matteekay

Nice! Congrats! I *think* I get one... but it's a little bit of a drive for me to swing by. Like, a 28-hour drive. And yes, it was an awesome match all the way through. I'm really hoping to head back next year.

The stages generally all broke down to two-ish plans: tougher shots but less movement, or more movement and open targets. Good stage design, IMHO. I was on zero sleep and couldn't get my heart to calm down so I ran really conservative stage plans. Snagged first Rev Ex but third Rev overall; I had the least points down and was the only one to not hit a Non-Threat but was just too dang slow. Congrats, Matt! That's some really good shooting, and as others have said, definitely the correct pace for this match. I didn't come back for awards but it looks like the plaques were pretty cool.

I believe it's these:

This was always true until the 2022 rules removed basically all holster limitations. Back in the days of the dowel, the rulebook even used to say "Some holsters may not be legal for certain body types".

That's it. Drop/offset is technically not illegal, but most drop mounts will move the gun too far out.

I don't and I'm away from home. You'll just need to go to Ace and get the correct length hardware.

That's me before every major, lol. I'm pretty much always dealing with being tired or caffeinated to some degree (who isn't?) but this particular match was especially bad for some reason. Still fun though; I love getting out to majors and shooting with people from around the country.

I actually managed to over-caffeinate for the first time ever at a match today. I was trying to compensate for a week of next-to-no sleep with chemicals and about halfway in I was perplexed as to why my heart wouldn't stop racing, lol. I don't recommend it as a winning strategy.

Look at some bigger matches for a better gauge? 2022 Nats were: - 86 CO - 58 ESP - 47 SSP My locals tend to be about 50% CO and 50% everything else but I bet it varies by region.

Same here. I still question if these changes are going to be what kills it.

I'm not in love with the rule changes (I see very few that are a step forward), but I do have to wonder how many times this has been said. I feel like IDPA has been "dying" for at least ten years. I guess we'll see.

The new rules allow for two-handed retention shooting. Dunno if that's better (probably slower?) but I guess there's no harm in giving shooters the option.

It's always been allowed. A.2.3 is not an inclusive list, unlike other divisions' "Permitted Modifications".

...challenge accepted.

Gotcha. Yeah, that covers 99.8% of what you see at an IDPA match. Ironically, the Santa hoodie I wear at matches around the holidays is probably okay, lol.

What's a "gamer" vest?

I assume that's fine? I don't make the rules, only try to understand them.

Worth noting: As BUG, CCP, and CO all adhere to the ESP ruleset, they can all have ported barrels now.

I'll +1 this. As a match director, I've seen a steady increase in new shooters with factory guns (particularly in CO) that are compensated in some way. Frankly, I wish they didn't preclude screw-on comps; they basically made Sig's guns legal and outlawed everything else (Shadow Systems, Hellcat, etc). It's sorta like the X5's "heavy" barrel all over again. Having said that, I'm deciding what gun I want to port strictly out of spite.

Good call. Here are the changelogs: Rulebook (CL) Equipment Appendices (CL) MAR (CL) Here are the final docs: Rulebook Equipment Appendices MAR

Actually, I might be wrong. "8.1.7.5 – removed text “any”, and “grip safeties" So 8.1.7.4* now reads: "Disconnecting or disabling of safety devices including (but not limited to): manual safeties, firing pin, striker, and hammer blocking safeties." I guess they may still be covered under the "but not limited to". *Really, IDPA? You gave the wrong rule number in your own changelog? It's hard enough to keep up.

Agreed, it feels like an unneeded clarification. Oh well.

I think it's meant to mean "from behind a vision barrier", so still in the open. The way I read that, it just means that you can move to a position of cover if one is available and continue engaging the same array. If I'm right, I think you could always do that, but maybe there was some confusion?

The most relevant highlights (IMHO) Ported barrels, or comps that are integral to the gun are allowed in ESP. Comps cannot be removable or threaded, so something integral like the P365 XL Comp is legal but anything on the end of the barrel is not. Revolver is now a specialty division like BUG and PCC All specialty divisions are optional at Level 2 - 5 matches (Gee... thanks.) Grip safeties can be defeated (on a re-read, they removed the language but this is probably still forbidden) Two hands can be used for retention shots Holsters cannot hold the gun further away from the belt than the width of one loading device There's a lot of other misc language cleanup and the like but these are the big points. Let me know if there's something I missed.