October IDPA D

This one sort of doesn't make sense. If you aren't an Only One you aren't supposed to conceal carry into a bar in Texas.

You start seated in this one, too, but here you have to draw while seated and not sweep yourself. Target 1 has to be shot while your butt is still on the bar stool. Then you take out his two buddies who were crouching behind the bar.

This particular part proves differently difficult for different shooters. From my standing angle nearly all of the target is visible. I'm the tallest person shooting there. One of the other guys, though, has less than a foot of my height. This is not going to be as easy for him. Two shots in the T1-T3. That puts you 6 down. Revolvers have to reload, Semi-autos have at most 5 left.

Once you have taken out the boys at the bar you have to engage three more baddies at distance while kneeling behind the bar's far edge for cover.


You have to put 3 each into the three distant targets so you may have 5 and need to pump out 9. Yes, Virginia, there will be a reload.

My first time I often performed a "reload with retention" even when I could have just dropped and slapped. IDPA gives a procedural penalty for dropping a magazine with rounds in it or for dropping a magazine while there is a round in the gun. You have to do a reload with retention. If you aren't at slide like you likely will be penalized if you don't retain.

This time I remembered to be judicious. If I was at slide lock the magazine was hitting the dirt. I don't know how but I'm managed to stop slapping my palm, though one reload was too soft. It was on the National standards stage and I was getting tired.

No blood blisters and fewer magazines failing to seat. I'm feeling better about my gun handling.

I shot this stage pretty well as far as accuracy goes. Even though I never practice firing from kneeling and almost never from cover this doesn't seem too bad to me.

I remember when I had the intermediate training in Colorado and had to crouch behind barrels and fire. This is just more of the same.

I feel I do need to work more on non-dominant hand shooting and still work on gun handling skills. I can pick up more speed on magazine swaps and the draw while not sacrificing accuracy downrange.