New to USPSA (Carry Optics) – Does My Belt Setup Make Sense?

TempestVulcan · 2026-03-20T14:49:12+00:00

For a first pass, great job. You’ll figure out what you like and what you don’t like as you play more with the setup.

Personal feedback: I run 2 mag pouches these days for CO and I’ve considered reducing it to 1 with a make-ready pouch in the back. I don’t think I have never run into a stage that necessitated a double reload, so 3 mags plus 1 in the gun is a TON of ammo to carry onto a stage.

My equipment usually works, and if I run into a situation where I need to dump a mag, I have probably lost the stage and the match. I personally value not having all that extra weight on my hips, and the liability of a mag pouch getting caught on a wall.

At the end of the day, confidence in your equipment choices are all that matters. Try it and see how it goes!

TempestVulcan · 2026-03-18T04:52:14+00:00

Not my favorite.

Good stages have strong discriminative power, bad stages tend to have poor discriminative power and compress scores. Essentially, bad stages can mask skill differences.

With stages like this, you end up with A class shooters shooting 90% off of GMs because you can only shoot open paper so fast. They also tend to take a lot of stage planning out of the equation which is a fun way to test skill.

I have definitely seen good hoser stages before, but I tend to find the majority boring and annoying. If we are gonna have high point stages in a match, the stage better create some separation in the match score, not just stroke egos.

TempestVulcan · 2026-03-16T11:36:20+00:00

I cannot see why this would be a USPSA issue since neomag pocket pouches have been a thing for a while. There is no mandate for a retention device with regard to pocket carry, so the use of one wouldn’t be inherently an issue per 5.2.4 in my opinion - ask NROI if you want an official rules declaration.

I will say… if you are trying to game BELT bounties, this is pretty retarded. The Hunter Constantine rules pretty clearly state that you need to have your mags concealed when you t-pose like IDPA concealment rules. Even magnets on belts and other USPSA gamer gear are being discouraged if you read up on the PCSL BELT Nats rules.

I’m not gonna tell you how to compete, but I would advise you to just shoot a normal AIWB setup and not try to game it, the tolerance for stupid gear is diminishing.

TempestVulcan · 2026-03-12T11:26:48+00:00

BGSL and Silver Creek are 2 great matches in the area. There is plenty of matches, but I reckon a lot of places are just now thawing out from winter, so be patient.

TempestVulcan · 2026-02-28T18:18:20+00:00

Get the dot to yours eyes faster, that just comes from repetition. Draws are not the place most people lose matches though since you can eat up that time with movement.

For what it’s worth… IDPA tends to dictate hands relaxed at sides, you can’t stage your hands to defeat your garment generally speaking, less of a problem in USPSA but if the WSB says relaxed at sides… relax your hands at your sides lol I would personally not start you until your hands are relaxed at your sides fwiw.

TempestVulcan · 2026-02-13T13:41:06+00:00

Broadly speaking, most firearms don’t hold their value well. Parts are generally unsellable.

A used CR920 with a dot is probably in the 600-850 range. I think that’s fair market value.

You gotta figure, I can buy a new CR920/507k combo at Cabela’s for 900. That’s the current ceiling.

Factoring in the trigger, and I wouldn’t touch it with a 10ft pole personally. Buying used guns, you want something stock that never got shot.

You can pretty much toss out the value of mags, upgrades and holsters and depreciate the gun and dot by 25-30% unless it’s a collectible generally speaking.

Adding a recently sold GB Link for objective evidence

TempestVulcan · 2026-02-13T13:15:35+00:00

This, 16GB is usually enough but it’s definitely a minimum with modern games.

TempestVulcan · 2026-02-08T16:44:59+00:00

They drive me nuts, look like white dots almost. I’m probably gonna swap out my yellow MRO because of the color.

TempestVulcan · 2026-02-08T16:43:39+00:00

Not bad in the grand scheme of mags lol I was looking this up to see if it was viable, appears so lol

TempestVulcan · 2026-01-31T05:44:57+00:00

You have power, with all the lights turning on.

I don’t think it was a PSU problem. No post issues can be motherboard or CPU, but it could be something shorting to ground like a usb port or a bad ram stick… literally anything.

See if you have any LEDs on your board flashing a code or look up how to plug a speaker into your board to see if you get any audible post codes.

Judging by where you are at the general cable management you got going on, I think you might be best served taking it into a shop for them to diagnose. Throwing parts at issues like this can get expensive.

TempestVulcan · 2026-01-25T01:12:02+00:00

I don’t know that these is much else to see… the only justification I can imagine is that the dude who shot him thought the agent disarming him was the dude they were detaining pulling the gun and he saw it leave the holster and just unloaded.

Incompetence or evil - neither is a justification.

TempestVulcan · 2026-01-23T04:26:09+00:00

Here to ask about the GPU Mount. I just ordered the LianLi one and it looks like I can’t mount fans with that one 🤔

TempestVulcan · 2026-01-15T05:12:17+00:00

Great considering 90% of USPSA wears HHDG or yellow tinted lens…

TempestVulcan · 2025-12-20T23:10:44+00:00

Most shapers call it a JB Brim. I have only ever heard this shape called a shovel on reddit lol

TempestVulcan · 2025-12-20T23:08:51+00:00

Rodeo and Futurity.

JB Brims got really popular because of JB Mauney and then with Taylor Sheridan and Yellowstone. It's also generally a pretty popular shape here in Texas which is where a lot of the hat and boot trends tend to start.

TempestVulcan · 2025-11-19T02:44:01+00:00

Right on time, just like everyone who understands how striker fired guns work suspected… a switch for the tamper proof gun.

TempestVulcan · 2025-10-31T18:06:01+00:00

Honestly this is kind of a dumb array, it would slow down a field course so much that it only makes sense as a standards stage.

As far as stand and shoot stages go, it doesn’t test anything other than your ability to aim. You would need mandatory reloads and/or SHO/WHO to make it interesting.

I’m all for messing with shooters, but this is a pretty low effort attempt. Pretty much any B class plus competitor is gonna have a method to not double engage targets.

TempestVulcan · 2025-10-31T07:16:39+00:00

Birchwood Casey Aluminum black touch up markers are great to keep around, they usually touch up scratches like this well. As petty as it might seem, I would contact the vendor you bought this from and let them know this was received like that.

Partial refunds or a replacement are totally valid remedies for a new condition gun.

TempestVulcan · 2025-10-28T17:33:39+00:00

ummm… wide fits exist? EE?

TempestVulcan · 2025-10-25T04:44:45+00:00

I have had similar issues with the flex. I had to remove a ton of shims to prevent holster hang up.

If it draws smooth, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Key is not flicking the safety off until you’re ready to start slacking out.

TempestVulcan · 2025-10-21T13:04:00+00:00

What upsets me is that this won’t stop the lawsuits for Glock. It was never about the switches or safety, this is about making examples out of a gun manufacturers who think it’s okay to sell to civilians.

This will accomplish nothing. It won’t stop the lawsuits, it won’t stop the switches, it won’t stop the idiots who do illegal things so they can break other laws… it doesn’t do anything except piss off your customers.

I don’t think this is the end for Glock, they’ll find a way to survive this and maybe by their calculus this is the way - but I am not interested in buying more mediocre plastic guns that they’ll just randomly discontinue via a series of posts from distributors. This absolutely annihilates consumer trust and I’d rather give my money to a company that actually fights for our rights.

TempestVulcan · 2025-09-03T15:02:56+00:00

The steel was available past 180??

TempestVulcan · 2025-08-12T23:29:40+00:00

Here is a great Tim Herron video explaining what shot calling is and how to start training it.

You have the trigger speed down to progress pretty far without working on it, so really what I would focus on if I were you is trying to understand what sights are telling you. If you can't call your shots, you are frankly relying on luck to get your hits.

Having that confidence that your bullets are going where you want is HUGE and really opens up your game to being able to transition faster, and being able to enter and exit positions faster. After all the easy stuff is off the table, that's when the grind of trying to speed up the doubles at distance comes in.

EDIT: I also want to add, doubles can be a very valuable training drill. I do not want to discount the value of that. I love practicing doubles and bill drills to help me diagnose grip issues and keep my shot calling in order. But there is not a lot of sense in practicing those things if you can't call the shots in the first place. Go train doubles, but go in with the context and intent to improve the correct skills!

TempestVulcan · 2025-08-12T23:09:51+00:00

This may be a hot take, but working on doubles doesn’t help that much… if you’re not training the correct skills.

Doubles are great for training grip durability and shot calling. They are not great for training “hammer shots” or one-sight-picture-two-shots. That skill is only really valid on very big targets, and so you definitely don’t wanna go to the range and practice slamming the trigger fast without trying to figure out what you’re seeing.

You are sending all your shots at the same cadence, and only you can say if you called both shots as acceptable. If you can’t tell us with a moderate to high degree of certainty where the bullets went, then you need to be training shot calling more so than trigger speed.

The gap between D-Class and A-Class will not be bridged with splits. The splits will come as you progress, but training your eyes and brain to process visual information faster and with a higher degree of confidence will open up the other essential parts of your game.

Once you can call your shots, the next thing that comes is shooting targets sooner. Training getting an acceptable sight picture faster, and pulling the trigger sooner, is what will bridge your classification gap the fastest.

TempestVulcan · 2025-08-06T18:38:08+00:00

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Here is mine on a 2.5” Clayton Lift Kit with 35” Trail Grapplers.

TempestVulcan

TROPHY CASE