Milestone! I have now been initiated into the rough-and-tumble world of International Defensive Pistol Association competitive shooting. How’d I do? I sucked. Well, I hit my targets pretty faithfully, but between the procedural deductions and the relative snail’s pace, my overall ranking was nothing to write home about (sorry, Mom). As most of you know, I’ve been long ensnared in an epic tug of war between accuracy and speed. Until I figure out that balance, I won’t expect to stand out among the lightning-quick quadruple-tappers (some of whom I noticed are perfectly content with dropping a few shots in exchange for blinding speed). I do hope to lessen my procedurals though, as I become more familiar with the rules. And speaking of rules, eh hem. A few things left me, well, I’ll say mildly bewildered. For example…
- If I’m playing cards and suddenly find myself accosted by the six disgruntled opponents across the table from me, why the hell would I stay in my chair? Because IDPA requires it.
- Why would my spare mags ever be sitting on the table in front of me instead of in the pouch on my person? Because IDPA requires it.
- If I’m at work — especially since I work at a gun store (according to the scenario) — why on earth would my gun be parked on a shelf under the cash register instead of nestled in my holster? You guessed it. IDPA requirement.
- If I’ve got full access to upper center chest, why would I limit myself to head shots only? IDPA says so.
- If find myself in an outdoor gun fight, why would my gun be sitting in a box on the table? IDPA.
- Back to that card game — why would I be playing cards with six people willing to shoot me over a card game? But I digress.
- If my bad guy is 15 yards away and there’s an innocent person standing two inches directly behind him, why would I shoot that guy at that moment? IDP… you get the drift.
- If my life is in imminent danger (which of course it would have to be in order for me to legally resort to deadly force), why would I be doing arithmetic in my head? (Maybe this one was just me being a newbie unaccustomed to the scoring system; but I really did feel at times unduly preoccupied with point calculations and varying requisite shot totals instead of just focusing on getting good hits.)
- And my biggest pet peeve of all: Why in the Sam Hill would I ever “unload and show clear”? Say what? Do what now? Heck, what if the sh*t hits the fan while we’re out here fiddling with IDPA tomfoolery? I’d have to fight with my trusty IDPA-approved-but-otherwise-utterly-useless paperweight. Competition or not, a gun with no ammo is about as handy as a car with no gas. Sorry, you all know how I feel about cold ranges. Then again, we did have one guy get DQed for unholstering off the line. So I admit it was probably a good thing that he was empty. 🙂 I also admit I was mildly amused at the awkward spectacle that was the SO very diplomatically ripping that guy a new one.
I had never really done much competition shooting before. It’s different. I gave IDPA a whirl (as opposed to other competition leagues) because I had heard that the whole point was defensive shooting instead of sport shooting. And yet, the entire experience really felt a lot like gaming — pretty intense, high-stakes gaming; but gaming, nonetheless. People were dispatching clandestine reconnaissance missions to scope out the scenarios beforehand so they could pre-choreograph their intended course of action. One dude had a 30-round Glock mag. Really? When he draped his shirt over the gun for “concealment,” I swear if it weren’t for the anatomical incorrectness I might have assumed he was really, really, really happy to see everybody. Another guy’s mag well looked like a freakin’ sousaphone. Think he might reload a bit faster than the guy getting mugged on the street? I’ll go out on a limb and bet yes.
Random Side Note: You know, being the token black person gets old. So does being the only girl (or one of the very few). Or the only person under 50. Or the only person not dressed in a fishing vest and cargo pants and a t-shirt with a trendy gun manufacturer’s logo splashed across the front or some cutesy tacticool “don’t f*ck with me” quip on the back. I hereby challenge everybody in the gun world to get out there and recruit some folks who don’t look, act, talk, walk, or think like you do, don’t listen to your kind of music, and don’t have the same hairstyle as you. Go find somebody whose name you can’t pronounce. Just sayin’.
All that being said, I think I’ll continue going to IDPA and try to make it a regular thing. Besides the fact that the match director is one of my very favorite Rangemaster instructors, I do like the idea of being pushed beyond my comfort zone; having to shoot under time pressure; working in a three-dimensional, 180-degree environment with something other than paper targets; and managing my own adrenaline (not to mention having scores of veteran eyeballs trained on me while I negotiate a defensive problem). However, I do worry about subconsciously habituating the IDPA “rules of engagement” and having them later bite me in the butt cheek in the real world. I would certainly hate to blindly dump my mag after ten-plus-one or “unload and show clear” by force of habit in the middle of an actual holy-crap kerfuffle. If that happens, game over.
Tiffany,
I’m a self-defense person who has found a lot of value in competition. I want to compete as I carry, but that’s not allowed for me in IDPA (no appendix.) So I shoot USPSA and I couldn’t be more glad that IDPA made me have to look there, where AIWB is allowed. The technical challenge and level of competitor in USPSA is enormous. I can compete as I carry. And I think, like several of the comments here, that a competition is different from a tactical training activity. I’m so tactical that I should be crowned Lord of the Food Court, but I do my tactical training in…wait for it…tactical training. Competition is different from that and has huge benefits that can be hard to get in tactical training. I think it is actually liberating to not have to abide by any of the canned tactics that IDPA enshrines in its rules. When I go to USPSA, it’s simply a technical challenge, instead of an attempt at realism and tactics that is really not going to come out right almost no matter how it’s done. Because they are both timed games.
Thanks, Mr_White. I definitely think I’ll have to find a way to continue with competition shooting in some form or another. I guess the bottom line is unless you’re in an actual gunfight (which I hope to never be), it’s all gaming to a certain extent — even tactical training. Sounds like I’ll have to check out USPSA too. Thanks for the tip!
It’s ALL useful. I would shoot IDPA, but can’t because time, and I really really want to compete as I carry. I shoot GSSF (great for a narrowly-focused accuracy and speed shooting competition) and USPSA. I think for a lot of people it is regional – some have great opportunity for one sport but not the other just because that’s what’s available. Biggest thing for a tactical person doing sport shooting IMHO, is to get expectations in line with the reality that competition isn’t tactical training and isn’t much of a simulation of reality, but is a very challenging pressure and test of the technical skills of gunhandling and shooting.
My opinion (and it’s worth every penny you paid for it) is that shooting games like USPSA and IDPA get a bad rap due to unrealistic expectations…that is, unrealistic expectations of people expecting a realistic experience. If you want to shoot one of these matches for tactical realism, you will naturally be sorely disappointed. But if you want to become better at operating your pistol under stress, I think they are tough to beat.
The “gun in a box” type manipulations are not (I believe) intended to replicate a “real world” scenario as much as they are intended to give you physical and mental problems to solve, all while safely manipulating and shooting a loaded pistol, and doing it as fast as you can. At a minimum, almost any stage you shoot in IDPA or USPSA will involve drawing and presenting the gun, shooting multiple targets, and reloading. You may also find yourself moving, or shooting at moving targets, or both. You will often find yourself having to shoot from unconventional or awkward positions, and maybe clearing a malfunction. You will always find yourself having to engage the brain and solve a problem (albeit artificial) with a gun in your hand, and do it safely. All for time, while everybody is looking at you.
I don’t personally know of a public range that will let you do all those things during a practice session, IF you could set up such a course of fire there. Just treat matches as a good practice session. It’s not “tactical,” not “house clearing,” or anything else like that, and I don’t think it is supposed to be. And if you go into it with that understanding, and view it simply as practice in shooting mechanics in an artificial construct, you can get the right things from it.
“A pistol match may not be a gunfight, but a gunfight sure as hell is a pistol match.” – Jim Cirillo
Your opinion is priceless, Dave! 🙂
That’s a much kinder way to put it!
Very good advice. Puts things in perspective for my *second* IDPA shoot. Thanks, Dave. And wish me luck!
You are welcome, and best of luck next time out. Make sure and keep us posted!
I agree with you, and with Joe A: It’s a game. It’s a fun game, but it’s still a game.
All the things you mentioned (the gun in the box, the mags on the table, etc.) bugged me, too. They’re there for safety, because most shooters never properly practice drawing and holstering. (But you already know that, Counselor.)
What I never liked was the speed aspect. I’ve cleared a few houses for real (not many), and you don’t do it fast. You do it nice and slow and methodically. But it’s hard to score “methodical.”
But it’s fun and it’s different, and it can help you to shoot fast and accurately, if you just go with the gaming flow. If you like it, stick with it.
Regarding the fish-out-of-water aspect: I’m a WM, and I felt unwelcome at some IDPA events. Maybe it’s because of my LE background, or my urban background, or maybe my wife is right and I’m just an antisocial jerk. Or it could be that the everyone is already cliqued up.
Good luck.
.
Kindred spirit! I’ve often wondered if I’m an anti-social jerk too! So maybe it’s just us, and the obnoxious cliques are figments of our imagination? Na, doubt it, LOL.
So, I thought about Old 1811’s comment and wanted to follow up to clarify. At my inaugural IDPA match, it wasn’t that I felt unwelcome. Actually, most of the shooters were pretty cordial and inviting. But I did feel out of place. Different. No one seemed to mind (which is good); but still, my oddball status was palpable. At one point someone said to me, “so you must be a police officer.” The implied logic was, “why else would you be here?” Anyway, I’m sure things will loosen up once I get to know people. Finding my way around the IDPA match rules probably wouldn’t hurt either. When in Rome… 🙂
I’m glad you elaborated, because “unwelcome” wasn’t the right word for my experience, either. I think your characterization of “out of place” pretty much nails it. Nobody glared or cursed at me, but nobody went out of their way to ease the path for me, either. I think it may have been just a matter of not being in any cliques (whenever you have three people in a room, you have politics), or,as I said, my wife is right and I’m an antisocial jerk.
As a fairly long time IDPA shooter with my own reservations about the sport:
No matter what some of the hardcore, mainline Tactical Timmies say, it’s a game. If you keep score, it’s a game.That said, it probably instills fewer bad habits than other action pistol disciplines like USPSA. And, it’s good practice combining all the skillsets you need for defensive pistolcraft: moving and shooting, engaging multiple targets, safe gun handling skills and, most importantly, keeping your brain engaged in problem solving mode while running around with a gun in your hand. Even though IDPA course design guidelines do their level best to remove any need for thinking on the part of the shooter.
At the club match level, you can really get out of it whatever you want. A fair number of people at our club are there because there’s no other venue open to them to practice this type of shooting. And, at a good club the “gamers” who do approach it competitively will recognize that approach and nurture it – even offering constructive criticism and coaching applicable to what the shooter wants to get out of it.
There are a few issues I have with IDPA “Tactical Doctrine” – obsession with cover being one. While I realize the real-world hazards of the USPSA “stand and deliver” methodology of hopping out in the open and hosing down targets, most walls and doors are as effective as cover as the snow fence and barrels IDPA uses to simulate them. There is a big difference in “concealment” vs. “cover” and, short of brick and cinder block walls, there is very little in common urban construction that qualifies as cover. And, under sustained small arms fire even masonry transitions rapidly from cover to concealment to “oh crap”.
And, don’t even get me started on “box starts” and “table starts”. At a recent match with a box start, the course description began “After hosting a party for your young child and their friends, you retrieve your hand gun from where you locked it up for safekeeping…” Yeah. I choose to view box starts as object lessons on why you shouldn’t take your gun off until you go to bed, and just leave it at that.
IDPA has it’s flaws, but I still highly encourage it as an adjunct to good training for people serious about building good defensive pistol skills. Although some of the doctrine is silly – reloads on the move, assuming a luan door will stop bullets – much is sound: slicing the pie, the bias of accuracy over raw speed etc. You’ll also get to meet some of the best people in the world, and to watch some incredible shooters lay it down. If you step up your participation to take in some regional and state level matches, you’ll get to shoot alongside some of the top shooters in the world. And, pretty much any IDPA shooter classified MM and above can get into Nationals and hobnob with the likes of Jerry Miculek, Doug Koenig and Bob Vogel. All of them also as nice of people as you’d want to meet.
Oh, and that 30 round Glock mag? About as kosher as a Christmas ham. By IPDA rules all guns have to fit in the supplied box – with the largest mag seated, unless he was shooting NFC.
Thanks so much for this great insight! Yeah, I quickly got to the point where any time one of the SOs mentioned “cover” I just heard “concealment.” But I can see how IDPA could be good practice for me, especially since I don’t have many other opportunities for affordable, organized trigger time in my area. I hope I can get the hang of it and not embarrass myself too badly. And I always look forward to meeting new people, especially if they’re great shooters! 🙂