My match score was 177.82 this time around. Not fast, no, not by a long shot.
But this time my overall accuracy earned me a "top ten" placement in figuring accuracy.
Yes, way down at number 8, but last month I didn't even place and the number of competitors was smaller.
IDPA scoring is slanted toward accuracy at the expense of speed. Speed counts, but missing will cost you faster than you can shoot.
"You can't miss fast enough to win." I kept this in mind this time around. I'm not fast in gun handling or on the draw. To score better I need to stop missing and dropping points that I'm good enough to get.
IDPA Vickers count figures your score into seconds, penalizing you for every point you drop. Missing the target will set you back on time.
I"m firing a nearly stock pistol with factory reloads, not soft-shooting special loads.
I'm pretty happy with my score this time. I definitely improved since last month. I hope to keep on improving when I can compete again, hopefully in Decemer or a different weekend in November.
I'm even wondering about switching to the 21 SF.
Showing posts with label IDPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IDPA. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
October IDPA E
Nothing like shooting at a target where you not only can't miss, but you have a smaller area to hit.
No reloads needed, but you could do it if you wanted. Vickers count.
You are a volunteer at a church carnival when 6 baddies enter wearing sloppy, home-made body armor. If you hit them in the head or center of the chest you stop them. One bullet needed in each target, tactical priority. (Nearest to furthest).
I think I missed one but maybe not. I'll know better when the scores are e-mailed. A lot of folks were having trouble seeing if they hit at the furthest targets. They weren't willing to keep shooting after the 6. You figure your bets, though. If you don't know you hit then you can gamble on either having made it vs. taking more time and making sure you plugged the last guys.
No reloads needed, but you could do it if you wanted. Vickers count.You are a volunteer at a church carnival when 6 baddies enter wearing sloppy, home-made body armor. If you hit them in the head or center of the chest you stop them. One bullet needed in each target, tactical priority. (Nearest to furthest).
I think I missed one but maybe not. I'll know better when the scores are e-mailed. A lot of folks were having trouble seeing if they hit at the furthest targets. They weren't willing to keep shooting after the 6. You figure your bets, though. If you don't know you hit then you can gamble on either having made it vs. taking more time and making sure you plugged the last guys.
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.
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.
October IDPA C
This one was the most complicated COF this month.
Home invasion time. You pull your van into the garage and some thugs try to put the move on you.
Tough luck, boys. This ain't Connecticut!
The van in this case is a donation but so far they still don't seem to have many bullet holes in it and are trying to keep it that way. It still runs.
You start with your weapon in your dominant hand and take on T1 through the rolled down passenger window. Since you only see him from about the nipple line up it's not a big target but close. Two rounds with the dominant hand and then out of the van and taking on T2 through the rolled down door window of the driver side. You can use two hands. I'm pretty sure I didn't bother. Two rounds from that close?
Backing up you have to engage two more targets as they appear, two each. Revolver has to reload before engaging number 4.
Keep backing up and T5 takes two from you.
You have finally backed up enough to get to the end of the stage. Three more baddies, two flanking a hostage.
This was the first COF that I shot and don't remember my score. I did pull a procedural, though. I hadn't neutralized a target before backing up and so that will cost me.
A lesson better learned on the one-way range than on the two-way range.
Home invasion time. You pull your van into the garage and some thugs try to put the move on you.
Tough luck, boys. This ain't Connecticut!
The van in this case is a donation but so far they still don't seem to have many bullet holes in it and are trying to keep it that way. It still runs.
You start with your weapon in your dominant hand and take on T1 through the rolled down passenger window. Since you only see him from about the nipple line up it's not a big target but close. Two rounds with the dominant hand and then out of the van and taking on T2 through the rolled down door window of the driver side. You can use two hands. I'm pretty sure I didn't bother. Two rounds from that close?
Backing up you have to engage two more targets as they appear, two each. Revolver has to reload before engaging number 4.
Keep backing up and T5 takes two from you.
You have finally backed up enough to get to the end of the stage. Three more baddies, two flanking a hostage.
This was the first COF that I shot and don't remember my score. I did pull a procedural, though. I hadn't neutralized a target before backing up and so that will cost me.
A lesson better learned on the one-way range than on the two-way range.
October IDPA B
The Cirillo Drill.
This drill is challenging. You have two targets half-shielded behind a no-shoot and the third is partially concealed by hard cover.
You don't have to do head shots, but they are actually somewhat 'safe' bets in order to finish this. Each target is supposed to catch two bullets.
Only six hits are needed so revolvers don't face a disadvantage from higher capacity semi-autos. Vickers count so those semi-autos can fire more, if they want.
The squad I was on did this one last and I saw a lot of misses from people who normally don't miss. There was even a Constable competing whose 1911 locked up from being dry as he fired the sixth shot.
I officially only missed once but one was really close to being a miss. I hadn't fired anything except dry in a month so that was part of it, fatigue was there, too.
Why do I feel this drill to be valid? It forces you to face targets that aren't full body.
I'll say it here, but it applies to all the gun games. These are not realistic depictions of a two way gun fight. IDPA is better at making a competitor adhere to something approaching real tactics than IPSC. But it is still a gun game. I do it because it is FUN.
October IDPA A
This month I remembered to ask for COF sheets to try and illustrate my experiences at IDPA.
While the gun range features only 4 "bays" the GM drew upon his recent experiences at the Nationals to set up 5 Course Of Fire (COF) stages within the 4 spaces. While stages 1 and 2 occupied the same bay they were not shot at the same time. Instead they were shot in sequence.
You have a rather simple shoot with almost no movement required by the shooter.
7 yards non-dominant hand, starting gun at a low ready, safety off. One to the body on each, one to the head on each of the first three targets. Six rounds, Vickers count so you can fire more if you want.
That section of the stage concluded you reload, re-holster and back up to 10 yards. This one starts from the draw, dominant hand only, one to each of the first three targets, then back again and conclude with a head shot at the three. Nine rounds, Vickers count.
After this section you reload and move to the final section which calls for a mandatory tactical reload. You are farther back. Your three targets have a buddy with them. You have to serve all your guests one round each to the body and then do a tactical reload and kneel, then serve dessert to your guests in the body.
Complicated scenarios may look more "fun" but this one was both simple and challenging. I think that for a 'game' it was very interesting.
The gun and holster were the same choices as last time. G 22 and Blackhawk CQC holster.
While the gun range features only 4 "bays" the GM drew upon his recent experiences at the Nationals to set up 5 Course Of Fire (COF) stages within the 4 spaces. While stages 1 and 2 occupied the same bay they were not shot at the same time. Instead they were shot in sequence.
You have a rather simple shoot with almost no movement required by the shooter.
7 yards non-dominant hand, starting gun at a low ready, safety off. One to the body on each, one to the head on each of the first three targets. Six rounds, Vickers count so you can fire more if you want.
That section of the stage concluded you reload, re-holster and back up to 10 yards. This one starts from the draw, dominant hand only, one to each of the first three targets, then back again and conclude with a head shot at the three. Nine rounds, Vickers count.
After this section you reload and move to the final section which calls for a mandatory tactical reload. You are farther back. Your three targets have a buddy with them. You have to serve all your guests one round each to the body and then do a tactical reload and kneel, then serve dessert to your guests in the body.
Complicated scenarios may look more "fun" but this one was both simple and challenging. I think that for a 'game' it was very interesting.
The gun and holster were the same choices as last time. G 22 and Blackhawk CQC holster.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
IDPA is fun!
I got to the club and participated in the IDPA shoot. If I recall there was a total of 16 people participating, split into two squads. We shot in 4 different bays set up with different courses of fire.
The one that cost the most time to everyone was perhaps one of the more creative. The Gun Show.
You've been a good boy and let the security at the gun show put a cable tie through your pistol barrel. You are bent over a table looking at something when some not-good boys pull out guns and start trouble. Your task is the draw your disabled side arm, remove the cable tie, load, chamber and engage the first three targets, then an accomplice in the middle of the imaginary "room" as you move to cover while avoiding a hit on a no-shoot. This being IDPA you are only allowed 10 rounds.
From cover you can re-load and engage three more bad guys, one who is peeking out from behind hard cover.
This stage took the most time from all the participants. I thought it was very creative.
Another stage involved a van used as a prop. Gone campin'. You are carrying in the woods and were engaged in some target practice. You still have 6 rounds in your arm as you are confronted by three armed adversaries. You put 2 each into the three, one of which is dodging frantically. You move with an empty firearm to the back of your van and grab two magazines. The three bad guys had four friends and you have to engage them, too. Again, one has hard cover.
When I did this one I created something of a stir. The plastic barrels the club uses for "hard cover" aren't all that hard. Usually glancing blows result in a flyer zinging overhead. Nothing I hadn't heard before at shooting berms. If you hear them ducking is pretty pointless. They were gone before your ear registered what that sound was.
Somehow my truncated cone FMJ 180 grain .40 S&W found its way into a barrel instead of just glancing off. Once it got in it didn't get out. It went zooming around INSIDE the barrel for a few seconds. People were looking around, trying to spot the aircraft that seemed to be right on top of us.
The remaining two stages were more straight forward engagements of targets.
The results are in. I was dead last. No suprise. It tells me where I start from. Hopefully I only go up from here!
The one that cost the most time to everyone was perhaps one of the more creative. The Gun Show.
You've been a good boy and let the security at the gun show put a cable tie through your pistol barrel. You are bent over a table looking at something when some not-good boys pull out guns and start trouble. Your task is the draw your disabled side arm, remove the cable tie, load, chamber and engage the first three targets, then an accomplice in the middle of the imaginary "room" as you move to cover while avoiding a hit on a no-shoot. This being IDPA you are only allowed 10 rounds.
From cover you can re-load and engage three more bad guys, one who is peeking out from behind hard cover.
This stage took the most time from all the participants. I thought it was very creative.
Another stage involved a van used as a prop. Gone campin'. You are carrying in the woods and were engaged in some target practice. You still have 6 rounds in your arm as you are confronted by three armed adversaries. You put 2 each into the three, one of which is dodging frantically. You move with an empty firearm to the back of your van and grab two magazines. The three bad guys had four friends and you have to engage them, too. Again, one has hard cover.
When I did this one I created something of a stir. The plastic barrels the club uses for "hard cover" aren't all that hard. Usually glancing blows result in a flyer zinging overhead. Nothing I hadn't heard before at shooting berms. If you hear them ducking is pretty pointless. They were gone before your ear registered what that sound was.
Somehow my truncated cone FMJ 180 grain .40 S&W found its way into a barrel instead of just glancing off. Once it got in it didn't get out. It went zooming around INSIDE the barrel for a few seconds. People were looking around, trying to spot the aircraft that seemed to be right on top of us.
The remaining two stages were more straight forward engagements of targets.
The results are in. I was dead last. No suprise. It tells me where I start from. Hopefully I only go up from here!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
I can feel it comin' in the air tonight...
IDPA.
I have a day off from work. I have an IDPA match within convenient driving distance. I have an IPSC safety card.
I have to give this game a try.
IDPA is closer to what I want to do than IPSC. If you are talking open carry you are for IPSC. If you are talking concealed you are talking IDPA. Now, that's not apparently a firm rule at the club I'm going to. This being Texas cover garments are sometimes eliminated.
Choices. When I took the IPSC safety course I wore an Uncle Mike's kydex holster on my hip. This holster was fine for IPSC.
It rates as the only holster mentioned in the IDPA rulebook I got today as the one you CAN'T use. Maybe the guys at this club are lax enough that it won't matter.
Or maybe I'd better look at other options.
Fobus IWB Glock holster and and Galco Combat Master intended for the G 19/23.
Maybe I should just figure on shooting the Glock 23? If that's what I want to carry shouldn't I try shooting it in the gun game?
Or should I tolerate the G22 sticking out of the Combat Master holster by at least half an inch?
Decisions decisions. The Gibsons has a terrible selection of holsters. If I could get my hands on a Galco Matrix for the Glock I'd choose that. Not sure if I ever picked up a Blackhawke CQC Serpa for the Glock.
Or chuck the Glock platform and pull out the Serpa I know I have for my Beretta 96D? With the trigger job it's better than standard. The club is more likely to overlook the aftermarket grips than a non-permitted holster.
Or take the DOH of my BladeTech DOH holster for the CZ SP 01 and shoot 9mm?
I haven't been practicing enough.
Not for scoring.
Sissy.
If you put that in your holster and carried it you'd not worry about practice. You know you can hit a torso sized target up to 50 yards without even trying. Handgun, rifle, it doesn't matter. You just got too used to firing into those 3" Shoot-N-C targets.
You could shoot this thing with the 27 and you know it.
Quit trying to beat yourself before you get to the paper.
This is a gun game.
You are better than that.
Go and show them. You are better than they think. You are better than you think. You are good. Not fast. Not yet. But you are good.
I have a day off from work. I have an IDPA match within convenient driving distance. I have an IPSC safety card.
I have to give this game a try.
IDPA is closer to what I want to do than IPSC. If you are talking open carry you are for IPSC. If you are talking concealed you are talking IDPA. Now, that's not apparently a firm rule at the club I'm going to. This being Texas cover garments are sometimes eliminated.
Choices. When I took the IPSC safety course I wore an Uncle Mike's kydex holster on my hip. This holster was fine for IPSC.
It rates as the only holster mentioned in the IDPA rulebook I got today as the one you CAN'T use. Maybe the guys at this club are lax enough that it won't matter.
Or maybe I'd better look at other options.
Fobus IWB Glock holster and and Galco Combat Master intended for the G 19/23.
Maybe I should just figure on shooting the Glock 23? If that's what I want to carry shouldn't I try shooting it in the gun game?
Or should I tolerate the G22 sticking out of the Combat Master holster by at least half an inch?
Decisions decisions. The Gibsons has a terrible selection of holsters. If I could get my hands on a Galco Matrix for the Glock I'd choose that. Not sure if I ever picked up a Blackhawke CQC Serpa for the Glock.
Or chuck the Glock platform and pull out the Serpa I know I have for my Beretta 96D? With the trigger job it's better than standard. The club is more likely to overlook the aftermarket grips than a non-permitted holster.
Or take the DOH of my BladeTech DOH holster for the CZ SP 01 and shoot 9mm?
I haven't been practicing enough.
Not for scoring.
Sissy.
If you put that in your holster and carried it you'd not worry about practice. You know you can hit a torso sized target up to 50 yards without even trying. Handgun, rifle, it doesn't matter. You just got too used to firing into those 3" Shoot-N-C targets.
You could shoot this thing with the 27 and you know it.
Quit trying to beat yourself before you get to the paper.
This is a gun game.
You are better than that.
Go and show them. You are better than they think. You are better than you think. You are good. Not fast. Not yet. But you are good.
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