BillR1 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'm a long-time IDPA shooter, and shot my first (in MANY years!) actual USPSA match yesterday. It was...eye opening. USPSA is a WAY faster game, and also much more cerebral IMO. The stage planning is alot more advanced and necessary. I ended up forgetting a target (twice!) trying to arrange my reloads in strategic spots. In my inexperience, I probably would've done better just shooting the targets in order and reloading from slide lock like normal. I shot the classifier (09-13) fairly well, even beating two MA shooters. I also was able to somewhat restrain myself from pieing around corners and window ports. My pre-stage walk throughs were probably amusing for the other shooters though, as I couldn't quite bring myself to "air gun". It was a fun day, albeit a bit humbling. Being the only Production shooter in a squad full of Open, CO, and Limited GMs was very...educational. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up the fishing vest just yet, but I had a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 When I got back into shooting ten years ago, I tried both IDPA and USPSA - I couldn't adjust to two sets of rules each weekend, so I chose USPSA .... LOVE IT. You can fish in the desert? I guess you drink a very dry wine with those fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillR1 Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Hi-Power Jack said: When I got back into shooting ten years ago, I tried both IDPA and USPSA - I couldn't adjust to two sets of rules each weekend, so I chose USPSA .... LOVE IT. You can fish in the desert? I guess you drink a very dry wine with those fish. I know what you mean...I am seriously in awe of those that be really good at both games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowdyb Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 It is difficult for me to bounce back in forth at MA in both of them, sometimes locally I shoot an ipda match one day and a uspsa match the next day. Last year I shot ipda nats and us ipsc nats within the same week. It is challenging. What saves me is shooting the same manufacturer of gun between the two. I too started shooting ipda exclusively when i got into pistol shooting comps. After a year and half of that I tried uspsa. It is faster, the stage planning is more involved and the number of good shooters is larger. I like it and am glad you had a first time that was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitw Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I enjoy shooting both. Since I am not out to conquer the world in IDPA, what I do is figure out how to shoot it as close to USPSA as possible and with only having to remember the minimum number of IDPA rules. So I shot to slide lock, dropped an empty mag behind cover, reloaded, and shoot the next position/array. I didn't worry about reload with retention or tactical reloads, unless the stage called for it. For 2017 it gets even easier with some rule changes. Shooter may reload at any time as long as the shooter is not exposed to any un-engaged threats Reloads shall not be mandated in a Course of Fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashDodson Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I shot IDPA until a little over a year ago. Until then I didnt even know what USPSA was or that it existed. Found a match a few hours away and never shot IDPA again. I am now the match director for a new USPSA club. IDPA is just too slow with too many rules for me. Rules such as the ones limiting the distance a course of fire can make a competitor move just makes me laugh. Constantly changing rule books. So many rules you get way different calls from RO to RO. And stages are usually designed to be shot one specific way. in USPSA, the freedom to shoot a stage however you see best and the speed at which you must execute everything is too much fun. Accuracy is just as important in USPSA...you just have to do it faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillR1 Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) 39 minutes ago, CrashDodson said: I shot IDPA until a little over a year ago. Until then I didnt even know what USPSA was or that it existed. Found a match a few hours away and never shot IDPA again. I am now the match director for a new USPSA club. IDPA is just too slow with too many rules for me. Rules such as the ones limiting the distance a course of fire can make a competitor move just makes me laugh. Constantly changing rule books. So many rules you get way different calls from RO to RO. And stages are usually designed to be shot one specific way. in USPSA, the freedom to shoot a stage however you see best and the speed at which you must execute everything is too much fun. Accuracy is just as important in USPSA...you just have to do it faster. It seems like inaccuracy hurts you more in IDPA, particularly with the new 1 second per point down rule. But yeah, the speed of USPSA is night/day different over IDPA. That viewpont was probably enhanced for me, seeing that I was squaded with some of the best shooters on the friggen planet for my first USPSA match. (Nils, Elias, Nick Saiti) What an "introduction"! I'm sure I had this look on my face alot>> Edited March 21, 2017 by BillR1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashDodson Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Shooting with those guys would have been great. If you look at major USPSA matches the ones winning are usually shooting at least 90-95% of the available points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinceislander Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) I've been shooting IDPA casually for the last two years then I shot my second USPSA-like match on Sunday and really enjoyed it. So much so that I marked my calendar for the next few matches within driving distance and signed up for a USPSA membership. To top it off during Sunday's match, I got a plethora of free advice from Rob Leatham who SO'd my squad. That was a treat. I still plan to go to IDPA matches, but I have a feeling that will likely happen if Steel or USPSA matches aren't on the same day. Similar to rowdyb's statement, I plan to stick with one gun platform for all matches. Edited March 21, 2017 by vinceislander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 2 hours ago, vinceislander said: I got a plethora of free advice from Rob Leatham who SO'd my squad. Wish I lived in Arizona..... I squadded with few GM's (nowhere near Mr Leatham) and the only advice I ever rec'd was (If you want to get faster, get younger). Damn wise acre ... (unfortunately, he was probably correct). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9x45 Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Bill, but you know you can shoot a USPSA match like it was IDPA? because there is no rule against concealment, or using cover, or doing the weird mag changes, or engaging in sequential or priority. And everyone else will be entertained to beat hell watching you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 1 hour ago, 9x45 said: you can shoot a USPSA match like it was IDPA Every once in a while, we get an IDPA guy shoot USPSA, and they are amusing ... BUT, the IDPA guys didn't think I was too amusing when I dropped my mags any damned place I wanted .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racinready300ex Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 My 3rd match was also my 1st sectional (I was a IDPAer too). There was another IDPA guy on my squad and this was his first match. About 3 stages in on the beep, he ran out of the shooting area to the nearest wall and started engaging targets from cover. He moved through the hole stage like that, the RO ran out of fingers to hold up for PE's. Everyone laughed, it was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinceislander Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hi-Power Jack said: Every once in a while, we get an IDPA guy shoot USPSA, and they are amusing ... BUT, the IDPA guys didn't think I was too amusing when I dropped my mags any damned place I wanted .... Dropping loaded mags was an eye opener for me. 29 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said: My 3rd match was also my 1st sectional (I was a IDPAer too). There was another IDPA guy on my squad and this was his first match. About 3 stages in on the beep, he ran out of the shooting area to the nearest wall and started engaging targets from cover. He moved through the hole stage like that, the RO ran out of fingers to hold up for PE's. Everyone laughed, it was great. We get USPSA guys shoot IDPA matches on a regular basis. We just tell the newbies to ignore what they do to avoid confusion. USPSA guys get an FTDR penalty(20 seconds) for each stage so they don't skew the scoring results. Everyone has a good time in the end. Edited March 22, 2017 by vinceislander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prerunnertrd Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 I loved dropping my mags vs reload with retention.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchmstr Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 I do think that you will always have a better experience in USPSA. but, sometimes the short range shooting of IDPA could be fun to some. that being said, I do not own enough tacticool gear to shoot idpa these days the bench Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 On 3/21/2017 at 0:03 PM, BillR1 said: It seems like inaccuracy hurts you more in IDPA, particularly with the new 1 second per point down rule. But yeah, the speed of USPSA is night/day different over IDPA. That viewpont was probably enhanced for me, seeing that I was squaded with some of the best shooters on the friggen planet for my first USPSA match. (Nils, Elias, Nick Saiti) What an "introduction"! I'm sure I had this look on my face alot>> Having shot my first ever (complete) IDPA match this week, I agree with you. Accuracy is much more important in IDPA. I don't mind concealment as much as I thought I would because that is how I carry when I'm off duty. I don't, and may never dry fire like that, but I definitely find value in shooting from concealment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 On 3/22/2017 at 11:45 AM, vinceislander said: Dropping loaded mags was an eye opener for me. We get USPSA guys shoot IDPA matches on a regular basis. We just tell the newbies to ignore what they do to avoid confusion. USPSA guys get an FTDR penalty(20 seconds) for each stage so they don't skew the scoring results. Everyone has a good time in the end. So are you saying that you automatically give USPSA shooters a FTDR, or that they just get one because of something they do during a stage? Hopefully it's the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz2011 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 When people ask me what is the difference between USPSA/IPSC and IDPA . I tell them IDPA gives you a stage and script to follow on how to shoot the stage . USPSA gives you a stage and you have to figure out what is the best/fastes way.to shoot that stage . IPSC is freestyle . IDPA is restricted . I use to shoot both but I found IDPA more restricted . When IDPA came up with flat footed reloads I stopped . There both great for shooter it just depends on your preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinceislander Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 9 hours ago, Bkreutz said: So are you saying that you automatically give USPSA shooters a FTDR, or that they just get one because of something they do during a stage? Hopefully it's the second one. You are correct. They inform whom ever is running the clock and board what they plan to do. When I have the clock, I ask "How are you going to run it, IDPA or USPSA?" Then score accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now