Jane

Robert Ray of IDPA HQ recently posted that shotgun etc. side-matches are fine, but that the P in IDPA stands for pistol.

I don't shoot production because I don't own any 9mm guns. Why shoot my Glock 35 in Production and get stuck with a Minor PF?

On his IDPA DVD, Matt Burkett does string 1 of stage 3 in 8.38 seconds. His total points down for all strings of stage 3 is down 9. Of course, he's chatting with the camera all the time he's shooting the classifier. (Final score 64.67) BTW, there's also a tac load on string 2 of stage 3. Burkett's time for that string is 10.42.

Not only have I been married twice, but I presently write software for scoring IDPA matches. My beautifully-indexed manual is about 400 pages long. I also have step-by-step tutorials. From the places that guys get stuck would I infer that I've been "slaving over a hot stove" in vain with all that documentation??? Well, let's just say I'm presently working on some instructional videos. But you gave me an idea... maybe a few nekkid lady pictures would entice guys to watch the videos? (Nah... they'd figure out how to Fast Forward..)

In the cover letter they sent with the exam, they said if you want your graded answer sheet returned you need to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. My answer sheet was returned with an X through my answer and another through my rule citations for that question (question #5 on my exam). Next to the "wrong" answer, the grader had pencilled in "-10 p58" Page 58 is the page from which my rule citations were taken, hence my writing John Amidon to ask for a clarification.

Sedro scored my answer wrong on the 'impenetrable' question. (My answer: "Only if bullet strikes wholly within scoring area") So I wrote John Amidon and asked him. The sticking point to me is that the rules specify "the scoring area" of a target, whereas the recert exam does not. So I quoted 9.1.5.1 through 9.1.5.4 on my exam answer. I didn't ask his permisson to quote his reply, so I won't presume. But the gist was that the exam will be rephrased so it refers to the scoring area of the target. As a former teacher who's had students dispute exam questions, I can sympathize. My tests were always better after the second or third goaround

Be careful, Sidewinder. That's the WRONG EDITION OF THE RULE BOOK. If you look on page 14, the CORRECT rule book will say "1-3 shooters in ESP/MM=1 trophy" Yours is misworded "1-5 shooters" I'm not sure if there are any other errors, but that's one I know of. Download the correct version at http://www.idpa.com/Documents/IDPARuleBook2005.pdf

The early-bird registration fee for the 2007 CA state match ends April 1 and after that it will cost $25 more to shoot. I've sent in my money. Who's going?

Off onto USPSA and Ltd major... Something I hadn't considered.... USPSA is going through a rules revision, and solicited member input on their forum. I suggested that .357SIG be allowed to shoot major in limited, because my 226 comfortably makes 165,000. The concern expressed was that cartridges smaller than 10mm give an advantage because a guy can get more rounds in a magazine. Obviously, that's not a problem with the .357SIG, but most who replied to my post didn't like the idea.

I can't speak for the other posters... but in my case, that one classifier last July is the only time I've shot sharpshooter in SSP. I shot two classifiers in January of this year, and was down in the 150s each time... and definitely not deliberately. One classifier may in fact reflect one's overall skill level... or it may be one of those rare good days. In my case, I think it will be another year or two of shooting before I can consistently perform at a sharpshooter level. YMMV.

I feel yer pain... albeit from a lower level. Last year I registered for Nationals as SSP MM. Then somehow shot SSP SS in a classifier in July... so had to shoot SS at Little Rock.

DVD Shrink is good, but not enough if any of your disks uses the newer forms of copy protection. Get RipIt4Me. ( http://www.ripit4me.org/) It uses DVD Shrink and a couple of other tools to do its magic (it will install them for you.) Save the ripped DVD to an .ISO image and use imgburn to burn the DVD. Here are two useful links: 'The Golden Rules of Burning' RipIt4Me tutorial

2006 Calif state match had one stage where you started using a provided revolver before you could get to your own gun. The SO loaded it with 3 rounds so you had to keep pulling the trigger until you got the three rounds off. Some people griped that the same cylinders weren't loaded for each cometitor, but I didn't keep track... 2006 IDPA Nationals BUG match was 4 stages with revolver and ammo provided. BUG match was scored separately.

Another "keep it" vote from California. It's not true that you can't have mags with more than 10 rounds here. Just that you have to have owned them before the ban. So we do have people shooting limited matches with the "load on Friday and shoot until Sunday" guns. Those of us who only own 10-round mags and can't purchase anything larger would probably not enjoy shooting head-to-head in one division... Edited to add: Or else let Production guns be eligible to shoot as major. I normally shoot a Glock 35 in L-10... and that's about as 'production' a gun as one will find...

You don't say whether it's a sanctioned match. If it's a club match, you can shoot CDP using your ESP classification(rulebook page 72).

There has been some speculation... but no official announcement. (The countdown on IDPA's website would seem to indicate September 26.) I posted the question on Ted Murphy's IDPAforum (Ted is MD for this year's Nationals), but as yet nobody is giving an official answer.

Remember that after your first Nationals, the next year you'll only need to shoot one other "local" sanctioned match to be eligible for the following year's... in that Nats itself counts as a sanctioned match.

Well, Taran had no problems this year. His report on his experience is about 10 minutes into radio show 15 (9/27/06) on Matt Burkett's website.

Of course, one of the major announced reasons for establishing IDPA was to get away from high-priced guns and an "equipment race". Many people think IDPA stands for "I Don't Practice Anymore." Some say it's really "I Don't Pay Anymore"

Here's a breakdown from this past weekend's "Frozen Penguin" (guns are about halfway down the page.) Last summer's PA state match breakdown (sunglasses suggested ) 2005 Ohio state match 2005 PA state match 2005 Texas state match 2004 CA state match 2004 Wisconsin state match

Excellent link by TXAggie. Also, good info on IDPA's website: General information Stage setup drawing Shooting instructions (Don't worry... you don't have to memorize this. The safety officer will instruct you what to do next.) Instructions for safety officers (but also worth reading by shooters)

I just happened to be reading through the S.O. instructions for running a classifier, and see that lanyards are specifically addressed in the first paragraph under Stage Three.

You can use an SSP gun to shoot ESP when you want to, so you can get classified in two divisions with one gun (although you'll need to shoot the classifier match twice). SSP classification times are easier than ESP. Good for grandbaggers, bad for sandbaggers

Be still, my heart