BentLink

I started IDPA last year. Definitely a means to get experience with gun skills under pressure. Tons of fun.

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Still Clingin'

Blackeagle

Mid Carolina Rifle Club.

Blackeagle

The problem is not that people don't slice the pie according to the IDPA rules, it's that the way the rules require you to slice the pie isn't very realistic. According to the rulebook, you only get a procedural for engaging two targets from the same position. One target increments is way too big a slice of the pie in real life. The rules also allow you to expose up to 50% of the upper body when shooting from behind cover, which is way too much.

The failure to do right penalty could be a powerful tool for getting people to shoot the stage more realistically, the problem seems to be that it is so draconian it hardly ever gets used except for the most blatant gaming.

Both of the last two pairs of targets I described had partially overlapping no-shoots between them. It didn't seem to slow people down at all.

Yep. One of the other stages we shot yesterday had you sitting at a picnic table with two no-shoots in front of you and six targets scattered beyond. You had to remain seated in the same spot and shoot all six targets. Basically this meant you were leaning over horizontally to shoot around the no-shoots and hit the target beyond it.

Didn't have any one-hand only or support hand drills this month, but they've had them in the past. Unfortunately, they never actually require drawing with the support hand (always starts with the gun on a table or in support hand at low ready) or require one hand or support hand only reloading.

Tubby45

Used to shoot IDPA. Now my business is too busy for free time.

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ranburr

Miggy,

I'm not saying that there aren't some well trained people in the sport. I am saying that from my experiences, they are the exception, not the rule. I have only shot with about eight different clubs. At each club, I was the only shooter with any formal training. I'm not saying that they didn't have good shooters. But, I am saying that they had very poor tactics. I gave up after the last group argued with me that I was committing a safety violation in the Suhl position. Of course none of them had ever heard of Suhl. As far as what I do now; I attend monthly training classes. IDPA is fun, I just don't think it is very realistic at the huge majority of clubs.

Agave

I've shot IDPA for a bit. Yesterday, I shot out of my duty belt for the first time.

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The preceding post may contain sarcasm; it's just better that way. However, it is still intended with construction and with the Love of my L-rd Y'shua.

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Saber

No, but I wish I did. I guess I'm just pretty much a closet gun slinger'.
Regards,

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~ Stephen King

NC Buckeye

I think with the interest we should have a forum for these games.

sgtD

No, I don't do it.

I have been wanting to for a couple of years now and just don't have the time given my current situation.

As soon as I get out of law school and get a job, I fully plan to get started in some IDPA shooting.

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When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts & minds will follow. Semper Fi.

Miggy

ranburr, you are right. there are shooters that have no experience or training shooting IDPA but IDPA becomes the training that otherwise they would not get and that beats no training at all.
Example: The first thing that a shooter learns in IDPA is the use of cover. If the first rule of a gunfight is to have a gun, the second should be no to get any holes in your body that were not present prior to the gunfight. Realistically, How many shooters in this forum train and can practice at their local ranges shooting from cover/concealment? After a few matches, the use of cover becomes second nature. That a shooter might not use cover "perfectly" as Blackeagle states is secondary IMHO to making oneself a much difficult target by reducing the amount of exposed body to a Bad Guy. If the only cover out there in the street is a fire hydrant, I will take it without hesitation. Will a fire hydrant be enough to cover my less than svelte body? Hell not by a mile, but beats having no cover at all or wasting time and risking getting shot while looking around for the perfect bunker which will permit me shoot back at my leisure while drinking a smoothie and talking to the 911 operator.

Also, I have seen trained LEOs, military and operators come apart during IDPA matches. I am talking very well trained people here with all the tactical gear in the world that get humbled badly by either a guy who just learned how to operate a gun 6 months prior or an overweight grandfather in his late 60's. The smart ones realize that they were training in a bubble and seek to remedy the situation by shooting more matches and changing their mindsets. But the not so smart ones are never seen again because their egos were hurt by the match.
Another thing that IDPA does is to create a thirst for further knowledge and training to the shooters. Average Joe realizes he ain't as good as he thought he was and seeks further training outside IDPA. He asks other shooters about classes and instructors and goes on to get better with an a credited trainer.

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You have to make the shot when fire is smoking, people are screaming, dogs are barking, kids are crying and sirens are coming.
Randy Cain.

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