This past weekend on 4 November, three members of the USAMU Action Shooting traveled to Columbia, SC to shoot in the 2011 IPSC Nationals on 5 November at the Mid-Carolina Rifle and Pistol Range.  SGT Dimaculangan, PFC Sweeney, and myself all shot our respective divisions.  This match was a national level match, and the points that you win here are used towards the selection of the Men's teams for the next World Shoot in 2014.  Shooting this match helped all of us get a jumpstart in points for the selection!

We left a little late on Friday so we were not able to get to the range and check out all of the stages prior to shooting them on Saturday.  We arrived early Saturday morning and got registered and looked at the stages we were going to be starting on.  All the stages at this match were very straight forward and had no real challenging moving targets or memory stages.  

PFC Sweeney shot in Standard division.  Standard is the equivalent of Limited in USPSA with some minor changes.  The power factor is moved up to 170 as opposed to 165,  the magazines have to be shorter, the pistol has to fit in a specified box with a magazine inserted, and the shooters holster and magazine pouches have to be sitting on the shooters hip bones.  The differences are minor but it takes a little time to get used to the different rules.  Sweeney started out the match on fire and kept it up through all ten stages.  He shot solid on every single stage staying within his comfort zone the entire time.  Sweeney is a very aggressive shooter and this played to his advantage as there was a lot of movement involved and fast shooting.  He kept his composure throughout the entire match and won 9 out of the 10 stages and won the match by 14%!

SGT Dimaculangan shot Production division.  There are also some minor differences here as well,  the trigger must be at least 5lbs,  the pistol must fit in a specified box with a magazine inserted and the power factor stays the same at 125 for minor.  SGT Dimaculangan shot a very solid match but was at a disadvantage shooting an almost stock Glock 17.  Due to the cold weather and extremely long trigger pull he just wasnt able to run the Glock fast enough.  He had his hands full this match as 10 of the top 16 shooters from the U.S. Nationals made an appearence here.  A few rough stages here and there hurt him a little but he kept his head on straight and shot through it all and finished out strong.  He is also in good standing now with points towards the men's team for the World Shoot in 2014.

I shot in Open division as always.  The only difference here is the power factor is dropped to 160 as opposed to 165 for major.  I run the same ammunition though as it works my compensator the best.  I had a few rough stages at the start and had to get my head back on straight and figure out what I was doing wrong.  I to suffered from the cold and had a lot of trigger freezes that cost me quite a bit of time on some stages.  After the start I pulled it back together and finished out shooting a solid match altogether.  I was very pleased with the overall outcome of the match and am looking forward to next season!  I also won Open division by 14%, which puts me in good standing for the next team selection as well.  

The match was a success and we all had a great time shooting it!  Thanks to the match staff and workers there that put the match together, without you guys the sport wouldn't survive!