't Suck During the match I shot my Streamlight ProTac 2L flashlight, which is the same light I carry in my pocket every day. The only change I've made to it is to file off the little nubs around the switch (use a file, not a Dremel, trust me)  to make it easier to activate the light when holding it

Winterpocalypse 2017 rolled through Raleigh, NC this weekend and we got a ridiculous .5" of snow that brought the city to it's knees once again. Once again, I'm just shocked at how folks knew the storm was coming, and were just completely unprepared.  After the snow and ice came, most of the roads were slippery and folks down here aren't skilled in driving with anything more than a little water on the roads, so for the most part people were staying put at home, which was probably a good decision. However, Friday night I decided to go find some steaks and the grocery store was PACKED. Shelves were literally empty, people were in lines as long as the store was, and they had carts filled to the max. Thankfully, I got some steaks, and was able to slip out through the self-checkout without waiting in line.  So, here's my challenge to you: whether you live in a place like I do, where we lose power if someone sneezes too hard, or if you're in a place that's pretty stable, have enough food and water on hand to last y

  This is the last podcast episode of 2017, and if you've been listening for the past couple weeks I've been begging for voicemails telling me your 2017 shooting goals. Well, y'all sent in a bunch of them, so here they are. Anyways, my 2016 goal was to have more fun, and in all honesty, I didn't meet that goal. I got severely burned out in July, and have only shot 2 matches since then. So, my 2017 goals are to have a little more fun, but also put in a bit more work than I have the last few months. The biggest thing though, is that I want to be able to look back in a year, and say that I've introduced X number of people into the shooting sports. I want to come up with a way to make the on-ramp to the shooting sports easier, and less stressful.

So a bunch of text about the newest IDPA rules appeared in my inbox, and on a few different forums and discussion boards a couple days ago. The sources I got the text from are credible, in my opinion. The text talks about what the new IDPA rulebook will be for 2017 now that the comment period has passed.  Personally, I think the vast majority of it is really good.  ## Goals There's still time to send in your voicemail with your 2017 shooting goals. Head over to triangletactical.net/goals to see how to leave a voicemail. I want to know what your goal is, and what you're going to do to achieve it.   

In the modern times we're in, when we want to learn about something new we go to web forums, subreddits, and Facebook groups that are based around the topic we're interested in. I'm a member of web forums based around a TON of different topics, because I like to learn about things. It's awesome to have the entire wealth of knowledge in the world at your fingertips, however I think in the competitive shooting world especially, it can be detrimental to actually getting new people into the games.  At it's heart, competitive shooting is... competitive. When you get a bunch of competitive people in a group where rules of the competition are discussed, there will be some debate. Debate is great.  You'll also get a bunch of people who've never read the rule book, who think they know the rules, arguing against things that are supposedly in the rule book, but actually aren't, but they're ignorant of what the rules actually say.  Then, you'll get someone who hasn't ever shot a match reading all this, thinking that ever

Listen to the Podcast [powerpress] This week on the podcast I interviewed Arik Levy of the Shooters Summit, which is a cool project he's got going on where he interviwed 23 of the heavy hitters in the shooting world, and will be releasing the videos FOR FREE December 12 - 18th, (of you can pay $19.95 to get them now, which is a good value, and you get the audio versions).  So far I've listened to Ben Stoeger, Benny Cooley, and Craig Douglas, and they've been fantastic interviews so far. I downloaded all the audio versions onto my phone, and I've been listening to them like they were podcasts. 2017 Shooting Goals I want to hear your 2017 shooting goals. Go to triangletactical.net/goals to send in a voicemail telling me what your goals are, and how you'll achieve them.  The News I'm curious how you feel about this: Texas will have a bill introduced the next time the legislature gets together in 2017 that will remove all the fees for concealed carry permits. Obviously issuing permits isn't free, and the governme

Listen to the Podcast [powerpress] Just a few things I've learned from competitive shooting over the years: If you want to get better, stop chasing the newest, latest, greatest. Find some gear that's good enough, and stick with it. If you can afford the best gear, awesome, if you can't, that's fine too.  Stop trying to do everything yourself. I'm super cheap, so in the beginning I tried to make all my own gear. I spent countless hours making magazine pouches that were never quite right. Then I just bought some, and they're great, and I don't have to think about magazine pouches anymore. Practice works, and matches are really crappy practice.  2017 Shooting Goals I want to hear about your shooting goals for 2017. You've got about 3 weeks to send in a voicemail telling me what your 2017 shooting goals are, so get on it!  Here's what I want to know:  What is your goal? What are you going to do to meet that goal? Go to triangletactical.net/goals to send in a voicemail.  

Way back when I used to ride mountain bikes in junior high school I just pushed my mountain bike down the trail, and never really learned how to do things better. I rode a lot, put a lot of miles on my bike, but I didn't practice. I did the same thing when I first got really into shooting and competitive shooting. I'd just go to the range and shoot. When I started competing I started with a certain level of mediocrity that I was kind of okay with. I'd go to matches and say things like "this is just a practice match" so sucking at the match and not progressing wouldn't be such a big blow to my ego. After getting a book about how to practice, I came to the conclusion that shooting matches for practice sucks. You need to break things down to their smallest level, and practice them, then put those skills together into bigger things. I'm currently doing the same things with mountain biking. I feel like a complete newb, so I'm looking at the skills that I need  practice, and making myself spend a few minutes each n

IDPA has a new provisional rulebook for 2017, and it includes a lot of changes that you should probably know about.    The big things are: Pistol Caliber Carbine division 1 second per down Change in the box size and pistol weight for BUG and CCP Divisions New classifier

What makes competitive shooting matches fun? To me, it's shooting challenges. Tight targets? Yes please No shoots? Sure Make me do something with my weak hand while shooting? Absolutely Awkward footing, strange positions, tight spaces? Sign me up Make me run 100y dragging a dummy before shooting? Meh. Basically, I like shooting challenges, because I'm there as a competitive shooter. I'm not a sprinter, so making me run 50y before shooting when it doesn't add anything to the stage is dumb. Gear that Doesn't Suck I hate trying to deal with foggy safety glasses while shooting. When they fog up, you might find yourself trying to look over them (unsafe) or looking through the fog (possibly unsafe, definitely not good for good shooting). So, what I've found is this product from Speedo that you smear on your glasses, rub it in, wash it off, and boom, no foggy glasses for a couple months. It's a tiny little bottle, but it will last you a very long time. I like the stuff, definitely doesn't suck.