This weekend, this novice "competitive" shooter shot his first IDPA match on a cool windy day, followed by his second USPSA match on a much more pleasant day.
At the IDPA monthly club shoot, which only about 17 showed up for, it appeared most shooters were carrying pretty much off the shelf setups - which I think is the purpose of this competition. In my group, there were issues, but believe they were with the shooters.
Now in my USPSA club match, the high-dollar rigs were everywhere, including the high-dollar CZs. But in our group there were multiple shooters using high-end firearms, who were seeing numerous failures to eject, failures to feed and light strikes and happening during multiple stages.
My P07 did not have a single hiccup either day, but had no expectation it would. It has been flawless (mechanically) since buying it. My skills continue to suspect: 14th in a 17 shooter match Saturday and 67th in a 72 shooter match Sunday (1 dq). My "goals" were pretty low - no dq and not last. Sunday, I was shooting pretty fare until the final stage and it started out OK, but five plates at 15 yards brought me to my knees. I used up three mags in that stage and still did not drop all of the steels. Argh.
I am going to stick with the P07 for a while, but may get me a holster ordered for my 1911s and my 75B (although I have heard they could be one and the same).
I am out there strictly for fun and not to win. But I was truly embarrassed on that final stage Sunday. I don't like that.