Getting started at my club....

[R-Bros_JLR]

So I'm trying to get things together to start (re-start) some sort of action/practical/defensive pistol monthly matches at the club I belong to and need your help. Our club used to have monthly IDPA matches so we have a number of props/targets and I've been playing around with Sketchup and working on planning out the stages. My problem is that the matches will not be USPSA or IDPA, at least to start with, until we get our feet under wet so what scoring system do I go with? I have only shot one match so I'm not experienced in all the nuances of scoring and penalties and such, but I'm a pretty quick learner so I'm hoping you guys can help me get this thing off the ground. This weekend I'm planning on getting an inventory of all the target/props that we have and maybe even try to get the range drawn up in Sketchup.

If you were in my position, how would you approach this task???

[Greg Bell]

Why don't they have IDPA anymore? Were the matches well attended? What does your pool of available shooters seem to prefer (IDPA or USPSA)?

Edited December 28, 2010 by Greg Bell

[Dan Hefta]

If I were you, I would pick a disipline IDPA or USPSA and use the rules and scoring system that they use. Just from a liability point of view you need to strictly adhere to a saftey doctine that shooters know or can read up on. Shooting from the hip and running matches that are hybids can be scary and confusing for all that attend. Good luck... Try and recruit some experienced local help too.

[R-Bros_JLR]

Apparently the IDPA shoots were stopped because there was an individual from the club that essentially ran all the shooters off. I believe at one time the regular shoots were well attended, and I believe with the right management/coordination they could be very successful. Right now, the limited pool of shooters that I've talked to would probably prefer USPSA and that's the direction that I'm leaning towards.

[Flexmoney]

You can buy the scoring software from the USPSA website store. I think it is $25. You might go ahead and affiliate though...and get the software with the affiliation.

Try to get in touch with your Section Coordinator. He/she can work with you and USPSA to get going. Even though USPSA requires that a club run 8 matches a year, you can ask for an exemption to that.

[R-Bros_JLR]

I was looking at getting the USPSA scoring software actually. I would like to get things going to make sure there's enough interest before going to the hassle of getting the club to join. My goals at the moment are to get this thing off the ground and have some "fun" matches to raise a little money for targets, pasters, timers, etc. Once things are moving and established I'll pursue the sanctioning. I'm certainly open to suggestion here though!

[R-Bros_JLR]

If I were you, I would pick a disipline IDPA or USPSA and use the rules and scoring system that they use. Just from a liability point of view you need to strictly adhere to a saftey doctine that shooters know or can read up on. Shooting from the hip and running matches that are hybids can be scary and confusing for all that attend. Good luck... Try and recruit some experienced local help too.

I agree that picking one discipline is the best way to start out for sure. My thought is to go with the USPSA rules and scoring since I really don't know Jack about IDPA. That may all change once I travel to shoot a few matches but I think I'll purchase the USPSA scoring program and read through the rule book.

So how many stages should I shoot for in a monthly match? Will five longer stages be enough to draw shooters in? Would like some thoughts on that as well, although perhaps I should take that to the stage design forum.

[Jim Norman]

4 reasonable stages and a classifier will work, at least as a beginning. If you have as you say a group that will come, will they come early? Will they help build, stay to tear down? Do Not try to do it all alone. If you do you will likely find yourself doing it all alone, enlist your shooters early. Affiliate, it costs $50 and you get the software, and secondly you'll be a legitimate match sending in the scores to Sedro. That will go a long way towards keeping your USPSA based shooters coming out. Not sending in classifiers turns people off.

Stages don't have to be long to be fun. We run usually 16-28 rounds with the occasional 32 rounder. Do be careful to keep the clearance times balanced so you don't wind up with a major back-up.

[R-Bros_JLR]

4 reasonable stages and a classifier will work, at least as a beginning. If you have as you say a group that will come, will they come early? Will they help build, stay to tear down? Do Not try to do it all alone. If you do you will likely find yourself doing it all alone, enlist your shooters early. Affiliate, it costs $50 and you get the software, and secondly you'll be a legitimate match sending in the scores to Sedro. That will go a long way towards keeping your USPSA based shooters coming out. Not sending in classifiers turns people off.

Stages don't have to be long to be fun. We run usually 16-28 rounds with the occasional 32 rounder. Do be careful to keep the clearance times balanced so you don't wind up with a major back-up.

Thanks for the input Jim. I'm pretty sure I can put on the required 8 matches per year and I'll likely be doing this out of pocket so $50 isn't too bad at all. This weekend I'll have some time to inventory everything we have and then I'm hoping maybe you guys on here can help out with some stage design to get me started. There are a few guys that I know will help so I'll be doing a lot of it on my own, just not all of it.

[Poppa Bear]

A club I used to belong to shot IDPA, USPSA, and Steel Challenge on alternating weeks. Matches were all shot according to the disciplines rules. After some consideration the club voted and decided to affiliate with IDPA and hold sanctioned IDPA matches. This was before SS became its own division and Production was still fairly new. The club could really only afford to affiliate with one organization, and put its efforts towards one discipline.

After this club closed several of us got together after finding a new range we could shoot at and knowing that the new indoor range would be opening soon. Some had more of a USPSA background, and some of us just wanted to shoot. So we decided to affiliate with USPSA and have now spent the last two years building up the clubs membership and coffers. We made the decision up front what discipline we were going to shoot so that we could plan and build our props according to the USPSA classifiers, and rules.

If someone were to start an IDPA club and use the same ranges many of us would shoot their game but not be heavily involved in the club management due to our current involvement with USPSA stage planning, design, and the administration needed to run the club we already started.