What Do Expect From IDPA?

[Bart Solo]

I have been reading a lot here about IDPA. While much of it is positive, a great deal of the commentary is negative. I have to ask, what do you expect from your participation in IDPA? Is it to have fun with your friends? To make new friends? Do you expect to learn real defensive skills? Do you just want more trigger time with your carry or home defense pistol? Do you want to crush your competitors and listen to the lamentations of their survivors? All of the above? None of the above? Have you thought about it?

Edited February 15, 2016 by Bart Solo

[Bob Hostetter]

When I compete in IDPA I usually only compete at Sanctioned matches and the purpose is to win the match.

[shooterDrew]

IDPA is a fun sport. I started out shooting it when I was in LE. It felt like a good fit as it was a game, but to shoot it I did not have to ignore all the aspects of defensive shooting that seemed very important (using cover, tac reloads). It's biggest faults are that there is a degree of subjectivity in the rules and how they're applied, and stages are essentially planned for you, sometimes shot by shot. Because of that I ultimately was driven away from it as my primary shooting interest.

I would say if you want to have fun at the range, get introduced to competition, meet good people, and test your carry gear (and your ability to actually use your carry gear) then IDPA is a great option.

If you're interested in a much deeper level competition, want to find ways to drastically improve your weapon manipulation, and really test your ability to plan and execute a stage (while still meeting good people and having fun!) there is a better option.

I still shoot IDPA and enjoy it, but it fills a new role now in my shooting schedule.

Edited February 15, 2016 by shooterDrew

[9x45]

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women. What a great quote! I no longer shoot IDPA, after having run the Apple Valley IDPA club from March 98 to June 05, but when I did it was to hang out with the crew, maybe make some new friends, get trigger time on the gun, sometimes my actual carry gun, and you always like to have a good run, that gets a big yea from the crew. It's not tactics or training, it's just a game. The negative comments are usually about Range Nazis and Tactical Plumbers, who want to tell you how to roll. However, most of that depends on the local club. Best thing is to jump into your nearest match and see if it's what you like.

[firewood]

Some might disagree with me but I think IDPA promises more than it delivers. It tries to market itself as a kind of competition where the shooter can get started using every day carry gear. Well true you can start but if you keep at it for very long you will amass IDPA only gear that you would never carry. For example a Glock 34 and a CompTac straight drop paddle holster, a popular rig at IDPA matches.

The other thing is the rules will make you crazy and the ROs are taught to advise the shooter of a rules infraction before assessing a penalty which sounds good but personally I would rather get the penalty than have someone distracting me with checking my cover.

I intend to shoot some IDPA locally this year but mainly to use as a place to get more trigger time with my revolver. Also to try out other handguns that I normally don't use, a G26 for BUG and a 1911 for CDP. Full disclosure I'm not that good, I generally place about the middle of the pack in SSP Marksman class. I'm going to try to use what I don't like about IDPA to my advantage, that is to train myself to work through the distractions and shooting right at the edge. To pick up some speed in the process.

[firewood]

9x45 I never knew what a Range Nazis was until I started shooting IDPA.

[9x45]

9x45 I never knew what a Range Nazis was until I started shooting IDPA.

Yup, and just so you know a "Tactical Plumber" is the guy who tells you how you did everything tactically wrong, but in reality is a 17 time graduate of Front Site, without any competition experience, and thinks a 6 second Bill Drill with 2 mikes is bad ass, but whose day job is a plumber. There seems to be lots of those now compared to the early days.....

[IronArcher]

For me (a new guy) listening to both sides, I expect IDPA to be a fun way to get started. Kinda like baby steps. The course is planned for you, and has a max of like 18 shots. Less gear (mags/carriers) to buy/carry, and less intimidating than going into a USPSA shoot and doing a long 32 shot course in "production" for your first shoot.

I suspect I will eventually shoot more USPSA, but I'm not writing off IDPA. Yes, some of the rules seem to be there for the sake of being there (gamer vest), and the objectivity of some of the rules (cover) is not appealing, but the scoring seems to make a lot more sense than USPSA, and you still need the basics of gun handling/marksmanship along with movement. Some of the gimmicky stages are appealing as they are things that at least it seems one can't practice very much, leveling the playing field a little (I'm getting older and can't run as fast as I used to...guessing this will hold me back in USPSA a bit)

My first indoor match was mostly IDPA "style" and a little USPSA style (3 stages IDPA rules/scoring 1 stage USPSA rules scoring).Being indoor the USPSA stage wasn't very big, so the whole getting lost on a 32 stage course was not an issue. I think the shooting was a little more fun, but the scoring was complicated. Both were fun to shoot, and that, in the end, is what I expect from IDPA. A fun way to get into the sport, that doesn't break the bank, and is easy to follow.

In time will it remain as fun? maybe, maybe not. if it does, I'll keep shooting it. if not, I'll move more time to USPSA (I fully plan on shooting both for a while)

Edited February 15, 2016 by IronArcher

[Nimitz]

9x45 I never knew what a Range Nazis was until I started shooting IDPA.

...... and thinks a 6 second Bill Drill with 2 mikes is bad ass....

It's not ....? Yikes, I might need to start practicing more ..............

[twodownzero]

I shoot IDPA sometimes to get to shoot more. I have no interest in shooting it at a "sanctioned" match and if they ever start enforcing the rules that you have to be a member, I will never shoot IDPA again. I don't really care that much about most of the rules, but the one that I find highly annoying is restricting round counts to 18; that is dumb. Let us shoot!

[jsg]

I shoot IDPA to compete, burn powder, have fun giving grief to my friends, and to improve my skills.

I really do not understand the issues people have with IDPA. Yes some of the rules are burdensome to maybe stupid but who cares? It is just a game. I only shoot 2 or 3 big matches a year but I shoot 5 local matches each month. Maybe the rules would matter more to me if I shot more major matches and spent more money, time and effort to travel. As it is, IDPA is very economical with lower round count matches and limited equipment required to be competitive.

[JD45]

Write a decent rule book and stick to it. And stop making matches so stupid that beginners have no fun.

[solaritx]

I believe that IDPA is a great way to start, especially for those that have started to carry concealed. IDPA generally (note I said generally) focus on those aspects of conceal carry. Drawing from concealment, shooting on the move, use of cover, etc. It allows one to see what works and does not work with their carry gear. Many continue with IDPA in this mode, getting better and more proficient with their carry gear. Others move to the competition aspect of IDPA. IDPA is a game and should not be seen as anything other than a game. Those that take that path in IDPA tweek and twerk to maximize their performance. Both paths in IDPA have their place in the general shooting membership and neither is "better" than the other.

IDPA is a game has rules. With rules, there comes conflict especially with the second group mentioned. With rules, there is also a learning curve.

Go into the game, enjoy the game. If you go and ride a rollercoaster and expect to throw up.....you prob will throw up. If you go and ride a rollercoaster and expect to have fun....you prob will have fun.

Garry N

Edited February 16, 2016 by solaritx

[Bart Solo]

Write a decent rule book and stick to it. And stop making matches so stupid that beginners have no fun.

As to a decent rule book, I agree every successful shooting sport has a decent set of rules. Whether a match is stupid within the rules is totally within the control of the Match Director and the individual ROs running a match. Most of it depends on the quality of stage design.

Years ago SASS went through a prop fad. I remember having to carry a doll from shooting position to shooting position. On another occasion at the beep we were asked to turn a card and that card would tell us something about how we were to shoot the stage. For the most part after a lot of complaining, those goofy stage instructions have gone away without any rule changes. These days every once in a while a stage designer will ask us to do something fun off the clock, like sing a line from a western song to signify we are ready. SASS shooters are often asked to say a line from a western movie to signify ready. it is no big deal to say "SORRY DON'T GET 'ER DONE DUDE" or "YOU GOING TO DRAW OR WHISTLE DIXIE" but singing "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW" can be a hoot. The point is if it is off the clock even the gamiest of gamers have a good time.

Sometimes we are still asked to do something out of the normal shooting pattern. Occasionally we are asked to stage shotgun shells in a box and load from there instead of from our shotgun belt. We will often be given the option of staging our pistols in holsters or on a table. All of those things are normal shooting activities and it doesn't hurt us to learn how to pull shotgun shells out of a box or pistols off a table. Guess what, the fast shooters win those stages just like they win all the 10-10-4 stages we normally shoot.

Which of the IDPA rules mandates holding or carrying a prop while shooting? I don't remember seeing it. I bet most of the complaints can be laid at the feet of Match Directors and stage designers. The complaints about arbitrary RO calls probably have more to do with the position of the RO making a call than anything else. That again is a stage design issue. Instead of re-writing the rules people ought to be working hard to find gifted stage designers.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Bart Solo

[rowdyb]

1. A stable rule set that is well written. Well written meaning as a technical document, not the back of a napkin. Look at the top 10 items that are argued, written in for clarifications, range lawyered at locals and fix the rule set so those questions and interpretations become non issues. A well thought out and written rule book leaves no room for questions.

2. Legal stages in all matches. Provide a check list for clubs that allows them to gauge whether the stage they are designing meets the basic requirements of the rule book.

3. Better SO education to address the areas of judgement and subjectivity made them in the performance of their volunteer duties.

4. The final acceptance on an organizational level that it is a sport or game whose origin was influenced by another sport or game. It is not training in any way shape or form. Look at video footage of a USPSA match from 1990 and compare it to an IDPA match today and a USPSA match today. One birthed the other for various reasons, accept it but focus on the idea that IDPA is a game set up to be a test or challenge of handgun skills. Not an analog to your real life ccw shooting.

Edited February 16, 2016 by rowdyb

[jsg]

snip... it is a sport or game ... It is not training in any way shape or form. ...snip

Pretty sure those two little gems are the secret to having fun shooting IDPA. I will say the other items are valid points as well but I really see these two insights as the key.