An Idpa Shooters First Real Ipsc Match

[bp78]

So a few firsts here. My first real IPSC match. My first attempt at video editing. And first time uploading content to the video web sites. I've been shooting local IDPA matches for almost 2 years, with a couple other 'IPSCish fun matches', NRA Action, and a 3gun match thrown in.

Saturday was my first real IPSC match, finished 6th out of 6 with 283pts in the single stack division. Todd Jarrett took 1st with 578 pts.

Looking for any advice beyond the obvious. Watching the video clips (thanks boo radley) I clearly need to do a few things much better:

• Start practicing better reloads.
  
• Break that IDPA habit of shooting to slide-lock
  
• Don't shoot the far stuff on the move. Stop and get the hits.
  
• Shoot the plan. (I knew to reload on stage 3 after the steel but didn't)
  
• Slow down and get my hits on steel when prone; 3 misses required another reload while prone.
  

What else would you suggest? I'm open to bitter criticism, don't hold back.

Google Video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7438311723958661288

YouTube:

Edited April 10, 2007 by bp78

[Brazos SC Shooter]

What does your practice routine look like?

If you don't own a copy of Steve Anderson's book Refinement & Repetition I would highly recommend it. It will provide you with plenty to work on to improve you on many levels.

I am no expert but there are a couple of things I noticed.

1. Remove any unnecessary movement during your draw. Watch your head bob and other wasted movement.

2. On your reloads, move your left hand to your mag pouch much faster. I am working on this myself. The speed from the gun to to the magazine should be very very fast. This is a gross motor muscle movement. The fine motor skills take place once you have secured the new mag and are moving it for insertion in the gun.

I would check out some of the links under Range Diary to see what folks are working on.

check it out

I should have added that I to began with IDPA. The thing that I have found to be the most challenging is the accuracy. IPDA does not penalize you for missing as harshly as USPSA.

Moving and shooting on the move is a definate way to shoot faster. If you can shoot on the move and still get all A's you can really do yourself a lot of good.

I also had to break the "use of cover" mindset when going back and forth.

[standles]

Remember that COVER is not required

Remeber that Stowing your magazines is not required.

Remember that have a plan and do not limit yourself to shooting from specific positions and number of rounds.

Ie.. Most IDPA stages are very specific in where you can take shots and how many from where. IPSC is more free flowing. Look for the advantage and as long as your within the ROE go for it.

Steven

[Mick]

Shoot more with Todd! You'll learn a bunch just by watching.

He's good enough to give you some tips too.

Get a good mental plan and stick with it even if you make an error.

[Genghis]

I shoot both. An IDPA friend tried USPSA for the first time, and summed it up as IOPA - the International OFFENSIVE Pistol Association. Forget about cover - hit the bad guys before they can hit you. Always use speed reloads, and plan so you leave one in the pipe. And concentrate on planning, rehearsing, and "airgunning" each stage.

[Interceptor]

On a couple instances, it looked like as you finished with your reload, your off hand would end up in the wrong position on your grip, making you have to conciously readjust it before continuing to fire.

A good way to fix this is to practice your reloads very slow and ensure that you hit that proper grip every time and then increase your speed as consistency increases.

[bp78]

Thanks for the tips so far. I hadn't noticed the slow movement toward the mags. I definitely need to work on my reload practice and will try the suggestions on doing it consistently before looking for speed. -bp

[Craigar45]

Looks like you are shooting pretty well to me BP. Practice is our best friend.

The only thing that caught my attention, from one new-ish shooter to another: On your reloads, you are working at arm's length... Perhaps if you try pulling the gun in towards your body, kinda in front of your face those times will start going down. I have to slightly shift my grip on the gun to get the mag released, so I make the mag drop part of the pull into my body. While the right hand is doing that, the left is getting the next mag ready to go... You should be able to get your next mag in before the first one hits the ground. Like Texas HK says, pulling the mag is gross muscle movement. If the gun is closer to your body, you have more control.

As for shooting on the move, I move only as fast as you can hit A zones. You can call me A-whore.

C

[Flexmoney]

Yup, reloads.

They need work all over, but leaving that gun way out there is a loser for a number of reasons (hard to hit, hard to re-grip, etc).

I'd suggest ditching the shooting on the move for a while. If you are shooting 8-round Single-Stack, then you ought to be able to pick out your shooting positions in the stage. Get to the shooting position, do your shooting, then reload going to the next position.

When shooting prone, people tend to want to float the gun...only having the elbows in contact with the ground. That is a loser for me. (there has been some info posted on that in the past, so I won't go into here)