New IDPA shooter looking for recommendations

[Chris Rhines]

For IDPA-specific practice drills, I spend a lot of time working on my position setups/use of cover. I frequently shoot Steve Anderson's Field Course Simulator drill - I banged out a quick SketchUp design of the setup, just pretend that the targets are IDPA rather than IPSC Metrics:



Start in the box, loaded and holstered. On the beep, move to one barricade and engage all three targets with two shots each, using cover around the outside of the barricade. Reload if desired, then move to the other barricade and engage all three targets again, using cover around the outside of the barricade.

I'll shoot this 5-6 times standing, and 5-6 times taking a knee at each position, to simulate low cover.

The thing that I like about this drill is the flexibility of the setup. You can vary the target distances and positions to make it easier or harder. You can engage the targets around the inside or the outside of the barricade. You can engage the targets on the move between positions. It's a good general-purpose match drill that you can adapt to your needs.

[cclaxton]

For IDPA-specific practice drills, I spend a lot of time working on my position setups/use of cover. I frequently shoot Steve Anderson's Field Course Simulator drill - I banged out a quick SketchUp design of the setup, just pretend that the targets are IDPA rather than IPSC Metrics:



Start in the box, loaded and holstered. On the beep, move to one barricade and engage all three targets with two shots each, using cover around the outside of the barricade. Reload if desired, then move to the other barricade and engage all three targets again, using cover around the outside of the barricade.

I'll shoot this 5-6 times standing, and 5-6 times taking a knee at each position, to simulate low cover.

The thing that I like about this drill is the flexibility of the setup. You can vary the target distances and positions to make it easier or harder. You can engage the targets around the inside or the outside of the barricade. You can engage the targets on the move between positions. It's a good general-purpose match drill that you can adapt to your needs.

Excellent Drill and Layout. Shooting while advancing to cover or retreating back to the box would be good, too. Add a little extra challenge by doing head shots and/or sequence. I find 6 round mags work well for three targets, forcing a mag change.

But here is my question for you, Chris: When you go to low cover, do you get as close as possible to the barricade to make it easier to get to the far targets?

Also, what percentage do you allocate to strong hand only and weak hand only drills?

Thanks,
Cody

[Chris Rhines]

But here is my question for you, Chris: When you go to low cover, do you get as close as possible to the barricade to make it easier to get to the far targets?

Also, what percentage do you allocate to strong hand only and weak hand only drills?

Thanks,
Cody

Cody,

It depends on the low cover - and understand I'm not an expert on this. My goal when setting up in a shooting position is to be able to engage each target with as little movement of my feet (or knees) as possible. When shooting from low cover, that usually entails getting closer to the barricade than I would standing. But it depends on the shape of the barricade and the position of the targets.

I don't shoot as much SHO and WHO now, as I did when I was first starting out. I'll do some SHO and some WHO transfers maybe once or twice a month. I do practice them in my dryfire 3-4 times per week.

[Stuffbreaker]

I'm just a couple seconds off SSP Master, and can identify with there being a difference in strategy between the upper and lower divisions in the Classifier. Up through Expert, I shot it as clean as possible at a relatively conservative speed for my skills. Using this strategy, I hit a plateau at ~115 seconds. Speed is important at the Master level, and I started a very speed-intensive dry fire routine a couple months ago. In two classifiers run this month, I dropped 10-15 seconds off my previous best scores. Dry fire is a great training tool for shooters of all levels. Lower level shooters eat up a lot of time with sloppy reloads, slow manipulations and preventable malfunctions (unseated mags and empty chambers from not press checking or mag tugging when making ready). Significant gains can be made in these areas in dry fire.

I'm finding that Stage 3 of the Classifier is the one place in IDPA where it helps to crowd cover just a little bit. In String 1, you have to retract your pistol into your workspace for the reload anyway, so having your gun slightly ahead of the barricade doesn't really slow down the transition from right to left. By moving just a couple inches closer to the barricade/barrel than normal, it makes it easier to line up on the targets to the far right and left without shuffling your feet or canting the gun sideways.

[agoldin]

Agoldin,

You do know that the very first time that timer beep goes off, most of these messages will be forgotten!!

Trust me on this!!

AD (oh yeah, and have fun shooting the match!)

Ha! Yep, I know you're right, as it's already happened to me

[agoldin]

Dry Fire: I have a bunch of 8.5x11 IDPA paper targets around the house on the walls at different levels. After putting a laser in the chamber, or twice checking my gun for an empty chamber, I shoot the targets focusing on transitioning and improving my speed to target, sight pic, pull. I also work on moving while shooting since that is a particular area of weakness for me.

Then for live fire: I practice a slow draw, grip, pushout, sight pic, pull slowly, then faster, then two shots. Then, I push the target to about 25 yards and practice slow shots and marksmanship.

But the truth is that we each have our own weaknesses and strengths. So you should keep a journal and start identifying your weaknesses and then use drills to focus on those weaknesses. Then, when you improve that, focus on the next weakness, etc.

Thanks,
Cody

Good stuff, Cody. Thanks!