What equipment do I need?
As you go further down the rabbit hole you will likely end up with alot of cool gear and well… crap. To minimize the amount of crap I recommend starting out with what you have.
You will need:
- A firearm you don’t hate
- A few magazines (enough to carry 45 rounds or so)
- Ammo (usually 150-200 rounds)
- Eye and Ear protection
Thats It! If you have a pistol you carry as a CCW I HIGHLY recommend starting with that. If you don’t yet have a holster we can make accommodations for you! Typically we will bring out a barrel and have you place your pistol on the barrel with the slide locked back and the magazine out side of the pistol.
How do I sign up?
The primary way to sign up for and get started with any “move and shoot” is to sign up on Practiscore.com. You will have to make an account; don’t worry it’s free. You will be able to find matches near you, and all over the world.
“why don’t you just have people sign up on your website, Facebook, or via carrier pigeon?”
Practiscore is also a very powerful tool for both the shooter (you) and the match staff. In addition to taking sign ups and payment it is also how we keep score during the match. Once the staff posts the scores you will be able to see how you did, and in some types of matches see how you stack up against people all over the world!
Will everyone judge me?
NO!
At NFA-PSL we are focused on getting new people into the sport. We all start somewhere and many of us are new at this sort of thing ourselves. You WILL learn ALOT if this is your first match and hopefully every match. We understand it can be overwhelming at times; the last thing we want is people to feel like they aren’t welcome and are being judged for being new.
Competitive shooting is for EVERYONE regardless of age or experience and we ALL shot our first match somewhere. Make your first match with us!
How does scoring work?
Types of scoring
Within “competitive” shooting there are a few different methods of scoring; however, the one we use most frequently is Hit Factor. For our leagues and matches we very seldom other systems like Points Down, or Fixed Time but we will focus on the more common Hit Factor. Also targets vary between different governing bodies like PCSL and USPSA.
Targets
Paper:
Most targets whether using PCSL, USPSA, or IDPA silhouettes will have an “A”, “C”, and a “D” zone. The PCSL targets we use for majority of our events have an additional “K” zone. With Minor power factor scoring (“K” = 10 / “A” = 5 / “C” = 3 / “D” = 1) each paper target being worth 10 possible points. PCSL does not use Major power factor (typically firearms that fall into major class are chambered in 40, 38 super, or 9mm Major); however, USPSA does, scoring is as follows (“A” = 5 / “C” = 4 / “D” = 2.)
Steel: Typically steel targets are worth 5 points. Within USPSA the steel must fall to be scored. Due to the difficulty of calibrating steels to remain standing in the wind, while still falling when shot; we opt to consider an audible or visible hit on steel sufficient.
Hit Factor
Hit factor scoring is simply whatever your time was from the beep of the shot timer to your last shot; divided by your total score on the stage, after accounting for any procedural penalties. For example, a stage consisting of 9 paper targets and 4 steels has total of 110 points possible (90pts on paper, 20 on steels.) Our shooter is shooting Minor power factor, had no procedurals and his time was 15.93 seconds. He hit all steels and dropped 3 “Charlies” all other shots were “Alphas” he earned 104 points. 104 divided by 15.93 = 6.5285. Simply put its points per second higher Hit Factor scores are better. Hit Factor scoring does a fairly good job of balancing speed and accuracy; if you’re quick but your accuracy sucks your score will suffer. Similarly if you take your time and make sure each shot is a perfectly centered “Alpha” your score may still suffer.
Starting out I would recommend that shooters prioritize accuracy over speed. Though I say start with accuracy, if you have all “Two Alphas” you are going too slow. A well run stage will typically be 1/3 “Alpha Charlies” and the rest “Two Alphas”. If you are dropping “Deltas” or shooting “Alpha Charlie” on every target you should consider slowing down.
How “good” do I have to be to start?
As long as you have a good grasp on safely handling firearms and have a good attitude we would love to see you out on the range! We are here to help you along your journey. If you aren’t the best shot no worries; neither am I. But I am definitely better than I was when I started. And that is all that really matters.