“What is that on your gun?” This was a common question I was getting at the end of 2023 when I started considering switching to an optics division permanently. I started shooting USPSA in 2018, after teaching in the tactical and defensive world for about six years by that time. My only real time with an optics outside of rifles was a brief six-month period with my carry Smith & Wesson M&P Pro Series gun back in 2017. Like most in that world at the time, I had considered optics “cheating,” as it was reasonably easy to shoot and you didn’t have to align sights. I just had to put the dot on the target and press the trigger.
As such, I ended up backing away from it to iron sights, as a way to help the students I was predominantly working with who were running iron sights. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would absolutely have stuck with optics from then until now, as pistol red-dot optics are much better quality, reliability and are reasonably affordable for the average person at this point. They make shooting much more intuitive, quicker to learn and fun. This is part of the reason the USPSA Carry Optics division has become so popular over the years as well. You have the fun of shooting Open division, without the cost that can be a barrier to entry for people. (I know it was for me.)
I started shooting USPSA Production division, mainly because my local range didn’t allow AIWB (appendix in the waistband) holsters in matches like I had wanted to shoot from. USPSA Production division was the next closest thing to it, so I began there. My goal was to become a Grand Master before I turned 40. (I was 34 at the time when I started in April 2018. I’m 41 now.)
I was excited to begin a new division with some really capable guns.
In 2021, the year I made Grand Master, I started to notice something. Matches had much fewer Production shooters than I’d noticed in the past. There were always tons of Carry Optics shooters, but in most major matches, if we had more than 15 Production shooters, that was a lot. I had also become sponsored by Atlas Gunworks at the end of 2021, and started to shoot USPSA Limited division with their Titan chambered in .40 S&W. I thought that I’d be able to run in Limited for a while, being in a division that had a decent amount of competition in it. I was excited to begin a new division with some really capable guns.
I ran 2022 and most of 2023 with that gun, and it did well for me—generally placing well at majors, winning a few, and placing in the top 30 at 2022 USPSA Race Gun Nationals and top 12 at the Limited 10 Nationals. However, in 2023 I started to notice the same thing happening in Limited division. Fewer and fewer competitors were shooting this division. I began to think that this was becoming a trend, so I started to focus on training with a Carry Optics gun to supplement my training with my iron-sight gun. Additionally, in mid-2023, USPSA created a new provisional division called Limited Optics that allows double-stack 1911 firearms with minor scoring and an optic with Limited division equipment rules (magazine well, etc.). As such, I thought it was time to get in line with, and even ahead of the curve, getting into the larger pool of competitors and competition, before I was left behind entirely. The way I saw it was that moving into an optics division now at least provided me the ability to catch up to the others who have been doing it for a long time now, whereas if I waited another year I might be so far behind I could never catch up. The time to get on the optics train was now. In this timeframe, I also had a deal come through with EAA Corp. that was in the works for several years as a result of my good friend and fellow EAA shooter Noel Zarza. The company didn’t have any solid Limited major offerings at this point in time, but they did have guns that fit both the USPSA Carry Optics and Limited Optics divisions. This definitely helped influence my decision to go full-time optics at the end of 2023 and into 2024. While I didn’t expect it to be easy, I underestimated the learning curve that I was about to undertake.
LEADING UP TO THE USPSA CARRY OPTICS NATIONALS
I have to say, running an optic gun is fun. The simplicity of putting the dot or streak in the center of the target and pressing the trigger is addictive. It also is tremendously effective for dry fire as well, since you get so much communication between the dot and your vision. Dry firing with an optic can make you a better and faster shooter, hands down.
With that said, because it’s easier for you, it’s also easier for everyone else. This means that competition will be faster and efficiency items matter even more. I would often use my strength in reloading in Production to be able to gain ground on other people, since my disability (drop foot) means I have to work harder to move as well as other top guys. In Carry Optics and Limited Optics, I don’t have that advantage and I’m shooting optics for a shorter period, so I have a huge opportunity for growth. Also, it has forced me to look at things I’m training more closely in order to gain that back.
I took this as a fun challenge, and increased my output tremendously in terms of training. I was training seven days a week, 90 minutes a day. Training is like a drug addiction for me, so it was easy to log those hours, but it is also very easy to overdo it—and overdo it I did. I ended up with shooter’s elbow again (third time) and a glute strain on my bad leg side from all the movement and training I was doing. It was my own fault for ignoring both the warning signs and the overtraining signs. I’m currently in the process of solving both of those issues, and making sure I properly allow for recovery, since recovery both allows the body to repair itself and for the skills gained to consolidate into the subconscious. It was a great learning lesson for me, though, and it also allows me to help my students more as well.
Heading into the USPSA Carry Optics Nationals, I almost withdrew from the match—a no-refund policy from the hotel is actually the reason I ended up going. I felt as though with my current overuse injuries I was not in the best place to perform and I was going to regroup for the USPSA Handgun Nationals in September. I would end up straining my glute again on the first stage of day one and struggled to lift my leg throughout the three-day competition. However, I’m glad this was the case, as I was able to take the opportunity to learn as much as I could from the experience. I ended up really enjoying the match, and will absolutely be back for it again, even if Carry Optics isn’t the division I shoot full-time going forward. (I will be shooting Limited Optics with the Girsan Witness double-stack 2311 from now on.) It also gave me tremendous feedback on where I have to go in my training in order to surpass the gaps.
THE MATCH
I was in Squad 217, which shot the p.m.-a.m.-p.m. schedule. I prefer to shoot the p.m. schedule on the first day when possible, since travel makes it more logistically challenging to shoot the a.m. schedule after driving the entire day prior. It also allows for a good night’s sleep, when you typically are excited about the match and have trouble sleeping anyway.
I was shooting with a great group of people, including my friend Andrew Hyder, who is an excellent and accomplished shooter in his own right; we had last shot together in 2021 at Locap Nationals, where he had placed fifth in Limited 10 and I had placed 18th in Production. We were excited to get together at this match, and shared stage planing and strategy discussions throughout the match. One thing that is always great about the USPSA culture is the fact that everyone wants everyone else to succeed—we are all trying to become the best versions of ourselves, and we celebrate when someone is able to accomplish that.
The match itself was well designed and well run. I heard Matt Hopkins had a lot to do with the stage design, and he does an excellent job with this. Each day would be about four to five hours to get through six or seven stages, which is reasonable and not overly fatiguing for people out in the sun all day. The stages were challenging, but not impossible. In order to perform well, you had to be dialed in with yourself, your gear and your execution. The targets ranged anywhere from your typical close hoser-style targets, to partials and mini poppers in the 30- to 40-yard range. What I particularly liked was the fact that there were opportunities within stages to let loose a bit, only to come back to a highly technical part of the stage where solid execution, mechanics and a high level of fundamental skill was needed.
There weren’t any stages that seemed silly or “gimmicky” as we would call it—the challenges presented were reasonable, straightforward and demanded you to bring your best self. The stages typically presented multiple options that could come out to within hundredths of a second from each other. This is a true testament to great stage design, in my opinion. When two competitors can run a vastly different strategy according to their strengths and still be within one percent or so of each other, that is solid design work.
“It’s simple, but not necessarily easy.”
Zone Three had some of the toughest shooting in the match, but also had some fun, short stages that allowed you to let loose. Stages 15 and 16 in particular were fun, quick stages that had great gear changes and short movement. Most of the stages in that section had longer partial targets that demanded accuracy and stability, and it challenged your practical shooting fundamentals to the max. We shot Zone Three on the first day, and I even got to be the first shooter on the first stage, which is my favorite place to be.
Zone One was our second day, and had a bunch of decently sized medium courses in it. There were plenty of great ways to run the stages and, ultimately, execution mattered the most for these. I happened to like Zone One the most personally, because it had a bunch of more flowy-type stages that I ususally enjoy.
We ended on Zone Two, which was another mix of some longer field courses, similar to Zone Three, and some shorter stages. Zone Two had things such as prone shooting and the “shaky bridge” (our last stage of the match). I’d like to add that these types of features in a stage are great in small doses—too much of it and I think you’ll find shooters would consider the match too “gimmicky,” but they can be relevant skills in a smaller quantity of a larger match. This was the right amount personally, and I found it fun to work those stages without the “another low port” comment. The higher level of shooter that people become, the more they want to be challenged in terms of shooting ability, but the more they want a shooting competition to be largely about the shooting and not about the theatrics of a match. This match kept the theatrics to a minimum while maximizing the results that you could get from your actual shooting and movement skills.
The stages were designed really well from my perspective. Many stages had multiple ways to run them, and most of those reasonable ways resulted in similar times. That lends well to people being able to use their own strengths to their advantage, while avoiding unnecessary calculated risk. I feel like the best compliment to a well-designed match is when I hear, “It’s pretty straightforward.” You can pretty much take that saying as, “It’s simple, but not necessarily easy.” Those matches for me have been some of the most enjoyable, as well as demanding of your skill and focus. It’s those types of matches that will bite you if you let your attention slip.
The match administration ran smoothly. I am admittedly not the most bothered by administrative hiccups in matches, but this didn’t have many that I could recall. We started appropriately and were finished around the time that the matchbook said we might be done. The staff was kind, and some of the stages had staff with great energy and enthusiasm. Those types of stages are always enjoyable, since seeing the match staff style is always entertaining and uplifting.
WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS NATIONALS?
I think the phrase that best represents how I feel about switching from irons for many years to optics is, “I’m starting over, but I’m not starting from zero.” As someone who has made it into the top 25 several times shooting iron sights at USPSA Nationals over the past few years (I’ve been out of the Top 30 only once—at my first Nationals—and was as high as 12th in 2022 at the Limited 10 Nationals), this Nationals was more of a culture shock for me personally. It really drove home the point that this is where I need to be if I’m going to continue progressing in the most meaningful way. There is clearly a higher level of competitiveness and the margins between rankings in the results are much less. It also showed me that I was out of my element at the current moment—ptics shooters who have been doing it for a while now are able to get away with much more in terms of speed while maintaining accuracy, and the progression in an optics shooter’s path in terms of skill development, visual speed and information processing is much faster.
I thought that learning a red dot would be easy—I was target focused shooting iron sights after all, right?
For students that I teach questioning what division to go into to start, I’d highly encourage them to begin in an optics division at this point. With that said, it also means there is great opportunity to be able to experience the fun challenge that is progressing up through the ranks again, like I had when I first started. The knowledge that there is a lot of room to grow can really spark the motivation and drive to continue to grow and progress. The main key is making sure you remain interested and curious about learning and growing, while identifying gaps from where you are to where you plan to be.
I thought that learning a red dot would be easy—I was target focused shooting iron sights after all, right? I thought it might take six months to really dial down what needs to happen. I was wrong in this instance for myself. I’ve since learned to accept that it will take “longer than I’d like it to”, while continuing to learn and be curious about how to continue becoming the best I can be and exceeding my perceived potential as a shooter.
This also means that I will be able to better serve the students that I help, having the chance to progress all over again using some of the knowledge and experience I have gained can help me reduce the path to progress for them all over again. Learning the optics platforms coming from irons for many years means I might be able to tie in things that will help shorten their learning curve. To me, this is exciting, and I look forward to sharing the lessons I learn for others so that they can learn from my mistakes and progress faster.
WHAT WOULD BE MY RECOMMENDATION TO A NEW SHOOTER GETTING INTO USPSA COMPETITION?
With all I’ve learned, I’d highly recommend any new shooter getting into USPSA to predominantly shoot an optics division. You will learn faster, grow skills quicker when it pertains to vision and information processing, and be in the most competitive fields possible as you do it. That tiny little dot in that window will show you much more information to help you diagnose and solve issues faster, and bring your abilities to heights you previously thought weren’t possible. You can always switch to iron sights for an off season or for the USPSA Iron Sight Nationals specifically—I’ll bet you’ll be that much faster even using them, as the index for a red dot is more sensitive to error. It is clear—both in competition shooting and in personal protection—that optics will be the way forward.
I use the analogy that shooting irons and optics is similar to driving a manual transmission car. Driving a manual transmission car today is nowhere near as fast as most of today’s automatic transmissions are, even for your everyday sedan. Automatic transmissions have more gears, shift faster and are all around better for every aspect of performance. Even the fastest manual transmission drivers in the world are no match for your basic shifting ability on an automatic now. If you’re driving a manual transmission car now, it’s because you enjoy the experience and want to drive it, versus knowing it will deliver the best performance in the car. (Ironically, I’ve always driven a manual transmission car myself.)
Irons versus optics is not much different in that manner. Shooting iron sights is a choice for those who truly enjoy the experience and ability to run the “nubby things” on their guns. There are even some who enjoy that challenge of beating optics shooters with irons, and it is a great one for those that can. However, for most it will be a nostalgic trip down memory lane, while they get into their newer vehicles that can largely outperform technologically dated equipment.
Article from the September/October 2024 issue of USPSA’s magazine.
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