2013 IDPA BUG Nationals

The first ever IDPA BUG Nationals are now wrapped up, and the general consensus was that this was an excellent match. Like many shooters, I went into the match wondering what IDPA could do with the five shot per string limitation to make the match interesting, and they definitely showed us. First, let’s take a look at the winners. A note on the scores: the scores of the Distinguished Masters are not reflected in the finals unless they were the division champ.

Stock Service Revolver Champion:

1. Jerry Miculek

SSR Master:

1. Simon Golob
2. Caleb Giddings
3. Warren Baker

SSR Expert:

1. Kristofer Sines
2. Kenneth Ortbach
3. Wil Cournoyer

SSR Sharpshooter:

1. Michael French
2. Samuel Stein
3. Greg Hayes

SSR Marksman:

1. James McLean
2. Peter Goloski
3. Lou Denys

Stock Service Pistol Master

1. Mike Seeklander (also Division Champion)
2. Dave Harrington
3. Dylan Kenneson
4. Jason Koon

SSP Expert

1. Tim Arnold
2. Thomas Bast
3. Robert Ray

SSP Sharpshooter

1. Pasquile Vitetta, Jr
2. Clark Coneby
3. John Hamel

SSR Marksman

1. Justin Fitch
2. John Ware
3. Jonathan Dietrich

Special Categoris

• Distinguished Senior: Paul Chamberlin
• Industry: Dave Harrington
• Junior: Clark Coneby
• Lady: Randi Rogers
• LE: James Meyers
• Military: Chad Barber
• Military Veteran: Dave Harrington
• Press: Mike Seeklander
• Senior: Jerry Miculek

Here’s a look at the first stage of the match:

Most of the stages were a combination of 2-4 strings of five rounds each. Stage 1, designed by the USCGA Combat Arms team was one of the better stages, as it had a good amount of movement, disappearing targets, and not all five round strings. For next year’s match, I’d like to see more stages like this. Overall the stage design was pretty strong, I’d give it a solid B+.

One of the most interesting things about the match were the different types of guns. In the semi-auto division, there were Shields everywhere, and the SSP division champ used a 3 inch Rock Island 1911. Jerry, who won revolver and the overall fastest was using a 686+ with a 2 inch barrel. The most common gun in the revolver division was probably a 2 or 3 inch k-frame, with a few mega-studs shooting J-frames or LCRs. There was a rumor going around after the match that for next year’s BUG Nationals, IDPA is going to tighten up the definition of a back-up gun, likely in response to the number of full size L and K frames floating around this year. Next year, I’d probably come back with a 2.25 inch DAO SP101.

This was actually a pretty tough match. Removing the ability to take make-up shots really forced you to aim your ass off on certain stages. I dropped a colossal number of points (71) adding a super rad 35.5 seconds to my raw time.

I think IDPA is really off to a great start with this match. I’m looking forward to seeing how it progresses next year.