USPSA status update

As I have mentioned before (and here) on the weekend of June 3rd and 4th I took the USPSA Range Officer class. I procrastinated some on the take home test and turned it via email on Saturday June 17th. On Sunday, June 18th I participated in the USPSA match at Marysville Rifle Club. A few minutes before the match started I received an email from the instructor saying I had passed with a 96% and was once again a certified RO. There were lots of ROs on my squad and I didn’t exercise my newly acquired RO powers.

After having some misses in the first two stages I did do well enough in the classifier that I bumped my classification score up to just barely into B class again (60.2098%, B class is 60.0% to 75.0%) after turning in C class classifiers for several years.

When I was shooting matches regularly in the late 90s I had a classification as high as 68.5272% with occasional individual classifier scores above 75%. But I basically stopped shooting for several years. What is interesting to me is that my skill level, according to various drills I have kept records of, is now as high as it ever was but my classifier results are a much lower percentage than they were before.

When I took the Intensive Handgun Skills class in February of 2016 the instructor, Greg Hamilton, commented that USPSA classification levels have dropped about one full class in the last 15 or 20 years due to the increased skill level of the top shooters. Shooters are classified according to what percentage of the best shooters scores they achieve. So if the best shooters improve and you stay the same your classification level will drop.

<Heavy Sigh>

I was hoping to make A class someday but I should have put the effort in 20 years ago when I was younger, quicker, and it was easier. I’m now in a Red Queen’s Race to just hold on to my B class status.

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4 thoughts on “USPSA status update

  1. A few weeks back we were at an IPSC match. I’m shooting production so everything was nice and dandy.

    Things got a bit complicated on the 3rd day for those shooting Standard as Eric Grauffel is shooting Standard these days.

    Sunday afternoon, everyone in Standard took a 20% hit. Eric scored 100% (BECAUSE ERIC GRAUFFEL). Second position was pushed down to 78%. Brutal.

  2. Joe, I’m confused by your post. It SOUNDS as if you expect to be reclassified to a LOWER level because your skill level has not improved to continue at (for example) a 75% level) as quickly as the Grand Masters continue to “raise the bar”.

    My understanding is that you will not be reclassified DOWN (to a lower level) regardless; once an “A-Class” competitor, always an “A-Class” … even if you don’t perform that well in major matches.

    We had a Master Level competitor here in Oregon 20 years ago who underwent a lot of surgery because of deterioration of the bones in his joints. He physically could no longer compete at his prior level; sure, he could do well in Classifiers because they typically didn’t require much movement; but his match skills were a different story.

    He had to petition USPSA to revert to a lower class, in order to take advantage of his experience and all skills not requiring, for example, lateral movement from one shooting position to the next.

    As far as I know, that’s the only way you can be reclassified DOWN.

    Did I misunderstand you, or has USPSA changed the way the Classification system works?

    • I was not clear. The classification system has not changed (that I know of and certainly not in that respect). I was whining because, even though I was shooting at the same level I did years ago I was turning in high class ‘C’ scores instead of high class ‘B’ scores. My classification was ‘B’ but my percentage was that of a high class ‘C’. I was a class ‘C’ shooter with a ‘B’ classification.

      With a USPSA classification of a ‘B’ shooter but only shooting at a, according to current standards, class ‘C’ level I felt like a poser.

      I have now, just barely, became a true, if marginal, class ‘B’ shooter again.

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