If you have participated in IDPA you know that it is a great platform for you to be able to practice your shooting. Please don’t confuse this with defensive training. While they share some characteristics, they are not the same, but there is a lot of value that you can get from shooting in a club level matches.
Every shooting sport you participate in will have some things about it that you are not particularly fond of because they don’t seem to make sense. The one thing IDPA needs to fix is how they allow you to reload. In IDPA you may only reload while you are at cover. Conceivably this is done because it makes it more tactical. What it really does is make you count rounds and become a gamer.
I realize in the real world you don’t want to be caught out in the open trying to load a mag, but sometimes it happens ,and you just have to go with it. You obviously also don’t want to dump a mag that may have rounds in it, but sometimes it happens. IDPA needs to simply to make it better. Too many rules make it a little too unrealistic.
With the weather being hot, it seems appropriate to mention a product that has been around for a while, but it might be new to some shooters because they have never thought that it could be used in a shooting application. Most of us at MCC are runners, and with the season getting ready to start in Nashville this fall we have already started training. A friend of ours named Tim put us onto the Camelback hydration system. We have tested them on a few runs and they work great.
They come in all shapes and sizes for anything you might need, but the smaller packs seem to be the best. They are comfortable to wear, and don’t move around as much as you might think while you are active. Most of them come with a small zippered pouch that is perfect for your i-pod, keys or a cell phone. For the sportsman/shooter, these can be great. A few possible uses would be;
- Range officers at IDPA/IPSC matches. If you shoot Cowboy action, this just won’t be cool. Try a creek or a trough.
- Sighting in rifles at the range.
- Physical training for the fall tournament season.
- Scouting that big buck you missed last year!
One thing that works well is to cut some Gatorade with water 1:1. Gives you a little flavor without all of the other stuff. Whatever you do, just make sure you stay hydrated this summer
This is a great example of how to shoot swingers in competition.
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The other day I was at an outdoors store with a friend when I noticed something that really deserves a tactical award. Many of you are familiar with the 5.11 line of tactical clothing. They make some really great stuff, including a vest that many IDPA competitors are wearing. Good for IDPA, bad for a day at the mall.
What amazes me about these vests is how many people feel like they are great concealment garments for every day life. If you are wearing this out and about you are screaming GUN!! at the top of your lungs, beside the fact that you look like you just arrived back from safari. The idea is to not draw attention to yourself, but too many people don’t get that. Wearing a tactical vest to the mall is almost as cool as wearing blue socks and sandals; but not quite. Yes, it’s actually worse.
As soon as I saw the gentleman wearing this vest it was painfully obvious he was carrying because the gun was printing so badly. If you are going to carry concealed, do it inconspicuously. After all that is the point of the word concealed.
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Many of our customers compete in IDPA, which stands for International Defensive Pistol Association. IDPA was started as a response to the direction that other shooting sports were taking in regards to gamesmanship and equipment races. To compete in IDPA, all you is a serviceable weapon in 9mm or larger, a holster, a mag pouch and a concealment garment.
IDPA is great because it teaches shooters things like the use of cover, reloading under stress, and shooting on the move. However, it is still a game. When training for IDPA or any other shooting discipline you need to remember that when stress comes, you are going to shoot the way that you have trained whether it be for competition or real life.
With that in mind, you need to be very careful how you use your range time. Don’t just go and hose down a target without thinking. When I have a lot of time, I love to one shot draws followed by two shot draws for about 50 rounds. I then go to shooting while moving. And you might as well use the stuff you are going to be using in competition or on the street. That goes for cops as well. I know its cumbersome, but make sure you are shooting with your duty rig and vest on from time to time.
When it really counts you want to be ready. Make sure you are by training by using your time and ammo wisely.
If you are thinking about an extended mag release for you Glock, here are a few questions you should answer;
1. How will I feel if I bend over and my drop free mag goes flying across the floor of the supermarket? Warning: If you are not a skinny person, you have a very high likelihood of loosing your mag inadvertently. This is bad, but not the end of the world. Read next question for end of the world.
2. How will you feel if your gun only goes bang once? Same premise, only this time you weren’t lucky enough for the mag to actually come out, it just unseated itself when you bent over. Some unfortunate incident arises, and your gun only goes bang – click . . . .
3. Do you need a competitive advantage in IDPA or IPSC? It may be that you have smaller hands and could use the extra length of the extended mag release to gain a few tenths of a second in your reloads.
If you answered yes to question 3 you need an extended mag release. Question 1 and 2 leave too many opportunities for Murphy’s Law to show up. If you shoot a lot of competitions, it’s worth it to buy a gun dedicated to competition and to have one dedicated for CCW. Think about it. It could be your life.
