[Dean Speir]

Adventures in IDPA

In which one's daily "carry rig" is tested and verified... but the shooter comes up short. The concept was good, but the execution left much to be desired.

They didn't make me ride home in the trunk, however!

 

[csmkersh]

Did you promise to cut their face if they told how bad??? :bolt:

 

[Dean Speir]

Did you promise to cut their face if they told how bad???

How much worse could it be than what I gave up myself, Sam?!?

Well, I guess it could've been a "DQw/SPI!"

I'm serious, though… I went with the specific intention of treating it as a $10 lab in which I could test my daily kit and to determine if, and how badly, my personal skills might have declined.

Three of our crew shot from concealment… Matt with an over- shirt, POJD and myself with vests. The other two who'd been there before, Fratelli Vanmen, shot from open carry, and Charlie the Younger just wrote me:

When I examined my scores to see how to score better, I realized that the 1 second misses are scored as .5 second penalties and the 3 second penalties are scored as 1.5 seconds. For what it is worth; they put too much emphasis on speed and not enough on hits. If the scores were totaled as per the scoring rings on the targets, I would have finished ahead of all 3 shooters that scored better than me. I guess that if I want to finish higher that I will need to put more emphasis on speed.

Charlie's an active MOS, a former FTU armorer/instructor who, like his partner POJD, was a major burr under the brass saddle because they were too vigorous in their attempts to model their department's section as an actual Firearms Training Unit rather than a Firearms Qualification Unit.

Any future such excursions by me will be with the same mindset… and wherever I place, I will return home with a pretty clear idea of which areas I need to work on. Right now, my focus is on:

1. The application of a dab of Leather Lightning in a couple of strategic spots on RTWP;
   [/*:m:26uupbu8]
2. Paying closer attention to "visual clues" like the slash of pink fingernail polish I long ago put on the back of an seemingly perfect blue McCormick eight-rounder… that was my signal that it was suitable only for range or charging duty [D'OH!]
   [/*:m:26uupbu8]
3. Don't change horses in mid-stream… I learned this during match competition 20-odd years ago, and now I have reinforcement: if you plan to shoot a stage a certain way, stick with that plan unless something compelling occurs in mid-string which dictates varying from that original plan. The Bruce Lee "Be like water" fluidity philosophy is fine, but don't switch just because something suddenly seems like a better idea! [/*:m:26uupbu8]

I know/knew all these things… I just needed a reminder, I guess.

Plus, this type of shooting is what is known as a "perishable skill." This Brasshopper needs to stay in better tune!

 

[Tim Burke]

" DQw/SPI !"

OK, that's not in my vocabulary or my dictionary. A DQ with what?

When I examined my scores to see how to score better, I realized that the 1 second misses are scored as .5 second penalties and the 3 second penalties are scored as 1.5 seconds.

The targets are marked with points down. Current standard IDPA scoring is to add 0.5 seconds for each point down. Original IDPA scoring was to add 0.3 seconds for each point down.

2. Paying closer attention to "visual clues" like the slash of pink fingernail polish I long ago put on the back of an seemingly perfect blue McCormick eight-rounder… that was my signal that it was suitable only for range or charging duty

I presume this was the etiology of your malfunctions.

don't switch just because something suddenly seems like a better idea!

While I agree this is a good competition rule, I find it amazing how many and how fast thoughts can go through my head when I am forced to adapt on the fly. I suspect thinking on the fly is probably bettter experience for the street, since real life incidents are dynamic.

 

[Dean Speir]

"DQw/SPI !"

OK, that's not in my vocabulary or my dictionary. A DQ with what?

"Serious Personal Injury."

Paying closer attention to "visual clues" like the slash of pink fingernail polish I long ago put on the back of an seemingly perfect blue McCormick eight-rounder… that was my signal that it was suitable only for range or charging duty

I presume this was the etiology of your malfunctions.

Not sure, but after I'd surveyed that magazine, all was as it should be. This is suggestive that the bum mag was involved, and dispositive of the sad fact that not only am I getting stale, but I need to refamiliarize myself with the contents of my W. Waller & Son Range Bag! I mean, that's the embarrassing part!

don't switch just because something suddenly seems like a better idea!

While I agree this is a good competition rule, I find it amazing how many and how fast thoughts can go through my head when I am forced to adapt on the fly. I suspect thinking on the fly is probably bettter experience for the street, since real life incidents are dynamic.

No argument… but I believe that I qualified my note on that aspect with "…unless something compelling occurs in mid-string which dictates varying from that original plan."

There was no reason to check-off at the line of scrimage for the simple reason that nothing had changed… unlike at the NTI when stuff would pop up at you or come wailing down a travel wire all of a sudden while your hands were sopping with detergent-laced water.

 

[csmkersh]

Did you promise to cut their face if they told how bad???

How much worse could it be than what I gave up myself, Sam?!?

Well, I guess it could've been a "DQw/SPI!"

That's one of the reasons I quit using cross-draw except when hunting. I realized the gun was crossing part of my body and excess speed/stupidity could get me shot in the arm.

Three of our crew shot from concealment…

Which is the way it should be unless you're in a open-carry state like Alaska, Arizon or New Mexico.

Plus, this type of shooting is what is known as a "perishable skill." This Brasshopper needs to stay in better tune!

My "skills" have become non-existant from lack of practice and mode of carry. But at least I follow Rule One - have a gun.

 

[Richard Jefferies]

The "Demons of IDPA"....weekend before last, our club shot a regular match with a classifier afterwards. I shot the match well, finished 8th down in points out of a field of 55, but with a 30 second time difference between me and the match leader (darn you, Bob Bailey!)

On to the Classifier.....{sob} magazines and ammunition that have functioned perfectly for years suddenly decide to "get down and get funky"....RO screws up my instructions for one stage, and they offer to let me shoot it again, but feeling (over)confident, I let it stand....I shouldn't have. At 20 yards, I could SWEAR that I slowed down and took a careful sight picture....apparently, the targets on which I took those sight pictures must have been mirages, 'cause I finished that stage alone 66 points down! Short form, I came within 10 seconds of not making the cut at all, with a final score of 185 point something. (195 is the maximum time for CDP. Blech!)