Top Ten Reasons to Shoot IDPA, from Handguns 2010

[Lomshek]

I haven't had a bad time, but I agree with Sean and others that it is a long time for about 5 minutes of shooting (7 hours total). I'll continue to poke around and get what I can out of it, when I can, but I'll still personally wonder.

Our club used to be like that as we were starting out in USPSA with crazy long waits between shooters. As the core group got more experience shooting in other matches we learned what made stage re-set go smoother and are now (over years) much faster. A winter night handgun shoot with 40 competitors shooting 4 stages will last right at 4 hours (10 per squad/bay) and a daytime match with 6 stages and 30 shooters (3 squads/3 bays 2 stages per bay) will take a little less than three hours.

We're far from pros but have tried to improve how we run the match to eliminate wasted time. Keep looking for clubs that keep the BS to a minimum and are there to shoot and compete. They exist. Can't help you on the sales pitch to join a club. A couple clubs charge a $5 bonus fee if you aren't a member but that's the worst I've heard of around here.

[ST911]

Customer submitted pic, I blurred out their face to protect their identity.

Yes, but can you starch it?

[revchuck]

I wear a vest quite often; a fleece vest in South Dakota is about as grey man as I can get.

You want "grey man?" How about a 60+ year old guy in Louisiana wearing an untucked, square-bottomed shirt? Shoot, even my hair is grey. I just don't have the paunch they issued Hackathorn.

FWIW, I was the match director for the local IDPA club until it folded, and was comfortable shooting matches that way.

[Steve5321]

Training is between your ears. Every event, IDPA, 3gun or Training drills I try to have the attitude that I'm going to learn something and pick up a few new marbles to go in my bag. We shot last night at an indoor range and we have a Master IDPA shooter that is a wealth of knowledge and always interesting to watch. The thing I like most is how aggressively and fast he attacks the stage, with a minimum of motion and always blows everyone away with his speed. He misses some, but man is he fast. I'm old school and if the sights aren't were they need to be, I don't pull the trigger. I usually finish in the top third but almost always am the most accurate. I go to learn!

[OldRunner/CSAT Neighbor]

You want "grey man?" How about a 60+ year old guy in Louisiana wearing an untucked, square-bottomed shirt? Shoot, even my hair is grey. I just don't have the paunch they issued Hackathorn.

FWIW, I was the match director for the local IDPA club until it folded, and was comfortable shooting matches that way.

Don't feel alone there Chuck, just shot an SO 3G in Longview TX & my shirt was out as always. On one stage I have to pre-position my pistol on top of a barrel, walk up to it & SO says " you need your pistol ", so I pull up the bottom of my shirt, withdraw my CORE from it's IWB & his reply was " oh, I see ".

Both myself & RetroMike (my training partner both 60+) shoot all our IDPA matches this way, heck I even shoot the classifier that way. The only time we don't is when it is cool enough for us to wear our vests in the world, so then we use the same for the matches. Of course out of an average 30 shooters, we are the only 2 who carry EVERY day, everywhere to include our BUGs.