Practical Pistol Competition (AKA IDPA)

Tonight I competed in a friendly Practical Pistol competition with a bunch of guys from Lockheed Martin. It's very much like IDPA without the concealment requirement. But basically it's a real world shooting competition designed to mimic what if's in the real world. The guys do 2 a week, Monday is what they call Practical Pistol Lite and Wednesday is the real deal. The lite version is for people who are less competitive and fairly new to the sport.

There were about 20 shooters. Among them were 2 probably 13-14 yr old kids boy and girl (brother and sister) shooting Glock 34's. They were pretty darn good actually. Tonight they decided to mimic an injured strong side. Stage one we lined up in front of 4 steel popper targets. We shot normal 2 handed. After we dropped the last target, we ran to a cover board. Forced a tactical reload and then "lost" the use of strong side. So we had to use cover shoot a IDPA style target from the left side of the board but it had a hostage target stapled to it. Weak hand only. 2 shots to the BG. Then transition to the right side of cover and drop 2 more steel targets all weak hand only. No support from the strong hand.

Stage 2 was a line up of 6 steel poppers at about 15 feet with 2 ratchet steel silhouettes. The silhouettes were man height, but they had to drop 3 levels. A good head shot might drop them 2 levels, but you had to be clean on the head. A chest or gut shot would not move them at all. So the deal was, the 6 poppers were 2 handed. The 2 silhouettes had to be shot weak hand only. Man that sucked... LOL!

Stage 3 was the same as above, but shot all 2 handed and only needed one shot per target. Mainly just a speed round.

I'll tell you what, if you've never done an IDPA style shoot you need to. I'm dead serious. I know there are a lot of guys here who have a lot of experience and even real life shooting experience. But if you're like me, I've never been in a fire fight. I was never a cop or in the military. I'm just an average joe. Well, let me say this. Everything you think you know about stress goes right out the window when the moment hits you. You think you can draw fast on paper targets. Well, try it in a high stress situation and put a timer in your ear and see what happens. The first time I did it, I completely forgot everything. I forgot to aim. Doing this has made me more aware of the realities of actual split second situations. Like I said, I know there are a lot of guys here with way more experience than I have. And there are a lot of ex-military/police/whatever. I'm not talking to you guys. I'm talking to people like me. If you get a chance to do an IDPA event, do it. You'll learn about yourself more than any day just shooting at a range and paper targets. Just FYI.

I've shot USPSA a few times. Was this an open to the public match or invite only?

Beau said:

I've shot USPSA a few times. Was this an open to the public match or invite only?

Click to expand...

Just a little something I've learned first. USPSA is pretty different from IDPA. IDPA is a come as you are. Bring your carry gun. They tend to shun the souped up specialty race guns. Everything is done from concealment in IDPA and there are no prizes. Not bashing USPSA. Just trying to differentiate. USPSA is sport shooting. IDPA is defensive training. If that makes any sense.

Of course, having said that, the thing I did tonight was kind of a mash up between them. It was very much geared to real world carry situations. There were no super race guns. But there were a few "competition" type pistols. I don't consider the Glock 34 a reasonable carry gun, but then the 2 kids shooting them weren't gonna carry anyway.

Now to answer your question. LOL. I guess you'd have to say it was open to the public by invite only... LOL. Pretty much anyone who wants to can participate, but you have to know someone who works at Lockheed Martin so they can sponsor you. I've known this guy for like 3 years now, never knew he was a shooter. He invited me to come to the range with him last week. Then while we were there, he told me about this even and said I should come check it out. They do it every other Monday. The opposite Mondays are Ladies night practical pistol. Same thing, but ladies only. So I guess it's not really OPEN to the public. But I'm not a member and I don't work there. But it was free! LOL!

There's an IDPA group that meets up near Idaho Springs. It's open to the public.

Yeah I haven't tried IDPA yet. I want to, just have not got around to it. I disagree that a G34 isn't a carry gun. I've been known to carry my G35 from time to time in a drop offset holster. I also disagree with draw from concealment requirement. I guess those IDPA guys don't think anyone OC's. Better keep your OC shame a secret.

Beau said:

I also disagree with draw from concealment requirement. I guess those IDPA guys don't think anyone OC's.

Click to expand...

So, better to never train for the off-chance you find yourself in Denver with a legal CHP and a bad night going to worse?

mahkagari said:

So, better to never train for the off-chance you find yourself in Denver with a legal CHP and a bad night going to worse?

Click to expand...

Not at all. But I have found that the IDPA guys tend to frown on USPSA and OC in general. Not to mention that most every IDPA player I've run in to doesn't conceal for the match the way they would normally conceal. For matches most of them use a vest that doesn't really offer very good concealment.

As I said I would like to try IDPA. From what I've heard it would be good training. I just don't agree with requirement of drawing from concealment.

mobiushky said:

I guess you'd have to say it was open to the public by invite only... LOL. Pretty much anyone who wants to can participate, but you have to know someone who works at Lockheed Martin so they can sponsor you.

Click to expand...

I flew a Lockheed C-130 for 15 years... Would that get my foot in the door? :lol:

Seriously - sounds like a lot of fun!

Wow, sounds like a load of fun. There's an IDPA shoot that goes on up in Fort Collins that I keep meaning to get out to so I can see what it is all about. Wish that took place up here (and that I knew someone from LM that could sponsor me) as I prefer much more low key, friendly events rather than formal ones.

Got My Scores!!!

The score keeper sent out the scores by e-mail this morning. I was expecting to be near the bottom of the list. I'm a bit shocked to say I got 5th! The first stage was my worst. I placed 10th and took 35.26s. Unfortunately I hit the hostage, so that hurt my score. But I placed 2nd on State 2. Took 25.78 seconds. And I got 6th on the last stage. That took me 12.99 seconds. I'm actually quite proud of myself for my first time ever. I even beat the 2 kids! LOL! There were a few "ringers" in there that pretty much demolished the rest. But it's OK. I had a blast and I'll be back.

Beau, I get your points about IDPA. I think a lot of people tend to bend rules in order to win, and not just in IDPA. But I also think that spoils the intent of it. I like the intent, but it sucks when you have someone who only uses the letter of the law to define their actions. I don't mind the draw from concealment requirement. I want to be proficient at both. I know I can OC here in CO, but not every where I may go. So having a level of proficiency in both concealment and OC is a good idea to me. But I can understand your points.

One thing that doesn't make a lot of sense to me is the retention of magazines. If you're in the middle of a fire fight, you aren't going to be worrying about holding on to empty mags. IDPA generally requires retention of your mags. Which I think is unnecessary. But that's me.

Let's put it this way. I'm hooked. And I still recommend to any one who hasn't done this, get out and do it. Even if it's just once. You'll learn a lot about yourself and what you are doing wrong.

I read the score sheet wrong. They somehow messed up the numbering so I just looked at the number I was given. But they skipped 4 for some reason. So among the normal "shooters" I actually got 4th place, not 5th. If you include the instructors/range officers that are much better, I got 7th. There were 5 instructors there. So I actually beat 2 instructors. Nice!

mobiushky said:

I read the score sheet wrong. They somehow messed up the numbering so I just looked at the number I was given. But they skipped 4 for some reason. So among the normal "shooters" I actually got 4th place, not 5th. If you include the instructors/range officers that are much better, I got 7th. There were 5 instructors there. So I actually beat 2 instructors. Nice!

Click to expand...

Right on. I'm gonna have to give it a try. I'm going to shoot a uspsa match this weekend for some practice ( I've only shot one match in the last year). Then I'm gonna look for an IDPA match to check out. It will be interesting using my primary carry to shoot a match. I carry a G21 normally.

Beau said:

Right on. I'm gonna have to give it a try. I'm going to shoot a uspsa match this weekend for some practice ( I've only shot one match in the last year). Then I'm gonna look for an IDPA match to check out. It will be interesting using my primary carry to shoot a match. I carry a G21 normally.

Click to expand...

My philosophy is this. I could spend a day at a range and just shoot the targets and maybe do that twice a month. That will get me more accurate with my pistol. And that's good. Or I could instead spend one day a month at the range and one day in this kind of learning environment where I am using skills and being taught by others what I'm doing wrong. I know a lot of people can't do IDPA style shooting because it's so far away and it costs money. BUT, how much does it cost to go to an indoor range? You know it only costs $15 to shoot in the IDPA events near Idaho Springs? If I didn't have this connection where I can shoot for free, I'd be up there once a month. AND if enough people get involved, maybe there can be some pressure to get a range closer to Denver or the Springs.

I tell you if I had a million dollars, after I spent half of it on guns and cars (LOL!), I'd be building a range for this kind of experience in Parker or somewhere closer. I'd LOVE to be able to run this kind of event in a more accessible way.

mobiushky said:

I tell you if I had a million dollars, after I spent half of it on guns and cars (LOL!), I'd be building a range for this kind of experience in Parker or somewhere closer. I'd LOVE to be able to run this kind of event in a more accessible way.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, a million bucks don't go that far.

Bump to a dead thread I know...

But, I had to post my latest. Went out again to the competition last night. A TON of people there. Last time there were 13 guys, 1 lady, and 5 instructors. This time there were 22 guys, 1 lady and 5 instructors. In the men's division I took 4th again. Our first stage this time just plain killed me. The first target was a Texas start. First time I've ever shot at that kind of target. I sucked. But I made up for it in 2 stages by taking 3rd twice. Best stage was 5 poppers from 30 feet. 7 shots, 6.01 seconds. I'm proud of that one.