So, I am a dude who has heretofore been firmly in the Timmy camp…

[okie john]

A year later, the shoe is on the other foot, and yesterday she brow beat me into doing my first IDPA-type “fun shoot.”

Alas, poor Timmy, I knew thee well.

I shot my first IDPA match like I was hitting a series of live targets. I finished near last because I hadn’t yet realized that the bulk of an IDPA score is time, and that precision can’t improve it.

Like you, I had walked the path of the pure and righteous man. But the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will shepherds the gamers through the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

Keeping to the path doesn’t mean avoiding games or abandoning the truth, the way, and the light. I focused on being good in the classical sense. I shot fast enough to get A-zone hits and did everything else at warp speed. I shot my carry gun from my carry rig with full-power ammo, which messed with a lot of people’s heads. It didn’t take long until I started to finish ahead of the guys with the fancy gear.

After a while, I started to compete against stage designers. One guy was diabolical—he once set up a stage where you had to carry a dummy of a baby under your strong arm and basically shoot your way out of an area ambush. Then the focus became thinking with a gun rather than shooting, and to show others that it IS possible to shoot well without spending a fortune buying skill. I became able to strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempted to poison and destroy my brothers.

I left IDPA after a match that had taken eight hours on a gorgeous fall Saturday. I shot well, but I realized that it had taken me a full day to get less than one minute of trigger time.

Post COVID, I’m rusty enough that I might consider going back.


Okie John

[HCM]

[Jim Watson]

A year later, the shoe is on the other foot, and yesterday she brow beat me into doing my first IDPA-type “fun shoot.”

The good news: at every taping up, the RO kept calling—in a moderately surprised tone, considering that I was running a G42 in solidarity, “Aplha, Alpha… another two Aplhas… an Alpha and one Charlie…” No misses, no no-shoots on white, no Deltas. I can get hits on what I aim at.

Just to be a nitpicker, us IDPA-ers don't do none of that alpha delta stuff, our targets are numbered.
I suspect that IDPA type shoot was run by USPSA vets but maybe they were tired of the hit factor - stage factor stuff and were scoring "time plus" which is a lot easier to comprehend. Lot of that going around. I shot a wildcat match yesterday with scoring as "two A or B hits to neutralize", pass-fail, add zero or 5 seconds to time.

This is exactly what some of the hard core defensive people Pooh Poohing competition don’t get.
They say we should be spending the time working on our other skills…
But for me, they come out of different time and emotional budgets.
USPSA comes out of the same budget as watching TV or going to the movies or a bar with a buddy.
Not out of the time spend lifting weights or running on a treadmill.
It’s a great way to meet like minded people, get a little friendly competition and have tangible goals for improvement.

This should be tattooed on some people's narrow little foreheads.
Shooting matches combine practice and and recreation. Frequent and relatively cheap.
Lots better for you than watching overpaid jocks throw, kick, or bounce a ball.
Paid or agency training is expensive and not done very often. If you can already put lead on target, you can focus on those "other skills."

Same thing on reloading, we often hear "What is your time spent at the Dillon worth?" Well, what would you be doing if not reloading? Do you have a job that will let you put in paid overtime at will? I have known a few people who could, my Dad's job had that to some extent, but it is not common.

[Totem Polar]

Just to be a nitpicker, us IDPA-ers don't do none of that alpha delta stuff, our targets are numbered.

You are absolutely correct, it was USPSA. Brain fart on my end.

[okie john]

Shooting matches combine practice and and recreation. Frequent and relatively cheap.

I found a LOT of value in the stress of shooting in front of other people who, presumably, were also pretty good at what we were all trying to do.


Okie John

[CraigS]

I found a LOT of value in the stress of shooting in front of other people who, presumably, were also pretty good at what we were all trying to do.


Okie John

Absolutely. Every match sometime in the day, someone will say something like, dang why does my plan go to he11 as soon as I hear the buzzer? When I first started I would see someone standing just looking at the stage and his body would move a little left or right. I finally asked one what he was doing. Visuallizing how I will shoot the stage.

[okie john]

Absolutely. Every match sometime in the day, someone will say something like, dang why does my plan go to he11 as soon as I hear the buzzer? When I first started I would see someone standing just looking at the stage and his body would move a little left or right. I finally asked one what he was doing. Visuallizing how I will shoot the stage.

Plan your shoot and shoot your plan. The club where I shot IDPA was good about not letting people airgun the course but you could stand there for a minute or two and figure out where you'd need to reload, how you were going to move, etc. I'm comfortable moving (running, etc.) with a loaded pistol in my hand, but that freaks out a lot of people and really slows them down.


Okie John

[Jim Watson]

If you are at the starting line visualizing for a "minute or two" at LAMR I am going to hurry you up.

I know one USPSA GM who walks through, then at the Make Ready snaps in, loads, takes another sight picture, (I wish they would do that before they load, but few do.) and then stands still and visualizes, meditates or something for 10 seconds. That seems like a long time, but it sure pays off for him.

[CraigS]

I was referring to guys I see visualizing before it is their turn to actually shoot. At the last match my squad was waiting for another squad to finish a stage so we could shoot it. One guy was doing something while at the line for what seemed like ever. It was bad enough that some catcalls started up. Thankfully he got the picture pretty quickly.

[Clusterfrack]

@Totem Polar, I'm glad to hear it was USPSA. Hit factor scoring is the thing that makes USPSA the best way to train practical shooting. Hit factor is to time-plus as MMA/BJJ is to TMA.

In the real world, we know that it is important to be able to take the appropriate amount of time to be appropriately accurate for any given scenario. That is what hit factor scoring teaches*.

*Have the simulations wounds on your chest healed?

Just to be a nitpicker, us IDPA-ers don't do none of that alpha delta stuff, our targets are numbered.
I suspect that IDPA type shoot was run by USPSA vets but maybe they were tired of the hit factor - stage factor stuff and were scoring "time plus" which is a lot easier to comprehend. Lot of that going around. I shot a wildcat match yesterday with scoring as "two A or B hits to neutralize", pass-fail, add zero or 5 seconds to time.

You are absolutely correct, it was USPSA. Brain fart on my end.