Classing up in USPSA
Going into 2025 I’m looking to class up in the USPSA Carry Optics Division, continuing to improve my overall performance for both defensive and practical application. To get there, I’ve decided to put together a more formal, structured plan that includes clearly defined, measurable goals along with focused, targeted skill development.
The key is focused development. I can’t get better at everything all at once. So my plan will progress from month to month, targeting different hard skills and getting increasingly more challenging as I move along. Each month I’ll select a USPSA classifier to incorporate into my dry fire and live fire training. I’ll include hard skill focused drills selected to support the skills used in the classifier. The classifier will help me measure and track my improvements in applying these hard skills, under pressure, on demand.
In January, I’m going to focus on three key skills: a fast draw, quick target acquisition and smooth, efficient reloads. I’ll be working hard skills with doubles, designated target drills, 2-reload-2 and Blake drills to hone grip and vision and practice reloads. All have established par times I can measure myself against. I’ll also be incorporating El Presidente, USPSA classifier 99-11. This is a classic. It’s a 3-target, 12-round count stage. There are 60 total points available. It’s super fast. The start position is standing at 10 yards, facing up range with wrists above shoulders. The course of fire is to engage each target with 2 rounds, conduct a mandatory reload, and engage all 3 targets again with 2 rounds.
I’ll be using a shot timer and setting aggressive par times to push me to move with purpose, shoot outside my comfort zone and to condition myself to perform under the stress of time constraints. I used the USPSA Classification Calculator to find the minimum hit factor score for each class. By dividing all available points for a stage by minimum hit factor for a class, I get the maximum time I have to shoot a perfect stage.
I ran the numbers:
In order to hit the B classification percentage of 60%, I need a minimum hit factor of 6.9853. To calculate the maximum time I have to run the stage, I divide total available points by minimum HF which give me a maximum time to run a perfect stage (getting all stage points) of 8.58 seconds. To hit the A classification percentage of 75%, I need a minimum hit factor of 8.7317. The maximum time I have to run a perfect stage is 6.87 seconds. And if I’m going to go all out, I want to see what it takes to get into M class and a classification percentage of 85%, and that’s a hit factor of 9.8959. The maximum time I have to run a perfect stage is 6.06 seconds.
These times are the absolute maximum I have for running a stage and assume I run the stages perfectly — getting all alphas, with no penalties or procedural errors. What this means is that my training pace will be faster. I need a training pace that is faster so that I learn to process the targets more quickly and control my gun at speed. I also need to go faster so that I have a little buffer to account for less than all Alphas. For the El Presidente, I’m using a par time of 6 seconds for my dry fire practice. It’s aggressive, but I’m able to process what’s happening. Of course, dry fire doesn’t capture recoil so my times will be faster. I’ll be testing on the range to see how the practice translates to live fire.
My training pace will be uncomfortable and outside my comfort zone. I won’t be shooting so slow that I get all Alphas. There’s no development there. And I won’t be shooting so fast that I can’t articulate what’s happening. That’s unproductive and not repeatable. How fast I go is my personal training zone and based entirely on my skill set. I need to be aware of the mistakes I’m making and be able to call my shots so that I can make the necessary corrections.
Next month I’ll report out on my progress and what’s in store for February.