Think of how much faster you'd be machete chopping IDPA targets if they allowed you a magnet to stash that blade.Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer
Think of how much faster you'd be machete chopping IDPA targets if they allowed you a magnet to stash that blade.
I'll ask them to set one up. I noticed a good number of competitors had a folder and some with pocket flashlight.
I haven’t spent a ton of time shooting IDPA or USPSA, but when I had the time, and my carry or duty gear were naturally configured to be game legal, I played the games.
Every single time I played shooting games, inevitably, I’d be dead within a day or two.
You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
I'll add my .02 cents here. Competition has made me better in terms of safe gun handling, weapon manipulations, muzzle awareness, accuracy, reloading, trigger control under stress, etc.. I leaned about using cover when I started in IDPA back in the early days of IDPA, before fault lines. I had to be aware of where I put my foot or leg and where the target might be. How would I respond in a real gunfight? I don't know, not even my rather tame military experience is any help. .
I have learned that extensive weapon modifications often result in failures. Take even the best pistol/carbine outside of it's design parameters and it's bound to fail or at least be on the edge of failure.
I've seen Glocks fail that were highly modified, some had very few actual Glock parts in them. 1911's? Sure, even mine when I started experimenting with springs. When I put it back to spec it ran and ran, right through 2 x 2000 round tests. It continues to run as both a 9mm, .38 super and a .22 with a new top end.
Lately I'm into to two gun and I am using the lessons learned in pistol shooting. Quality equipment, don't screw with it and viola, it works...
Well put. Competition certainly won’t teach someone tactics. But it certainly will help emphasize the many important and useful skill you list.
So I shot my second USPSA match with a stock Glock 17 Gen 4 after not shooting for about a year and a half. It has stock Glock sights, the U and the dot. The 4 stages:
A C M
21 5
22 7 1
21 7
16 4
Times, not important - with my:
1. Old man bad knees
2. Newly broken toe
I move sedately around the stages. Since my goal is competency for EDC, fun and defending my butt and along with those of loved ones, I felt ok after the layoff. I was in roughly in the same accuracy range as most of the folks. Fair amount of optics. I'm not there yet as unless I decide to go with an Optic for EDC, I stay with what I carry. Did I have fun - yes. Was the new club - good folks - yes. Supportive and instructive.
Getting my grip back into automaticity. I was practicing with a SIRT but it's not the same - but fun. I'm going to wring out a G44 pretty soon for steel. Again, fun and close to EDC - that being my goal. I just want to improve. It's like when I lifted weights - if I did better that's what counted.
No glitches that would kill me on the street. I still have the IDPA habit of not dropping loaded mags. I was counseled to break that. While reloads with retention were controversial as to getting you killed on the street, I wonder if on da street, studies show that folks tend to shoot till empty.
This book:
The Psychology of Police Deadly Force Encounters
by Laurence Miller
has a pretty good discussion of the factors that lead to folks emptying mags on da street. You really can't solve the problem (one raison d'etre of USPSA vs. IDPA, I'm told) and plan partial reloads I would think in a real fight. But what to I know.
I'm going out on the street now.
All competition gets you KITS. Martial arts, shooting, even sprinting!
Running the 100 meter dash won't prepare you for running for your life on the streets. You won't be wearing your gamer gear or on a flat range...erm...track.
In fact...running recreationally at all will probably get you kilt on the streets. Life isn't a competition. There are no rules! You shouldn't even bother with running or any type of cardio really because it won't save your life on the streets.
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On two classifier stages at last Saturday's USPSA match, a Single Stack shooter was trying to push speed on the draw. He didn't get his grip right, and failed to deactivate the grip safety.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
If you happen to know him, check his hand size, and whether he’s using thin stocks.
That happened to me once, in the very first pistol training class I ever attended. There was no good excuse for it, and never since (lesson learned).
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