jmc9x23

On the other hand it is illegal to retain a magazine in your hand it must be put away. Never leave cover withouta full mag. Alot has to do with stage design.

The DQ was the correct call and you hanging around to help SO the match was also a great show of sportsmanship. There is no need to stomp your feet and take a hissy fit after a mistake. We are all human and we live to shoot another day.

Definately the shooter should be given a reshoot, same as the timer not functioning or a popper not working properly. Most shoots should have a back up gun in case that battlefield pick up go down in the middle of the match.

Each Division has a limit not a minimum. True the Wilson super mags can hold 10, but I've had more malfunctions with 10 in the mag. They are a real b**ch to seat. Once you get them seated they put to much pressure on the slide and short cycle. I run 9 in the mag and 1 in the pipe and avoid all the problems. There are the CDP 7 vs. 8 round arguements, but truth be told both are made and standard on different guns. What about the shooter who has a few 7 rounders and can't afford to replace them with all 8 rounders, so they just buy a few. I guess he'll get confused at some point. Then there is the gamers who arbitrarily switch between the 7 and 8 rounders to their advantage. Kinda kin to dumping rounds. Very hard to prove and penilize with Vickers scoring. Most senerios are now letting you pick the reload and having a minimum of 12 rounds so everyone has to reload. To me the advantage is having an even number of rounds in the gun since most targets are engaged with a multiple of 2 rounds each. !0 round 45 mags are not legal since they won't fit in the Box when they are in the gun.

I must differ with tightloop on this one. If the COF specifies a Tac-Reload than it must be a Tac-Reload. A reload w/retention doesn't cut it. If the COF just says reload then any one is acceptable. The only time you can drop an empty mag is on a slide lock reload. The only other time you may drop a empty or loaded mag is to clear a jam. Some clubs are taking things into their own hands by specifing reload as needed or as you see fit and reloads are off the clock. To each his own but when you get to a major match beware it may not be what you are used to.

Mostly all the Master Class shooters in IDPA have the Grip Safety disabled. Some pin it, others cut off the arm internally, and others just put a piece of skateboard tape across it and anchor it under the grips.

Anything under 2 and down 0 is a real good time. when you get below 1.8 your smokin.

Also on low cover one knee should be on the ground, you can't use the squat from IPSC. If it isn't explained in the walk thru the standard IDPA rules of cover apply.

Being a Match Director and a Teacher we handle shooters with disabilities with reasonable accommodations. If a shooter has bad knees, for instance, we do not require that he kneel. We tend to look at it as "What would he do in real life situations" If the shooter is confined to a wheel chair, we won't make him advance to cover since its impossible to shoot and move, unless they want to try it. I tell all the clubs that ask to use common sense and be safe. Accommodate all shooters, afterall it is a sport.

There is no prescribed foot position in IDPA. The feet must remain behind cover. You can be 10 feet behide the barricade if you'd like(longer shots). I shot the Commonwealth Cup this past weekend and their barricade had a plywood floor on it that was as wide as the barricade and about 3ft long. If your feet came off the plywood, you were breaking cover and were warned by the SO. If you didn't bring your foot back on the cover command it was a proceedural.

Bob, In IDPA there is no FTN for a target that disappears.

Skateboard tape is legal to use. I've seen some shooters even inlay it into their grips, put on their frontstraps, use it to hold down their grip safety and provide good purchase and put on the side rail to locate their thumb rest. It works quite well and when it wears you can replace it for pennies.

You can shoot the 36 in ssp,cdp or bug. You handicap yourself with a lack of rounds but if thats what you carry and you just want to become profiecent with it then go ahead and shoot it. On a long stage with a few reloads you shouldn't run dry unless you make up shots.

Here on the east coast almost every match the shooters are warned about palming the slide when unloading to show clear. It is a safety hazard, if not done correctly. However the SO do not know each shooter nor do they know who can do it safely and who can't. So to eliminate the problem we don't allow the showing clear by palming method. Like I've said shooters are instructed not to do it before the match. If a shooer does it he is warned that the next infraction will be cause for a DQ. We don't get off on our authority or power, we simply look to keep our shooters safe. Murphys Law being what it is, If it can go wrong it will. In our Litigeous society, we avoid gray areas of safety and side on the area of caution. I really do not like when someone who doesn't know you or what your philosophy is to disrespect you by calling you "dude" and "Who made you God". But when a rule is there for everyones safety and some jailhouse lawyer wants to take exception and make an issue out of it, then I get upset. These SO's are honest hard working people that volunteer their time and effort so that we all can have a good time. So simply put, If you are the type that wants to follow the letter of the law insted of the spirit of the law, then for the sake of all of us that are looking to enjoy an afternoon of shooting with our friends, just stay home. Paying your membership to an organization really doesn't give you the right to interpret the rule the way you want, thats the match directors job. Right or wrong it's the MDs call. I had to DQ a shooter last match because when my SO yelled cover the shooter turned around fully and pointing the gun at the SO said "what?". I had him unload and returned his match fee to him and explained to him what he did wrong and that he would have to show us that his gun handling has improved before he is invited to shoot with us again. When it comes to the safety of my staff, spectators, and shooters I take my responsibility very seriously. I am not a range Nazi nor do I ever want to be one, I am just a Volunteer with a big responsibility to the folks in my charge. No matter how long I've been shooting or how much I've learned, I always weigh all the facts before I make a decision. In looking at the possibility of a round going off in someones hand then in My matches it will not be allowed(and almost every match I shoot form Maine to Florida). Sorry but its my call and if you can't live with that then like I've said before, Please"stay home" and we'll save ourselves a lot of aggravation.

The whole reason we have safety rules is that something COULD happen. True, thousands of people do it everyday, doesn't mean its a safe act. My job as an SO is to see that shooters enjoy the game safely and return home in the same condition that they came in. If you want to handle a gun in an unsafe manner than stay home and do it all you want. The SO is not exceeding their authority by keeping shooters safe thats why the unsafe handling provision is in the rules, it gives the SO some discretion for rules not specifically covered. So when an SO gives you the Show Clear command, just grab the back of the slide and carefully eject the live round, if the live round gets hung up keep the slide back so the SO can reach over and help you clear the gun. Some guns aren't tuned properly to eject live rounds, the port is too short and they end up dropping out of the bottom or gettting hung up. So do the SO and other competitors a service by showing clear properly.

Duane, I've been driving for 30 years and I believe i'm doing it safely, but happens. Covering your chamber with your hand is not safe...period. As an SO I am not in the habit of requiring a resume to see who has been doing it safely for 18 years and who can possibly blow their hand off. It is an unsafe act in any responsible shooters book and if I am the Match Director I will call it. If you do not like it "Dude" go shoot another sport.

I use ProSights on my Colt. The front sight is dovetailed front to rear and is held in by an allen screw in the rear. The sight can be exchanged easily with a white dot or tritium. I have these sights set for point of aim so when the dot is on the target, its right there and with fast aquisition times. I use a notch rear sight that I made myself. I couldn't get used to the Prosight rear.

One of my favorite senerios for this arguement is; Using a car trunk as cover. If you go to the top of the trunk and have expossed yourself to more than one target than you have to use the everyone get one before they get seconds if the targets aren't further than 2 yards apart, if they are than its closest to farthest. Now on the other hand if the shooter uses the rear of the car as low cover and shoots from the back than you slice the pie. If the COF doesn't specify which way to use the cover than its up to the shooter and they better shoot it the way thay use cover. Now thats clear isn't it?

If we are talking about IDPA, on page 30 of the green book it states "Unsafe gun handling will result in a DQ from the entire match". It just makes sense for the safety of everyone concerned that the SO should not allow this to happen. Never put your hand in a position that could cause you harm. If I were the SO the shooter would get a stern warning and I would notify the Match Director to have that contestant watched carefully in his/her other stages. At my shooters briefings I always cover that point.

Glocks are ok in the SSP division, but I prefer 1911's in the CDP and ESP classes. The h&k,Sigs and others are to bulky, the glock seems to be the favored SSP gun along with the Beretta 92's.

Like any skill you acquire, you should break it down into little parts. Start with the basics and build on those skills when you become proficient. Alot of dry firing before you even throw lead down range. When you get to the range start with draw and fire one shot until you get good at that. Then proceed to double tap and target aquisition. You don't need to practice 12 shot strings to do tac reloads or slide lock reloads. Break it into small parts and work your way up.

The only reason this exists is that IDPA wasn't clear on "Sight Pictures". It was cleared up at the Nationals. According to Bill Wilson and Ken Hackethorn(sp.) the Sight picture was to keep people from pulling their guns out and wasting time. In IDPA you cannot handle your gun until you are instructed to do so with the "Load and Make" ready command. That is why there is a FTDR or DQ associated with the sight picture. Ghost shooting is perfectly acceptable in IDPA.

Only 3 second difference from CDP to ESP. Now if you look at the difference from SSP to ESP there is 11.5 seconds difference. It is easier to make expert in SSP. But the original statement is If you can qualify as expert with CDP than you should be able to do it with ESP. The splits are a little faster with ESP and if you addd it up over a 90 shot course it doesn't make over a 3 second difference. Now , I am not talking about guys that got bumped to expert in CDP by winning a major match. I'm talking about pure shooting classification.

Posters, when you post please indicate whether your asking an IPSC question or IDPA question. People start responding to both and it is confusing to new shooters. Thanks, Joe

Only holsters on the approved list may be used. You must use a holster, you can't just tuck that pistol in your pants. That is not safe.