GSSF Match

So the Glock Sports Shooting Foundation (GSSF) match was this weekend. Although I was planning on attending Sunday I ended up going on Saturday instead. That proved to be a mistake honestly. I ended up sitting around way too much because of the number of people in attendance. I literally sat at one stage for over an hour which is well beyond my attention span (Wait is that something shiny!). The bottom line is if you plan on attending this event next year go on Saturday. That way there will be less people on Sunday so people showing up that day can just speed on through.

Now on to what I thought of the match itself. I started USPSA this year and have found it a lot of fun. I like the running and gunning aspect of the sport. Compared to that the GSSF match was very subdued. Of course the goal of GSSF is to setup a competition where everybody can compete on fairly equal ground. The only way to accomplish this is to remove aspects that most people don’t practice a lot such as reloads and movement. There is nothing wrong with that as it fits the goal of the sport. Basically I can compare GSSF to Bulls eye competition with Glocks. Accuracy is far more important in GSSF than time is (which really screwed me because I didn’t take the time for good accuracy and instead went for speed).

I got pretty bored due to the long waits (once again that was probably self-inflicted for not going Sunday). In USPSA while you’re waiting your turn to shoot you watch the other competitors run through the course. It’s fun to watch because each person can run the course in a completely different manner. Everything can change such as how fast they move, the order they take out the targets, when they will reload, when they will fall flat on their face, when their gun will jam up causing them to either perform a clearance drill or curse Loki for his trickery, etc. GSSF is much more subdued and I have a hard time watching people standing still and shooting targets. Almost all the variables are removed except how well the targets are hit.

The bottom line is I thought the competition was so-so. But I’m also a very impatient man who needs a lot of things happening to be entertained. I need sports with a lot going on to keep me interested. If you’re more into bulls eye competitions I think you’d love a GSSF match. Likewise if you like target shooting at the range but really want sometime more interesting than a single paper target I highly recommend GSSF. On the other hand if you’re into sports such as USPSA, IDPA, and three gun you may find GSSF a bit slow moving. Also there isn’t going to be a whole lot of conversation about different guns there because everybody has a Glock on them (yeah I like seeing all sorts of different guns at competitions, it’s interesting to see what people are using).

Now there is a good case to say I’m bitter because I did poorly in the event. I counter that by pointing out I do poorly in USPSA as well but thoroughly enjoy it. Yeah I did pretty bad at GSSF. Part of that can be attributed to my head simply not being in the game. As I said I got bored due to the long wait times. When I become bored an event becomes more about getting it done as quickly as humanly possible without regard to score. It’s not a good state of mind to be in to shoot a match.

So yeah GSSF wasn’t really my cup of tea but I recommend if you haven’t shot a match you should do it. You may absolutely love it, most people there did. And it is time on the range which can never be a bad thing.

4 thoughts on “GSSF Match”

  1. Well I am one of the people that really enjoyed GSSF when I shot it this year. But it is interesting about the wait time there. I got to the event in Dallas at 9am on Saturday, (I had preregistered). I brought along a buddy who had to register right there. We were done shooting by 11am, and the longest wait we had was on the 5 to glock stage (they only had 2 of those setup and it is the longest thing to shoot), they had 2 glock M and 2 glock the plates setup so things really kept moving decently. My buddy got a lot of comments on his gun as he was shooting a subcompact 10mm which you don’t see a lot of those there, and he ended up winning $50 in the random drawing.

    1. Yeah the wait was pretty extreme but I also got there kind of late on Saturday. So I chock much of my boredom up to the fact I should have gone on the second day instead of the first and I should have arrived right as the gates opened.

  2. Sorry you didn’t enjoy the match more, Chris. Yes, it is a slower pace than USPSA or IDPA, but it was never intended to compete with those formats. To me (/bias mode on) it’s and “action bullseye with multiple targets” type of match. It’s also challenging to both masters and novices alike.(/bias mode off)

    Come Sunday morning next year, and then decide. (Although Sunday mornings are getting more crowded…the word must be out.)

    Anyway, glad to have you there.
    Mike

    BTW, we had 268 entries for the match; a record for us!

    1. Glad to hear you made a record. The more gunnies the better.

      And yeah I think I might try showing up Sunday morning next year. Part of the problem is just my utter lack of an attention span beyond five minutes making an hour wait grueling.

      Overall I like the match format and know a lot of people who would love to attend a GSSF match instead of doing something like USPSA or IDPA. Different competitions for different people and all that. It would certainly be a match I’d recommend to somebody who’s never entered a shooting competition before (I think it would be less of a shock than jumping right into a run-and-gun game).

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