IDPA

2010 IDPA Nationals Results

Posted on by Caleb

The final results are in from IDPA’s 2010 Championship!  Here are the results, with comments on the other side.

  • CDP Champion: Bob Vogel
  • ESP Champion: Taran Butler
  • SSP Champion: Dave Sevigny
  • ESR Champion: Jerry Miculek
  • SSR Champion: Craig “Bones” Buckland
  • High Lady: Julie Golob

This IDPA nationals marks the first time I’ve ever gone 6-for-6 on my picks for the winners, but really they made it easy on me.  I was iffy on SSP because Dave had some serious competition in the form of Phil Strader and Mike Seeklander, and I was also iffy on the women’s pick because Randi Rogers could have easily given Julie a run for her money.

General commentary – Bob Vogel has now won an IDPA National Championship in all three of IDPA’s semi-auto divisions.  Dear Bob – please don’t start shooting revolvers.  We have enough to worry about there with Jerry and Craig.  In all seriousness however, congratulations to Bob, that’s a hell of a thing to pull off and he did it in very convincing fashion.  I have also noticed for lack of a better word a resurgence in IDPA – I can distinctly recall a time frame where a lot of the top guns didn’t get out and shoot Nationals, but the addition of the Indoor Nationals in Feb and the move to Tulsa seems to have really energized the match – when you see Taran, Dave, Phil, Julie, Randi, Bob, Jerry, etc at the IDPA Nationals you know it’s a big deal.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about IDPA is their recognition of class and division winners.  From Master to Marksman, if you win your class/division in IDPA, you get a trophy/plaque to commemorate your hard work.  I think that’s cool, because it means that those shooters don’t have to worry about beating the Dave Sevigny’s out there, and can focus on shooting their game and trying to kick around everyone else in ESP-Sharpshooter for example.

Again, huge congratulations to all the winners, the National Champions, and the class and division winners at the 2010 IDPA National Championships!  I hope everyone had a great match and hope that our sport continues to grow!

USPSA

2 for 1

Posted on by Caleb

Team Rudy Project shooter Aristotle Bartolome (who also wins the “coolest name ever” award) posts videos of his monthly USPSA matches on youtube.  I thought this one was particularly interesting as Ari was running an M&P-9 Pro in Production.  What makes these interesting is the combo of 3rd person and 1st person hat camera footage.  You can learn a lot from watching other people shoot!

self defense/shooting

What is training?

Posted on by Caleb

You fight like you train.  No one rises to the occasion, they default to the level of their training.

Phrases like that are incredibly common in the firearms and shooting industry, and I’m sure that given a few minutes you guys could probably come up with a double handful of related phrases.  What that leads me to is what exactly is training? If you look at the verb “train” there are two definitions that stand out, the first is “to develop or form the habits, thoughts, or behavior by discipline and instruction”; the second is “to make proficient by instruction and practice, as in some art, profession, or work”.

In the firearms community, I’ve also heard the following said, that “practice is you refine the skills you learned in training”, implying that training generally requires an instructor or partner.  From that, it’s safe to assume that all shooting is not training, and in fact all shooting may not even be “practice” as understood in the sense of refining skill-sets learned in training.

Now, I’ve said before that I view the shooting sports through a very narrow lens of defensive shooting and competition shooting.  90% of my range time is focused around building the skills that make me better at competition and defensive shooting; this post is going to focus solely on that aspect of the shooting sports.  There is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with going to the range to pull triggers for fun without any sort of practice or training goal in mind.  Recreational shooting without developing a particular defensive or competition skill set is awesome, but it’s just not my cup of tea.  Casual, recreational shooters fund a huge portion of the shooting sports, and without them it would be impossible for super-consumers to do what we enjoy doing so much.  So please, when you’re reading the rest of this post remember the lens through which I view the shooting sports is very narrowly confined to certain things.

Back to training/practice/shooting.  If I were to define training in the shooting sports, I would put that definition as either attending formal training with someone like Todd Green or Magpul Dynamics (or any of the other top flight instructors and coaches out there).  I would also include under the banner of training any sort of session where you’re working with another shooter of equal or greater skill level to coach and improve one another.  In those settings, you’re learning new skills and techniques, or by having an external eye on your existing technique you’re having them refined at a greater level than you could if you were practicing alone.  Training doesn’t have to be formal, either.  It can often be as simple as a much better shooter saying “here’s a different way to do that”, showing you how, and then going about your business.  If you approach that advice with an open mind, it becomes a training opportunity.

I’d then define practice as any shooting session where you are focusing on a specific set of skills or techniques that you learned in training in an attempt to focus and refine those skills.  Practice doesn’t have to be live fire to be practice, because a good dry fire session is just as much practice as a live fire session, depending on the skills you’re attempting to hone.

What about matches?  I know my competition shooting friends are wondering where the match environment comes in to play.  For shooters whose focus is on competition, matches are where the raw iron of your training is combined with the alloying compounds of your practice under high heat and pressure to form steel.  For shooters that seek to use competition as a venue to improve their defensive skills, matches can be either practice or training.  If you’re squadded with superior shooters, look to them for training opportunities – otherwise, use each match to focus on a particular skill set under the pressure of the clock.

Going to the range and shooting bullseyes for fun, shooting cans in the backyard, and similar activities aren’t training, and I’d say they’re generally not effective practice.  Again, there’s nothing wrong with that – people take up shooting for all kinds of different reasons, and if you don’t view the shooting sports through the same narrow focus that I do, someone I think we can still get along just fine.  I’d rather have you out there pulling triggers at pop cans or just blazing away for fun than sitting at home playing Halo or something lame like that.  All shooting may not be practice or training, but all shooting is certainly fun.

Glock

Gen4 Glock vs. Gen3 Glock

Posted on by Caleb

A side by side comparison video of the Gen4 Glock 19 and the Gen3 Glock 19.  Some interesting issues with extraction on the Gen4 Glock 19, which may or may not be due to the dual captive recoil spring.  The dual spring system was designed to help mitigate the recoil on the .40 S&W Glocks, and from what I understand the Gen4 G22 is now much softer shooting; I’ll be interested to see if these issues continue with the 9mm versions as they hit the market.

revolvers/USPSA

USPSA's revolver problem

Posted on by Caleb

In the comments here, we’re discussing why USPSA has lower participation in the revolver divisions than IDPA.  At the USPSA Nationals in 2009, there were 33 revolver shooters, one of whom was disqualified.  On the flip side, the IDPA Nationals had 41 revolver shooters across its two revolver divisions.  While that’s not a huge number, IDPA generally has a higher revo turnout than USPSA.  A huge part of this is because shooting USPSA with a revolver borders on “not-fun” at times.  The max round count for a USPSA stage is 32 rounds, compared to IDPA’s 18 rounds.  IDPA also has the controversial “revolver neutral” rule, which means that you don’t generally see engagements longer than 6 rounds before moving shooting positions, USPSA has no similar rule (and shouldn’t, I would add).

What that leads you to with USPSA is a sport that’s generally unfriendly to revolver shooters.  Shooting multiple 32 round field courses gets tiresome after a while; as I’ve said in the past it becomes less about shooting and more about reloading – USPSA revo is a very technical discipline.  It often borders on masochism, because unless you land in an all revolver squad, you’re going to be the slowest guy in your bunch, and that can be quite demoralizing.

Of course, that creates the question of “why are all the courses of fire 32 rounds”?  If you’ve shot a USPSA major recently, you probably noticed that majority of the COFs were 30-32 rounds (with the exception being the Single Stack Nationals) and wondered “why”?  It’s a relatively simple answer – people like to shoot more.  The majority of USPSA shooters live in the B-D classes, and we all like shooting more.  It feels like you get more for money if you have a high round count match, especially if you had any kind of travel to get there.  So a lot of times, stage designers will want to satisfy that desire, if even on an unconscious level and make sure to throw lots of high round count stages out there.

Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with that.  USPSA’s culture has developed to the point where long field courses are the standard; and no amount of revo shooters saying “this is kind sucky” is going to change that.  The long, high round count courses are good for the sport – people like shooting, they look cool on TV, and they really are an excellent test of a shooter’s skill.  I also encourage my fellow revolver guys to go shoot at least 1 USPSA major a year – if you’re ever questioning your reloads, a USPSA major is a great way to find out how fast you can actually reload your gun under match conditions.

I don’t really want USPSA to change their culture.  I’ll still shoot it, and I’ll piss and moan about it, but secretly I kind of like it.  I live for those rare moments when you post a higher hit factor on a stage than someone shooting a semi-auto in your squad.  I’ll still shoot IDPA, because it’s very revolver friendly, and of course there’s always ICORE; it’s not like revolver guys don’t have options, after all.

revolvers

Wrapped around an axle

Posted on by Caleb

I’ve had a couple of people ask why I get so passionate about the whole “shooting DA revolvers in single action mode” issue.  And at times I’ve overstated my case a bit; but I’ve also written multiple posts on the issue, had an article published about it, and generally speaking I actually do care quite a bit about it.  With that much brain sweat invested in an idea, the natural progression is for the idea to evolve and grow as I encounter new theories.

The central thesis of the “shoot it DA” line of reasoning is as follows: If you cannot effectively manage the double action trigger on a defensive revolver to the point where you need to shoot it single action, you should get a different gun.  It actually ties neatly in with my theory that snub nosed guns are not ideal for new shooters, specifically because of the heavy trigger pulls and short sight radius.

The reason that you should be able to manage the DA trigger on a defensive revolver effectively is because it is the fastest and most efficient way to get the revolver in to action in a dynamic critical incident.  This is where the proponents of the simplicity of the revolver are 100% correct – there is no easier weapon to learn the manual of arms and to administratively load and unload than a DA revolver.  Similarly, it’s a very easy weapon to get in to action; with no manual safeties to disengage, it’s just a matter of pulling the DA trigger to the rear and watching the sight.

Using the SA mode on a DA revolver is slower, and if for no reason other than that it should be avoided.  But as I said in my CCM article, it also creates a bad “training path” in your mind.  If the balloon goes up and you’re armed with a snub nosed wheelie, odds are you’re going to shoot it double action.  Since you’re responsible for every bullet that leaves your muzzle, you want to be as proficient a shooter with that DA trigger as possible.  If you’re sitting there thinking “what if I have a tight shot or something, should I go single action then?”  No, if you’re anticipating making tight shots under pressure, I’d suggest practicing DA on low probability targets, like a 3×5 index card at 15 yards.

Now, previously I’ve said you should never shoot any DA revolver single action.  I retract that statement.  It has been pointed out to me that a Smith & Wesson 617 (the K frame .22)  is a phenomenal teaching tool for new shooters, and is really easy to manage in single action.  That’s cool, shoot that SA because it’s not a defensive revolver.  Same goes for hunting guns; most of which will be shot single action in the field.  Although if you’re carrying a Ruger Alaskan as a bear deterrent, I’d suggest getting good at DA shooting while running away.

Of course, the final reason I say to shoot it DA is because if you can run a DA revolver trigger, you can run any trigger on earth.  After a couple thousand rounds through a DA revolver, a Glock trigger won’t seem so bad any more.