Grand Master

[fatphatboy88]

I know you have to be ridiculously good to be a grand master, but what all do you have to do to become one? I was just wondering because Chris Tilley(made grand master before he was 16) lives near me and my concealed carry instructor kept talking about him. So what all is required to become one?

I am by no means trying to become one, just curious.

 

[David E]

Practice, Persistence and Patience.

 

[David E]

First thing you need to do is go watch or even shoot an USPSA/IPSC match and see how the better shooters do it.

Also, how the lesser shooters do it....you can learn much by seeing what not to do.

 

[fatphatboy88]

I understand all that. What I meant to ask was what are the qualifications to be one? Do you have to qualify at a certain course under a certain time or do you have to win a set amount of matches or championships?

 

[Jim Watson]

The short answer to your question is that you will become a USPSA Grand Master when your scores average 95% or more of the best on record.

Nearly every UPSA match includes a "classifier stage" whose score is sent in to USPSA headquarters where they will calculate your score as a percentage of the best that has ever been done on that particular stage. A club will occasionally run a "special classifier" match with multiple classifier stages. When you have accumulated four scores for different classifier stages, they give you a classification. After that, they will track the best six out of your last eight classifier stages. There are a lot more little details you can read about in the USPSA rule book, but you will have plenty of time to study them as you work your way up.

 

[David E]

Fat, Jim is basically correct, altho the "High Score" is an average of several scores.

USPSA has various stages that are called a "classifier," as the specifics of the stage (target distance, etc) are spelled out. The gun club putting on the match measures out the distance so that, in theory, the club shooting Classifier 99-11 (El Presidente) in Tennessee is identical to the same stage set up in Florida, Texas, etc.

Scores are already on file for the classifier stages and your score is compared to it.

To shoot 100% of this one, in Limited division, you need to shoot 60 points in 5.55 seconds. The Hit Factor is 10.81, so you can drop some points if you shoot it faster.

94.9% is 60 points in 5.85 seconds, so a mere 3/10ths of a second makes a difference between being a Grandmaster or just a high Master.

The USPSA Hit Factors are not public, but this one has been out there for literally decades.

Initially, USPSA takes your first 4 classifers to get you classified. (if you find a "super classifier match, you can be classified in ONE day.) After that, they take your high 6 scores of your most recent 8 and averages them. If your average is 95% or better, then you're a Grand Master. As you can see, you cannot luck your way into GM status.

Check out www.uspsa.com for more info.

 

[Ankeny]

...or you can earn your classification based on your finish at major matches. The classification system has a bias towards upward promotion. Truth is, a GM card (via classifiers) is within reach of most folks who have good hand eye coordination and devote the required resources. FWIW, GMs come in various flavors and types.

 

[David E]

To acheive GM by winning matches, you'd have to decisively win no less a match than the Nationals.

I've seen Masters outshoot GM's at Nationals and take 1st Master and they never got bumped up.

 

[Jim Watson]

the "High Score" is an average of several scores.

I didn't know that. I thought high was, like, you know, high, the best that had been shot.
So they average out several really good scores on each classifier to get a top score to define 100%, then?

 

[David E]

As I understand it, they take the top ten scores and average them. This is what _I_ call the "Definitive High Hit Factor." (DHHF)

This avoids a once-in-a-lifetime run on El Prez by Robbie becoming the DHHF

Once in a great while, they revisit the scores on a given classifier and recalculate the DHHF

 

[Ankeny]

To acheive GM by winning matches, you'd have to decisively win no less a match than the Nationals.

That information is not correct. Go to the USPSA website and it's all explained.

As for HHF. Some of the new classifiers have a HHF that came from a level three match. Some are averages, and some are simply percentages of HHFs from other divisions.

 

[David E]

I was speaking about making GM by shooting ONE match. The rulebook does spell it out:

winning High Overall in an Area Championship may promote you to Grand Master class. In addition, if you score 95% or higher at a USPSA national championship, you will be immediately moved to Grand Master class for that division.

I know of several Masters that did shoot 95% or better at National and never got moved up. Had they won, I'm sure they would've been.

The percentages that are taken from HHF's from other divisions is not the way to do it properly. It's only a "good enough for now" method.

Revolver Division, for example, had incredibly high DHHF's for awhile, as not even World Record Holder Jerry Miculek was rated as a GM. He got there by virtue of winning Area Matches until he accrued enough 100% scores to make it. (Why they didn't move him up with the first Area or Nationals win is another question.)

Since then, it appears the DHHF's have been adjusted, as enough real-world revolver classifier scores that are high enough have been accumulated.

 

[Ankeny]

I was speaking about making GM by shooting ONE match.

Now we are on the same page. I agree about revolver hit factors being bogus for so long. The hit factors were way too low on those classifiers that were six round neutral and way too high on eight round stages that required a standing reload. Each division needs it's own comprehensive data base of scores that are actually shot, not range math and guess work.

 

[John Parker]

Don't you have to be a level 60 Wizard to be a Grand Master?

 

[Hostile Amish]

You have to shoot... a freaking lot. And be good at it. Very good. There's no other way I can put this, if I avoid all the technical stuff.

 

[David E]

In some ways, it's not that hard to make GM, especially considering how they figure your scores now.

Ankeny is a GM, as am I. One could sum it up with: The absence of anything unnecessary, the crisp execution of everything that is.

Many people waste a lot of time, more than they realize, on doing extra stuff they don't need to do and then not crisply executing the other things. Ususally, they don't know the difference between the "necessary" and "unnecessary."