Gun Nuts Media

We’ve been expending pixels all over the internet about the IDPA definition of cover; and while that’s actually not the topic of the post it does lead me to the topic.  One of the most common rebuttals that you’ll encounter when you’re trying to get a concise definition of IDPA’s rules is “well you wouldn’t do ‘X’ in a gunfight” where “X” is whatever thing the guy that just wants consistent rules is looking for.  Those guys will then usually quote this section of the rulebook:

The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) is the governing body of a shooting sport that simulates self-defense scenarios and real life encounters.

Whenever that’s quoted, the emphasis is always placed on the “simulates self-defense scenarios” or “real-life encounters”.  Here’s the problem – right before that, IDPA itself says that it’s a “shooting sport”.  Not self-defense training.  Not practice for a gunfight.  Because if it were practice for a gunfight, 99% of the stages would consist of pulling a .380 out of a pocket, dumping all your rounds in a single assailant and then running like hell.  That’s not to say that IDPA and competition shooting don’t help develop skills that you need in a gunfight, but they certainly are not simulating real life self defense scenarios.

Here’s a great example of that – the holster and gun I’m using in the linked video are legal for IDPA competition. It’s an N-frame in .45 ACP, the venerable 625. I have in fact carried this gun for self defense. Twice. It’s absurdly heavy. I would never use the holster that I use for competition for concealed carry, because the holster is the size of a stack of IHOP pancakes. It’s a great holster, but it’s not really “practical” for a “real life self-defense situation”.

Now, the point of this is not to bash IDPA or the shooting sports. I believe that anyone who carries a gun for personal defense seriously should compete in some type of shooting sport because of the skills that it helps you develop. That being said, IDPA is not teaching you tactics that you would use in a gunfight. It’s a game, and because it’s a game it needs to have a consistent rule-set that’s enforced the same whether you’re shooting a match in Indiana, Washington, or Tennessee.

Plus one stage.  I shot the IDPA postal match at Renton Fish and Game this past weekend.  They had an additional stage set in the match to round out the stage count.  This was the first match I shot with my 625 since the USPSA Area 5 Championship, and I’ve recently started trying something new with my reloads.

As you can see, my reloads were kind of spotty. While I was getting the rounds in to the cylinder, I had problems with basically everything else. I need to work on the movement to the moonclip holder as well as once the rounds are in the gun I should be closing the cylinder and moving it towards to the target at the same time. My actual shooting went very well, though. The one stage that had no reload (Stage 1) I shot in 4.60 seconds and was down 1 point for a total time of 5.10. That was a stage win overall – not just the revo shooters but all the semi-auto guys at the match. In part this is because I’ve been spending a lot of time on 20-25 yard targets in light prep for Bianchi Cup.

Watching film is a great way to find weakness in your performance. I’m really happy with my press out, not so happy with my movement, and my reloads are totally junk, but all of that is stuff I can work on!