Had a great time shooting USPSA at Oak Park Sportsmen's Club this past weekend - we're gearing up for 2013 USPSA Area 5 and this looks like it'll be a stage at the match.
As we were watching, some of us debated whether it was worth engaging the drop turner (no penalty mikes) or if was better to just blow past it. Engaging vs. not-engaging is usually a wash, but in this particular stage not-engaging may have saved a fuzzy reload.
The trouble was that the stage required 11 rounds to complete and competitors started with an empty gun.
I decided to gamble and trust that I could execute a reload, rack the slide, then perform another reload before getting into a shooting position.
This time... It paid off! By not engaging, I was able to shave ~3 seconds off my time compared to most competitors. Even though I missed out on 10 points, a 3 second margin was high enough to ensure a solid lead. (Interestingly, the stage counted for 65 points even though I only shot a 55 point stage effectively - just interesting math in USPSA sometimes...)
