kazzaerexys

For what it's worth, my experience with IDPA, both at local and at major sanctioned matches, doesn't bear out these concerns. Off-hand shooting is limited by the rules of match design to a very small portion of any match. (Many of our local matches have no required off-hand shots at all.) You only carry two spare mags and most stages can be shot with a single reload. You will never see a weak hand reload in IDPA because it's pretty unsafe to ask people to do something like that when most never practice it.

The rules are not as complicated as the rulebook makes it seem. There are some peculiarities to the sorts of penalties (Procedural Errors) one can pick up, but most of the things required by the rules are for safety reasons.

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“What is a moderate interpretation of [the Constitution]? Halfway between what it says and [...] what you want it to say?”

—Justice Antonin Scalia

edr9x23super

USPSA Master (1994)

never classified in IDPA, although I shoot ESP and CDP.

My view on classifications of any kind is simple: It is a great Ego stroker, nothing more. I pay closer attention to how I place at the end of the match, rather than what the card I carry says, or the internet tells me.

When in USPSA, I watched all kinds of people shoot classifiers over and over until they got the score they wanted posted. I also watched club officials help these guys by tossing scores that weren't going to help their buddies too. Then i watched guys deliberately crash classifiers repeatedly to lower their classification, so they would be listed as a C or B shooter going into an area match, then "Presto" they were burning down stages with the Masters and cleaning out the prize tables ahead of other shooters who were honest. For these reasons I left that bunch behind in 2002, never to return.

As for IDPA, I took what I learned from IPSC and never looked back. What I have learned:

• Rating classifications by and large aren't worth the paper they are printed on; As long as the human element is involved, there will exist the propensity for cheating to aggrandize someone's standing. that is why I have always been a proponent of using the entire match as a continuous classifier as long as some basic structures (such as tests for accuracy, speed, movement, etc) are followed. The order of finish can be used to determine standing and classification initially, then competition at area or national matches may be used with greater weight later on.
• If you want to learn to fight with a gun, go to a school that specializes in this; they are populated with folks that have actually thrown lead in anger and had it thrown back at them, and more importantly these folks know exactly what goes wrong in these encounters.
• To me, as I have always opined, the real Masters in our hobby are the ones who have survived multiple REAL gunfights (and you know who you are). This experience may well have come from Law Enforcement or Military experience, but nonetheless those are the folks I look to for advice on the subject.

So that is my .02c on the "classes" of shooters in every discipline.

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"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined". - Patrick Henry

TheHun

I perfectly agree with you on the USPSA / IDPA classification system. IMO there should be non at all or major match placement should be used as classification.

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I carry a gun cause I can't carry a cop.

packin45

Man, I wish I had the resources to shoot that much! I'm doing well if I shoot one match a month, and hit the range once between matches.

I haven't shot a classifier yet, but I generally end up in the middle of the pack in both CDP and SSP.

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G17, G21, Beretta 92F

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...

packin45

+1

It seems pretty complex at first, but it gets a lot easier after your first few matches. Three mags for each gun should suffice.

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G17, G21, Beretta 92F

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...

paul45

When you get old, retire and your kids are grown, it get easier to retain your disposable income. I can not think of a better way than shooting to dispose of my income.
It would have been nicer if I could have done it earlier but withholding food from the kids was not an option.

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"Being PARANOID is just plain smart thinking when they are really out to get you!"

HK Dan

IDPA-Master in SSP, ESP, CDP, best time 82.81
USPSA--"A" in Limited, Production, and Single Stack.

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"You can't miss fast enough to win."

sass20485

No IDPA, but SASS FL State Champion- Modern, 2004, SASS FL State Champion
Frontier Cartridge 2006.

Sticks

IDPA classifier SSP got rained out, so "incomplete" is my rating. Best guess...Novice, but it was also my first competitive shooting. I'll find out next month.

I doubt I will get into real competition. I don't deal well with sandbaggers.

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Sticks
Curiosity was framed, poor judgment killed the cat

A Government is comprised of a body of people notably ungoverned.

Three can keep a secret if two are dead

TonyB

SSP-SS
CDP-SS
SSR-MM(missed SS by like 1 second,which is worse than missing by a mile)
in the beginning I thought of idpa as good tactical training....the more I get involved ,I realize it's rules are not exactly tactical friendly sometimes.It is good shooting practice,w/ drawing,multiple targets,pressure and better than just standing there and punching holes.I Love idpa,and use it as just one kind of training.Don't just rely on one thing for your CCW training.IMO.

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"Just because I'm paranoid,doesn't mean they're NOT after me...."