I shot my first match this past weekend and had tons of fun. I never knew about that classification calculator until this popped up so I used it and with that one classsifier the match had would put me in B class. I’m friggin pumped on that but the competitive nature has me wanting GM haha. Love your other channel but glad I found this one as well 🤙🏽
Good explanations, discussion, and observations. Two things I often think about… 1 If you shoot a major and there are 3 GMs in the match and they each shoot 90% or better then your match % gets used as part of your classification. So this adds to your classification %. In my opinion it should have more weight since like you said, the classifiers are not real/typical stages. 2 When one signs up for a match they can put in any grade they supposedly have in that division. I know of a few folks who put in one grade lower or put U when signing up for matches so that their grade is less advertised and does not mess with their head as much.
Glad I found your channel. Subscribed. You make a lot of sense. Would love to hear you talk about what practical means.....and how the sport has pretty much moved away from its origins....IMHO
Not sure I would agree that it has. Bottom line, this is a game, it will never be a gunfight. Pretending that it is honestly makes it less practical instead of more. Take IDPA as an example, their ruleset is designed to make things as "defensive" as possible, but just results in everybody running around in fishing vests. The bottom line is that the purpose of the game is to test practical shooting SKILLS, not scenarios. Those skills include speed, accuracy, transitions, and movement, and USPSA tests those better than anything else out there.
I happened to look at your Carry Optics classifiers and something stood out to me. You have shot a 49 different classifier stages a total of 89 times. 20 times you shot the same classifier a 2nd time. At least 3 times the second time shooting the same classifier was within a month. 11 times you shot the same classifier a 3rd time. 5 times you shot the same classifier a 4th time. 2 times you shot the same classifier a 5th time. 2 times you shot the same classifier a 6th time. Basically almost half the classifiers you shot were duplicated, and half of your best classifiers were shot 2-4 times. You practiced a lot apparently. Early on it appears when you shot the same classifier, your percentage score approximately doubled. Later on your percentage score dropped considerably. My guess is that you were trying to improve early on by "focused effort" (trying to improve while staying within what you felt was your ability level). While later on you were trying to see if you could "burn down" the stage, since you had nothing to lose if you "crashed and burned" as you already had a "solid" score listed. Looking at your percentages from matches that counted as classifiers, you were in the high B to low A class range. Given this covers multiple stages shot, it would seem more accurate of your overall ability than your classifier stage scores alone. That said, the USPSA Classification system seems to be a good benchmark in general. Of course it can be manipulated by individuals in order to effect it's accuracy. As evidenced by "sandbaggers" and "grandbaggers".
Hey man, not exactly certain what your point is on the repeat classifier stuff. I’m not an MD and have zero control over what stages I shoot, it’s just that there are only so many of them and certain ones tend to be way more popular than others. I do certainly agree that shooting more matches makes it easier to move up if that’s what you’re saying. Couple things on majors. 1. I never shot a major before making M and have only been in the sport for a few years. I certainly still have things to learn about shooting majors but definitely did on the first few. Mainly I was plagued by gear issues on the early ones which majorly impacted scores. But regardless I think your logic might be a little flawed. The classification system does a pretty good of predicting what group you place in but certainly can’t predict what percentage you will shoot. If you think only the top 5% in match points at a major should be GM then CO nats for example would have had only 5 GM’s instead of like 30 if memory serves. At that match I got popper f’d on three separate stages and still placed 86% with the GM’s. My point if somebody shoots 83% at a major but every shooter above them is a GM that isn’t an A-class result, it just means the dude at top had an incredible performance and inflated 100%. My last match NC section I would have won if not for three bad rounds of the factory match ammo I was shooting, but even with 3 malfunctions placed 97% against some solid GM’s.
@@P3Tactical it is not meant to be a personal attack, but a comment on practice. As you suggested, it is the responsibility of the MD to decide what classifier stage(s) they setup. The USPSA Classification System works well, but like most any system it can be "gamed" by individuals. This is probably why the terms "Sandbagger", "Paper GM", and "Grandbagger" came about. I have known individuals that would find out what classifier(s) were going to be at matches in order to practice them as much as they could before shooting them at the match. several made GM this way, but often could not come close to that ability level and finishing amongst the C & B class competitors at best. On the other end of the spectrum I have seen individuals intentionally (and a few times admit) that they would shoot poorly on classifiers in order to win first in a lower classifications in level 2 matches. They would (for instance) have a B classification but consistently finish among the M and GM competitors. Basically the classification system is only as good as those who use it.
